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.
