The Monsoons are here!!!

The wait is finally over. The scorching heat will be gone at least for a few months. It is that time of the year when you get to drench yourself in the pouring rain. Here come the “Monsoons”. Yes, you heard it right. The South-West monsoons have hit the Indian coast and are well on schedule. Infact ahead of schedule by 6 days. Kerala and parts of coastal Karnataka have already started experiencing torrential downpour. The speed of the monsoons winds is said to be very high and so they would engulf the whole country in their charm and might within the next one month.

The “Monsoons” have always fascinated me. The way the cloud and wind formation take place and how they ensure that they strike the Indian Sub-continent at roughly the same time year after year. They are truly the bread and butter of many an Indian soul. They ensure that nearly 2/3rds of India’s population is kept happy which contributes to about 1/5^th of India’s GDP. The met department has predicted a 93% monsoon.

Come the monsoons and soon drops the mercury levels bringing a smile on everyone’s face. It has been overcast here in Bangalore for the past week or so accompanied by heavy winds. It has made the weather very pleasant here.

The arrival of the monsoons will ensure the filling up of rivers and lakes. Ensure greenery all around. Come September when the Monsoons have nearly come to an end we will get to visit many of the scenic places and hopefully get to have a nature shower in the waterfalls.

I am truly looking forward to a rain filled next few months.

Air Deccan - The Airline that tests your patience!!!

Air Deccan is regarded as the No.1 low cost airline in India connecting many destinations across India. They also claim that there flights are 94 -95% of the times on time. Well, well!! Is that so? A deeper look into the statement and you find a small astrix sign. Read the explanation and you find that the airline regard a take off even one hour after scheduled departure time as on-time. Stunned and surprised? So was I. I always heard that you are considered to be on time if you did something at the time told and anything after that was considered late. Do we have a new theory in place? These people just amaze me. But whatever be the theory all my travels by Air Deccan till now have been in the 5-6% category and have really tested not just my patience but many others also.

All my 3 flights have been in the Mumbai – Bangalore sector.

1st Flight: Mumbai- Bangalore: Scheduled Departure- 11:30am, Actual departure 1:00pm. Reason: Not known.

2nd Flight: Bangalore – Mumbai: Scheduled Departure – 9:40pm, Actual Departure – 1:00am. Reason: Cumulative delay of flight throughout the day. It was the flights 8th flight and a delay of 30mins each time and hence the 4 hour delay.

3rd flight: Mumbai – Bangalore: Scheduled Departure – 11:30 am, Actual Departure – 5:00pm.

Reason: Technical Snag. The flight goes all the way up to the runway at 12:00 and the take off is aborted half way due to technical snag. So we return back to the tarmac and are made to wait for more than a hour in the plane only to be asked to deplane. Then we wait for another 2 hours as they told that they have arranged for another flight which would leave at 4:30pm. They had arranged for a flight which would have actually flown to Nagpur. Now the Nagpur people were stranded while we finally took off at 5:00pm.

Except for the third incident, the rest of the incidents are unpardonable. They have irritated and frustrated myself and my friend so much that we cursed ourselves and the airline. We cursed ourselves because on each occasion we had just put in another 500 to 1000 rupees we would have got a ticket in another flight. And we cursed the air carrier for the obvious reasons. We have taken a resolution of never again travelling by Air Deccan anymore. Not just the two of us but a couple more have done the same after these incidents.

Agreed they are low cost airline, but not maintaining time is a major worry for them. Apart from maintaining time there customer staff, crew are not up to the mark at all. I have evidence to substantiate this.

When my flight from Mumbai to Bangalore was aborted due to technical snag we were asked to deplane after more than a hour and by this time the people had already lost there cool. They were ready to thrash anything and everybody in sight. They were fighting with the Air Deccan personnel. These two guys were at max fresh graduates who hold the posts of customer care executive. They have no powers and such situations need some instant decision making. So, I question where were the Customer Support/Operation heads? What were they doing? If they cannot handle such situation, then what are they for? Please don’t tell me that this is not part of there job responsibility.
Also the cabin crew (air hostesses) are not well trained. Going back to the same incident, after our flight took off at 5:00pm, at around 6:20, it was time to land and we were facing some turbulence, some guy wanted to go to the rest room and he was waiting outside the rest room as it was occupied. The air hostess just started yelling at the top of he voice asking him to get back to his seats and started banging the door and yelling at the guy inside asking him to come out immediately. I agree it was a tense situation but then there is a way to handle things and talk to people, especially since they are in the service industry.

Overall, this is not the way things should work. Captain Gopinath, if you ever read this post, I appreciate the effort and the business plan, but if you don’t maintain time and customer service you are bound to doom. Over and above you have just lost 4 customers. I wonder how many you are losing everyday.

Adios, Sayonara: AIR DECCAN – NEVER TO FLY AGAIN!!!