I had booked two tickets from Bangalore to Kochi on the inagural day of Bangalore's new international airport( 24th May 2008). Departure time was given as 9.30 AM. I reached the airport at 8.30 and finished security check by 9.00.

Till 10.30 there were no annoncements about the flight and not even one Indigo staff was available. Atlast by 10.30 flight number got displayed and 2-3 staff came. initially the gate number was given as 4 and later they changed it as 3 and finally we went throguh gate number 6.

Forget every thing till now... we all got into the flight by 11.00 AM.
There were usual announcements ...Thanks for boarding air indigo... I am the cheif air hostess blah.. blah..blah..

We all were waiting and there was no sign of take off. All the other flights were operating without any issues. At 12.20 PM the @$$hole cheif pilot says the delay is due to some technical reasons.

At last flight took off at 12.50...

And here are the reasons (which came to know later from the staff)
1. We forgot to take the hardcopy of the permission to operate from the new airport.
2. We don't have ladder, so had to wait to get the ladder from Indian Airlines
3. As today is the first day of the new airport, we faced some other issues as well.

But what about other operators like KingFisher and Jet Airways etc.. all were on time..and they didn't forget anything..

It's not just about the time that we lost but about the reasons what they gave for the delay... Who the hell is accountable for that..? And when they are gonna learn to have a proper flight plan..?

Their website says that they were awarded “Best Low Fare Carrier in India for the year 2007”. But the best suited award for them will be the "Best Low Performance Carrier in India".

- Naison Garvasis Pekkattil
Mupliyam

Welcome to FlyerTalk naison. Just to let you know, this thread should be in the 'Airlines of India' forum where you'll find all the discussions of Jet, Kingfisher, Air India etc.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Indigo. All I've ever heard of them is that they order 100 A320s & they plan to offer really cheap, no-frills flights. Never heard of anyones experiences with them until now.

Indeed, Indian domestic flights are on the whole very good with carriers pushing each other for higher service levels (Jet, Kingfisher...). The description you give seems more typical of a US domestic. None the less, I've had worse ordeals - 24 hour delays due to an oxygen leak in the cockpit

Welcome to FT. However you may want adopt a better attitude that displayed in the quote above, especially in your first post. I have always had decent experiences with Indigo -- get you from A to B in a clean airplane, mostly on time, and with minimal fuss.

This was the first day in a new airport. So there were a couple of screw ups. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things. Other airlines did in fact face problems as well when the new airport opened, and most airlines continue to face problems -- see thread on BLIA airport. Could have been much worse... For instance, you could have been on BA at the T5 opening or on the hapless KLM flight when the new HYD airport opened...

Yes, had similar experiences with indigo myself. Brand new A320s, fast and efficient service (food for payment though - but they've tied up with Caf� Coffee Day -- local starbucks clone - so the food is at least edible). I like them.

BIAL has had its share of screwups - not all of which are the fault of the airline concerned.

welcome to FT

Sorry for your 4 hour delay. In US delays of 4 hours or longer are common for stupidest reasons. I flew Indigo before and the flight was pleasant with no problems.

I would definitely recommend flying them again. One bad experience does not mean the airline will be like that in the future.

Umm... will take care next time

...looks like you guys never had such an experience with Indigo. This was my first encounter with them. Otherwise, I usually go with KingFisher and never had a bad episode.

Let's see next time.. ^

- Naison Garvasis Pekkattil,
Mupliyam