Airliners-India.com

[jasepl]

So Mum just got back from a girls' weekend in Bangkok a few days ago (and no, I don't want to even begin to imagine what that entailed). They flew in Business and she said it was pretty much what it said on the tin. Interestingly, the route seems to be dominated by European pax.

BOM-BKK

• This was before the volcano drama started, and the flight to Bangkok had one empty seat in J that she counted and Y looked pretty full up as well.
  
• Over two-thirds of the plane seemed to be connecting from London / Brussels and there was also a decent number of Thai pax.

BKK-BOM

• On the return, interestingly, Jet have a sign at check-in that says subject to availability, one can buy an upgrade for THB 3,000 to CCU and THB 4,000 to BOM/DEL. Purchasing said upgrade won't grant lounge access nor will the baggage allowance be increased.
  
• This flight too was chock-a-block and seemed to be over 90% headed to Europe. The 'girls' missed the Jet counters the first time around since there was no desi in sight - even though the check-in lines were reasonably long! J was completely full (though, obviously, no idea how many - if any - were the counter upgrades).

Other tidbits:

• Ridiculous that Jet still have no lounge at BOM, when BA, EK and LH do. And Jet fly over twice as many international flights as all three combined.
  
• Sublime crew both ways.
  
• Decent food - though oddly the inbound and outbound menu is identical. Do they cater it all in Bombay?
  
• Disgusting wine selection.
  
• We Indians as a people are so uncouth - irrespective of wealth, class, station in life or cabin flown.
  
• The Jet chokris have finally learnt to wear a g-string under those tight pants.
  
• IFE hardware itself is great (and trust me, if she says it is easy to use and the picture is good, then it must be something). But the programming is crap. Overwhelmingly Bollywood trash, with a random few Gujju / Malyalam types thrown in. Hardly any English choices at all.
  
• Jet also need to do something about foreign language speaking crew, flight announcements, IFE etc. Not a word of Thai was spoken or visible anywhere (I had a similar observation when I went to HKG last year - no Cantonese at all).
  
• BOM airport is now brilliant to arrive at (most of the time anyway). Under 25 minutes from seat to car! Took her longer to get from the plane to the terminal when she arrived from Baroda a couple of weeks ago!
  
• The award for the worst advertisement in the history of the world goes to Ecole Mondiale.

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four years free of jetya punti!

[CHS]

It's great to hear that 9W filling up its BKK flt with pax from BRU/LHR — they are really using their "hub" at BOM so well now, let's see what they'll do when the new terminal opens...

IFE — the situation was the exact same on my AI flights to/from JFK/EWR — it's completely full of Bollywood trash (i.e. the worst of Bollywood), with just a few English movies sprinkled in.

9W service (and meals) have really been going downhill for a while now...they need to wake up to this..

[Jaysit]

Their website indicates that they have quite a decent collection of English films. What's that all about?

[me111993]

It's great to see Jet successfully using their BOM hub things will only improve from now onwards. Maybe in a few months, Jet can add another European destination, either CDG or FRA or MXP and then upgrade BOM-BKK to an A332.

[Nimish]

Thanks for the update on 9W's BOM-BKK sectors - interesting to note that most of the pax were connecting. Something I would honestly not have envisaged a few months ago!!! So kudos to 9W on cracking that market - I just hope they manage to get some sort of yields to go with that traffic.

What's with 9W and the lack of a good lounge in BOM? That's really absurb IMO, given they've been there forever, and given the amount of $$$ they contribute to MIAL, I'm sure they can have their say in terms of location etc. Is it just a cashflow issue (capex hard to come by)?
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We miss you Nalini!

[jasepl]

[Karan69]

Thanks for the tidbits Jason,

I am not surprised at the transfer pax at all as on my flight from LHR 9W 117 in Jan , the crew told me as many as 65 passengers were transferring to BKK and this was the day time BKK departure

Karan

[15a]

flew the route in J Class 2 weeks back..
Onward (Bom-BKK, day flight) was half full (16/2, but mainly Indians and Y was completely full with lots of transfer connection from LHR
Return (Bkk-BOM, evening departure from Bkk) was full in both J and Y. J was mostly Indians and quite a few thai locals while Y was the usual mash of indians as well as transfer pax.
I found the IFE ok - a little limited but in both sectors i could watch a movie i hadnt seen before (Up in the air and Wake up sid) ...bollywood selection was huge and english was weak. Also their TV selection is very limited but their music library is excellent and makes for good timepass
Menu was the same on both sectors - but dunno if they uplift food in Bom for both ways..service was very good and departures from both sectors were on time but arrivals into Bom gets into the usual holding pattern over BOM at night and hence late by atleast half an hour...

[iah87]

Jet's pricing must have been competitive finally for them to attract quite a few connecting passengers. Perhaps they can slowly bring EK/QR down.

[Spiderguy252]

Don't know why everyone is bashing the IFE. How many airlines offer you multi-lingual entertainment on short haul sectors on a 737?
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Yeah.

[me111993]

[Jaysit]

[me111993]

[avbuff]

[d3vski]

Its only a three and half hour flight to BKK. I travelled in J in Jan.

On the outbound, i used the 1am flight and after takeoff, had some champagne and few baileys, declined the food because of the time and some shut eye and before i knew, i was in BKK.

On the return i used the 9AM flight, After takeoff, had a leisurely breakfast and enjoyed watching Inglorious Basterds and some tv shows.

It was perfectly adequate for a longish short haul sector. AVOD on a 737!

Just to add, Jets primary market is for Indians and therefore Bollywood will always be strongly favoured with the IFE options.

[pablouae]

[sri_bom]

Thanks for the updates on 9W Jason interesting to hear the perspective from a senior traveller.

Regarding IFE programming maybe the royalties that one needs to pay for western programs are more then the Bollywood crap hence its easier to load more Bollywood stuff then the Hollywood.

Sri_Bom

[jasepl]

Hey, I personally don't care for having IFE at all. Given a choice, I'll have a drink or five at the airport bar before departure, followed by a couple on board and then pass out. However, there are people who do care and do whine about it. That's the way it is.

That said, I believe the content is the same whether on a 737, 330 or 777 and that does make the programming deficient. Of course, I might be wrong.
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four years free of jetya punti!

[me111993]

@japsel, choice of movies offered is much more on their wide bodies than on their B738's, alot more hollywood movies on offer, you can check out Jet's IFE magazine 'Jet Screen', also available online on their website for further details.
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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

[justbala]

[CHS]