Thunderroad

I'm contemplating my wife and myself using Spicejet to fly from Kochi, India to Male, Maldives in February. We're also thinking of taking it from Goa to Kochi.

I don't see any recent comments on its service or reliability. How reliable and safe is it? I realize it's a low cost carrier, but how decent is its service in terms of check-in, on-board friendliness and IT reliability?

Also, when I click on a one-way fare option for the Kochi-Male flight, a box pops up saying something along the lines of "OK to Board is mandatory on this flight for one-way passengers. Please see your travel/visa-issuing agent." Does anyone know what this means?

Thanks for any help!

shivNZ

Spicejet went through a really bad patch a few years ago where they didn't have any money to pay for jetfuel and started cancelling flights as a result. I've not flown on them since and wouldn't recommend it. When in India, I fly on Indigo, Jet and Air India (because of the *G connection).

Gobus

I think that OK to Board statement is referring to having visa or other travel authorization/clearance, so that the airline can allow you to travel. They need to see proof of your visa, passport allowing visa-free access, etc, and denoted on your PNR. I do not see why this couldn't be done at the airport itself. It should be the same across all airlines from India.

All airlines are mostly bad in India. They will get you from point A to point B - don't expect a good experience. Regardless of which airline you choose, you MUST check-in in advance. It's not required but there's a high probability of getting bumped off without compensation if you don't.

I would pick Air India for myself (which is the best of the sorry lot of them all). I'm actually scheduled to fly AI in a month.

JohnnyRockets

Spice might be the only nonstop one. So either that or full cost (AI, UL, 9W). Don't even think of connecting on LCC in India.
Try check UL, many times it is cheaper.

Safety isn't a real issue for any airlines (AI pilots fight each other, 9W lets a Bollywood star sing over PA system inflight, etc.)
All airlines are fairly reliable except for constant delays.
NO AIRPORTS are reliable for anything. On my worse days I've seen very long security line, accidentally smuggled a 1L water pass security and have been 'touched' by their useless wands. And after 9+ people checking my documents, I had to go back to security because one overzealous guy couldn't read the date stamp (they never look at the date just any tag with a random stamp works) on my carry-on tag.

But good news, SpiceJet is recovering under new ownership.

Davvidd

No one needs a visa for Maldives but a return ticket may be required. Spice is a low cost airline operating a Q400 from Cochin India to MLE. It is cheaper than UL as UL goes via CMB and the connections could be bad to MLE from India.

TKMCE

I have flown this route about 15 times (Round Trips) in the last four years, the latest being this month. This is a very reliable flight and you have absolutely nothing to worry about. It is a relatively short 1 hour 50 minutes flight and you have food available for purchase on board and the same can be prebooked on the Spice Jet (SG) website also However being a lunch time flight, it is better to have food before you depart and Kochi (COK ) international terminal has a number of good F and B outlets in the departure gate area after you clear security.

Delays are very rare on this flight. As one of the earlier posters mentioned, Spice Jet is under new ownership and now the on board service is back to the original high levels.

Maldives Immigration requires Tourists to have a Return or Onward Ticket to (to another country- not for a domestic flight) when you arrive in the country along with proof of a confirmed hotel booking and evidence of sufficient funds . This is the reason you are getting the" OK to board" message. If you have both the return/onward ticket and the hotel booking there are no issues booking a one way ticket, but make sure your onward ticket shows a confirmed status (as opposed to a waitlisted/request status). Without either of these you will not be allowed to board the aircraft at Cochin. I am assuming that you are not having an Indian passport. If you are having an Indian passport, even if you are a tourist, you should have a return ticket back to India. THere is no separate Visa on Arrival counter at Male' (MLE). You just proceed to immigration on arrival whetre you will be asked for the documents mentioned above. However please do cross check the latest information with any travel agent or airline having access to TIMATIC on their computers.

UL nowadays is much more expensive than Spice Jet. You generally have atleast a 2 hour wait at Colombo. Unless you want to acquire Frequent Flyer miles , it is not worth using UL for this route.

Regarding the connection from Goa to Kochi on Spice Jet. If you are booking this on the Spice Jet website- Goa to Kochi (SG3106/SG 605), then again nothing to worry about. Although a Low Cost airline, for any connection bookings made on Spice Jet website, they will honour the connection. You will be checked right through to Kochi (COK) from Goa (GOI), will be given two boarding passes (For Goa to Chennai and Chennai to Kochi) and your bags will be checked through to Kochi (COK) . You just go to the gate for Kochi at Chennai (MAA), the transit point

This connection (SG 3106/SG 605) has a two hour wait at MAA so chances of missed connection are rare. Also the Goa Chennai flight - SG 3106 - again on Q 400 is another very long running highly reliable flight of Spice Jet while SG 605 on MAA COK which is operated by a Boeing 737 is the aircraft which is used to operate the Kochi Dubai flight later in the night - one of SGs two international flights from COK, the other being to MLE - hence cancellation of the Chennai Kochi flight hardly ever happens. So go ahead will be my advice for the Goa Kochi connection as well.

As for getting bumped off without compensation etc, most of the people making such comments nowadays are not fully aware of the real situation. India has passenger protection laws including those for Denined Boarding Compensation for the last few years and these laws have been made even more stringent recently. Full details are avaiable in the following website of the Directorate General of Civil Aviaton.


http://www.dgca.nic.in/

Spice Jet terms and conditions for Domestic travel given in their wesite also lists out the compensation you are eligible for a missed connection in the unforseen event of that happening.

Happy flying!

NB- I do not work for the airline concerned. Another forum member referred this thread to me as I am a frequent flyer on the route in question.

SpiceJet

DO NOT, DO NOT FLY WITH SPICE JET! I flew Delhi to Goa on 19 December 2016 and when my bag arrived it was open. I complained to SpiceJet ground staff and they took a photograph of the bag as it had arrived, clearly showing it had been opened in transit. They then asked me to check contents to see if anything was missing. I did so and there were a number of items missing. I asked for a written report and they flatly refused to give me one! I argued with them but they told me they could only provide a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) for missing bags!! They asked me to write a list of the missing items on a piece of paper that they took from me, advising that they would check with Delhi and call me. Luckily my companion took a photo of the list before we left the airport else I would have no evidence of this at all because I heard nothing more from them.

Returning to Delhi on 30 December - with a different airline - I went to the airport 2 hrs early so I could visit Spice Jet office and demand a PIR. I was told the manager was in a meeting - and he stayed in it for nearly 3 hrs before I eventually had to leave! I did at least manage to get the two SpiceJet staff members to come to us when I insisted they provided the photo of my opened bag which I copied to my phone.

The way I was treated was unbelievable, until I was shouting in frustration trying to get them to simply provide a PIR!. They continued to refuse. With hindsight I realise I should have reported this to the Goa police on 19 December so that at least I'd have a report for my insurance company - who are refusing to recompense me without a PIR! They do not accept that an airline would not have provided this if I had reported a loss to them!

Meanwhile, I have exchanged countless emails with SpiceJet Customer Service/Nodal - and written to SpiceJet owner Ajay Singh - who keep telling me they are investigating this matter - obviously they are NOT!

This is a dishonest airline and I would not recommend anyone to risk flying with them