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Nimish

I had to go to Chennai to get my US visa renewed, hence booked on IT for a late evening BLR-MAA flight, and then return by the 12 noon MAA-BLR flight the next day (my visa interview was at 8 am).

I don't know why people dislike ATRs - I seem to love them. I find them roomy, comfortable and nothing like a 2X2 seating configuration! I don't find the noise particularly bad - esp if you're seated right at the back of the plane - it's probably similar to any 737 family or 320 family.

My outbound flight was a 7 pm departure, so I had a cab pick me up at 4:30 pm from work. The cab came in a bit earlier, so I left around 4:25 pm. I had expected to reach around 5:30, so was surprised to see it was almost 5:45 by the time I reached the airport. It turns out that the police has been cracking down on the city cab companies (like easycabs, meru), and fining them for their drivers driving too fast. So now the cab companies have activated the built in GPS inside the cab, and have a voice alert when the cab crosses 80 or 90, and a 1000 rupee fine for the cab driver if he "consistently drives faster than 90"! As a result - the earlier 1 hour journey has become a 1:20 journey - though much safer!

Anyway - reached the airport, walked to the Kingfisher counter with my boarding pass (web checkin), only to have the agent tear that and issue a new one. I don't know why they do that, why not just stamp the web print out and let me get on with things? There was no queue at the check in counter, and the agent also handed me a lounge invite card. I had not flown IT ex-BLR before, so I asked the agent where the lounge was - and she said it's in the "shoppers stop". I was quite amused by that location, and assumed she meant it was "by the shoppers stop".

Security check was a easy affair - no queues there either. Good work by the BIA team at keeping queues down to a minimum - at least at this time of the day! Walked into the secure zone, and realized that the lounge was actually deep inside the shopper's stop store!! Anyway - the lounge was really nice - good food on offer, and a fancy tea/ coffee machine. Spent just less than an hour there, as it seemed like my outbound flight was slightly delayed. I was surprised to see that BIA's free internet was now restricted to a 15 minute slot! Have to pay INR 100/hour after that... And odd that Kingfisher's lounge did not have their own internet offering.

Boarding was announced quite late (it was raining at BIA - may be that caused some delays?) and I walked in to what seemed like a completely full flight - except for the aisle seats at my row (the 2nd last row). So at least I had plenty of space for the flight. This is when I switched the radio off on my phone and fired up the GPS to track the journey.

Here's the track of the outbound flight:

http://www.gpsed.com/track/1683203115415895729

If anyone is interested (and has Google earth installed), the track can be downloaded in KML format and viewed in 3D via Google Earth).

We departed on 27, and soon were making a slow U turn heading east to Chennai. Got a lovely view of the BIAL airport, unfortunately there seemed to be cloud formations just over the terminal and stands...

Service on the flight was the standard IT red (I guess), just a sandwich and a bottle of water. None of the frills like lime juice before take off or a towel or anything. Quite sufficient for this sector. I did not eat the sandwich as I was saving my appetite for a nice meal in Chennai (and I'd sampled the fare at the lounge, which had me slightly full).

We flew through a lot of clouds and turbulence and even saw some spectacular lightning from what seemed like "close by". We must have been put into a hold pattern, as we headed across Chennai half way to Port Blair (or so it seemed), before we turned back Smile

.

Landing was smooth, and wet - as it was raining in MAA as well. The ground staff did not have umbrellas (and the FA was quite infuriated with the ground staff for not having enough umbrellas), so we had to dash through the rain into the waiting bus.

I had no check-in luggage, so that was the end of this first sector on IT. Definitely above average - good flight, right sized a/c for this route, good service on board, and a hassle free experience. The IT gold card definitely helps - as the lounge was a good place to relax in.

On the return - had pretty much the same routine - except that the check in agent did not print a new boarding pass, but instead took my web check-in printout "somewhere" to have it stamped. He returned in a minute or so. I found it odd that IT's IT systems don't show your FFP status on the boarding pass. So when he wished me "have a pleasant flight", I told him I actually plan to vegetate in the lounge for a while before security/ boarding. He looked really surprised and asked me if I had "status" on IT - when I eventually realized that the guy could not make out - either on the boarding pass or probably on his computer either. I then had to physically hand him my FFP card, and he was quite apologetic when he saw it and promptly sat down to issue a lounge invite. I wonder why they need hand written lounge invites, shouldn't just the boarding card and the FFP card be sufficient (it is on my international flights)?

Spent an hour at the lounge (BICA restaurant?) at MAA - pleasant place and free internet offered for lounge guests. I did not like the food on offer ("quartered" donuts, boxes of regular curds, cornflakes etc.), so just chose to sip on a diet coke and work.

Boarding was again slightly late for this flight. After I missed a FRA-BLR flight once (while at a lounge in FRA), I am paranoid about missing my flight, and generally ask the lounge staff about boarding status when it's after the printed boarding time!!

Eventually boarding was announced, and I was the only guy in the lounge who walked out for the flight. Security check was a breeze (maybe it's the time of the day?) and I was on the bus in no time. The loads on this flight were really low - maybe about 50%, so there was plenty of space for everyone to stretch out. This flight was far shorter, and we flew almost a straight line from runway to runway. More details available on the GPS track here:

http://www.gpsed.com/track/1683203115477364424

Once again - typical IT red service - I left the sandwich after eating a bite - it was quite sad IMO. Read a book through the flight while glancing at the speed/ altitude, heading etc. Touched down smoothly at BIAL, and was soon out of the airport to the taxi stand. This was the first time I realized that the Cafe Coffee Day counter in the arrivals area is actually the same physical counter as the one in the departure area - as it seems to split the arrivals and departures areas! There seemed to be quite a few people going through to the departure area - probably onto connecting flights.

All in all - I liked the flights, and would definitely fly IT red on this sector again. The sandwich was not great, but then I was not hungry, and I'm sure I would have eaten it was I hungry Smile

. The service on board was professional and courteous, and so was the ground experience at both BLR and MAA.

I have no pictures from this flight, only the verbose description and the GPS tracks. Hence the name - "Track report" - would welcome any alternate suggestions Smile

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We miss you Nalini!

Nimish · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:17 pm Post subject:

Just realized the massive difference in distance covered - the outbound was 436.1 km, while the return was just 277 km - almost 57% less!!!
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We miss you Nalini!

Spiderguy252

rutvij · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:48 pm Post subject:

A new dimension to TRing by Tracking the Flight path! Cool

However, how safe would it be to keep the Phone ON? Maybe iflytb20/ALT STAR/Stealthpilot could clear the air on this issue. A month ago, my mom switched ON her phone about 20 mins before landing, and it started ringing mid-air! We were still about 15 mins to touchdown, and that meant about 3000/4000 ft. Smile

Seriously, somebody please tell me what would happen otherwise.

Bad u had to specifically ask for Lounge Invite. Have read a lot about these manual IT ops of writing down a Lounge invite. Yes, ideally, FFP Card should be the enough to get in.

Good Job with the TR!

- Rutvij

Nimish · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:21 pm Post subject:

CHS · Member Joined: 18 Mar 2010 Posts: 311

Nice TR!

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

That's pretty sweet
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eP007

Caliguy · Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:40 pm Post subject:

"Landing was smooth, and wet - as it was raining in MAA as well. The ground staff did not have umbrellas (and the FA was quite infuriated with the ground staff for not having enough umbrellas), so we had to dash through the rain into the waiting bus. "

Given the type of rain India gets (monsoons), I am surprised that people don't think aerobridges are a must. The 6 largest cities should all have airports where the vast majority of flights use them (I agree that an ATR may still get a bus or have to walk from plane to stairs)

Karan69 · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1334

Interesting report Nimish

What mobile device you use ?

Also i would like you to elaborate on our experience after missing a FRA-BLR flight

Karan

Nimish · Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:18 pm Post subject:

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

GuyFromBOM · Member Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 544 Location: VABB

Nimish · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:31 pm Post subject:

GuyFromBOM · Member Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 544 Location: VABB

Thank you very much, Nimish.

Work in Progress..! Wink

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