When it comes to flying, I have a certain luck. You can find my previous posts here.
I flew Lufthansa from TX to Bangalore this June. This was my quickest flight to Blore till date. I had heard that the food was not so-great and so carried a few snack bars in case I need them. The flight was full. The service was good. But the food was as I feared. I don't remember what they gave - but it was the same thing meal after meal ! Still, some food is better than no food and I was happy. For the first time, I had no great adventures either ! With my luck, I usually almost miss connecting flights, or baggage would be lost or I would be lost. Anyway I reached home.
The Dubai flight was a different story. I flew Air-India as it was the only flight going directly from Blore to Dubai. My flight was at around 8:30am. I checked-in my bags and waited for immigration. Compared to my Canadian immigration, this was a cake-walk ! I then waited in the lounge. And waited and waited. It was past 8:30am and no sign of the plane or any announcements ! I began to panic. I worried that maybe I was in the wrong terminal ( quite silly as there is only ONE terminal). After what seemed an eternity ( around 9 am), there was some activity indicating that the plane was ready to be boarding. What was the indication ? Well, everyone seemed to run and stand in the queue near the gate. Then there was an announcement for passengers with children. Chaos ruled for a while. Then everyone else were asked to board.
The plane was huge ! And empty ! The seat next to me was empty. I waited for take-off. I dozed off for a few minutes and when I woke up - the plane was still in Blore. Looks like there was some delay. Damn ! A movie was playing and it looked interesting. The only glitch, no ear-phones. I wondered how people were watching a movie without audio ! I guess they were really bored. The seats were really old, the volume and other controls were ancient ! The socket for the ear-phones were priceless ! I was LOL when I saw 2 holes grilled into the seats. I wondered what sort of ear-phones would fit into these. Then, the air-hostess gave us some PVC cables. Oh o. Turns out, those weird cables were the head-phones ! They were the weirdest and the most uncomfortable ear-phones I had ever used in my life ! It was so bad, that I decided to forego the movie than torturing myself.
By now, the plane had taken off and I was looking forward to the food. Did I mention that the air-hostess was really old ? I have nothing against senior citizens working in planes. But this lady was really mean and lazy. She had a bored expression all the time. And was so snooty ! No one came to even offer water/beverage for a long time. Then this lady made her grand appearance with the food trolley. Pushing it was quite difficult for her as even the trolley was old ( paint had come off and it looked very dirty). She was basically throwing the food trays on the people without even a smile. She gave me a food tray and I asked her if it was veggie. Imagine ! She did not even ask the choice of meal. She then started rummaging her trolley for veg food and finally found one. The food was average. I was disappointed. The old lady made her appearance again with tea/coffee and then she took away the trays.
We finally reached Dubai safely. The airport was huge. I had a marhaba lady help me with the immigration formalities and then I finally saw Vikram.
I flew Lufthansa from TX to Bangalore this June. This was my quickest flight to Blore till date. I had heard that the food was not so-great and so carried a few snack bars in case I need them. The flight was full. The service was good. But the food was as I feared. I don't remember what they gave - but it was the same thing meal after meal ! Still, some food is better than no food and I was happy. For the first time, I had no great adventures either ! With my luck, I usually almost miss connecting flights, or baggage would be lost or I would be lost. Anyway I reached home.
The Dubai flight was a different story. I flew Air-India as it was the only flight going directly from Blore to Dubai. My flight was at around 8:30am. I checked-in my bags and waited for immigration. Compared to my Canadian immigration, this was a cake-walk ! I then waited in the lounge. And waited and waited. It was past 8:30am and no sign of the plane or any announcements ! I began to panic. I worried that maybe I was in the wrong terminal ( quite silly as there is only ONE terminal). After what seemed an eternity ( around 9 am), there was some activity indicating that the plane was ready to be boarding. What was the indication ? Well, everyone seemed to run and stand in the queue near the gate. Then there was an announcement for passengers with children. Chaos ruled for a while. Then everyone else were asked to board.
The plane was huge ! And empty ! The seat next to me was empty. I waited for take-off. I dozed off for a few minutes and when I woke up - the plane was still in Blore. Looks like there was some delay. Damn ! A movie was playing and it looked interesting. The only glitch, no ear-phones. I wondered how people were watching a movie without audio ! I guess they were really bored. The seats were really old, the volume and other controls were ancient ! The socket for the ear-phones were priceless ! I was LOL when I saw 2 holes grilled into the seats. I wondered what sort of ear-phones would fit into these. Then, the air-hostess gave us some PVC cables. Oh o. Turns out, those weird cables were the head-phones ! They were the weirdest and the most uncomfortable ear-phones I had ever used in my life ! It was so bad, that I decided to forego the movie than torturing myself.
By now, the plane had taken off and I was looking forward to the food. Did I mention that the air-hostess was really old ? I have nothing against senior citizens working in planes. But this lady was really mean and lazy. She had a bored expression all the time. And was so snooty ! No one came to even offer water/beverage for a long time. Then this lady made her grand appearance with the food trolley. Pushing it was quite difficult for her as even the trolley was old ( paint had come off and it looked very dirty). She was basically throwing the food trays on the people without even a smile. She gave me a food tray and I asked her if it was veggie. Imagine ! She did not even ask the choice of meal. She then started rummaging her trolley for veg food and finally found one. The food was average. I was disappointed. The old lady made her appearance again with tea/coffee and then she took away the trays.
We finally reached Dubai safely. The airport was huge. I had a marhaba lady help me with the immigration formalities and then I finally saw Vikram.
8 comments:
Loads of trouble eh? but aleast makes an interesting blog topic ;0)
Air India sucks and there r lots of stories to prove it - urs is such one.. Haha.. as for Airhostess - well only AI can redefine them as mean, old and etc (guys will say much more :D)..
Semmayaana point-la stop pannitey?? Nice story - will wait for next installment :-D. I think the basic requirement to become a AI airhostess is that they should have been around when India got independence ...
I cannot believe that the airhostess did not even ask the type of meal! I have already experienced eating nonveg twice after coming to US unknowingly (came to know after a couple of bytes)! If it happens a third time, I'll treat that as God's will and turn nonveg anyways! :-( Naah, just kidding...:-) But seriously, that was crazy.
Maybe the lady was getting retired soon n that was her last flight. Like Ziddane she just wanted to vent it out or something. :-)And I still remember ur stories of Gulf Air :-) :-).
Prasanna,
Yeah thats true :-)
Vivek,
Yup AI is quite nastly esp to fellow Indians !
Archu,
LOL abt ur age comment...I m sure thats true :-)
Archana,
The thing is atleast AI shd be able to understand the difference between veg/non-veg...I mean if even they don't...what can we expect from other airlines ?
LOL abt ur Zidane analogy !
I sure hope it was her retirement day...otherwise more passengers will be troubled. Luckily it was a 3 hr flight :-)
Ah Gulf Air...well atleast their service and food was good.
Hey Shilpa,
LOL@ your AI experience. I try to avoid Indian Airlines at all costs, so never been in one.
Funny description :--)
And the heat, I can imagine how it would be in the Middle East! Good luck! :--)
All is well that ends well :)
Vikram'a paaka - ezhu kadal thaandi, ezhu malai thaandi poi irukka pola iruku :)
And you still have flights to catch to come to the US ;)
SK,
I try to avoid too...but if thats the only airline..then there is no choice !
Prabhu,
Interesting thought...I shd count and see how many I crossed :-)
I am more worried abt my return flight to India in AI :-P
hopefully I won't see the same old hag again !
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