[Neversaygbye]

I think some of the points mentioned on bad service are valid (like the queuing, bus come rain or shine points) while the rest reek of entitlement.

While Indigo is not my preferred airline, there are reasons why it is the market leader and a lot of that has to do with consistency. While the punctuality part is a bit overhyped and is an example of great marketing (Indigo pads most flying times by about half an hour, if not more) the overall user experience is pretty consistent across. When you choose to fly Indigo, you know exactly what you'll get and this includes both the negative and positive points mentioned across posts. (On a different note, I don't think flight deck tours are allowed by DGCA anymore).

Among the other negative points mentioned, I absolutely detest the thin seats and leg space and am indifferent to their food, but the fact remains that on major routes, there is a choice of carriers and no one is forcing anyone to fly Indigo. If there is a Vistara flight available, I will take it if it is not too expensive, but usually I stick to Air India since their fares usually match Indigo's (as mentioned by Abhi1512, Indigo is no longer a low cost airline), and despite less than professional service (despite the Tata takeover) AI has better seats and leg space and the food is better too.

Having said that, Indigo has a fantastic service network and coupled with convenient timings, is sometimes the best choice (if not the only choice) especially for travel to Tier 1 cities. Also, despite the deterioration in customer experience mentioned in the Linkedin post, it's competitors (with the exception of Vistara) are not any better, so I don't see any thing changing in the near future.

[gismosin]

IndiGo does what IndiGo does best- move people from point A to point B as efficiently as a budget airline can…honestly with air travel becoming affordable and mainstream…the who experience has become disillusioned. Flying was an experience, now it's just one more mode of transport.


Food on airline was a novelty now it’s a hassle or a necessary (in longer flights) I almost every time eat on the ground or even buy/pack my own snack for air.



There is no longer an entitlement associated traveling by air, it’s not necessarily a bad thing but assumption of holding airline to a higher standard to another mode of mass transit is no longer true. The only exception to this is when you are traveling in a premium cabin of a full fare airline, then you are truly a valuable customer, you will truly see a difference in how airlines treat you.



The flight ticket form HYD to BLR costs around 2,500/- to 3,000/- one way. Way lesser than when I take my car and go and about maybe 10%-15% greater than a train ticket (2AC) and maybe 25% more expensive than a sleeper Volvo. These are wafer thin margins for an airline to operate on…literally they are running on fumes most of the time.


You, as a customer, want to extract every single paisa of value from what you are paying. Guess what, so do the airlines. There is a reason why it’s next to impossible for full-fare airlines to operate in India… When the majority of fliers only determining factor becomes cost…so does it for the airline.



They will get you from point A to B competitively, but everything else comes at a cost.

[anandhsub]

My only crib with Indigo has been their insistence on using buses and not aerobridges. Especially out of Bangalore it feels like they are parking their planes further and further away from the Terminal, may be in order to save on costs.

Otherwise as long as they are on time and offer an hassle free experience on board I have no issues. As others have said I too try and have my meal before take off so don't really care about what they offer on board. Have never really had an issue with their seats or leg room too.

As for those who say Indigo is not low cost, I flew to Mumbai on a 3K ticket in April, which is less than what I paid 25 years back...

[binand]

Originally Posted by binand

I guess aerobridges are expensive and there aren't enough of them at most airports, so I can understand that they are used exclusively by international and full service airlines.

Originally Posted by anandhsub

My only crib with Indigo has been their insistence on using buses and not aerobridges... may be in order to save on costs.

So I tried looking up the costs involved here. Someone has published the KIAL numbers on Scribd. It says that the cost of aerobridge is Rs. 2900 = 2300+600 (I'm assuming the electricity supply is needed) per hour when used for a narrow-body aircraft.

The doc might be a few years old, but that amount can't be too much off. The savings by using buses, if any, must be of the order of a few hundred rupees only?

There also seems to be a directive to use aerobridges if available, and some regulatory attention to the practice of not using them: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/airl...-money-2822533

So I guess this is a genuine concern. The only excuse for the airlines I can think of is that there are more simultaneous flights than aerobridges at major airports; so the LCAs defer them to the full services. And maybe the fear of doubling the costs by overshooting the time limit by even a few minutes.

[jkrishnakj]

+1 to what Anandhsub says about the parking bays. The flights land on time, but by the time you reach the exit of the airport, it takes a full half hour for you to get into the bus, and then onto the parking gate. I have never come across Indigo use the aero bridge at Bangalore.

Also, when they push back 3-4 minutes ahead of time, they proudly announce ‘departure ahead of time’. But when they left off 6 passengers on 6e6162 yesterday by leaving 6 minutes earlier than scheduled, the metric now is departure time is when they are ‘off-ground’.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by aadya

We are in India. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. Our culture is to be late. Our tendency is to rush even if our seat is reserved. We like to push around the poor servant at our home and at airport. We travel heavy with one kg extra pickle in our luggage. We want to eat through out our travel even if it is for 30 minutes. We like jumping queue as always we are in emergency or urgency , whatever. We are the best motivators in the world as we want cheap to be the best.

I am a less privileged Indian. I am okay with an affordable, safe, clean, ontime, reliable transport for any travel less than 2-3 hours, which is most of India. And Indigo serves that purpose well.

You forgot getting out of your seat, pulling your luggage out and queuing inside the cabin before the plane has even landed!!!

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

As for those who say Indigo is not low cost, I flew to Mumbai on a 3K ticket in April, which is less than what I paid 25 years back...

While I understand that you traveled at such low costs, my experience says otherwise.
Some screenshots for your perusal here. All the screenshots are for hypothetical travel dates for different destinations in the month of November, a good four months away from now. A full service airline giving you all the frills in the economy section including the aero bridges, on board meals and choice of flights at different times of the day and night, some even in the absolute rush time of early morning and late nights and yet charging less than what Indigo is charging and yet we have to believe that Indigo is a low cost airline !!

[F150]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Indigo delivers what it promises; efficient, on-time, fuss-free domestic travel on planes that don't feel like they're held together by lick, spit and a little duct tape. I pay the reasonable (IMO) fees to get rid of the few human touch points that exist in the process. Sorted.

If one is looking for no nonsense fuss free travel without last minute hiccups, Indigo is the name. If one wants full service experience they can try Vistara !!

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I usually pick their flexi-fare option (usually 15-20% over their regular fare) that gives me a snack/beverage choice (sucker for cashews, a shame they don't have their BBQ or pepper onion flavors anymore) and a front-row seat at 50% cost.

Last in, first out the flight

Used this same approach many times when travelling with carry on bags only.

Opted for either 1A or 1F for the convenience of the window seat. Observed that the middle seat in the first row was generally unoccupied on my trips (who would want to pay extra for the middle seat?) giving extra leg room to both me and the aisle seat traveller.

Being on the first row ensured that you get the snack of your choice (often they ran out of choice by the second or third row itself due to the limited number of meals loaded).

Besides the cashews you mentioned, they had "Smoked Almonds" too - unique flavours - the metallic boxes were collectibles for the kids too.

And yes, the biggest benefit - Last in, first out of the flight.

[neerajku]

Indigo to my mind is one of the most professional run airlines I have seen. After Jet it is the airline I prefer to fly. Vistara, Air India or Akasa have their own strengths, food, higher category seats, more luggage, flying miles etc. But more often than not their schedules are not very convenient and have limited connectivity.

Yes its seats are thin, leg space is barely adequate and no free food. But it offers schedules which match business travellers, rarely is late and luggage is out in jiffy. I am not looking at gourmet food or stretch my legs for 1-2 hour flights. May be some of us do. That is fine. It is a low cost airline and that is the way I look at it. For me it is the Maruti, pre Jimny and Invicto days.

If I compare it with other low cost ones, Go air, spice, it is miles ahead.
As far as fares are concerned, yes they are high. One could be too much demand and another could be fuel, price gouging by private airports. Do not have enough data. But what I see is except rush season, prices are more or less the same what they were 4-5 years ago.

Yes what we don't get is dirt cheap prices in off season or in advance. That window is shrinking. Doubt if we are still carrying the pent up demand of Covid lock down, may be business has picked up. More people are traveling for leisure. Do not know.

Today 1110 am flight Chennai, a big one, was full. Who will travel on Sunday is what we thought, friday evening I can understand, Saturday early morning or Sunday late evening I will also understand.
But these are cyclical, with huge orders and many more flights there will be a dip in a year or two. More when Air India starts getting deliveries and Go air is back on stream. And few year down the line business cycle will dip.

[rpmmachine]

‘From take off to landing, ACs were off’ Punjab Congress President shares horrifying experience on IndiGo flight.

Source Livemint

Link to news: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/...305015144.html

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by binand

So I tried looking up the costs involved here..

It could also be that the airline is trying to save the cost of ATF required to taxi all the way from the runway to the terminal building, and also the engine wear associated with keeping it running for a slightly longer period.

[INJAXN]

And to top the rant, Indigo passengers were forced to sit through out the flight without air conditioning. A political leader was also one of the passenger of the flight and he tweeted about the incident, and its now a breaking news today.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../102471523.cms

[Stribog]

OP, the "rant" is very legitimate in my opinion.

I take at least 2 return flights a month (and that's the baseline, I sometimes hit 3-4 return flights which translates to 4-8 single flights every month) and I NEVER travel Indigo.

Why? Because in terms of pricing they are definitely not "low cost". I just randomly searched Mumbai Delhi return on 23rd Aug and in order of cost it's Akasa > Vistara > Indigo > AI. Granted the spread is only 200-250 bucks but still that is the order.

Given that there is no arbitrage, and the fact that their check in counters are ALWAYS crowded (as opposed to the much better managed Vistara or Akasa) I would need to plan am airport arrival 30-45 mins MORE than what I would for the other airlines.

2) No frequent flier program - I am a Vistara Plat member and that opens up many pathways to service that Indigo can't even dream off, and mind you it's not like I paid exorbitant sums to get there, on average the difference between Vistara and Indigo is not even 10% (around 500-700) on most flights and I travel across the West, North and South of India regularly. Meaning for a similar price over time I have earned enough miles to make my life much much more easier. I usually never eat on board short domestic hops but if one added the ₹250 priced Noodles + a cup of coffee for ₹100 then the arbitrage reduces even further.

3) I have flown a lot in true LCC's like Ryanair and Easyjet and there's a clear cost comfort trade off there. I have for instance flown London Prague for a return fare of GBP 75 when full cost carriers were at an eye watering GBP 200 one way. Here you have a clear benefit, and trade offs for that. You save money but you paid for everything, even water. Indigo simply doesn't offer that tradeoff, it's just a full service carrier calling itself LCC. The point being, if for instance Indigo offered Mumbai Delhi at ₹2,500 when competition is at ₹3,700 then possibly showing up to the airport 2.5 hrs before schedule, paying for the food onboard, dealing with the mostly just surly staff might be worth it but for the same or similar price? Not for me.

[Lalvaz]

Used to travel by Indigo a lot a few years ago, now the service has gone down. I much prefer Air India even if I have to pay a premium over Indigo. I know AI isn't yet perfect, but nine out of ten times, they delight me, while Indigo has long given up any pretence of customer delight. And I am a corporate flyer most times.

I also think that the original rant was very well articulated and was very specific in what were the issues that passenger faced. Hence I can't even fathom why so many folks are going out of their way to refute each and every point of his. I mean, consider the possibility that he was giving his personal genuine feedback to the airline. Just because you're a delighted Indigo traveler does not mean his complaints are not genuine.

I love Air India, but does that mean the pee incident did not happen? So just let Indigo pay heed or Not (if they dont care about the customer). Everyone does not have to prove the chap wrong by citing their own experience.