Kingfisher Airlines V/s Indian Airlines [Air India IC Service]

Air travel is very common now-a-days in India. Fancy of travelling by an aeroplane is no more a dream because of low cost air lines.

Moreover the glamourous air-hostesses woo all men to fly by Kingfisher. Media has been too harsh on Government airlines [Indian or Air India]. Is Kingfisher airlines better than Indian Airlines? In my opinion Indian Airlines is better than any other airlines.

Fares

If you observe that for any airlines [Low cost or normal] the basic fare is not high. Taxes of various types marks up the air travel cost. In case of Indian Airlines if you closely observe the taxes levied are less while the basic fare is well in proportion.

Indian Airlines Experience

Currently, I am working on a project that needs me to frequently travel to Gurgaon. I prefer travelling one day in advance in the evening hours. I find the flight that is most comfortable scheduled to depart from Mumbai at 1700 hrs IST and similarly flight scheduled to depart at 1700 hrs IST from Delhi when getting back to Mumbai. Normally, for this project I travel between Gurgaon & Mumbai every month. The flight available at that hour of the day is Indian Airlines. One basic outlook of flying with Indian Airlines is whatever I pay is remitted to Indian Government. Now I have been flying with Indian Airlines for past 6 months. All the time I have found that the flights are on time. It was delayed only once by 10 minutes. There is no waiting time for landing. The luggage is loaded on the belt practically in no time. At the departure gate and arrival gate all the time there is at least one Guest Service Executive well before time. The Air-Hostesses are not as bad as they are assumed or perceived to be. Inflight entertainment with Personal TV & refreshments is available if you want to compare with Kingfisher. Take off and landings have always been very smooth as per my experience.

Kingfisher Experience [Mumbai Airport]

I travelled from Mumbai to Chennai via IT-3183 on 07-Nov-2010. Flight was scheduled to depart at 1840 hrs IST. At the Check in Counter I was informed that the flight is delayed by 20 minutes and my boarding pass showed the departure time of 1900 hrs IST & Departure Gate as A8. Scrolling display did not show up my flight number at all. I tried to bring this to the notice of the Guest Service Executive. He mentioned that he is co-ordinating for this. When the boarding was not announced till 1845 hrs IST, I wanted to meet up with some Guest Service Executive. But, as far my view could go there was no one. One guy passed over the departure gate and that was his mistake. I was inquiring about the flight departure time when a British lady walked up and mentioned about the same problem [Scrolling display not showing the flight details]. But, for some reasons the Kingfisher guys turned deaf ears to whatever I mentioned as well as what British lady was talking about. The flight that I travelled was a Code Share flight with British Airways. After this experience would anyone want to fly with Kingfisher? I won't. Finally, my flight took off at 2000 hrs IST. It landed with lot of bumps at Chennai Airport at 2130 hrs IST. The inflight experience was no better.

When I was in Germany I have seen that most of the people travelling on airlines prefer either Lufthansa [International or Domestic] or German Wings [Domestic or within EU]. Both the airlines are Government owned. It is not that there are no other airlines available to Germans. But, they prefer to pay to their own government. Then why can't we Indians think on the same lines? Why can't we prefer flying with Indian Airlines or Air India? It is time that we as individuals start thinking more about India rather than our personal preferences. Of course this is my view. You may probably agree.

Load Shedding

Now-a-days it is quite a common feature - Load Shedding. If we all really try to closely remember - when BSES, BEST, MSEB, etc (Government bodies) were running the show did we have this?

I guess not. As far as I remember right from my childhood we had POWER CUTS due to say a grid failure or something else. We never had load shedding funda at all. When the necessary services are taken up by private sector we were actually expecting an improvement. But, things turned from bad to worse. Instead of steady constant power we do not have electricity at all. Was BSES or BEST or MSEB generating power from nowhere? Are all the resources exhausted to generate power?

If this is the case then where was all the power derived from to decorate Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow and surrounding for nearly 3 - 4 days during Abhi-Ash's wedding? Where is the power derived from to have A/cs running 24 X 7 at Government officials residences? Where is the power derived from for exhibitioning Femina Miss India Show? No answers on this.

Is it justifiable to have load shedding done to common man (Income Tax Payers who genuinely pay Income Tax)?

Many more such questions remain unanswered for example - 1% Education CESS rise. What has happened to the Education CESS that we have paid till the last financial year?

Is it not time for a common man (Genuine Income Tax Payer) to revolt? Why should we not follow the revolutionary steps executed in RANG DE BASANTI? Did we see that movie to just applaud? Should we not even attempt for a revolt or AN ARMED REVOLT if i can say that?

Are we missing small Happiness

Tying knot is so very exciting, isn't it?

In Software industry it is common that the individual is always on move for projects. Same was my case. I was on project @ Gurgaon when my parents found a match for me.

I had formally met my to be wife just twice before. Just after that I had left for my project to Gurgaon. My project was in process when my marriage got fixed. Normally, when match is fixed starts the courting period. This courting period is what I miss badly. I was sitting there in Gurgaon my to be wife in Mumbai. The only thing that we could do was talk a lot over Mobile phone. Cell phone Service providers highly profited due to our endless conversations. We were just trying to convince ourselves that our conversations were equivalent to courtship, though the fact remains that in courtship the couple talk and get to know each other.

The next I met my fiancée was on our Engagement day. Ideally, a day consists of 24 hours. But, it so happened that on this day we both felt as if the day was only 12 hours on the clock. We were really having very short time. Immediately the next day I flew back to Gurgaon. Revenue generation for cell phone service provider restarted.

And finally, we tied the knot. That was the most memorable moment, day of my life.

But, really consider that in this race of CAREER are we really missing out on very small happiness in life? Aren't our near and dear ones also missing out on the same? Think !!!!!!!