Why I will fly Indigo, not Kingfisher or Jet

Fact 1: On a Jet Airways flight a few months ago, I had to change my two-year-old’s diaper. We were seated in the first row in economy class and since meal service was in the process of being wrapped up, there were two food carts blocking my path to the rear washroom. I saw no such problem towards the front of the aircraft where there’s another washroom. I almost reached that washroom when a flight attendant stopped me and rudely asked me where I was headed.

[caption id=“attachment_222909” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The reason why IndiGo shaves a few minutes off every flight is simple-every employee is motivated enough to work towards ensuring an on-time departure. AFP”] [/caption]

I was taken aback by her attitude and told her that I wished to use the washroom to change my son’s diaper. She bluntly said I could not use it. I asked why, since the washroom was clearly not being used. She said there was a queue of Premiere class fliers waiting to use it. Even more flummoxed, I asked her where these fliers were since I could not see even one person waiting to use the washroom and there was no one inside either. She then informed me that as a Jet Airways Economy Class flier I could not use the front washroom which is reserved for Premiere fliers.

Now, as a fairly frequent economy class flier, I understand the class divide between cattle class and the privileged, but I reminded her that it’s not me who had to use the washroom (cattle class fliers better know how to hold it in!). I had a two-year-old child waiting and there were two food carts blocking the path to the rear washrooms. She refused to budge and continued being rude and obnoxious. I refused to back down and said I would complain. Finally, in a gesture of magnanimity, this awful woman loftily told me she would make an exception and allow me to use it.

Fact 2: On an IndiGo flight a few months ago, I was waiting to disembark at Delhi when a passenger who was flying onwards said he wants to use the washroom. The flight attendant politely told him that since the flight has landed and disembarkation is on, rules require that washrooms not be used. He said that since he’s a senior citizen, he should be excused. Without further ado, she apologised, stepped aside and allowed him to use the washroom.

Jet Airways is the full-service carrier, supposedly the one which cares and uses marketing slogans such as the ‘Joy of Flying.’ IndiGo is a budget low-cost carrier (LCC) without any frills and strictly flies you from Point A to B. But when you think about these and other incidents, I’m beginning to wonder if what now seems to be Kingfisher’s death throes and Jet’s consistent woes don’t just have to do just with cost issues but incredibly, with the level of service.

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Here’s my contention-I’m saying that IndiGo is whipping the collective backsides of other Indian airlines not just because they have a low-cost model that they have perfected, but because they provide a superior level of service in the context of a domestic flight that lasts around two hours on average and where frills like a lounge are good to have but not must-have.

IndiGo has an awesome reputation for being on time-if an IndiGo flight has a scheduled departure time of 12:20, I’ve noticed that usually, the aircraft is airborne by then. With the others, they’d be closing doors around that time if the flight is on time. But would corporate executives actually prefer IndiGo just to save a few minutes-it’s not that every flight from Jet or the others is delayed by hours as compared to IndiGo. And incredibly, would fliers give up on the ability to earn miles on the loyalty programmes of a full-service carrier?

The fact is, many do, and obviously, the level of service has a lot to do with it. On a recent peak hour Air India flight to Delhi I noticed the general crowd seemed like first-time fliers, while on the return flight on IndiGo, every second flier wore a business suit. How times have changed.

On my many flights on IndiGo, I’ve never faced a service issue. On a full service carrier like Kingfisher, I remember at least four to five times when I’ve been completely overlooked (yes, overlooked!) during meal service. No, I wasn’t sleeping. They just forgot to ask or serve me!

One memorable incident with Kingfisher I’ll never forget happened at Hyderabad a few years ago. The aircraft had been delayed by a few hours and a flight that was supposed to depart around 8:45 PM was now leaving around 11 PM. Fliers waiting to get home were clearly angry. And in what was the last straw the aircraft was pushed back only to return to the bay because of a last-minute technical glitch. The lead flight attendant instead of at least pretending to care cheerily announced: “Welcome to the good times.” Some fliers exploded in anger at that line and simply stormed off the aircraft.

These incidents were from the days when Kingfisher had no dearth of backers and Vijay Mallya was literally on top of the world. Kingfisher was also poaching from other airlines back then. But yet, it faced glaring issues and crew didn’t seem motivated to provide the highest levels of service that they claimed to deliver.

Compare that with IndiGo, where I’ve always seen the highest levels of service despite not making any promises. The reason why IndiGo shaves a few minutes off every flight is simple-every employee is motivated enough to work towards ensuring an on-time departure. I’ve noticed the way they work at it. Last week at the Delhi airport when I checked in, I was informed the flight would be 5 minutes late! I don’t know any airline that would consider a 5-minute delay serious enough to warrant informing a guest at check in, or employees who are motivated enough to apologise for a 5-minute delay at check in.

IndiGo is also the only airline in India where the commander is expected to step out of the flight deck and greet fliers as they disembark. I’ve noticed that on some great international airlines, but rarely on any Indian carrier where pilots usually believe they are the cat’s whiskers-remember the recent snafu where a Spicejet pilot booted out a lady suffering from cerebral palsy because in his self-exalted opinion she was not capable of flying on her own.

IndiGo is also the only carrier where beyond just announcing the names of the crew members as mere procedure they make it interesting-they tell you which towns they hail from and the languages they speak. It’s small touches such as these that provide a great service experience and also motivates employees, and IndiGo seems to be doing it very well.

From a personal perspective, despite flying perhaps fairly equally on IndiGo and Jet Airways, I’ve had to complain a few times about atrocious service from Jet, but that’s never happened with IndiGo. The fact is Jet has disappointed me many times, but IndiGo never has. I’ve also noticed that if someone on my social networks says something bad about IndiGo others rise to defend the airline, but everyone agrees when someone says something bad about Jet or Kingfisher. And everyone wholeheartedly agrees when you praise IndiGo. That sort of loyalty doesn’t come with on-time performance alone.

And the incredible fact is that IndiGo’s service levels haven’t dropped even though they now have grown their fleet to 50 aircraft. In fact, that’s what makes a great airline-Singapore Airlines, my favourite airline and which many consider the world’s best has that reputation because of their consistency in service delivery. They provided the same incredible level of service when they had 50 aircraft and even today, when they have 105 passenger aircraft.

Which, is not the case with Jet Airways, which co-incidentally also has 100 aircraft today. I remember the good old days when Jet perhaps had 20-30 aircraft and offered an amazing level of service. Today, the experience is extremely inconsistent-on some flights I’m amazed, and on some a flight attendant is so rude, obnoxious and badly trained that she can’t even empathise with the basic needs of a two-year-old child.

IndiGo on the other hand has realised the issue of ensuring service consistency as the airline scales up, and its strategies are clearly working-IndiGo crew are clearly motivated to provide a consistent level of service, from on-time departures to customer service. While the others are clearly failing. And fliers are thus picking IndiGo as their airline of choice, despite the lack of supposed frills.