On the 10th of June I travelled to Chandigarh and back. This is a little difficult because you need to take a morning Mum-Delhi flight, then fly Delhi-Chandigarh if you want to reach by 11am. The other choice is to take the GO Air flight – I am not very comfortable simply because of the number of their flights which have got cancelled / postponed.

So Kingfisher it was! Right from the check in things were smooth – and except for the chilled veg roll in the Delhi – Chandigarh leg things were fine. At 2.30 pm I got a sms saying the 20.25 hrs flight from Delhi to Mumbai was being cancelled and merged with the 22 hrs flight. Sigh, Kingfisher, I thought.

While checking in at Chandigarh I cribbed loudly about reaching Delhi at 18.30pm and sleeping in their lounge (thank you KF). Suddenly as we touched down in Delhi one angel in red (presumably her name is Seema, not very sure) said since we had landed at 18.40 pm, she could try pushing me into the 19.10 flight (which was about 10 minutes late). My immediate reaction was “Seema, God Bless You”. What was amazing was not what she did, but the whole process of realising that there is at least one passenger in the Chandigar – delhi flight who might benefit by the delay, and setting the whole process in place. She assigned one boy who ran with me (thank You Standard Chartered Marathon) from the arrival terminal to Terminal 1D (i had only a book as baggage), calling the check-in desk to keep the boarding card ready and ensuring that I was on the flight. I was really impressed. I deal with many 22 year olds who are reasonably well educated and trained. However training people to think on their feet and execute it fast is not easy. Thank you Seema. Thank you Kingfisher – now you have a raving supporter. Thank you Kunal Vasudeva. Thank you Rajesh Verma. Thank you Suraj (Dolly) Verma.

  1. Nice to see such good service from an ailing industry! or is it because it is ailing? The service i get from some banks, life insurance companies etc. is pathetic. Is it because they are making a lot of money? How come if there are 40 life insurance companies and 40 mutual funds all are giving similar service?

  2. nice to see customer delight” publicised. Most of us tend to crib about bad or lousy service but seldom praise when a delibrate action by a staff member gives us joy.

  3. I do not know whether I spoke too soon! On my next flight I was booked Chandigarh – Delhi – Mumbai (which was at about 3.45pm). However since i finished early, i took the earlier Chandigarh – Mumbai flight.

    This was a great experience. I have realised that the guys moving the baggage speak the truth. So at the parking I asked the guy – and he said the flight (chandigarh – mum) was 30 minutes late. So I rushed bought a new ticket, CANCELLED the chd-del-mum flight. This process which should have taken 5-7 minutes took an inordinate 13-14 minutes with a LIE – ‘sir the flight is on time’. Well I rushed in and checked in and travelled back. The guy at the counter said my ticket was cancelled and I would get my refund in 7-8 working days. Still waiting!

  4. Dear Subra,

    I was glad to read the efficiency of the Kingfisher staff.i was even happier that u shared such a small but significant event.

    the ground staff and the handling boys are really helpful. it was pleasant to see how u noted – SEEMA’s name, as its often written on their name tag.

    but i had to google the ppl u thanked in the end. and realised that they were the biggies at kingfisher airlines.

    juat inqusitive, whether ur just a traveller who was warmly greeted, or a friend of an esteemed ” kunal vasudeva, rajes verma, suraj verma, dolly.

    awaiting an honest response.

  5. no way anybody in the KF staff would have known that I know KV, RV or SV. So i guess….I thanked them ‘coz I know them that is all. Not to say that i have had only great experience in KF. Once after cancelling a ticket I had to send 2-3 mails to get my refund. However the Delhi experience thrilled me. The refund experience irritated me a lot lesser – it was just a delay of money. I also think my telling the counter girl at Chandigarh “I will need a bed for 5 hrs. @ Delhi” may have made her alert delhi. Also phaps I was the only IXC – Del – MUm passenger that day (surprisingly) and had no baggage, so I could rush. All this put together must have helped. Frankly I travel more Jet than kf :). But then you can say these people were there too :).

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