Jet is definitely not budget. I have to travel a lot and find any other is
preferable, price-wise, even good ole Aunty Indian. But if you aren't
specifically looking for a price-break, Kingfisher and Paramount are both nice,
the difference being that you aren't overwhelmed by the colour in Paramount.
Sahara gives me a queasy feeling, of something waiting to happen; I'd rather
avoid it, if I can. On several occasions, when I had to spend my own money (do
that sometimes :-)>), I've gritted my teeth and flown Air Deccan. Sometimes
they flew on time. Rates were definitely cheapest. Of the specifically budget
airlines - Go, Spice - I've flown Spice and it was nice, also cheap. Can't
really say why I haven't flown them more, probably difficult to get travel
agents excited about them and checking first.
Price is not the only thing. In terms of safety, all are about the same, if
you ignore horror stories about bits and pieces falling off, and the old
chestnut of the Sahara flight that dumped most of its fuel load soon after take
off (true story, but happened very long ago, never repeated). Service is
available only on Jet in a very mechanical, robotic kind of way, anything out
of the ordinary floors the flight attendants, who are programmed to deal only
with standard situations, including standard crises. Others are on par, except
Kingfisher and Paramount claim to give better service, Kingfisher by keeping
their (female) flight attendants long and their skirts short. Regarding
timeliness, Air Deccan is bad, all the others are mediocre, Jet is the best of
a bad lot, and trust nobody flying in and out of Delhi at fog time, which is in
winter a constant, and a variable factor in other seasons. For journeys of less
than 300/400 kms, for me personally, trains are preferable,
even taxis.
Binand Sethumadhavan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 01/04/07, ashok _
wrote:
> Hmm... Jet is sort of pricey.... i am looking for fairly reliable
> cheaper alternatives...
It is not that bad. If you book well in advance, then you get
dirt-cheap fares on Jet (in various classes like V, H and so on...
with the usual restrictions of no cancellation/modification etc.).
Even otherwise, I find fares on Jet & other airlines comparable in the
sector I travel the most, MAA-HYD. I think it is pricey only when you
are booking a day or two in advance.
Other options to try are Sahara & Kingfisher, if you are completely
against Deccan :) I have heard Paramount is reasonably OK for S.
Indian destinations.
For fare comparisons, you should look at makemytrip.com or yatra.com.
Lastly, try to avoid the "special" USD fares all airlines seem to have
for non-Indian credit cards.
Personally speaking, I find the little extra fare that Jet charges
usually pays for itself in terms of hassle-free travelling.
Binand
Indrajit Gupta
'Ramsharan', 396, TT Krishnamachari Road,
Teynampet,
Chennai 600 018.
+914455511138
+919884375777
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