Jet Airways Vs Other Airlines

I fly every week. Well, almost.

Previously, I used to switch between Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. Sometimes, I even liked Kingfisher service quality and the very well kept aircraft. Sometimes, I also liked the fact that Kingfisher was more punctual than other airlines, apparently because it shared ground services with Indian Airlines. Or, even despite that !

For the past continuous 6 months, I have stuck to Jet Airways.

Why ? The reason is simple. They remember my name !

Looks foolish, but it is not. Human tendency is to get surprised when a stranger addresses you by your last name. It is all the more surprising that he or she is not a business acquaintance or a classmate from the past. I am sure they do greet frequent flyers, but not always. In Singapore Airlines flights, I used to be always surprised when the air hostess offer a towel or drink to me, after addressing me properly, though in a difficult manner due to the toughness the English language and South Indian names pose to foreigners in a joint attack !

Well, Jet Airways is no different. I can understand that they can read out my name when I have ordered a special meal for instance, but it is always surprising when they greet me while I am disembarking. It is difficult to forget that memory and courtesy.

So, I have stuck with them. Jet Airways is more or less punctual, but not as good as Kingfisher. Further, they “bus” the passengers to remote parking bays. And, they take far too longer to land – ofcourse, not their fault. ATCs (Air Traffic Controllers) are notoriously ill-equipped in Mumbai.

The planes are clean, the food is pretty good, and the service is prompt. So, why switch ? Kingfisher may be equally good, but they have not made the necessary effort to woo and retain frequent flyers. Further, they are in big financial trouble. So, all this does affect a flyer, I would guess.

All the other airlines of India – IndiGo, GoAir, Spice, Indian Airlines – are not worth flying. Timings are not suited for business flyers generally in low-cost airlines. Indian Airlines gives pathetic service. So, Jet Airways and Kingfisher score over all the other airlines.

Look at Indian Airlines – a government-owned company which is seeking taxpayer funds of over USD 3B (Rs 15,000 crores) for fixing the losses of the company, essentially a result of mis-management or non-management. Employees can no longer hold the company to ransom – each and every employee is responsible for the state in which Indian Airlines finds itself in. It is a prime example of how not to be an airline. The firm posture of the government in demanding that the company come up with a plan to come out of the red in a definite time frame is a positive sign of things to come – no longer can the government be held to ransom by the unions and the communists. What about the consumers ? I would still expect a strike, leading to the government firing striking employees. Already Indian Airlines is pushing employees to go on a 2-year vacation !

The question is “who among all these airlines will survive the economic downturn and overcome the financial losses ?”. I hope Jet Airways does, because I have to keep flying with them !

All the best to Jet Airways ! It is as good as Singapore Airlines, and in some areas better. Let us see whether it would become the first truly global Indian airlines to fly the world’s skies.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan
27th June 2009
Mumbai