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Kabir
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Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 791
Location: DEL
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 Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 10:47 pm Post subject: IT2 LHR-DEL |
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Alright, on a few requests I have decided to type this down. This is my first TR of sorts here so its going to be crap, just a heads up. Also please don’t mind grammar mistakes etc, I just wrote this with a free-hand.
A bit of a background first...
Sept 21 2010 - IT 001 DEL-LHR
Although it is hard to complain when you are in J on any airline but IT still has a long way to go. Out of curiosity and as a journalist during the flight i also walked around the Y section and even used the Y lavoratories to see how they are doing there. I saw (I have mentioned here before) that the soap and lotion in the bathrooms were being stored in used water bottles. Anyway after reaching London I shot an email to Kingfisher and this was the reply...
| Quote: | Dear Mr. Taneja,
Thank you for your email of 24 September, apprising me of your experience when you travelled for the first time with Kingfisher Airlines, from Delhi to London. I have found out that you are a Correspondent with Airliner World - U.K., and I appreciate that you have chosen to share your experience with me.
With our international flights, I aimed to put back into air travel an element of style that has disappeared over the years. I have endeavored to give my guests more, and in keeping with this spirit, we offer innovative product features which have been designed around our guests. While I am pleased to know that you enjoyed the meals served on your flight, I am concerned to learn that we appear to have been unable to meet your expectations in some areas, and you were consequently disappointed.
I note your particular disappointment with the service of the crew, as well as the manner in which the washroom amenities were stored on board. We strive to deliver a world-class experience to guests travelling Kingfisher Airlines, and I regret you felt let down. I assure you that amenity dispensers are provided in the washrooms on our flights, and the same was done on your flight as well; the container you observed was possibly the disinfectant liquid which may have been inadvertently left on the counter by the crew. This matter has been taken up with the concerned In-flight team; they have been instructed to be more vigilant and efficient so that guests enjoy a truly delightful in-flight experience.
Mr. Taneja, I am aware that product as well as performance has to be constantly monitored at every level if we are to achieve consistency in service quality. I therefore appreciate your feedback which provides us the opportunity to review areas that need attention. I look forward to restoring your confidence in our service, as well as to your inputs - both positive and constructive - when you next fly w ith Kingfisher Airlines.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Vijay Mallya, M.P.
Chairman & Managing Director
Kingfisher Airlines
A UB Group Company |
Although IT said it was disinfectant liquid, it didn't go down well with me because people were using it as soap.
Anyway...moving on to IT 002.
Now many of you know the chaos LHR was in during the past week or so. I was extremely skeptical whether the flight would operate at all, let alone there being a major delay. The main problems on the day of the flight i faced was with the bus services to Heathrow, many stood cancelled and the only one running was getting me into LHR 11 hrs before flight time! But beggars can't be choosers and I reached LHR T4 11 hrs before my flight still expecting the worst of delays as my gf was delayed by 10 hrs at Gatwick and a lot of other friends of mine did not make it to there destination at all.
Now I am sure many of you have been through LHR, its not as much of an airport as it is a hole, a hole in the ground. T4 was terrible, I was travelling with a friend and we just parked ourselves at a Nerro Cafe right at the entry. There we met a group of Spanish tourists (all girls..some relief) and spent a good 4 hrs passing time with them. AFter 4 hrs even that was exhausted and there was nothing to do but try to catch some sleep in the cafe. Failing to do that I decided to take a walk around the terminal. There were stranded passengers sleeping on every corner of the airport. Under escalators, next to empty check-in counters etc. Quite disturbing to see that they were not offered any accommodation by whatever airline they were flying.
After somehow managing to pass time we saw the IT counters were open. Now let alone checking in getting there itself was a journey in its own right. A Kenya Airways flight had come to LHR after 3 days of non-service, and ALL the passengers that were stuck decided to decent onto LHR even if they did not have a confirmed seat. At least 600-700 people were standing in front of the Kenyan counters and it took us a good 15-20 minutes to navigate just a few steps till the IT counters.
The check-in was a breeze as I did not have any check-in luggage (my travel rule no. 1... avoid check-in luggage). After checking in me and my friend decided to go in for immigration and head to the lounge.
After a few minutes of browsing around the duty-free areas and picking a Glennfidich 21 we headed towards the lounge. Lounge was packed, we decided to have a quick wash and some refreshments and left. We then parked ourselves for an hour or so at a Starbucks where we met that Spanish group again and spent most of our remaining time with them, great bunch they were.
Now our flight was showing on-time on the board and the gate had been updated, IT 002 will depart from gate 10. We reached gate 10 and went into the waiting area straight away. You know you are in a flight bound to India from UK when the first thing you hear in the line is {British accent} "yes for Delhi yes, splendid!{British accent} and then the same person 5 seconds later says "b**n di tonu galt gate wich chala gaya". This coupled with crying kids almost felt like home. So we got a seat near the window with a good view of the take offs taking place. We had in front of us IT 008 to BOM almost ready to depart, waiting for one passenger who turned up 10 mins later, the ground staff decided to humor him telling him he can’t board anymore but later let him go, exchanging smiles with each other once he dashed down the bridge.
We boarded on time on our A330, I usually note down the registration or find out but at this point of time I couldn’t be bothered, all I wanted was a meal with wine and bed. Took up my window seat in the second row and made myself comfortable. Now I have a big grudge with IT J seats, yea they are flat-beds and have a good screen but they are just not comfortable enough and the width is not what I am paying for. Almost all other airlines on LHR sector offer a better J product just because of the seats. Either way, we pushed back from our gate, finally, at around 9:20. Took 10 extra minutes for the de-icing truck to do its job and we taxied onto the runway and were airborne without any further delays. The pilot whose name I can’t remember was one of the chatty ones and spoke for about a good 5 minutes after take-off, he particularly pointed the route-map on our IESs and talked about the details it will show us during the flight, 15 mins after he switched off from the PA the route-map software crashed and was unable to start for the remainder of the flight. Either way me and my friend decided to go and have a drink at the bar area which is one of the biggest waste of space I have seen on an aircraft. Sure, its nice to sit there for 15 mins and have a single-malt but it is absolutely unnecessary. I spent a good 45 mins there as the air hostess was the same one on my flight to LHR in Sept, quite cute as well. Anyway after my drink I decided it was time for bed, I had an excellent meal of chicken gosht with rice, roti and other assorted things with some good Australian red wine. Skipped the entrée and deserts. After this I went straight to bed and dozed off in one of the best sleeps I had had in days! I woke up about 30 mins before we were to land in Delhi, well was woken up, otherwise I wouldn’t have mind sleeping throughout the landing. Asked for a steaming black coffee which was served promptly, the food and beverages on IT are always good.
We landed in DEL at dot 11:20 am. Five minutes ahead of schedule and docked into T3. The walk from the gate till immigration was a nice and long affair. It seems they have not planned enough for the immigration area, the lines at the end when long enough start to bend and a very patchy situation was created. Also clearly people don’t understand the line procedures, There were Y passengers in the express immigration lines for J passengers. Very annoying!
So, immigration took 15 minutes and I was out. No luggage meant I can walk out straight away. My driver was waiting with the car and we were out of T3, ending a very very long and tiring journey which coupled 4 hrs on a bus, 10 hrs at T4, 8 hrs flying time and 45 mins at T3, a grand total of 22 hrs to reah DEL. All worth it though, took my car straight to my local kebab shop in Vasant Kunj and picked up some excellent lunch for me and the family. |
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GuyFromBOM
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Joined: 19 Jun 2010
Posts: 544
Location: VABB
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 2:09 am Post subject: Re: IT2 LHR-DEL |
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Nice TR, Kabir..!
| Kabir wrote: | | Now I have a big grudge with IT J seats, yea they are flat-beds and have a good screen but they are just not comfortable enough and the width is not what I am paying for. Almost all other airlines on LHR sector offer a better J product just because of the seats. |
I haven't been in the J class on IT's A330's but in Y. While boarding from LHR, when I passed by the J section, I wondered, how is the pax in the window seat supposed to access the aisle without causing inconvenience to the asleep pax in the next seat.. 
Maybe you can shed some light on this.
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The more I fly 9W, the more I prefer AI | FlightDiary: 59 Boeing + 30 Airbus + 9 ATR + 1 Embraer |
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me111993
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Joined: 04 Sep 2009
Posts: 3225
Location: MAA/AMD
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:08 am Post subject: |
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Nice candid TR Kabir! 
_________________
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 |
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Jaysit
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Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 4346
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:29 am Post subject: |
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| You seem hard to please. Others I've spoken to who've taken IT's J-Class product on their A332s praise it sky high. They also appear to love the stand-up bar. I guess different strokes for different folks. |
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Kabir
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Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 791
Location: DEL
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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| perspectives i guess, for an airline struggling with finances they sure are wasting a lot of space with the bar area which ultimately only a few people use for just a few minutes in total through the flight. |
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Nimish
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Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 9757
Location: Bangalore, India
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| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 10:42 am Post subject: |
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Nice TR - thanks for posting. Your outbound flight seems quite terrible - esp if they have soap etc. in little water bottles - disgusting!
The return flight seemed much better, good food, good single malts at the bar, good sleep etc. - much more typical IT experience I guess. The seat and the meals are generally things I hear very good things about from others, so it's good to hear a different perspective as well!
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We miss you Nalini! |
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Kabir
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Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 791
Location: DEL
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:11 am Post subject: |
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| just a quick note...did IT 1 today again (in Y though) and the service was spot on and fabulous. |
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vivekman
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Joined: 26 Dec 2006
Posts: 1897
Location: BOM
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 10:09 am Post subject: |
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| Kabir wrote: | | just a quick note...did IT 1 today again (in Y though) and the service was spot on and fabulous. |
They knew you were going to be onboard, I guess! 
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Boeing makes planes. Airbus makes videogames! |
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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Kabir, nice to get something `non-copyrighted' by you 
Just joking - you do write very well - good to see your writings on a public forum as well.
Even though the pictures are missing, your descriptions are quite vivid.
Thanks, Sumantra. |
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me111993
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Joined: 04 Sep 2009
Posts: 3225
Location: MAA/AMD
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | We boarded on time on our A330, I usually note down the registration or find out but at this point of time I couldn’t be bothered, all I wanted was a meal with wine and bed. |
It was VT-VJL
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=7018258&nseq=0
_________________
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 |
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Kabir
Member
Joined: 24 Oct 2008
Posts: 791
Location: DEL
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| Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| cheers for the info. |
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