Air Deccan
Sometime back, I wrote about Air Deccan's success in disrupting status-quo in the fairly staid airline industry by launching no-frills flights with extremely lean operations. This meant that they served no food on board, had only one air hostess, had no assigned seating and turned around their aircraft in 15 minutes.
And all of this was fine, except that they have now really started scraping the bottom of the barrel for ways to save money. Some examples:
And all of this was fine, except that they have now really started scraping the bottom of the barrel for ways to save money. Some examples:
- Boarding cards are no longer printed at Madurai Airport. They are handwritten !
- They switch off the a/c for almost half the duration of the flight
- Flights are frequently "preponed" by upto 15 minutes
- They have dumb-ass schemes such as "Simpli-bid" which is an inflight auction
And I really wish they would realize that there is absolutely no need for one lakh tickets at Rs.1 each. People will pay more, if only Air Deccan wakes up and realizes that air travelers generally expect a somewhat more comfortable journey than a share auto rider.
Comments
I also remember that "switching off AC" business! They did that in Satyam movie theatre - the aircon on for 15 minutes, then off for the next 2-1/2 hours of the movie, then back on for the last 15 minutes. MAN it was annoying!
And have you noticed how many people dont use headlamps on cars/bikes/scooters even at night because they think they're "saving" on lightbulbs and, for all I know, petrol? :)
I do agree that the basic aminities should be taken care of though.
Air Deccan is doing some really good stuff though.