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me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

TR: 0005

Background: This is the continuation of my previous TR : AMD-BOM-MAA 9W 338 Y
This section basically covers the return leg of my journey (MAA-HYD-AMD).

Flight 2
# 6E 372
A320 VT-IGY (0.5 years old)
ETD : 0525
STD : 0520
ETA : 0835
STA : 0842
Load Factor : MAA-HYD : 45%
HYD-AMD : 100%
Seat : 3A/27A/5B
Date : 11/05/2011

Check-In – Boarding
My father accompanied me on the way into MAA, the outbound journey, I was alone, as he had some work in BLR, my flight was 6E 372, scheduled to depart at 0525 and his flight was 9W 2359 at 0600, so we left our hotel at the same time, at about 4:10, reached the airport by 0425 or so, I again had no check-in baggage.

I entered the airport through Gate number 2, small line, fairly fast moving.

AAI Styled Terminal, this!

Just as I stood in the normal line, noticing that I had no baggage to check-in, a check-in agent, called me to an empty check-in counter and checked me in, gave me 3A and wished me a pleasant flight.

Reminds me of CCU airport!

Now, pax bound on 9W flights were required to enter the airport through gate 1, so me and dad split ways there only to be reunited on the security check line!
Here’s how it went:
Dad : Where’s your boarding pass?
Me : right here (jeans pocket, I gave it to him)
Dad: *folds it from the part which is ripped off by the ramp agents and puts it in my breast pocket* Don’t lose it! They’ll check them again in Hyderabad…
Me: Ok
Dad : *checks the hand baggage tag* make sure this is stamped when you’re done with security.
Me: Ok
Dad: Please get some sleep in the flight, you have enough time, and an exam as soon as you land.
Me: Ok

Dad: Call the driver as soon as you land, he’ll meet you outside at the arrival’s area..
Me: Ok
Dad: Have something to eat in the flight.
Me: Ok
Dad: do you need some money?
Me: YEAH! Very Happy

(look, don’t judge me here guys, I don’t earn like you all do, I survive on mere pocket money Razz

, so whenever’s there’s any opportunity to earn a little extra (yeah okay “”get a little extra”” ), I grab it with all 4 limbs!)

All of this went on, in a rather slow moving security check line. By this time, boarding for my flight had been announced.
So, post security, I just went ahead for boarding!

There was a BA 777 , QR A330 dominating the international ramp.

VT-IGY carrying me home. The other plane on the ramp was IEC! That was barely 2 months old!

(sorry for the poor quality of shots)

The Flight

The plane was gorgeous, there’s just something about new planes, if the 9W 737 was spotless, this one was sparkling clean!
Just beautiful!
Generous legroom, decent width! I was loving 3A! Just then, this bloke came up to me accompanied with a very old woman, and requested that I shift to 5B as he was travelling with his old grandmum, I agreed to shift immediately, strangely enough, the bloke’s younger brother sat at 3A and the grandmum was at 4C.
Later in the flight I found out that it was a family of 12 travelling together and had rows 3 and 4, only leaving 3A and having 5B. normally, it makes sense, but “using” the old grandmother to have me switch just pissed me off.
Pics

Soon we started our decent into HYD, the Captain came on the PA and announced that the approach was gonna be pretty bumpy owing to the heavy cloud cover over HYD.
Till now, I loved the plane; there wasn’t any service, so to speak, but everything was nice….till the turbulence arrived.

It was VERY turbulent, the FA’s were strapped in too, a woman sitting in front felt sick, got up and started walking towards the rear of the airplane to the washroom, this is where the menace started, the FA at the back started yelling at her literally “MAM SITDOWN” which happened to further induce panic in an already panic stricken woman, she sat down on 28D, then started making gestures to the FA that she wanted to Puke, that’s when the FA started guiding ,by guiding, I mean yelling at her to find the sick bag, all she said, “It’s right there..it’s right there”…unable to find it, she got up again, and the moment that happened, out came a shriek “SITDOWN”.
All this happening, the husband sitting infront got up with a sickness bag, and all 4 FA’s, 2 at the rear and 2 infront started shouting at the poor guy who was already more than halfway down, petrified, he turned and went back to his seat. The wonderful Golf Yankee suddenly became uncomfortable, not only for me, but for others witnessing too.
All this happening so close to me, I picked up the Sickness bag infront of me and gestured at the seat back pocket to the woman, enabling her to find hers.
Whatever the case be, however turbulent the flight, I firmly believed that one of the FA’s should’ve gotten up and helped the woman, maybe it was lack of experience.

Soon we landed into HYD, before time.

I asked the FA about the loads on the next flight, she said it’s 179/180. L So, 5B it was for the next 95 mins.

I dragged myself to 5B, only to be surrounded by two very stinky guys on 5A and 5B. Thankfully the one empty seat was on 1D (bulkhead) , 6E sells 1A-F and 13A-F while check-in or post boarding, for 300 bucks due to the additional legroom.

1F was the only empty seat on the flight, for which I gladly paid 300 bucks (the stench was unbearable).

1F meant no more pics, no window Sad

It was yet another before time departure and the FA seemed particularly proud about this!

Very eventless, although, I was still enjoying the 5 month old airplane and the rather cold cabin! I ordered a spinach-cheese sandwich

HORRIBLE! The taste of the cheese was overwhelming, and the spinach was just bland! Don’t go for this, EVER!
After the meals and all, when the FA’s appeared to be fairly free, I went up to one, and started talking about 6E, VT-IED was the latest fleet addition, talked about the international operations, to which she said that there will be 5 primary destinations to whom they’ll cater, them being MCT/DXB/SIN/BKK and KTM. Finally I slipped my question for a flight deck visit, which she gladly agreed to!

Soon we lined up to Runway 23 and landed just about at 0838, 3 mins late.

I waited for everyone to deplane after which I went to the flight deck! The captain and the FO, were very young!
At AMD, there were 3 6E planes, VT-IGX/IGY/INY!
6E sends in all the brand new beauties to AMD, unlike the VT-JNX/EPM/ADW parade of the 3 full service carriers!

Arrival
Nothing really to write here!
Came down the elevator, and walked out of the airport straight into my car!

Verdict
6E was a joy to fly, barring the incident on decent to HYD and the poor sandwhich, the flight was fun, obviously, I’d have loved a window, but wonderfully clean airplanes (some of the passengers could use a cleaning though), nice set of crew, on time performance, comfortable seats what else do you want!?
I’d definitely recommend flying 6E!

Next TR : DEL-AMD IT-Red
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Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:33 am Post subject:

Awesome. Looking forward to IT Red. Was it an ATR?

And of course, good to know that you enjoyed MAA's "Kamaraj" terminal. It's delightful isn't it? Wink

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Yeah.

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

thanks a lot Varun! Kamaraj was nice and ancient! Wink

IT Red, no ATR, A321, with first class and all!
_________________
Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

Nimish · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:41 pm Post subject:

Great report - thanks for posting. The new 6E planes must be a breath of fresh air, can't say the same about some of the co-pax unfortunately I guess Sad

.

Perhaps the safety demo should be extended to show everyone what an air sickness bag is and where to find it?
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We miss you Nalini!

justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1898 Location: Bangalore

Excellent TR Rishul and amazing pics!! Thanks for sharing!!

6E seems to have developed a good consistency with their service offerings which is gr8 news!!

On LCC flights i stay away from sandwiches and rolls, coz they usually end up being stale. I prefer cookies, nuts or chips which hae a much slower decay rate. Smile

Any idea on the number of folks who continued from MAA to AMD?

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Thanks a lot Nimish and Bala! Appreciate the comments! Smile

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Very good TR, it's good to see 6E maintaining the standards they set. Also good to see some tarmac shots at HYD.

As for grabbing that extra cash, you remind me of my days till I completed engg Razz

Thanks for sharing.

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Thanks a lot Ojas!

ssbmat · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 1710

[quote="me111993"]Thanks a lot Nimish and Bala! Appreciate the comments! Smile

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Rishul, thanks for yet another great trip report. Some random
ramblings:
- MAA does not look to have changed much, except for the sun
shade at the ground floor gates. Yes, the similarity with CCU
is striking! (With perhaps the exception of the last closed
first-floor gate at MAA, which connects from the closed
staircase on the ground floor), and perhaps the view from the
emergency exit gate on the ground floor at MAA.
- Bala's advice on packed food on LCCs is nice!
- Nice overwing inflight pictures!
- AMD: is this the renovated old terminal, or the new one? I have
never been there, and my nebulous memories cannot recollect
your regular updates on AMD.
- The indecent descent incident: I guess member ssbmat has a
valid point!
Cheers, Sumantra.

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

PAL@YWG · Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:23 am Post subject:

Nice TR! Thanks for sharing.
6E is a decent airline...best value for money amongst LCCs in India.
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me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

{Generous legroom, decent width! I was loving 3A! Just then, this bloke came up to me accompanied with a very old woman, and requested that I shift to 5B as he was travelling with his old grandmum, I agreed to shift immediately, strangely enough, the bloke’s younger brother sat at 3A and the grandmum was at 4C.
Later in the flight I found out that it was a family of 12 travelling together and had rows 3 and 4, only leaving 3A and having 5B. normally, it makes sense, but “using” the old grandmother to have me switch just pissed me off.}

Nice Trip report and thanks for writing.

I sympathize with you on the above seat adjustments and I find that in India this happens a lot specially if you are taking a train journey and travelling alone. I typically accomodate as well but I find that our country men think its their birth right to get the seat that they want and some times they dont make a polite request, but more of a demand.

Some drama you had on landing with the passenger throwing up.

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Thanks a lot sri_bom!
The thing here is that if you're travelling alone and are young, you're considered as durable goods by other families.
When travelling by air, after a certain age, using the phrase "I wanna sit on the window seat" as an excuse for not moving makes us look plain stupid.
_________________
Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

G-BYGB · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 1:01 pm Post subject:

Good trip report Rishul. Thanks for sharing the wonderful pics of MAA,HYD and AMD airports.

Having read many TRs from the frequent flyer members here,I get the feeling that most of them don't like airline foods.

So it won't be a bad idea for airlines to allow pax to carry their own home cooked food.The security forces can use a separate bomb detecting machine for food materials.So that everything is taken care of.
Smile

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www.flickr.com/G-BYGB photos

Nimish · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 1:52 pm Post subject:

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Thanks a lot G-BYGB!
_________________
Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

indopaki · Member Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 479 Location: Pakistan

Interesting 6E colour these things blue, they're only to be coloured red for safety, there is no other need tp colour them.

Nice report and pics.[/img]

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

indopaki · Member Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 479 Location: Pakistan

^ Its Airbus idea and was first introduced on British air A319 decade ago, Boeing and others have found it to be unecessery so dont apply it to their planes, Airbus too only seem to do it for those customers who wnt it mostly in Europe due to fog, elsewhere Singpore airlines have it on their A330, 380 and even some of the 747s possibly the only Boeings in the world to carry this look.

BTW Ariana colour them blue too on their ex-TK A310s which wore them in red, so I guess its evolving into kind of design feature for some.

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Thanks for the info, as long as applying red is not compulsary, airlines can apply some other colour and give style as a reason!
_________________
Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Nice TR... nice pics.
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eP007

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Thanks!
_________________
Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House