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ameya
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra
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 Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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Summary of my travel on Jet Airways which is part of the blog
Views on Jet Airways
The airline has a long way to go. For me it’s a lucky draw, a flight could range from worst to great. On the same sector, one gets a meal box without tea/coffee service on the outbound and meal tray with tea/coffee service on the inbound. The coffee is served as if austerity measures are in place – less than half a cup. I would prefer to explore Spicejet – when the operations improve and the OTP increases to acceptable levels and IndiGo for its OTP – except for last two months, and service.
I would not mind buying a coffee, but get a full glass of hot coffee assured rather than being in a lucky draw. Besides, if I have to eat a cold sandwich, there are better options available in both Spicejet and IndiGo and IndiGo has a very quick and responsive Twitter handle unlike my experience with Jet Airways.
The feedback email which Jet Airways sends is a joke! One cannot type in additional details and they tell how all the things which they do not offer and ask you for your feedback on it.This includes Tea/Coffee, Newspapers, Magazines and IFE. I am not counting the drinks side of the feedback which is applicable only to international flights.
How difficult is it to have separate surveys for Domestic and International and send the right questions! What was a very standard announcement in my trip to Ahmedabad about the flight being an Etihad Code share was missing completely on these flights.
From a very good flight on the ATRs last week to these two experiences where the service levels were at extreme ends of the spectrum, I agree with some frequent business travelers who keep telling me why they avoid Jet Airways!
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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Once again, a superb Ameya-esque trip report!
I will not enumerate the basic ingredients, since we all love them dearly.
As usual, the report is right on time.
This time, I was waiting with a lot of interest, given the upsurge in the on-board experience on Jet Airways, especially the food revamp. And knowing Ameya, this is one person who will not call a spade...by any other name.
The history here was interesting. As a side question, what do you feel about the Air India Regional flights to Puducheri, and the SpiceJet ops at Thootukudi (Tuticorin)? Especially the former, since traditionally, people have visited Puducheri by road from Chennai (the path you both took). Air India Regional perhaps puts an aircraft to better use, given the otherwise thin and low-yield traffic between the two cities. A good chunk of Puducheri's air traffic is international, to Paris, where AI 143/2 with the international connectors to/from Chennai, does not do too badly. The international connectors balance the domestic and international onward and incoming traffic, quite well.
What is your current recommendation on Piune taxis? I really wish the city's public transportation was better, though the mass public transportation is relatively ok (the buses).
The food on the PNQ-MAA sector was unexpectedly meagre. And you write about the inconsistency as well.
The Chennai approach over the Marina beach is always spectacular, and something to look forward to. Somehow, I have loved it better on a wide-body in the forenoon, on Air India's A310s, A332s and Dream)liners!
My experiences of the Chennai airport's domestic departures and arrivals has not been bad thus far. I would go so far as to say that I quite like it.
The food on the return leg: was the coffee the same as what I consider to be the most vile instant coffee ever developed, or was it better? Or was the quantity so minute that...I'll wait for that answer. The food part was disappointing, since even Air India serves a little bit more on flights of similar or shorter duration (though it is an all-veg service, which I do not mind: I am usually more concerned about the quantity, and the quality), as far as my recent experiences go.
A small point about no-photography rules: of late, I have not heard this on any airline, be it Indigo, or SpiceJet, or Air India. I wonder why!
Baggage at PNQ arrivals: I had thought that it was only Air India which was inefficient and inconsistent. It turns out that the phenomenon is quite endemic to the entire airport, which is disappointing.
And sir, I am surprised that you even advocate Indigo over 9W, for a cold sandwich. For me, it has generally been a hit-and-miss on Indigo at least, from a superlative sandwich on a CCU-DEL flight (the catering was by Taj-SATS, so one knows what to expect!), to a passable one, to one that has seen fresher days.
Thanks once again Sir, and I look forward to other parts of the trip, which I hope, you will put on this forum as well, even if they are links. You know how much we love to read your articles, right from travel details, to food (but of course). Puducheri is known for some amazing French-modulated Tamilian cuisine. We would love to read about it.
Cheers, Sumantra. |
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avbuff
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 5031
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| Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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Ameya,
Nice TR and excellent pics. Thank you for sharing your experiences. From what it seems 9W continues to be a hit and miss with more misses. Not surprised at all.
Also, crew announcing baggage belts inflight or upon landing is absolutely not a service protocol from any angle and being an insider you would know there maybe many genuine logistical reasons for that not happening. I don't think that can be held as a negative. Besides PNQ is not all that huge where you have to walk hundreds of meters to locate your belt. |
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:49 am Post subject: |
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| avbuff wrote: | Ameya,
Nice TR and excellent pics. Thank you for sharing your experiences. From what it seems 9W continues to be a hit and miss with more misses. Not surprised at all.
Also, crew announcing baggage belts inflight or upon landing is absolutely not a service protocol from any angle and being an insider you would know there maybe many genuine logistical reasons for that not happening. I don't think that can be held as a negative. Besides PNQ is not all that huge where you have to walk hundreds of meters to locate your belt. |
Thanks Ojas for reading !
9W continues to be a hit and miss is true . . absolutely true. Every airline service oscillates but not as much as 9W I feel.
As for the baggage, announcing is a nice to have thing and not a must neither is it a compulsion or a protocol. However, with just 3 belts and around 550 passengers, an announcement, staff presence or display near the belt is a must, when every other airline was doing it. There were pax of I5,AI,9W and 9W from DEL arrived within minutes - in the small terminal making pax run from belt to belt is congesting it even further
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:58 am Post subject: |
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| sumantra wrote: | Once again, a superb Ameya-esque trip report!
I will not enumerate the basic ingredients, since we all love them dearly.
As usual, the report is right on time.
This time, I was waiting with a lot of interest, given the upsurge in the on-board experience on Jet Airways, especially the food revamp. And knowing Ameya, this is one person who will not call a spade...by any other name.
The history here was interesting. As a side question, what do you feel about the Air India Regional flights to Puducheri, and the SpiceJet ops at Thootukudi (Tuticorin)? Especially the former, since traditionally, people have visited Puducheri by road from Chennai (the path you both took). Air India Regional perhaps puts an aircraft to better use, given the otherwise thin and low-yield traffic between the two cities. A good chunk of Puducheri's air traffic is international, to Paris, where AI 143/2 with the international connectors to/from Chennai, does not do too badly. The international connectors balance the domestic and international onward and incoming traffic, quite well.
What is your current recommendation on Piune taxis? I really wish the city's public transportation was better, though the mass public transportation is relatively ok (the buses).
The food on the PNQ-MAA sector was unexpectedly meagre. And you write about the inconsistency as well.
The Chennai approach over the Marina beach is always spectacular, and something to look forward to. Somehow, I have loved it better on a wide-body in the forenoon, on Air India's A310s, A332s and Dream)liners!
My experiences of the Chennai airport's domestic departures and arrivals has not been bad thus far. I would go so far as to say that I quite like it.
The food on the return leg: was the coffee the same as what I consider to be the most vile instant coffee ever developed, or was it better? Or was the quantity so minute that...I'll wait for that answer. The food part was disappointing, since even Air India serves a little bit more on flights of similar or shorter duration (though it is an all-veg service, which I do not mind: I am usually more concerned about the quantity, and the quality), as far as my recent experiences go.
A small point about no-photography rules: of late, I have not heard this on any airline, be it Indigo, or SpiceJet, or Air India. I wonder why!
Baggage at PNQ arrivals: I had thought that it was only Air India which was inefficient and inconsistent. It turns out that the phenomenon is quite endemic to the entire airport, which is disappointing.
And sir, I am surprised that you even advocate Indigo over 9W, for a cold sandwich. For me, it has generally been a hit-and-miss on Indigo at least, from a superlative sandwich on a CCU-DEL flight (the catering was by Taj-SATS, so one knows what to expect!), to a passable one, to one that has seen fresher days.
Thanks once again Sir, and I look forward to other parts of the trip, which I hope, you will put on this forum as well, even if they are links. You know how much we love to read your articles, right from travel details, to food (but of course). Puducheri is known for some amazing French-modulated Tamilian cuisine. We would love to read about it.
Cheers, Sumantra. |
Thank you Sir for the kind words as always.
The hotel was not even aware about the direct flight service in place. They said Spicejet operated it once but it was always empty. The road is in great condition and without traffic jams and minimal toll booths. There certainly wont be MAA-PNY O&D traffic. I am not aware about BLR-PNY O&D to be honest or the connecting traffic.
My trips to Chennai have been limited to B732, AT72,B738 so unfortunately no WB experience for me there.
There is nothing to comment about the food, but coffee was horrible too. A pax can either add all the creamer to coffee and make it even more horrible or put in limited creamer and then find ways to store the opened sachet or just make the tray table dirty !
6E catering is bad and I have written about it time and again. But with the kind of taste which we got on 9W, I would rate the corn and spinach s/w on 6E a tad better and the coffee much better! Besides though robotic, the crew goes around doing their duty well.
Thank you once again!
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:11 am Post subject: |
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| ameya wrote: | | There is nothing to comment about the food, but coffee was horrible too. A pax can either add all the creamer to coffee and make it even more horrible or put in limited creamer and then find ways to store the opened sachet or just make the tray table dirty! |
He he...while funny, this does not speak too highly of the Jet service. I hope they iron out these, quite soon. They are on an upswing, and small things should not let the passenger experience down.
| ameya wrote: | | But with the kind of taste which we got on 9W, I would rate the corn and spinach s/w on 6E a tad better and the coffee much better |
The corn-and-spinach sandwich is good only when the bread is good (Taj-SATS), and the item is fresh(whatever be the source for the catering!). Since I have had both types of experiences, I count it as a hit-or-a-miss. The coffee: yes, although it is a pre-mix, my guess is that it is sourced from Coffee Day. Yes, I would vouch for this pre-mix being quite good 
I also note a small update in the original post, with the food and travel part.
A request: in future, please post links to these as well, prominently!
Thank you, Sumantra. |
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sri_bom
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Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 2365
Location: Singapore
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Ameya for the detailed trip report and posting those faboulous pictures of Pondy. This is the place where I had my honeymoon and when I told my friends/relatives my plan they were quite surprised and shocked. In fact everybody was pulling my leg whether I plan to run away to Aurbindo ashram. . As typically honeymoon destinations were to be the golden triangle or the far east.
Pondy has a lot of quaint restaurants, beaches and curious shop. So long as you stay in the French quarters area it is peaceful and world apart.
Now coming back to the TR Jet’s inconsistency is something they need to fix soon if they want to be relevant in today’s market. I am not sure what is Ethiad’s long term strategy but they cannot have customers getting great experience on a Ethiad flight and on the connecting Jet metal passengers getting disappointed. |
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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| sri_bom wrote: | | This is the place where I had my honeymoon and when I told my friends/relatives my plan they were quite surprised and shocked. In fact everybody was pulling my leg whether I plan to run away to Aurbindo ashram. |
ha ha!  |
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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Food and Frolic– A gateway to Pondy
http://networkthoughts.in/food-and-frolic-a-gateway-to-pondy/
Another beautifully crafted Ameya article! If I had my way, I would urge you to have sandwiched this in between your two air journeys. The pictures and food descriptions are completely captivating. This is also a nice guide to stay and dine at the city. I too had heard about the place being completely over-rated, but seeing your pictures, and picturising the aromas, I may as well plan something there, if work takes me that far.
I presume that Puducherry hotels have taxi connections to and from Chennai, the main gateway to the quaint place. Can you also gibe us some idea of the 2015 approximate costs, for all the travel, two wheeler rentals, and the specialty food? Your hotel looks quite awesome, with the swimming pool in the middle. Shanti Villa with its vertical garden looks as awesome as the food there. Palais de Mahe looks quite awesome as well, with its swimming pool, and delicate presentation of some exotic cuisine, including some of the great fusion cuisine that the place is known for! Being averse to healthy food - ha ha! The chocolate part had me drooling all over...and your description of Cafe Xtasy sounds interesting, more so, with the tip box!
Maison Perumal looks very inviting, right to the delicately designed wooden chairs, and the cuisine. Mojito-Pillai: ha ha!
The Auroville and Promenade pictures and descriptions look nice.
tADgolA is a Marathi term (not Hindi, by any figment of imagination!) for something that is quite foreign for us Delhi'ites, and in general, North Indians. No wonder, most people in the North have not even heard of this. Surprisingly, while the `green coconut' or DAb has become quite popular, this fruit, or its juice, taken as such, or in a more interesting form (neerA in Marathi? Or is that the non-interesting form?  ). this is popular in the West, the East, and the South. Both The Wife and I love this!
Thanks for a lovely article, once again.
Cheers, Sumantra. |
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jbalonso777
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Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 1501
Location: Never, never land
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2015 1:28 am Post subject: |
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Hey Ameya, I suggest you stick to the ATRs - every time you step on a Boeing (737) something seems to go wrong!
In all seriousness, firstly, great TR!
Next up, the inconsistencies are really very disappointing. And it is pretty obvious too! That puff thing is pretty standard these days on all short-ish tier 2 flights!
The headrest is available only on the international IFE/PTV equipped planes (JBC) while the others are pretty much for domestic uses (JFM).
What was your seat number on the PNQ-MAA flight?
Super pics in the blog as well!
Thanks for sharing!
Jish
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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| jbalonso777 wrote: | Hey Ameya, I suggest you stick to the ATRs - every time you step on a Boeing (737) something seems to go wrong!
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Hehe. . yes and I like the ATRs a lot more than the B737s
| jbalonso777 wrote: |
In all seriousness, firstly, great TR!
Next up, the inconsistencies are really very disappointing. And it is pretty obvious too! That puff thing is pretty standard these days on all short-ish tier 2 flights!
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Thanks! Hopefully they should improve thats all I can saw
| jbalonso777 wrote: |
The headrest is available only on the international IFE/PTV equipped planes (JBC) while the others are pretty much for domestic uses (JFM).
What was your seat number on the PNQ-MAA flight?
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That inconsistency is a problem . . my seat was emergency row on the return . . did not like the 10th row . . switched back to emergency row
| jbalonso777 wrote: |
Super pics in the blog as well!
Thanks for sharing!
Jish |
New camera put to good use. . still learning
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| sumantra wrote: | Food and Frolic– A gateway to Pondy
http://networkthoughts.in/food-and-frolic-a-gateway-to-pondy/
Another beautifully crafted Ameya article! If I had my way, I would urge you to have sandwiched this in between your two air journeys. The pictures and food descriptions are completely captivating. This is also a nice guide to stay and dine at the city. I too had heard about the place being completely over-rated, but seeing your pictures, and picturising the aromas, I may as well plan something there, if work takes me that far.
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Thanks Sir for the kind words as always.
| sumantra wrote: |
I presume that Puducherry hotels have taxi connections to and from Chennai, the main gateway to the quaint place. Can you also gibe us some idea of the 2015 approximate costs, for all the travel, two wheeler rentals, and the specialty food? Your hotel looks quite awesome, with the swimming pool in the middle. Shanti Villa with its vertical garden looks as awesome as the food there. Palais de Mahe looks quite awesome as well, with its swimming pool, and delicate presentation of some exotic cuisine, including some of the great fusion cuisine that the place is known for!
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The bus fare is around 450 per person from Chennai to Pondy while the cabs charge 2600 for AC and 2000 for non AC each way. Two wheeler rental is very very cheap at just 250 for 12 hours + petrol. Food also is not exorbitant - standard city rates for all the food.
| sumantra wrote: |
Being averse to healthy food - ha ha! The chocolate part had me drooling all over...and your description of Cafe Xtasy sounds interesting, more so, with the tip box!
Maison Perumal looks very inviting, right to the delicately designed wooden chairs, and the cuisine. Mojito-Pillai: ha ha!
The Auroville and Promenade pictures and descriptions look nice.
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Thanks again !
| sumantra wrote: |
tADgolA is a Marathi term (not Hindi, by any figment of imagination!) for something that is quite foreign for us Delhi'ites, and in general, North Indians. No wonder, most people in the North have not even heard of this. Surprisingly, while the `green coconut' or DAb has become quite popular, this fruit, or its juice, taken as such, or in a more interesting form (neerA in Marathi? Or is that the non-interesting form? ). this is popular in the West, the East, and the South. Both The Wife and I love this!
Thanks for a lovely article, once again.
Cheers, Sumantra. |
Thanks for the additional information !
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stealthpilot
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Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 2325
Location: BLR, DXB
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| Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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Now I know I read this a while ago .... but apparently I didn't comment 
- Very well written and more pictures than usual which I like heheheh.
- Trust you to notice all these small details, very interesting.
- The coffee .... hahahahahaha 
- Baggage belt - how could they not have a sign or display at the conveyor belt? No need to announce the belt or have staff guide people/show them where it is, but a display at the belt is a must regardless.
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| stealthpilot wrote: | Now I know I read this a while ago .... but apparently I didn't comment
- Very well written and more pictures than usual which I like heheheh.
- Trust you to notice all these small details, very interesting.
- The coffee .... hahahahahaha
- Baggage belt - how could they not have a sign or display at the conveyor belt? No need to announce the belt or have staff guide people/show them where it is, but a display at the belt is a must regardless. |
Thanks !
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