Airliners-India.com

[Spiderguy252]

Right, so if I don't post this now, it's never going to happen. I'm keeping it short due to time constraints as well as lack of pics.



Airline: Air India
Aircraft: Airbus A319
Registration: VT-SCL
First flight date: 14th October, 2008

Load in J: 100%
Load in Y: 100%

Scheduled Departure Time: 11:05 PM
Actual Departure Time: 12:05 AM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:55 AM
Actual Arrival Time: 6:55 AM

Flight Time: 4 hours, 20 minutes


Before the flight

*There was a heavy downpour in Bangalore since late afternoon, uprooting a lot of trees and electrical poles. So I decided to leave earlier than usual to the airport.

*I left for BIAL at 6:45 PM and it was pouring cats and dogs all along the way. I managed to reach the airport only by 9:00 PM

Check-In

*There were not many departures at that hour and this AI (formerly IC) flight was the only one checking-in.

*The whole process was tediously slow and there was a lot of arguing going on towards the front of the queue; either pax had excess baggage or they were refusing to be offloaded from the flight (more on the latter in the next point).

*When I reached the check-in guy, he abruptly ordered me to take the next day's flight, offering me a paid for accomodation in the Leela as "compensation". I refused, and he relented. He grumbled and murmured to himself about the flight being overbooked. When I asked him by how much, he didn't respond. Instead, he just printed my Boarding Card and handed it over. I had got a window seat.

*I took the immigration form and filled it near the check-in desk. As I was leaving, I saw an AI guy walking towards the counter, I asked him if the flight was overbooked and by how much. He said yes, by 7 pax and once again offered me the option of flying out the next day, which I refused. Again.

Immigration

*Nothing much to speak of, went quickly, only 10-15 pax in line, stamped and let through.

Boarding

*When I reached the upper level, it was announced that the flight would be delayed by an hour. No reason stated. I guessed that it could be the horrible weather outside.

*Boarding commenced at 11:30 PM, and we used the jetway. The crew were stunning, and escorted me to my seat and offered to stow my bag into the overhead bin.

*Boarding was completed in less than 15 minutes and doors were closed.

Flight

*We pushedback at midnight. The FAs performed a live safety demo even though each passenger had an IFE screen in front of him/her. Strange!

*We waited at the runway for an aircraft to land. I can't make it out, maybe a 9W 737?



*And we began our take-off roll and were soon up flying past Bangalore city in the direction of Chennai.







*Typical passenger demographics in Y: Students, VFR. A few Malay pax as well.

*FAs began drink service immediately. Many passengers opted for alcohol but the FAs were firm in serving only one glass per passenger for the entire duration of the flight.

*Meal service commenced at around 1:00 AM. I opted for the chicken biryani which was served with gravy. It was a very good meal, indicative of AI's superb catering.

*Another drink service followed, this time without alcohol in the cart. I opted for a can of 7UP which the friendly FA opened and served in a glass for me.

*After the meal, I was trying out the aircraft's IFE system. It was nice to have such a nice system on a narrow body on a 4hr20 flight. IIRC I watched Rang De Basanti again which was listed under Hindi (Bollywood).

IFE system on-board VT-SCL:



*Cabin lights were dimmed as we were flying over the Bay of Bengal; fell asleep only to wake up an hour later to watch the cool sunrise from across the aisle. Pity that I was sitting at the right.



*Went to the back and chit-chatted with an FA for a while; she had left Kingfisher as AI was apparently paying more. She was also friendly enough to provide me with the registration of the aircraft, which I could never have obtained otherwise.

*Captain announced initial descent into SIN and asked pax to remain in their seats as we would have some turbulence while approaching Changi.

*Crew came with one last snack run, which was a couple of wafers and AI peanuts. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to clear it up as we were already on final descent by then.

*An old lady wanted to visit the toilets even though the seatbelt signs were on. Cabin crew came running from her jumpseat at the back and escorted her to the toilet and then back to her seat, speaking in Hindi all the while.

*Aircraft rocked violently on descent, thick black clouds all around us and a few passengers even screamed. Nervous fliers.

*Bumpy touchdown at Changi's main runway, taxi to T2 took a very long time. On the way we passed another AI A319, many SQ 777s and an A380, some Silkair 320s, an EK 77W, and an LH 744 before we docked next to a TG 346.

*The young crew thanked us for flying Air India, and were very pleasant in bidding us farewell as we left the aircraft. A mother and child who were in front of me were given special care, with an FA giving the girl a stuffed toy to take home.

Conclusion:

My first and till date only positive Air India experience, this one. The crew on AI 444 were one of a kind. The catering was great, both in terms of quality and quantity and the seat was pretty comfortable. IFE kept me occupied for a portion of the flight, and the headsets were of pretty good quality.

Had it not been for the rather bizarre ground staff at BLR and the delay, it would have been a perfect flight.

Scores:

Punctuality: 7/10
Seat: 9/10
Catering: 9/10
Aircraft Condition: 10/10
Entertainment: 8/10

Total: 43/50 = 86% = Five stars out of Five.


Cheers! Up next, in a similar format is 9W's J on KWI-BOM.

Varun
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Yeah.

[Nimish]

Great report - good to see overbooking on this sector. With Silk air, tiger et. al. on this route, AI must be doing something right if they were overbooked!
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We miss you Nalini!

[me111993]

Great crisp report Varun!
Wonderfull to see AI step-up and provide excellent service.
The problems that you had on check-in were, I believe purely because of the flight being overbooked, which is not always a problem!
Looking forward to your next report!
P.S > BLR was lovely that afternoon with all the rain!
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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

[sri_bom]

Nice report Varun, good to know that Air India is shaping up.

[rutvij]

That was a real quick TR, varun. Good to hear AI performing well. 100% Loads

[Spiderguy252]

Nimish, Rishul, Sri and Rutvij; thanks for your comments.
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Yeah.

[ssbmat]

[Spiderguy252]

[avbuff]

Nice report, good to know AI experience was good on this sector and the experience was satisfactory. Maybe it's time for a A321 on this route!

[ssbmat]

[justbala]

[avbuff]

No a temporary suspension till September 16th.

[Spiderguy252]

[justbala]

[avbuff]

AI and SQ have terminated their code share agreement almost a year ago.

[MileHighClub]

My first post here !

Well written man! Superb!

Seems AI is doing quite cool on this sector. How was the LF?

thanks for sharing!
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In life when you look up, point to the sky and thank it for being so beautiful!

[Spiderguy252]

[stealthpilot]

Nice TR
Nice to hear them going full. A few months ago i remember hearing them leave BLR with 20 or 30 something people on board.
Is BLR-SIN a seasonal sector? Maybe that's why they stick to a 319, anyway not like they have spare aircrafts coming out their ears.
I flew Tiger BLR-SIN a week ago on a 319, return was a 320.
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eP007

[Spiderguy252]