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Jet, Take a Bow, Pal...Bhopal, Aug'13

 
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:11 am    Post subject: Jet, Take a Bow, Pal...Bhopal, Aug'13 Reply with quote

Jet, Take a Bow, Pal...Bhopal, Aug'13


http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic14012.html

66.1 Terrible Title, Torrid Takes

With such a lame and poor pun as this one,
would the regular reader even give this trip report a dekko?
I would doubt it, under normal circumstances.
Let me try to wean the aviation buff into reading this one, then.
The family has had some mixed experiences on Jet Airways, so I
apologise in advance if you are a Jet Airways fan. The initial
part of the trip report will describe some of the sour
experiences, though the bad part will gradually taper off, in an
overall nice experience on the airline, this time.
Hence, the title, `Jet, Take a Bow...'.
This trip occurred during tumultuous times for Jet Airways, and
some of the nice parts stood out. I hope I will be able to
describe it suitably well.

This trip got cancelled once, in early Jun'13.
That time, I had a choice of three airlines:
my usual first choice Air India, SpiceJet, and Jet Airways.
Interestingly, price-wise, it was also the same, in ascending
order, though the SpiceJet fare was quite comparable to the Air
India one. I had some work in the City of Lakes in the early
afternoon on 06 Jun (Thu), which ruled out Air India from the
above list. SpiceJet was my next choice, since they had a
morning flight, with the convenience of a same-day return, and
that too, at decent timings. Added to this was the aviation
enthusiast's wish of getting a ride on the (then) relatively new
Bombardier De Havilland Canada's Dash-8 Q-400s. The regular
reader would point out that I had missed another point as well,
the then on-an-average excellent buy-on-board food aboard
SpiceJet (circa 2013, especially the earlier part of the year,
before the menu took a turn for the worse), though it would be
limited to a sandwich and a drink. SpiceJet would get me back in
Delhi by dinner time. SpiceJet had a flight that day.
These were tumultuous times for SpiceJet as well.

Jet Airways was the last choice.
Compared to the Q-400, the ATR-72 is not that comfortable an
aircraft for a not-too-short trip. The second reason was that I
would land at Delhi at 11pm. The third reason was that it was
a Jet Konnect flight, where my experience of the quality of the
buy-on-board food had not been fantastic.

As usual, I asked my aviation enthusiast friends around, on this
forum, as well as some others in Delhi. I was leaning towards the
SpiceJet flight, but my hosts at Bhopal also told me that the
connection may be a bit tight, so the Jet Konnect option was
perhaps the best bet for me, after all.
While the morning flight to Bhopal set out at about the same time
as the SpiceJet one, the return flight on Jet Konnect would come
much later. With a sigh, I booked meals aboard the flights, and
waited for the due date to arrive.

A few days before I was to take the flight, SpiceJet cancelled
this rotation, and changed their schedules, yet again.
I thanked my stars that I had not booked that connection.
Further news was in store for me.
An email from my hosts, informing me of a cancellation in the
programme, failed to reach me. As I enquired about it three days
before setting out, a shocked email stared at me from my mailbox,
informing me of the same. I cancelled my ticket (which was the
lowest-priced Jet Konnect ticket at the time of the booking),
which left me poorer by Rs.2624, which my gracious hosts refunded.
A friend pulled my leg, saying that I should have taken the SpiceJet
option, since SpiceJet would have refunded me the entire ticket amount.

Now, I am no stranger to the city of Bhopal.
I have been there once by train, and twice, by air.
Of course, I have transited via the city quite a few times, both
by air, as well as on train. Two of my earlier trip reports cover
my experiences in the city:
10. The City of Lakes: Mother's Heart, Heart of the Motherland
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11556.html
23. Little BHO-Peep, Nov 2011
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12496.html

The first one was on Jet Airways, with the onward flight changed
to a B738 Konnect flight, and the return one, a full-service one.
The second was on Air India.
Earlier, I had taken a JetLite B737 on the IDR-BHO-DEL leg.
I was definitely not looking forward to the buy-on-board offerings on Jet.

Sometime around mid-August, I got an email from my hosts that I
was to visit them, after all, on 22 Aug (Thu), 2013.
I scratched my head.
The changed Air India schedule would rule out a late departure
out of Bhopal on 22 Aug (Thu), and would necessitate an extra
half-day's leave on 21 Aug (Wed), which I was loathe to take.
SpiceJet now did not have an early morning option at all, and
based on some sound advice from friends on this forum such as
Ameya, I decided not to try the fickle-schedule airline at all.
It would be Jet Konnect, after all.

66.2 Some History, and Expectations Galore

I used to like the old Air India flights of the 2000s, where the
route (in its last avatar, before it got changed), was one of the
infamous `milk runs'.
AI 634 was an evening flight, which did DEL-BHO-IDR-BOM.
The same plane returned the next morning, to do the return trip
as AI 633. The smaller aircraft usually did this: an A319 (which
I last flew in Feb'12), or later, an all-Economy A320 (which I
last flew in Apr'12). I have flown the route quite regularly, and
have seen excellent loads on this sector, both involving IDR and BHO.
In the summer of 2012, the Air India Indore and Bhopal flights
were disconnected. Was it because of excellent loads, that Indore
and Bhopal now had separate flights to and from Delhi and Mumbai?
No, that was not so - the loads were not as fantastic as to
justify the complete separation. It was primarily for operational
reasons. The Bhopal flights were not quite symmetric.
AI 634 DEL-BHO [02:00 pm - 03:20 pm] on an A319.
AI 633 BHO-DEL [05:50 pm - 07:05 pm] on an A321.
Indore however maintained the old schedule, with
AI 636 DEL-IDR [06:00 pm - 07:30 pm] on an all-Economy A320,
the plane overnighted at Mumbai, and came back to do
AI 635 IDR-DEL [07:50 am - 09:20 am] the next morning.
The regular reader may recollect that once in 2003, a charming
elderly lady at the Indian Airlines check-in desk at CSIA T1A,
Mumbai had tempted me to take the previous flight on an A320, by
luring me with a window seat. A glutton like me had booked IC 133,
which was on a B732 (if I remember correctly), something I had
looked forward to, more so, the actual reason for booking this
flight had been the expected snack run on all legs, which was
considerably large in terms of the quantity, and expected to be
excellent, in terms of the quality as well. My memory fails me as
to whether the Gwalior Maharajapur air base (GWL) was a stop as
well at that time, at least Indore and Bhopal we on the route to
Delhi. When I reached my parents' place, all were completely
shocked for two reasons, my coming home way before time, and
second (and more importantly), my pre-empting the flight that
had so much to offer in terms of gastronomic delights.

Since I had no choice with regard to the flight, I wondered if
there was anything to look forward to. My schedule was as follows:

Both trips were scheduled for 22 Aug (Thu), 2013.

9W 2654: Jet Airways Konnect (ATR-72) [Seat: xxx; PNR: AJSYSO]
IGIA T3, New Delhi - Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal
New Delhi (DEL) - Bhopal (BHO)
[06:20 am - 08:05 am]

9W 2653: Jet Airways Konnect (ATR-72) [Seat: xxx; PNR: AJSYSO]
Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal - IGIA T3, New Delhi
Bhopal (BHO) - New Delhi (DEL)
[09:10 pm - 11:00 pm]

It would be an uncomfortable 03:00 am start to the day, and
coming home around midnight the same day, without much chance for
an eye-shut except on board the flights, and possibly, a little
bit after getting down at Bhopal. I had some work in Delhi early
the next day, so I had to get back that night.

I decided to ask around, as usual. People on my firing line
included Rishul and Jishnu, who perhaps know about each nut and
bolt on every aircraft in the Jet Airways fleet. Ameya confirmed
something I had long suspected - chances of
getting a ride on the new ATR-72-600 in the Jet Airways fleet,
would be slim, since at this time, the planes had been usually
based in Mumbai, for quite some time, since they had come in.
I would have to be extra-ordinarily lucky for Jet Airways to send
one of the new birds to Delhi, and that too, on the day of my
fight, and for my flight, too.
I am one person who usually does not get lucky with such matters.

Now, I had pre-booked a hot meal on both the legs, so it would be
a breakfast, and a dinner. Jishnu seconded my suspicion about
the ATR-72s not having a ovens on board. How would they honour a
request for a hot meal? Would they do it with steam? Or would
they give a usual cold snack to pass off as a meal? A friend had
taken this return flight before, and was bitter about his first
and only experience aboard the plane type - the Konnect ATR-72
had hardly any leg space. At the Bhopal airport, he had had a
mere samosA (a pyramidal savoury item, typically with a
spicy vegetable filling, and deep fried, for the patroniser's
guilty pleasure). Even this light anytime snack had not got him
even remotely interested in a buy-on-board on board the plane.
He had not pre-booked anything, and had not found the fare on
offer any bit enticing, either.
``No clue about hot meals,'' wrote Ameya.
``Does that apply to 9W also?'' was my naughty leg-pulling riposte,
though I secretly hoped for a hot meal on both legs.
I was also wondering whether Jet would board this flight from
some other bus gate, apart from the usual suspects, 42A, B, C at
IGIA T3, Delhi. These were gates I had seen having sufficient
air-conditioning just once, on my Jul'13 Jabalpur trip.
The trip report can be found at the following URL:
63. July Jabalpur Jet Jaunt, Jul'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13943.html

I was also looking forward to meeting a few friends in the city.
One of them was a former colleague, a tall and thin man, whom we
called `stalwart'. Now, the etymology behind the term is a bit
unclear. Whether it came from `A (s)Tall Wart', or `a Wart who
Stalls everything', is quite unclear,
but the reader would have got the point, by now.
He had earned a bad name as an arguably un-cooperative person.
(Yes, he was both fond of arguing - unnecessarily, in most cases,
as well as un-cooperative: `An Argumentative Indian', to
mis-quote a popular book by a famous Nobel Laureate economist
of Indian origin). `Stalwart' had rarely joined us in all our mis-deeds
in college. His nick names included `spanner' (for his unique ability
to throw a spanner in the works), or its American name `monkey wrench'
The former part referred to an obvious closer link to our ancestry
for him, than most others. The latter part indicated our
gut-wrenching sensation on seeing him hold the key to spoiling a mass-bunk.
The pun on `key' is intended, since a spanner is called a `chAbI'
in this part of the country, in the chaste vernacular.
For the record, I had met him on my last trip as well.
He was there at the meeting I was to attend
(but did not `key' in any trouble, thankfully), and landed
up at a common friend's place in the evening, to try to kidnap me
to his place (which was close-by), but I had some pressing work
back at the Guest House, which I had to complete by next morning,
so I had to refuse, unfortunately.

66.3 No Check-in Blues This Time! Some History

My flight was scheduled to depart from Delhi at 06:20 am, on 22 Aug, 2013.
And when would I try the check-in? 06:20 am, on 21 Aug, 2013.
In terms of the Jet Privilege (Jet's Frequent Flyer Programme),
I was the scum of the lot, `Blue'.
I often refer to it is `B6', or `JetBlue'
Such `pests' er...`guests', as Jet and the erstwhile Kingfisher
Airlines terms/termed its passengers, are allowed to check in only 24 hours
before the departure of the flight.
Which is perfectly fine in itself, provided it works.
It worked flawlessly.
Not just was I able to check in for my forward journey to Bhopal,
I was able to do a web check-in for my return flight as well, the same day.

I was pleased beyond words.

This was in sharp contrast to what experience my family members
and I have had with Jet Privilege all these years.
Yes, all of us are in the `B6' category, the scum of the lot.
We have flown enough to have booked award tickets on our JP
points, but never as much in a small quantum of time,
to have any status with the airline.
I had enrolled on Jet Privilege in 2001 on a CCU-BOM flight with
Captain Deepali Gadolikar in command.
When I flew with them a year later - I did BOM-CCU-GAU, and
GAU-CCU-BOM with them - I found out much to my disgust, that I
had not yet been enrolled, in spite of my sending them all the
information. I sent them a stinker, along with proof of my
earlier travel. I put this down on the in-cabin complaint sheet
as well. After some (exothermic) email exchanges, they got me in.

Jet advertised themselves being in `partnership' with airlines
such as Northwest (NW) - this was circa 2005. At both the
Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) and the San
Diego International Airport: Lindbergh Field (SAN), I was rudely
told by the Northwest check-in agent that they could not enter my JP
number into my itinerary, as they didn't know about the airline
in question. Now, Northwest wasn't exactly the epitome of how a
good airline should be, nor during the course of its chequered
(pun intended, for a Chapter 11 incident, circa 2005)
history, its agents ever exemplify how airline agents should behave
towards fare-paying passengers, but at the self-check-in
counters, my JP card did not work. Fine, one cannot really point
a finger at Jet for all this, but I had to work on sending them
the tickets and boarding passes to get some measly points for a
coast-to-coast US domestic trip.

A few years later, the reader may recount some anxious moments
(both with regard to points, as well as food), as detailed
in the following report:
10. The City of Lakes: Mother's Heart, Heart of the Motherland
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11556.html
I was told that I could not do a web check-in for the flight,
since it was a Konnect flight. I hung on gamely, pointing out that
I had booked a full-service flight, and finally, won my battle
with the agent finally enabling a web check-in for me.
On an IDR-BHO-DEL JetLite flight, after some protracted email
exchanges, I was finally told that I could not earn a single
point on this segment in the fare class I was travelling on
(I forget, which). Air India on the other hand, had points accrued
on every fare class for fare-paying passenger. Two other times, I was
told that I could not web check-in for the flight, even though
the ticket satisfied their condition for web check-in: there is
something in their rules about the ticket number.
Why? It was booked by a travel agent,
and something at their end could not be changed.

Me and a few family members have been denied 9W miles on a few
international segments e.g., we got them on KL DEL-AMS but not
AMS-SEA on DL - both 9W partners, for trips done on the same
ticket in the same booking class, one that should have accrued
miles (according to their stingy table, where every class with a
`partner' airline does not earn miles). That was two years back.
Things came to a flash point on a recent trip, where The Wife and
Junior, and The Wife's parents did a trans-con EWR-SFO on UA
(a `partner' airline), where after a few email exchanges, we were
told that the booking class would not accrue any miles. Fine.
The Jet Airways agent questioned the validity of The Wife's parents'
accounts, given that the email address for correspondence was the
same in both of them. We were asked to provide a photo ID proof
that they were indeed genuine travellers.
This was by one Ms Fatima Khorakiwala at JP.
This was outright insulting, and not acceptable in terms of behaviour
with customers. The Wife's parents have been JP members for a few
years now, earned and burned quite a few miles, and are suddenly
asked to prove their identities, simply because the email address
for correspondence is the same, something that JP dug out because
we pointed out that their miles had not been accrued.
After a protracted exchange with Jet, they got points for a
Virgin Atlantic DEL-LHR and LHR-EWR flight, though the return
segment (with the same itinerary) pleasantly surprised us, with
the points getting accrued well in time.
Overall however, I have been quite disappointed with Jet.

I have taken quite a few award tickets on Jet.
I have once had a problem with the 9W website in booking an award
ticket, when the system deduced my points, debited money from my
credit card, but did not book a ticket, giving a `system error'.
I went to their Delhi city office, and there, was debited the
amount again (I was told that that was the procedure), and that
they would look into it. A few emails later, I had my ticket as
well as my points, and the money was credited back.
The reader may recount my torrid experiences in booking an award
ticket in Dec'11, which I have detailed in a trip report:
26. Hampi Hamper, Part I: Banashankari, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12623.html
In the end however, it all worked out well.

66.4 The Day of the Journey

All the while, I had been wondering which gate we would get at
IGIA T3. Would it be the usual Gates 42 A, B, C? I had seen Jet
ATR-72s on the other side as well - the place where Kingfisher
aircraft once docked - to the North-Eastern end of the airport.
Would we get a gate on that side? I was excitedly looking forward
to something new. No, we would not get the Gates 44 A, B, C,
which had been barred from the outside for quite some time, owing
to some construction work. Gates 44 are on the other side of the Gates 42.

As I roamed about the private airlines part (this term has quite
lost its significance, since the termination of Kingfisher
operations, followed by the Air India expansion), I noticed with
some interest, an Air India A320 parked at Gate 52. It turned out
to be AI 3345, one of the Air India charters for the Indian Armed
Forces, to Leh. The far end of the terminal did not have any
active gates, and the air-conditioning there had been switched
off, as well. I went back to my designated gate, and waited.

66.5 An ATR-72-600!

When boarding was announced, I hoped against hope, that I would
get the new AT7-6. My hopes had been lifted beyond bounds, when I
had sighted a light blue AT7 in the new JetLite colours, at a
remote stand on the North Eastern finger, where the Jet ATRs are
usually parked. To my absolute delight, we parked right there,
beside it! It was VT-JCY, Jet's newest AT7 on that date, and of
course, an AT7-6! It was one of the rare occassions when I
actually got what I had secretly hoped for, and this was also
something which may not have occurred under normal circumstances.
I quickly headed to the front of the bus, to be one of the first
to board the new bird. It looked, felt and smelt very new.
On an average, Jet Airways maintains its planes beautifully from
the inside as well, but a new plane was another story, altogether.
A new plane...was always going to be a new plane!
I was nearly shaking with excitement, but steadied myself (and my
hands) to take a few snaps of the seats, which looked great in
the colour scheme.





Here is a picture of the cabin crew jump-seat, the announcement
phone, and the door to the cargo compartment, and the front office.



Here is a picture of the left (port) side emergency exit.



...and the ATR-72-600 safety card!



66.6 Ding...My Hot Meal?

My earlier food-related experiences with Jet had been mixed.
My first Jet flight circa 2001, had a nice dinner, something which
Papa had told me about, since he had seen some good service with
them in the 1990s. A Feb'03 BOM-MAA flight was not too different,
with a nice lunch being served on board. This did not compare
that favourably however, with my awesome return trip on an Indian
Airlines A300B4, with the then Sanjeev Kapoor food festival going on,
on Indian Airlines. That dinner was stupendous. Things changed
with my Jet experiences in Sep'03, when I flew BOM-CCU-GAU and back.
The last two segments were my first experience with bad food.
The foils were not closed properly on the return,
the food was unevenly heated and burnt at a few places.
The quantity was still quite decent.
In 2009, on a BLR-DEL evening flight, we got a nice dinner, that
was high on the taste quotient, decent on the quantity one,
albeit a bit high on the oil content. That is a perennial
complaint I have had with the Jet recipes - they use much more
oil than may really be needed, even from the taste point of view.
Air India on the other hand, often goes low on oil, sugar, and
sometimes, on spices as well, without compromising much on the taste.
In fact, I had taken a picture of an oil clean-up at IGIA T3 near
an East-facing gate, and commented (with a twinkle in my eye,
of course), as to whether a Jet catering truck had overturned there.
Of course, Air India has its bad days as well, but on an average,
I have seen enough of them to make a general comment.

On my next trip on Jet (incidentally to Bhopal itself), the onward flight
had been converted into a Konnect flight (when I had booked it,
it was a full-service flight), and the apology of a `meal'
substitute I had got (after fighting tooth-and-nail for my coupon),
was commensurate with my opinion of the buy-on-board on Jet
Konnect/JetLite flights I had taken thus far. Poor.
(I had taken a JetLite flight on the IDR-BHO-DEL segment a few
months back, and experienced the poor buy-on-board.)
10. The City of Lakes: Mother's Heart, Heart of the Motherland
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11556.html
On my return trip however, I got possibly what was the best meal
I have ever had, on Jet Airways. It was superb!
On a Dec'12 trip where The Wife and Junior were on 9W 302 and
moi, on AI 865:
47. Dec'12: Mumbai. Mum-bhai/Sum-bhai, MBBS. Part 1
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13255.html
The Wife and Junior got served a proper breakfast, whereas I got
only a filling snack (which still did not make a meal) - the Jet
offering was much better. Even Junior, an extremely fussy eater,
had finished most of the meal, albeit over the almost entire
duration of the flight.

The initial euphoria at boarding a new plane was somewhat
dissolved from what I overheard the cabin crew lady telling a few
passengers, ``sorry, the catering company has not loaded this on
board, today.'' I heard her mentioning this to three passengers,
(who were obviously hungry), and had checked the JetCafe menu
card behind the seat pocket. Ms. Rinzitlam and Mr. Digvijay were
in charge of the cabin that day.

When the seat belt signs had been switched off, I needed to visit
the washroom. A scrubby Caucasian gentleman was sprawled all over the
seat: he had the aisle seat, and me, obviously, a window one.
I barely managed to disturb the Caucasian gentleman next to me,
who was really fast asleep. His deep snores enveloped the cabin.

When I got back, the gentleman serving this part of the cabin
asked me which one my seat was. I pointed it out to him, and he
cheerfully pushed the tray forward, to allow me to pass.
Mr. Digvijay was a pleasant person, talking to passengers with a
ready smile on his face, and warmth in his voice.
By now, the JetCafe voucher was firmly in my hand, and as I handed it
over to him, he said, `Yes Sir, we have your hot meal ready.'
It would indeed be a hot meal.
I was now getting excited, as I spied a tray hidden in the food
and beverages cart. And what a Breakfast it turned out to be!

First, I must comment on the presentation, which was very good.
Normally, Jet does not go wrong with a meal presentation, and
today was no exception. The small tray had a patterned piece of
paper folded over, to cover the entire tray.
There was a transparent plastic sachet with a paper napkin
inside, and metal cutlery - a spoon, and a fork.
The metal cutlery had a nice shape, the items were thin, but I
was a bit disappointed not to see a Jet Airways logo on the
silverware. I guess the knife got the knife from the serving, to
save on every ounce of weight - which was in itself, quite
understandable, and the lack of salt and pepper sachets, or the
`aftermint' was quite understandable in this era of cost-cutting.
There was no sauce sachet, either.
I wondered if I would need any of the above.

The fruit bowl with a transparent cover was nicely shaped, as
always. It was not just a rectangular container with bevelled
edges - it had low curves in place of each rectangular edge.
The main course was in an Aluminium casing - that was quite
normal, with the Aluminium container in a small plastic tray, so
as not to let the patron touch the hot surface, from below.
There was the usual bottle of water, but there was no cup
anywhere, so the `meal' would not have any drink.
I was a bit disappointed, but only a bit.
The other parts of the breakfast blew my senses away.

It started with a very fresh bun, with an orange marmalade and a
butter chiplet to go with it. To my disappointment, the butter
chiplet had been warmed before serving, just as the well-heeled
prefer it. The regular reader knows me not to belong to that
class of people. After this, I attacked the fruit bowl.
There were two slices of a white sArDA mellon, two slices of a
nice and naturally sweet pineapple, and four slices of a very
nice papaya of the `Disco' variety, something that I simply adore.
There was a bottle of water.

I was looking forward to opening the container, which had clearly
been warmed. I wondered how they had done so, had they used steam?
The container did not have anything even mildly oily, or spicy.
Inside to the left, was a lightly browned vegetarian chop.
It had been browned in a light quantity of oil.
What was inside made me feel nice, right from my inside.
There was a mixture of cottage cheese (which I love, anyway),
with shredded vegetables, and a large raisin. Perfect bliss!
To the right were some nice baked beans in tomato sauce, which
had been garnished with some lightly fried shreds of onion.
In the centre was an excellent fluffy scrambled egg, with peas.
I was quite full, though some good coffee would have heightened
the experience, even further.

66.7 At Bhopal

At 07:26 am, Captain Suri came on the intercom.
We had been cruising at 17,000 feet.
The outside temperature was 0 degrees Celcius.
We landed well on time at Bhopal. After traversing a good
length of the runway, we took a U-turn, and came back. The rotating
propellers and the camera shutter speed allow for some interesting sights!



Here is an interesting sight: a tractor close to a plane with
`tractor'-type propellers, and nothing to push a plane with the
`pusher'-type! A somewhat rare Ventura Air (a Madhya Pradesh
operator) Caravan resting in the wet weather, with a Piaggio
Avanti even further behind. I apologise for the quality of the
picture: the light was far from perfect, and the zoom did not help much.



Inside the terminal building, there was a small model of the airport.



Here is a picture of the inside of the terminal, the arrivals
section, land-side. The reader may note the nice source of
natural light, with some nice light coming in from the
ceilings, on a wet day.



The outside had a nice and clean sign.
Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal.



Here is what it looks like, with my back to the arrivals door,
and looking to my right. The airport is quite impressive.



Looking in the other direction, there is the impressive roof, and
some nice reflections in the drizzle.



It would be an extremely heavy day. After the work was over, I
was dog tired, and the lack of sleep was telling on my visage.
And my body. I went to the Guest House, hoping to get some more
work done, before the vehicle came in for me to drop me at the
airport. The bed in front of me was too inviting however, and I
did not even realise when I had fallen asleep. A knock on the
door (thankfully, not the head) woke me up. It was the driver.

66.8 The Return

We started off for the Raja Bhoj airport at Bairagarh at 07:30 pm,
and were outside the impressive new terminal half-an-hour later.
The check-in happened quickly. I told the check-in lady
about the booked meal. Would I need a coupon to give to the cabin
crew, once I was inside? No, I could simply hand over the
printout of my meal coupons, and snag the prized possession.
The security check over, I headed towards the bus gates on the
ground floor. Here is a view of the same.



There was a small snack bar beside the waiting area, at the ground
floor gates, or rather, a `Snacks Bar.' `We Believe in Best Quality.'
Sure, the quality does not extend to the grammar and usage, I guess.



I was hoping against hope, for another ATR-72-600 experience.
The law of averages (and my lack of luck) clearly caught up with me.
The ATR-72-500 VT-JDD was an old bird, one that has a Kingfisher
Airlines heritage. Trust our expert Rishul to know all about it.
Here is a picture of the ATR-72-500 safety card.



Even though the bird was relatively old, it was immaculately
maintained. The fabric felt fresh, the carpet clean, and the
plastic surfaces spot-less. It was a delight to alight on.



Here is a picture of the door to the cargo compartment, and the front office.



Captain Jitendra Bhatia was in command, with First Officer Jitesh
Kaushik. The cabin crew members were Ms. Priyanka and Ms. Jaspreet,
two slightly tired, but cheerful ladies. The outside temperature
at Bairagarh was 22 degrees Celcius, and we would get into Delhi,
where the temperature was 28 degrees Celcius, but a bit late.
It was raining moderately in Bhopal, and the Jet staff went into
action with a few umbrellas, and the bus. The plane had come in a
bit late, and with the attention of the staff diverted between
the B738 flight to Mumbai and the departure to Delhi on the AT7,
we would be a bit delayed again. When we reached cruising
altitude, Captain Bhatia announced that we were cruising at
18,000 feet above sea level, with the outside temperate -5
degrees Celcius. We were flying at about 500 kmph.
Captain Bhatia had taken off from runway 26 at Bhopal.

Much before the Captain switched off the seat belt sign, as we
had stabilised quite a bit at altitude, the cabin crew got into
action, in a rather dark plane - understandably so, we had pushed
back quite late, and taken off nearly half-an-hour behind schedule.
No, the darkness was not understandable, the pro-activeness of the
crew was what was to be perhaps expected.
Ding, Ding went the (slightly irritating) resonant ATR-72 bell.
The flight deck crew must be quite hungry, I thought, as one of
the cabin crew went up to the cockpit door very soon,
with a tray in her hand.

66.9 Dinner!

The presentation, first. There was the usual Jet contoured bowl, which
had an inviting dessert calling out to me. I was given water in a
paper cup. The main course was in a somewhat loose Aluminium
container, which was as usual, housed in a contoured plastic
container. And yes, it had been warmed. I could not resist
myself, and asked the question of the lady (Ms. Jaspreet), explicitly.
Let the reader not get any other interpretation -
the regular reader of course, knows what it would be about.

``Mam, an ATR-72 does not have ovens - how did you warm the food?''
The lady smiled, and told me that the ATR-72 indeed had an oven,
primarily for use by the crew. It did not have a steamer, so
there would be no hot beverages on board.
I noticed that a sheet of printed paper was on the tray, not a
sheet of double the size, folded over, but just one sheet.
This would suffice, well and good, though it could have been
taken out, in a cost-cutting initiative, since not having a sheet
of paper would be friendly towards the environment as well.
The trays would be washed, anyway.

Yes, in a plastic packet, was the silver-ware: a contoured spoon
and a fork, with no logo, but `Jet Airways' written behind them.
A look at the tray also told me that there would be no beverages
to go with my meal. Ah yes, there were no sachets to go with the
meal, except for a Mango pickle. The Wife loves this, so I
decided to `save it for a rainy day'. The reader may note the
my choice of words, above. It was indeed a rainy day.
The reader would have to take my words with a pinch of salt,
as that was exactly what I would need, and I would substitute it
with the pickle. I was wondering why the pickle was there, in the
first place. For the purpose of cost-cutting, if the airline had
done away with the other three sachets (salt, pepper, `after-mint'),
why would they bother about a pickle?
After all, in the early 2000s, Indian Airlines, in the midst of a
cost-cutting initiative, had done away with the regular pickle,
to save on a whopping amount. This had generated such a lot of
backlash among passengers, that the airline was `forced' to
re-instate it on the trays, again.

Ah, I get distracted very easily, more so, when it concerns food.
I opened the first layer of the Aluminium box.
That gave it away, completely.
There was an oily parAnThA/baroTA inside, with little blobs of
moisture on the surface of the above fried unleavened Indian
bread, as well as on the Aluminium container.
This layer is often kept slightly loose to permit the heat to
enter this compartment well.
Had the cabin crew not followed the proper warming instructions
from the catering service? Or, was it that in the hurry to turn
the flight around in time, there had been something done quite
quickly, with the warming instructions not been provided, or not
being followed properly?
As for the parAnThA/baroTA itself, one may argue that the
oil was needed to be fried well, to give it a distinctive taste. I do not
agree with this, since to me, the same can be prepared without
sacrificing much on the taste, with a minute quantity of oil.

When I opened the second layer, my suspicions were confirmed.
In the centre, there was some yellowish coloured long-grained
bAsmatI rice, which had been done with some small mustard seeds
(rAI), and had some groundnuts/peanuts fried in a considerable
amount of oil, mixed in. What was this about?
I saw a slight amount of water, towards the base of the box.
What was this in the middle of the rice?
I decided to use my next sense organ, the nose.
There was a slight whiff of what I had suspected, lemon/lime.
A minuscule amount had been squeezed in.
I looked around for something else to verify my hunch about the
identity of the dish, and triumphantly found it in the middle of
the offering to the left of the box - a dark green leaf, which
was not supposed to go with the light green of the spinach puree,
in which pieces of soft chicken were floating. More about this, later.
Let me get back to my hunch. I hunched over the main container.
chitrAnna the famous rice preparation, as people of
the state of Karnataka know the dish as. This is `Lemon Rice' to most of us.
However, what was served, was a poor attempt at lemon rice.
Now, I used my next sense organ, after I tried sight, and smell.
Touch.
I put a spoonful in my mouth.
It needed a subtle amount of further heating, to get the moisture
that had been put inside for the purpose, to convert to steam,
and put the final finishing touch on the rice, to cook it well.
The grains were a bit hard, and the moisture was on the floor of
the Aluminium box. Unused. The amount of squeezed lemon juice
used was minuscule, the preparation was a bit oily, and the
groundnuts/peanuts, although fairly generous in number, had
clearly been fried separately, in more oil that was necessary for
the same, and hurridly added in. This also had not been tossed in
well with the overall preparation, for the taste to seep in.
While the parAnThA/baroTA had the right amount of salt, the
chitrAnna was lacking a bit of it. The Mango pickle, which anyway
goes really well with the chitrAnna, came of help here. but this
was hardly authentic. The mango pickle which goes best with
chitrAnna is the one done with some red chilli powder among
other spices - something which Kannadigas do well. (People in
their adjacent state Andhra Pradesh - completely overdo the
chilli powder part in my opinion, but Andhra'ites simply love
really hot food!) This was a staple North Indian pickle.
I was getting disappointed by the minute.

As I have already mentioned, the right side had a
sAg/pAlak-chicken,
chicken cooked in a spinach puree-based gravy. This was not too
oily, and the pieces, sufficient in quantity, and cooked with the
gravy instead of having been added in without cooking the
components together. It was nice, though it could have been even
better had the chicken been marinated in a different medley of
spices, to lend it a twist, something which some Air India
recipes do to perfection.
To the right was an ordinary pancharatna dAl, a
combination of five types of pulses, in a sticky and gooey gravy.
This was done well, though it is hard to go wrong with this
preparation, unless one really under-cooks some component.
Loads were very poor on this flight: about 50%.

66.10 Conclusion

There was nothing much to write about on the flight itself, as we
landed, and docked at the Jet Airways ATR-72 remote gates.
I texted some of the details, to some of my friends.
I know that Rishul reads my posts, emails and SMSes, but is often
not able to respond regularly, owing to his busy schedule.
This time, his reply came in almost immediately.
`JDD? There is no JDD in the fleet.'
Now, I have made many mistakes in identifying a plane's
registration. This included an embarrassing spotting of an Air
India B77W, VT-ALW in 2013. My Bhopal-based friend Mr. J. R. R. Talking
quickly got back to me, congratulating me on my recent
acquisition of a time machine, and told me that I was `well ahead of my times.''

I was completely perplexed, and clicked a quick snap of the
registration, to send to Rishul, when I got on-line.
I told Rishul that no, this time I was quite sure.
Then Rishul quickly got back to me, saying that he had forgotten
to account for this bird, which was earlier with Kingfisher
Airlines, before it had gone bust. Trust Rishul to know
everything about almost every plane in the Jet Airways fleet, its
past history, as well as all things present.
I got back sleepy, having taken a pre-paid cab. I was happy
however, to have completed a somewhat stressful same-day trip to Bhopal!
---
Links to my 66 trip reports:
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sir, another great TR from you, and nice to hear some positive things about 9W! People perhaps hold back on the praise, and let off all the criticism these days, from what I've seen off recent. But that could be just me - I look forward to a pleasant Jet Airways experience in a few day's time Smile

Interesting recount of some horrible experiences from before, they truly are unacceptable. Hopefully under EY they will improve, and that too by a lot.

Lucky you with the ATR 72-600! I've always had the worst luck with 9W when it comes to 9W planes operating flight - over the past few days, only Sky Interior birds have operated my flight in question. If this does not happen, well my rotten luck would truly be defined.
I can relate to your ATR experience with my Jan '14 experience. However, I got a proper 9W bird: not a JetKonnect one, not an ex-Kingfisher one, so that meant the seats were much different than the curvy-top ones on your birds, and thank you for sharing pictures of the cabin on the ATR 72-600! Very Happy

Absolutely great to hear about the food. Big brother saw a startling difference in the food served between March '14 and August '14 on 4 flights, the latter was a clear improvement. I do not get this voucher thing, do they send this via email? I was asked for a voucher on my ATR BLR-MAA flight, the FA told me that its okay if I didn't have it. This was an honest surprise to me, I never heard about this.

Thanks for sharing this with us, and I look forward to reading some more from you! Very Happy

Regards
Jish
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks a lot Sir, this was overall a nice experience on Jet. This was Aug'13. I was to fly 9W-K again, and incidentally again, on the Madhya Pradesh (pun unintended) runs: Indore, this time, with an official sanction to do so (the Air India flights had got booked out by the time our official travel agent did his Rip van Winkle act). What I liked even more at that time was the service: in spite of the uncertainty following the Etihad stake sale did not reflect on the crew, or the quality of maintenance on the planes. I have flown Kingfisher in their period of wane, and it was not pretty: either the cabin crew, or the service: on board, or on the ground.
jbalonso777 wrote:
I look forward to a pleasant Jet Airways experience in a few day's time
We too, Sir. Thanks for sharing your exciting itinerary with us!
jbaolnso777 wrote:
Absolutely great to hear about the food. Big brother saw a startling difference in the food served between March '14 and August '14 on 4 flights, the latter was a clear improvement. I do not get this voucher thing, do they send this via email? I was asked for a voucher on my ATR BLR-MAA flight, the FA told me that its okay if I didn't have it. This was an honest surprise to me, I never heard about this.
Sir, I'm a bit confused on this one, since there has been a bit of inconsistency across the years. On my previous 2012 experience, I was determined not to lose my right to food, when the full service flight I had booked, was converted to a Konnect one. On this 2013 experience, the meal voucher was printed as a part of the ticket itself: I had booked this Jet Cafe offer at the time of ticket booking itself, and all was well. On my 2014 experience, I booked the Jet Cafe meal after the ticket booking, and hoping that it would get refelcted in my PNR. It did not. However, not one to let matters go out of hand, the check-in resolved my anxieties: the lady confirmed that I had indeed paid Rs.250, and gave me a coupon. I put it to good use, obviously.
On my return trip, again the check-in agent confirmed that I had indeed paid Rs.250: it had apparently appeared as a note on my PNR, which did not reflect on the ticket. The lady gave me a voucher again, at Indore.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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me111993
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I texted some of the details, to some of my friends.
I know that Rishul reads my posts, emails and SMSes, but is often
not able to respond regularly, owing to his busy schedule.


Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed

nahi sarkaar, i'm just your average lazy bum engineering student, who's just too lazy.

lovely TR btw, I remember the chat we had like it was yesterday, awesome that you got the -600! Interiors look solid on both planes, the -600 has that touch of new!

5 paragraphs describing the meal onboard is just textbook Sumantra Very Happy

Thanks a lot for sharing.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

me111993 wrote:
btw, I remember the chat we had like it was yesterday, awesome that you got the -600! Interiors look solid on both planes, the -600 has that touch of new!
Thank you, Sir! I remember it fondly, as well.
me111993 wrote:
5 paragraphs describing the meal onboard is just textbook Sumantra Very Happy
Ha ha...I guess I have always had this fascination for `airline food' (some people call this an oxymoron).
Cheers, Sumantra.
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm, interesting about the voucher - I perhaps did not pay any attention to the ticket to see the voucher or confirmation of the hot meal...
Oh well, I got the meal, and too a decent one, so I have no reason to complain! Smile
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ameya
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Sir for the TR!
I was about to remind you that you may miss the one per week resolution Smile

Nice read on a monday morning, making me think of my visits to Bhopal ani the Nihari (breakfast) or is it nyahari
You know the food part better.

The ATR72-6 looks refreshingly different!

As a rule I read your TR's after breakfast or lunch to avoid feeling hungry.
This hot meal on board ATR is news! and a pleasant one

The BHO terminal is total wastage of resources. The area / terminal / gates - all for less than 8 flights a day !

The BOM 9W flight at BHO is the 6x weekly BOM RPR BHO BOM

I find it difficult to understand why BHO cannot support a daily 737 from DEL by 9W, with all the feeder traffic and after withdrawal from SG !

Thanks again for the wonderful TR !
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ameya wrote:
I was about to remind you that you may miss the one per week resolution Smile
Thanks, Sir for the constant encouragement: I am trying hard, Sir!
ameya wrote:
...making me think of my visits to Bhopal ani the Nihari (breakfast)
Sir, the nihArI has to be had at (old) Delhi's Kareem's , since they have the family secret of the spices that suit the delicacy, the best.
ameya wrote:
The BHO terminal is total wastage of resources. The area / terminal / gates - all for less than 8 flights a day!
It may be a start, since Bhopal gets traffic which is primarily of two types: the Government ones (for which the AI flights generally suffice), and second, religious tourists. Tourists from Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka are quite common, and they patronise the Bhopal Shatabdi, for one (which unfortunately has become quite bad). I have seen quite a few of such tourists on the Air India flights as well. With the *A entry, possibly the traffic will get better. International flights: I think will be too far-fetched a thought at this moment.
ameya wrote:
I find it difficult to understand why BHO cannot support a daily 737 from DEL by 9W, with all the feeder traffic and after withdrawal from SG!
You would know this better, Sir: most of the traffic is not high-yield. AI's A321 on the return is more for operational reasons, though I have seen some good capacity on the BHO-DEL segment, which may be perfectly incidental information, though. Very poor yields forced SG out, I guess.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great report Sumantra - and you finally got to the bottom of the "Is there hot food on an ATR" mystery! Yay Smile
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 5:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nimish wrote:
...you finally got to the bottom of the "Is there hot food on an ATR" mystery! Yay Smile
Ha ha, thank you very much, Nimish!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
ameya wrote:
...making me think of my visits to Bhopal ani the Nihari (breakfast)
Sir, the nihArI has to be had at (old) Delhi's Kareem's , since they have the family secret of the spices that suit the delicacy, the best.
ameya wrote:
The BHO terminal is total wastage of resources. The area / terminal / gates - all for less than 8 flights a day!
It may be a start, since Bhopal gets traffic which is primarily of two types: the Government ones (for which the AI flights generally suffice), and second, religious tourists. Tourists from Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka are quite common, and they patronise the Bhopal Shatabdi, for one (which unfortunately has become quite bad). I have seen quite a few of such tourists on the Air India flights as well. With the *A entry, possibly the traffic will get better. International flights: I think will be too far-fetched a thought at this moment.
ameya wrote:
I find it difficult to understand why BHO cannot support a daily 737 from DEL by 9W, with all the feeder traffic and after withdrawal from SG!
You would know this better, Sir: most of the traffic is not high-yield. AI's A321 on the return is more for operational reasons, though I have seen some good capacity on the BHO-DEL segment, which may be perfectly incidental information, though. Very poor yields forced SG out, I guess.
Cheers, Sumantra.


I have made it a point to visit Delhi every winter in the last few years and a visit to delhi in winters always has kareems as one of the many food hops.

As for BHO - the local bus operator under JNNURM made a representation to government stating how this terminal is a waste of money as compared to the limited resources given out to public transport used by many more people. This petition apart, the airport is a huge from the outside but sadly the SHA is soo small, it made me wonder where did all the space go !

Traffic has not picked up at BHO for a long time, as compared to IDR - which is the commercial capital of MP, BHO does not have industries and the traffic is mostly government
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ameya wrote:
I have made it a point to visit Delhi every winter in the last few years and a visit to delhi in winters always has kareems as one of the many food hops.
As Amrish Puri would have said, ``Sumo-gambo khush huA!Very Happy
ameya wrote:
Traffic has not picked up at BHO for a long time, as compared to IDR - which is the commercial capital of MP, BHO does not have industries and the traffic is mostly government
What you say is absolutely true, Sir: just add the Buddhist circuit pilgrim traffic, which surprisingly hasn't picked up as much as one would have expected it to.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
ameya wrote:
I have made it a point to visit Delhi every winter in the last few years and a visit to delhi in winters always has kareems as one of the many food hops.
As Amrish Puri would have said, ``Sumo-gambo khush huA!Very Happy
ameya wrote:
Traffic has not picked up at BHO for a long time, as compared to IDR - which is the commercial capital of MP, BHO does not have industries and the traffic is mostly government
What you say is absolutely true, Sir: just add the Buddhist circuit pilgrim traffic, which surprisingly hasn't picked up as much as one would have expected it to.
Cheers, Sumantra.


Also the reason why Ventura air connect is primarily based out of IDR and not BHO.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ameya wrote:
Also the reason why Ventura air connect is primarily based out of IDR and not BHO.
Superb observation, Sir. As usual!
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
ameya wrote:
Also the reason why Ventura air connect is primarily based out of IDR and not BHO.
Superb observation, Sir. As usual!


The regional connectivity has also vanished. The AMD-BHO-RPR rotation by 9W, which was historic has vanished a season ago and I think the conxn between BHO-LKO is also not around anymore.

What remains is same flight number - BHO-DEL-IXC, one way
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ameya wrote:
The regional connectivity has also vanished. The AMD-BHO-RPR rotation by 9W, which was historic has vanished a season ago and I think the conxn between BHO-LKO is also not around anymore.
What remains is same flight number - BHO-DEL-IXC, one way
Turst you to know all this: thank you for the updates!
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent report - as always, it gets us all hungry!

Also, that image of the airport model looks like ET facing upwards! Twisted Evil
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 11:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you, Varun!
Spiderguy252 wrote:
Also, that image of the airport model looks like ET facing upwards! Twisted Evil
Ha ha! Good one.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
Thank you, Varun!
Spiderguy252 wrote:
Also, that image of the airport model looks like ET facing upwards! Twisted Evil
Ha ha! Good one.
Cheers, Sumantra.


I saw that image again after this comment and the airport terminal and the entry roads do not look anywhere close what has been built on ground.
Your thoughts sumantra sir ?
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ameya wrote:
I saw that image again after this comment and the airport terminal and the entry roads do not look anywhere close what has been built on ground.
Sir, you and your hawk-like gaze! I had never even thought about it, in the first place. After you mentioned it, yes, from what I remember, it does look a bit different. It has too much of concrete right now, as well.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love your creative TR titles ... and this unique trip to Raja bhoj airport!!!

Looking forward to more TRs to unique airports
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

avbuff wrote:
Love your creative TR titles ... and this unique trip to Raja bhoj airport!!!
Ha ha, Sir: it is more like an idle mind, and the owner of the Workshop taking over. I guess I have been lucky to travel to smaller places which are not commonly in the itinerary of the corporate crowd. Thanks for taking the time out, to read this!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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sri_bom
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 2365
Location: Singapore

PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great TR and thanks for posting it.

Good to know you managed to get onto a brand new ATR that is really lucky. I have never flown an ATR yet so hope to do it one day.

I was impressed to see how clean and big the Bhopal airport is, although there is currently not much traffic to support it. I think it is better they build an airport with extra capacity so that in the future they do not have to invest heavily for expansion.

Your description of the ChitrAnna is quite detailed. I think at some point you should look at a career option of getting onto the airline food panel so that you can guide them what food they need to serve passengers on board.

Sri_Bom
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the kind words, Srinivas!
sri_bom wrote:
Good to know you managed to get onto a brand new ATR that is really lucky. I have never flown an ATR yet so hope to do it one day.
Sir, the aircraft you fly on: we would love to do that on a regular basis! For short domestic hops, we have to rely on what we have around.
sri_bom wrote:
I think at some point you should look at a career option of getting onto the airline food panel so that you can guide them what food they need to serve passengers on board
He he...that is something, Sir Smile
I think Singapore Airlines and Air India (and that too, since JRD's heady days!) represent perhaps the pinnacle in what airline food is, and should be all about, and I hope both keep it that way too! Cheers, Sumantra.
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Optimus.Prime
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Joined: 21 Dec 2009
Posts: 302
Location: VAJJ (No, not Va-Jay-Jay)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice one Sumantra Sir! Hope you liked the ATR!
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 11:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Optimus.Prime wrote:
Hope you liked the ATR!
Thanks a lot, Sir: I couldn't manage a flight with you in the front office on the AT4s, I hope to do so one day on the AT7s, though I doubt you do the DEL legs.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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