Classy airline with a personal touch!. Review on Kingfisher Airlines

Think of Kingfisher Airlines and you visualize their Red and exciting Airbus Planes, plush lobbies, lovely food, on flight entertainment, courteous airhostesses (flight attendants), hospitality and many good things. But some things are overshadowed with their vibrant and colorful outfits.

The current review will bring about my experience of flying with theseRed birds. It was an inbound flight from Delhi and I felt they truly believe in their tagline "Fly the good times.”

This was my maiden flight with these people and I had arrived at the airport well in advance at Terminal 1D. The professional touch with this airline was surprising. The fight was at around 3.00 PM and we (my family) were at the airport at around 12.50 pm (2 hours in advance). As soon as we entered the lobby of the airport, few KFA ground staff rushed towards the taxi. They asked me whether I am flying with them. As soon as I nodded "Yes" they plunged on the luggage, got the trolleys in line and within minutes everything was set to go- This was an amazinggesture. Its not over here, they followed us till the check in counter and left only when the luggage was kept on the conveyor belts! Great service by KFA.

Now, the lady at the check in counter was a truly professional. She greeted us with a smile and asked us as to having any difficulties reaching the airport. She kept me busy in stuff like Pune is a lovely city and the weather is cool over there, how my trip to Delhi etc etc and meanwhile she was preparing boarding passes for all of us... I WAS BOWLED OUT AGAIN. I was feeling like a king at the airport - LOL. No matter what a few line of courtesy and care do wonders on the people around you and KFA knows this art very very well.

After the check in we boarded the flight and again we were greeted with a professional smile and offered some help to locate our seats. The plane was neat and tidy. The seats were very comfortable and the in flight entertainment is good too. It had five different channels to look out for, viz., deferred Zoom TV, songs, serial, flight information (it shows the exact location of the flight, outside temperature, cruising speed etc) and KFA ads only.The food served was "Rajama Masala" and it was very tasty and hot. Later we were served with coffee/tea. The attendantsare very courteous and very alert.

In all the experience was truly great and that was the reason that I booked to and fro with them from Mumbai to Udaipur the next month. Again, they repeated themselves there too. (But with a small hiccup)

Now everything just can’t be as good as it seems since perfection is a myth to some extent. KFA did a huge goof up with the same reservation that I have mentioned above. (MUM-UDAIPUR)

I had booked a reservation for my family (5 pax) on 15th June from Mumbai-Udaipur travellingon 01 Nov and returning on 03 November. Everything was fine and the PNR looked Confirmed with all the seat nos on it. I was rest assured that I had got a good fare and the reservation is done and completed.

On 25th July. I occasionally called their call centre to getsome otherdetails so that I can arrange for pickup cabs at the airport. To my horror they said that the reservation isconfirmed, but the ticket is not!!! Now, what do you mean by the phrase "reservation is confirmed, but the ticket is not ? " (I had worked with an Airline reservation team - Delta Airlines with Wipro for a period of 6 months. Somehow I know as to how these things are done online) I was totally confused as to what it actually means? The agent over the phone told me that the reservation is confirmed with the passenger details but we haven’t received the money for confirming the reservation!!!I insisted as to how come that the PNR ticket shows that the reservation is confirmed? No Sir, the ticket is not confirmed. We need your credit card details so that we can proceed with this ticket and the fare that would be applicable would be RS.30K. (I had booked my reservation for Rs.18K) Now, I was losing my temper. The agent insisted to check my account balance which I did. (The money from my bank accounthad not passed by) So, what can we do now to confirm the confirmed reservation with the same fare? Sir, I need your credit card details to confirm the ticket. But I don’t have 18K in my credit card to be used... what are other options? Can debit card do? No Sir, only credit card! How about if I pay the amount at the Airport or any KFA outlet? No Sir, only credit card has to be used since it is an online ticket. I said,well in that case I need to transfer the amount into my Credit card and then confirm the ticket and it will take some time may be at least 2 days. But Sir, the ticket is open and it can be cancelled at any point of time if we have bookings!!!! Wait wait wait, Let me get it clear that it’s me who have called you to retrieve my travelling details. The booking was made on 15th June and today on 25th July you suddenly woke upand tell me that the ticket is not done and itmight be cancelled at any given point of time since the money is not received! What actually were you people doing for all those lovely 15-20 days keep my reservation on hold showing me the CONFIRMED status without charging me for it?

NO ANSWER! Again, if the amount is not received then why this is not reflected on the PNR itself?What if I wouldn’t have called you up and would have come to the airport on Nov 1? NO ANSWER!

Meanwhile, I told him that I have made a reservation using my Debit card and it had worked while making one reservationfor the month of September. Again, he had no answer. ( I really don’t know as to why he was crying for credit cards only.)

The actual problem was that I had used the Debit card for a shopping for Rs.9K and was trying to book this reservation was Rs.18K on the same day. Online shopping limit is Rs.25k and since despite the bank account having enough money in it, could not process the debit charge. Thus KFA didn’t received the money, however, the online ticketing mechanism knowing about the money in the account released the "Confirmed" ticket which eventually was not! Here, KFA should have get in touch with me ASAP to get the money and to confirm the ticket, which they didn’t! My whole travel plan went for a toss and in all was also loosing the fare which I had received making a reservation in the first place.

I raised the issue with the KFA authorities and made a lot of noise about this non sense. I got calls from various KFA team desks for apologies and feedbacks were given on the same issue.

Meanwhile I transferred some money to my credit card and reconfirmed theticket with the same fare.

Apart from this goof up, KFA is a fantastic airliner and would recommend it to anyone any day.

Thank you for reading such a long review and would be expecting your valuable comments and insights.

Enjoy.