I'll be using a travel agent (Amex Travel) so I don't expect payment to be an issue. Thanks for the replies... Looks like Kingfisher is the winner

Just flew BLR-COK, MAA-IXZ-MAA-DEL on Jet Airways, all flights were reasonably on time and great service.

I STRONGLY advise against booking on Air Sahara. My SXR-DEL flight a couple of days ago was cancelled. The manner in which they handled the delays, then cancellation, then the battle to receive any sort of compensation from the airlines was horrid. :td: :td:

Jet was on time and pleasant (with food and IFE - their newer planes are quite nice).

On Srinagar-Delhi (and Delhi-Srinagar), Air Sahara has more issues than Jet Airways when we've done it; however, Jet Airways has multi-hour delays from time to time there too; and at various times in the year -- mostly fall & winter (including right now) -- it's all the airlines that are partly messed up into/out of SXR.

At SXR, when there are 3-4 hour delays on Jet Airways, they'll give you a voucher for a boxed meal of some sort that tastes better than is expected at that airport. (SXR is in need of major work still, despite the improvements these last two years.)

It wasn't so much the delays themselves (though those were irksome), it was miserable communication, the holding everyone around for an extra 30 minutes until the stroke of 5 even though they knew the plane wasn't going to arrive, then the 45 minute pitched battle to receive any information from the Sahara staff and any sort of compensation (which ended up being a cab to town and night at the Mumtaz).

In short, S2 was acting like something from the old customer hostile India. Based on a fairly large survey at Gulmarg, Kingfisher and Deccan were the best on time, Kingfisher tops on service, Jet decent, and Sahara the worst.

That "survey" is the general take as far as I've experienced too. I wonder where Kingfisher and Jet put up displaced SXR passengers. (I'd prefer the IC Grand Palace, formerly known as Oberoi Palace.)