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binaiks · Member Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 162 Location: VOBL/VOCI

Sorry for the hindi title - its base on the statement IndiGirls keep blurting very often - "Samay Par Rahna Anivarya Hai... blah blah blah" - meaning, its important to be on time.

IndiGo rose to fame with their "excellent" On-Time Performance. Off late, IndiGo has been making news for hitting rock bottom on the OTP front (of course, they couldn't beat SpiceJet at it). IndiGo is often the preferred airline for many reasons - frequency, reach being a few.

I haven't flown IndiGo many time - partially because their timings don't suit me, and second they are never "low cost". A few days ago, I decided to head home - a totally unplanned trip. I had some personal work to finish, and decided to take two days off, and head home. It so turned out that IndiGo, and Air India were the cheapest - I had to choose IndiGo due to the timings (Air India was a bit of risk, since it was for Saturday evening, and I had an important meeting in Office that day - IndiGo had the same fare for Saturday evening as well as Sunday morning). I booked a ticket on 6E407, leaving BLR at 1255 on Sunday.

Sunday, July 26, 2015:
Unusually, I took a cab to the airport instead of taking the bus. I was at the airport by 1135 for the 1255 flight. Check-in was swift - there were hardly anybody at the check-in counters. At the check-in, the IndiGuy said the flight would be 10 minutes late - samay par rahna anivarya na raha?

A couple of minutes after I checked in, a message pops up from IndiGo - "your indigo flight 6E407 is rescheduled to depart at 1420hrs". WHAT? samay par rahna anivarya na raha?

After a very lazy security check - the CISF guards too were in the Sunday afternoon mood - I headed for lunch at MTC, and then some spotting. Boarding started at 1345hrs, and I got to the aircraft by 1400 (VT-INV was my bird). Boarding was completed by 1405hrs, and doors armed at 1407hrs. We were pushed back at 1408hrs. It took quite sometime before we got moving towards runway. We were escorted to the other end of the apron by a "follow me vehicle". There was an Air Costa E190 (to Jaipur) ahead of us. We took off from Rwy27 at 1422hrs.

On Board service was namesake - the trolley rolled through mechanically - requests for water were responded with a harsh look. Despite the 85 minute delay, the airline did not forget to brag about being on time, and the importance of being on time. Service wound up quickly - the sector was infact very short to have full service. We were flying over the west coast in no time - we were holding over till the Kochi runway opens (Kochi Runway is closed daily afternoon). We finally touched down at 1515hrs.

The terminal was a mess - three aircrafts (including mine) had landed in a gap of about three minutes, and the baggage of all of them came together. Baggage belts were crowded - people jostled for space to collect their bags. I joined the war when the baggage of the first flight was done.

Overall a disappointing experience - an 85 minute delay, lacklustre service - especially disinterested crew. I should say this - the leading lady did a great job - she was cordial, welcomed each passenger with a smile and remembered to thank everyone as well. The deck crew were Capt Himanshu and Capt Abhishek.

Note: Since I badly need to promote my blog, please read the full version at my blog. Laughing

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Regards,
Binai

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

Binai, thank you for taking care of my weak pun on
shaNivArya, to go with the anivArya (necessary) and
shaNivAr (Saturday). You posted your recent Indigo TR on a
Saturday, thank you! Once again, this made for a lovely Sunday
morning read. This time, I read the precis before reading
the full TR, and found it equally enjoyable, especially enjoying
the parts where you have abridged it beautifully, and more
importantly, seamlessly. Hmm...for an airline that once prided
itself on its OTP, an 85-minute delay does not do wonders to
this. I wonder where they are going wrong. MTC: with your lovely
food-related descriptions, I am getting a bit confused as to what
sort of cuisine is served here. It looks like a mash of the
Udupi-style, with some elements from Northern Kerala as well.
As such, it is nice to see most elements of the fabled Indigo
efficiency still in place, with prim and proper resource
utilisation, measures to keep costs down, without compromising on
efficient performance, and limiting customer dissatisfaction to
a minimum. INV seems to have the new types of seats and trays.
Your pictures are superb, and give a nice impression of the
reader being with you, and peering over your shoulder to see what
you have described, in each line.
Interesting take-home messages from the flight...thank you for
sharing another nice TR with us!
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 10:07 am Post subject:

Nice TR Binai !

Enjoyed the pics on the blog too.

This rotation started as a DEL-PNQ-BLR-COK and v.v rotation but now has a JAI tag to it. During bad weathers or anything else , a turnaround in DEL and PNQ makes it miss the small 20 min buffer it had of landing at COK before the airport closes for the afternoon siesta
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binaiks · Member Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 162 Location: VOBL/VOCI