
Kingfisher Airlines….
Since I have shifted to Bombay (I prefer saying it Bombay, gives that familiar sound……..)..Anyhow, due to shifting base from Delhi to Bombay I have to shuffle between the cities at least on an average twice a week.
Now with this kind of frequency one gets frustrated with the entire airport scene……I mean I have stopped buying the tickets in advance as I never know when I will need to rush again. With this kind of frequency I have traveled by almost every airline available in India. And like every passenger even I made my opinions about the service and comparison in service along with the pricing and overall experience…..
KINGFISHER AIRLINES … Definitely Kingfisher airlines……..
When the company had launched their services I was probably the first one to pick up their ticket just to have an experience. There were various reasons why I or any other passenger got attracted to this airline…..
Inspiration Icon Mr. Vijay Malaya, the man behind the concept..
Well dressed and pleasant looking Air hostesses.
Pleasing ground staff.
Great food.
Airport luggage service.
And the best feature….In Flight Entertainment system.
Let me inform the readers….Kingfisher is not a cheap airline company. While one can avail a ticket from Go-Air, Indigo, Indian Airlines etc between 1900 – 3750, Kingfisher offers you the similar ticket on similar times for around 1000-5000 more.
As a customer I agree that the kind of added services provided by Kingfisher Airlines the hike in price in comparison to other companies is quite justified. But the point here is is Kingfisher Airlines really providing all these services.
“NO”.
In past lets say around 3 months back the quality of service was great. A little bit here and there but as a customer who is spending 20-40% extra on air travel with this company I didn’t have any reason to complain.
Only in recent times or I should say since last 2 months where in I must have used their services for a minimum of 6-7 times at least, their services have been from BAD to WORSE to HORRIBLE…….
Initially the fall in the quality of staff was visible in the form communication skills.
The in flight staff’s speech skills were way below standards. Their spoken language be it English or Hindi was not clear, confidence level had started to show signs of going below levels acceptable, and coordination of the time between the safety announcement to serving the food till the Good bye’s was way out of order.
The first thing any passenger does as soon as they take their places is to check for a new paper or In-flight magazine. Now not once, twice or thrice but for at least 5-6 times I have seen no news paper, or the in-flight magazine. I understand that the passengers take the magazines at times and the stock at times could be up or down during the end of the month. But today is 5th of November 2007??? “Hello”….
Food, one of the most integral part of air travel…times have gone where passenger use to get to fly once in their lifetime. Now days with the economic change and various other reasons regular travelers are giving more business to any individual airlines then Random travelers. With this regularity we travelers tend to make our own Patronage and familiarize ourselves to the airline company where a standard is followed and we know that what we will get or see. Now again KF has greatly ignored their food quality since the same duration as the other stuff has started to deteriorate. As i type I am sampling the Vegetarian meal I have been served and I must say my assumption was not wrong even this time. The food SUCKS…..the rice is dry and seems that someone has forgotten to boil it, there are some sort of cutlets which again are only some sort of cause they have no taste at all…… the Dal is alright…….the salad has shredded cabbage leaves…..the desert is a cold gulabjamun dipped in some God For-saken syrup which tastes like a dessert full of chemicalised additives.
Overall the food is way below any standard. “I guess the guy at the procurement department is heavily involved in filling his/her pockets.
Time and again I have sent out the membership forms but till date no card has arrived.
Last but not the least and the main reason which forced me to write this……the ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM.
Now this is the 4rth time that I have a black screen in front of me……I remember the last conversation with my friend before boarding the flight ……she asked me why do you choose kingfisher….and my answer was “I love to laugh for 2 hours as they have this TV. thing in flight”….
I am a businessman myself and I know what it takes to satisfy a customer and to start with to build up and customer base. Mr. Malaya has definitely succeeded in creating that…but I feel that the speed of gaining the customer base multiply that by 2 and you have the answer……that’s the speed at which they are going to loose their customers if a strict action is not taken.
While the CHAIRMAN is busy partying away to Glory his officers in Purchase I guess are having all the fun or they have joined forces with competitors.
I am not looking for any compensation for BAD TIMES due to the KING OF GOOD TIMES,
Neither am I here to point a finger at the company for fun sakes.
I don’t need anything and I already have many options to choose from….specially JET AIRWAYS is my choice from now for at least there is a certain consistency in their services.
I have placed King Fisher as one of the most sought out brands. With the situation today with kingfisher ………..hmmmmm…..God Bless them…….
Since I have shifted to Bombay (I prefer saying it Bombay, gives that familiar sound……..)..Anyhow, due to shifting base from Delhi to Bombay I have to shuffle between the cities at least on an average twice a week.
Now with this kind of frequency one gets frustrated with the entire airport scene……I mean I have stopped buying the tickets in advance as I never know when I will need to rush again. With this kind of frequency I have traveled by almost every airline available in India. And like every passenger even I made my opinions about the service and comparison in service along with the pricing and overall experience…..
KINGFISHER AIRLINES … Definitely Kingfisher airlines……..
When the company had launched their services I was probably the first one to pick up their ticket just to have an experience. There were various reasons why I or any other passenger got attracted to this airline…..
Inspiration Icon Mr. Vijay Malaya, the man behind the concept..
Well dressed and pleasant looking Air hostesses.
Pleasing ground staff.
Great food.
Airport luggage service.
And the best feature….In Flight Entertainment system.
Let me inform the readers….Kingfisher is not a cheap airline company. While one can avail a ticket from Go-Air, Indigo, Indian Airlines etc between 1900 – 3750, Kingfisher offers you the similar ticket on similar times for around 1000-5000 more.
As a customer I agree that the kind of added services provided by Kingfisher Airlines the hike in price in comparison to other companies is quite justified. But the point here is is Kingfisher Airlines really providing all these services.
“NO”.
In past lets say around 3 months back the quality of service was great. A little bit here and there but as a customer who is spending 20-40% extra on air travel with this company I didn’t have any reason to complain.
Only in recent times or I should say since last 2 months where in I must have used their services for a minimum of 6-7 times at least, their services have been from BAD to WORSE to HORRIBLE…….
Initially the fall in the quality of staff was visible in the form communication skills.
The in flight staff’s speech skills were way below standards. Their spoken language be it English or Hindi was not clear, confidence level had started to show signs of going below levels acceptable, and coordination of the time between the safety announcement to serving the food till the Good bye’s was way out of order.
The first thing any passenger does as soon as they take their places is to check for a new paper or In-flight magazine. Now not once, twice or thrice but for at least 5-6 times I have seen no news paper, or the in-flight magazine. I understand that the passengers take the magazines at times and the stock at times could be up or down during the end of the month. But today is 5th of November 2007??? “Hello”….
Food, one of the most integral part of air travel…times have gone where passenger use to get to fly once in their lifetime. Now days with the economic change and various other reasons regular travelers are giving more business to any individual airlines then Random travelers. With this regularity we travelers tend to make our own Patronage and familiarize ourselves to the airline company where a standard is followed and we know that what we will get or see. Now again KF has greatly ignored their food quality since the same duration as the other stuff has started to deteriorate. As i type I am sampling the Vegetarian meal I have been served and I must say my assumption was not wrong even this time. The food SUCKS…..the rice is dry and seems that someone has forgotten to boil it, there are some sort of cutlets which again are only some sort of cause they have no taste at all…… the Dal is alright…….the salad has shredded cabbage leaves…..the desert is a cold gulabjamun dipped in some God For-saken syrup which tastes like a dessert full of chemicalised additives.
Overall the food is way below any standard. “I guess the guy at the procurement department is heavily involved in filling his/her pockets.
Time and again I have sent out the membership forms but till date no card has arrived.
Last but not the least and the main reason which forced me to write this……the ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM.
Now this is the 4rth time that I have a black screen in front of me……I remember the last conversation with my friend before boarding the flight ……she asked me why do you choose kingfisher….and my answer was “I love to laugh for 2 hours as they have this TV. thing in flight”….
I am a businessman myself and I know what it takes to satisfy a customer and to start with to build up and customer base. Mr. Malaya has definitely succeeded in creating that…but I feel that the speed of gaining the customer base multiply that by 2 and you have the answer……that’s the speed at which they are going to loose their customers if a strict action is not taken.
While the CHAIRMAN is busy partying away to Glory his officers in Purchase I guess are having all the fun or they have joined forces with competitors.
I am not looking for any compensation for BAD TIMES due to the KING OF GOOD TIMES,
Neither am I here to point a finger at the company for fun sakes.
I don’t need anything and I already have many options to choose from….specially JET AIRWAYS is my choice from now for at least there is a certain consistency in their services.
I have placed King Fisher as one of the most sought out brands. With the situation today with kingfisher ………..hmmmmm…..God Bless them…….