Fly like a Maharani.

This was the first time in a while I flew so much domestically in India. Back when I lived there we had Indian Airlines and that was about it. The average age of an air hostess was 45 and she was 'aunty'. The new Indian air space is now occupied with an impressive new fleet of new generation air companies. Kingfisher, Jet, Spice and some not so impressive Air Deccan and a few others whose names I don't remember but they were clearly not that memorable.

Kingfisher and Jet were so impressive though. These airlines define Indian hospitality and make me truly proud. I flew Jet all the way to the Andamans, Mumbai to Chennai, Chennai to Port Blair and I really enjoyed the ride. I mean when was the last time you enjoyed economy class on an airplane? OK so I was upgraded on one of the sectors which was lovely (especially because the reason I was upgraded was that I was really late and almost missed my flight so basically they had no choice other than to give me a business class seat-ha!)but even in economy, tucking into my deliciously aromatic hot Indian meal, smiling staff all around, comfy cushy seats and personalized in-flight entertainment, good-looking and attentive attendants, what more does a girl need?

It's really impressive given the crowd in the air these days. The air has become accessible to anyone in today's India and that presents an interesting new challenge in the world of airline passenger etiquette. Well basically it doesn't exist. The patience and love required on the part of the airline becomes all the more critical to ensuring a smooth flying experience for all and I have to say *some* airlines are doing an outstanding job. On the other hand certain airlines, like Air Deccan, which I had the misfortune of flying back from Port Blair to Chennai and then Chennai to Pune, are just struggling to play nice. They fuss over each gram of luggage, offer you over-priced, awful pre-packaged food and there aren't too many smiles to be seen in general.

In an environment of cheap tickets and last-minute deals and bargains, a lot is being sacrificed. Like the time when I was being crammed and jammed onto a bus (in India you take a bus to get to your plane on the tarmac) with about 700 hundred people and I couldn't understand why the airline staff couldn't crowd control. I mean was the plane going to take off without us? Did the entire planeful of people really need to be shoved into a single non-airconditioned bus?
Anyway moral of the story is that there is a lot of inconsistency out there so what you pay is what you get. The good is really great stuff and the rest is pretty 'eh'. It's good to have choices though. Lots of choices in my new India.