Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Spicejet - Review of My First Flight

Spicejet - Review of My First Flight

spice jet spicejet flight tickets airline boeing plane reservations seats reviewRecently, I visited the tourist destination of Goa on my annual vacation. For the return journey, I had wait listed train reservations that did not get confirmed. As I had to urgently reach Delhi by Monday, I booked myself on the most conveniently available flight - SpiceJet. Here is a review of my first flight.

SpiceJet has two flights from Goa to Delhi - the 3.00 pm flight via Mumbai and the direct 5.50 flight. On weekdays, the tickets cost Rs. 3,500, on Saturdays it is Rs. 5,028 while the price on Sundays is around Rs. 7,000. Before leaving for the airport, I recieved a lot of advice from my friends -

1. Don't be afraid to ask
2. Puke in the sick bag
3. Don't take the window seat
4. Write your initials on your luggage
5. Use the trolley at the airport
6. Don't take the plants, we'll bring them along later.

I took a taxi to Dabolim Airport in Goa and the driver helped me load my luggage onto a trolley. I found the trolley real difficult to push, so I unloaded my bags and wheeled them along. I went through the usual processes - x ray security check for check-in baggage, getting the boarding pass, checking in luggage, security check for hand baggage, frisking and boarding.

spice jet spicejet flight tickets airline boeing plane reservations seats reviewThe only 'Dhamaal' (controversy) that occured happened while boarding. The computer system was down so seat numbers could not be given. There was this wheelchair bound foreigner who was supposed to board first along with her family. Some drunk Delhiites could not understand why she was being allowed to board first and started hurling abuses, idiotic arguments about racism and shoved other foreigners including women and very small kids. I was so embarassed. These rude folks rushed to the back gate of the plane. Luckily, the Spicejet staff shut the back doors and made them wait an eternity before letting them enter.

SpiceJet has Boeing 737-800s with 189 seats. It has a typical cruise speed of 850 km per hour at 35,000 feet. As the flight was a no frills flight, I wasn't expecting much. On board, we were given sweets, cake and bottles of mineral water. The airplane departed and arrived on time - a short two and a half hours flight. I finally realised why job ads for airhostesses require tall people. Tall stewardesses are easily spotted through an airport crowd and from the back seats of a plane.

spice jet spicejet flight tickets airline boeing plane reservations seats reviewI loved the view from the window as the plane rose over the hills, sea and beaches of Goa. I thought I spotted the place we were staying at. It was located near the River Princess ship which was anchored off the coast of Candolim Beach. Here is a pic from Wikimapia. Later on there were just clouds. We reached Delhi at night. It was dark and the city lights looked very pretty from above.

On landing, I took the red Spice Jet bus to the terminal. It was then that the hot dry weather of Delhi hit me. I had to wait a long time for my baggage to come through on the conveyor belt. It was good that I wrote my initials on my bags as many people had black bags just like mine. I booked a prepaid taxi and headed for home.

About the Spicejet staff - they were polite and helpful. Things moved smoothly even for a newbie like me.

When did you take your first flight ? Which is the best airline you have travelled with ?

That's How It Really Works !!: My Vacation in Goa

17 comments:

  1. First flight when I flew to England.Love Lufthansa,hate French and American Airlines.

    Glad you enjoyed your flight!:))

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  2. Wow!!! I love Goa too...:)
    Enjoy
    Cheers

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  3. Flying has now become so routine now that I do not even remember when was the first time I flew. I think it was a trip (from Delhi) to my company's HQ in Bangalore sometime in mid 90's. @ that time Indian Airline was the only available option I believe.

    Over here, in the fast paced life, people have forgotten how to enjoy life i.e. by travelling by trains, buses etc.. Flying has taken over other modes of transportation. We do not enjoy too many holidays so if we are off for 3-4 days, we try to maximise the utilization of time while traveling. Trains are beautiful here but a trip to lets say New York cost's the same wheather you take the train or plane. Sometimes if you plan in advance it is a lot cheaper to fly. Airlines compete and you can find a deal most of the times but the fare by Train or Bus is fixed price.

    Most of the flights are very comfortable as all the airlines have good big planes (that carry from 150 to 300+ or so) and the bigger the plane, the smother the flight. If your flight is less than or around an hour or so, then sometimes we travel small planes that seats 25-30 people and it is a lot bumpier to ride these planes and I have seen people using the paper bags. lol.

    And I do not know what is the basis of Air Hostess recruitment in India, but over here I have seen Air hostesses as short as 5 feet. We recognize them by the airline uniform (in the plane or at airports) they wear and call them (if they are far from where you are seated) by the call switch @ the seat.

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  4. I took my first flight in Class 8. The best airlines, personally, is the old Air Sahara, in the happy days of Bid and Win and lovely service. The next after that is an IC flight that was surprisingly warm. The biggest dissapointment of late? Jet and Kingfisher, for the "We are Gods" attitude of their staff.

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  5. My first flight was to the U.S. 30 years ago.it was an air india flight.I was young, and thrilled to be on a plane.it was my first flight.I have sad memories though because I did not want to leave India.

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  6. i will write about my 1st flight in a separate post later. but i hope you didnt take any pics in the flight (it is prohibited). and the delhi guys are very rude. they need to be banished from india not the foreigners.

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  7. everything was fine. except those rude guys, who let our country down.

    When are we people going to grow up and learn some etiquettes? Such guys spoil the name of country.

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  8. quite a few years back...and it was Jet Airways..it was really coool..I Gat to see the cockpit in ma first flight itself....Captain knew dad..was real fun..(they dont do anything..nor u can see a thing..its all automatic..and they sit like dumbos..lol)
    n the air hostesses were damn sexy;)

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  9. Asha, Dawn, Sifar, How do we Know, Starry Nights, Whiskypriest, Aditi and StandbyMind - Thanks for sharing your experiences and comments.

    Sifar - Here in India, airhostesses have to be atleast 5'6" while ground stewardesses may be shorter at around 5'4".

    Whiskypriest - I did'nt take any pics at the airport coz there were too many people watching but once on the plane I took photos with my mobile camera.

    Standbymind - I suppose the real work comes during inclement weather, landing and takeoff !!

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  10. I have written about my first flight at:

    http://sidhusaaheb.blogspot.com/2006/08/nepal-visit-part-1-airborne.html

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  11. My first flight was on Air France. It was ok. The only problem was that I missed my conecting flight from Paris and I has to wait there at the airport lounge for 9 hrs.

    Best Airling I have travelled with is American Airlines. The seating is very comfortable.

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  12. The Best airlines in the world is Emirates and cathay pacific.. thats it!!!

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  13. This was one of my worst travel in spice jet. The Spice jet has most number of cancellation of flights and delyas. If you have any urgent work any connected buses are trains don't plan your journey in spice jet.
    Plan one day after your flight arrivals. i have experienced in to and my fro through the spice jet.
    We will plan the journey through flight to reach the destinations as early as possible but the spice jet has collapsed all my travel plans, in the return there is nothing alternative provided by them. The dealys are not intimated earlier. You will be taken near to the flight and be seated in bus for 2 hrs with out boarding the flight nothing will be informed for you. That is the way of information provided by these spice jet.

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  14. Spicejet is worst airlines

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  15. Spicejet is a miserable airlines

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  16. I really had an bad time travelling with spicejet when I found my baggage checked in ... without its handles...it was really difficult to travel with a bag without the handles...these insensitive peoples have removed the handles of my bag and also refused to give any compensation and also refused to register the complaint...any baggage is not safe when it has been checked in by spicejet...

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  17. Travelling with spicejet was the worst experience of my life....

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