Air India Express- Not on rails but in the sky. Review on Air India Express

Awesome is one word that comes to my mind when I say Air India Express, the budget airlines started by Air-India. Why Awesome? Just look at the cost of the ticket and the exteriors of the airplanes. These aircrafts have various cultures of India painted on the body of the airplane. (For example the Kathakali dancer, the caparisoned elephant head etc.) They look marvelous when you see them on air.

Air India Express is a budget airline catering to the middle east sector, but has recently started the domestic sector (as of now it offers service only to Calicut and Cochin) and I was lucky enough to travel to Calicut on it. It is ideal for people traveling to gulf regions from Mumbai, Calicut or Cochin as you can get tickets for as low as Rs. 4000 plus taxes to Abhudhabi, Dubai, Sharjah etc. The entire process of booking and ticketing can be done online and payments are through credit card. The domestic tickets are priced at Rs. 2000 (Calicut) and Rs.2500 (Cochin).A transaction fee of Rs. 125/- and airport taxes of Rs.221/- is extra. But still its damn cheap compared to paying Rs. 3920/- to 9990/- to these sectors by other airlines.

I was very excited to travel on this new service, but had my doubts about their efficiency and punctuality. My flight was to depart at 7.50 a.m. from Mumbai and I reported with the e-ticket at the Domestic Air India Check-in counters at the 2C Terminal. Check-in was smooth. The flight was on time. After the immigration clearance (cant they do without this for Domestic passengers?) and security check, you are ready to board the aircraft. That’s when I saw that the Boarding is through Gate 19. I wasn’t happy about it. Because you don’t get to use the aerobridge (I love walking on it). So when you have to Board through Gate 19, you eventually end up riding an air-conditioned bus towards the aircraft, which, most of the time, is situated at the far end of the airport. But when we neared the aircraft, I was amused at the exterior of the aircraft. I strolled a little looking at it in detail, when I realized, a couple of eyes were eyeing me. They were the Airport security, guarding the aircraft and checking in each passenger. I thought they would now grill me. But, they smiled.

Once inside, I got more excited as there was no business class seats, the entire aircraft has economy class seating and the interiors was quite elite. The cabin crew, dressed in an exquisitely designed uniform, was a mix of both sexes and was young, good looking; friendly and ever smiling (I think Air-India needs to do something about this for their own fleet). The seats were comfortable and with good leg room. There were cute, drop down, LCD displays in front of every two rows of seats and I was looking for some good entertainment to kill 1.35 hrs of flying time. But before take off it was switched off and it slid back into its slot. Never to come back. Then as we were taxing to take off, an announcement comes apologizing for the short delay due to traffic and that we were number three in the line of take off. (Looking out of the window, I saw at least four aircrafts behind us) Take off was smooth.

Being a budget airline, I never expected them to serve snacks, but they do. A paper box was handed to me with apple juice in tetra pack and a bottle of mineral water. The only difference is the contents of the paper pack comes ice cold. However, tea and coffee comes hot. Now that’s the sad part with Air India Express - the snacks. Imagine eating ice cold medu vada and kachoris wrapped in silver foil (sic). Peeling off the silver foil, my brain prompted me to say, are they leftovers from other Airlines by the sky chef people. You also have bread sliced with cheese and a piece of cake. I started remembering the food served on Jet Airways and those relishing vadas of Mysore café in Matunga, while munching them away. I later came to know from a relative who happened to travel from Abhudhabi to Kochi on this airline about their iced affair. They too got the same stuff to eat. Moreover, carry some good reading material with you as the airline does not provide newspapers or magazines on board.

I hope Air India Express stays in the sky for a long time and give more people an opportunity to fly and reach their destinations faster.