Kingfisher

Kingfisher Airline. We took that to Shimla and were suppose to get
back with the same airline; however, a "mechanical" problem canceled
our flight. So I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the Shimla
airport, basically a small outpost with one room with a divider
separating Arrival and Departure halls. And only a concrete table for
the arrival bag handling. Reminded me of the Turks and Cacos airport
years ago.

The airline check-in experience at Delhi's domestic terminal was quite
something. As soon as we arrived, a personal porter with the airline
greeted us, really. And we only flew econo class. He took our bags
and took us to the counter, waited with us and ensured our bags had
proper tags including carry-ons to ensure a "smooth" ever bureaucratic
"at gate" security check - That little stamp to indicate that your
carry-on have been scanned and danger free. After we were checked in,
he just walked off quickly without asking for a tip. We tipped him
anyway. That was good that some services here started to train
employees NOT to ask for tips. The tipping actually has become such a
turn off and borderline of harassment.

We went thru the security line and all those previous blogs and
pictures you all seen.

After we were bused to the twin propeller plane, I was well prepared
what lied ahead. Umm.... tire pressure seemed to be a bit low. Then
after we boarded the flight, a 2 x 2 configuration. I laughed. One
of the overhead compartment was broken. The fix? Rolls of masking
tapes to tape it shut! Cool. We took off boringly. Good thing.

On board, the snack was a vegetarian sandwich. Beat that Air Canada,
Beat that United Airline, Beat that Delta airline. It was a panini
with corn and other salad veggies and a small bottle of water!

When we landed, we landed hard! I guess no one were expecting the
runway was high up on a mountain top. Big thummmm... When we left
the plane, we were greeted by no more than 4 Kingfisher ground staff;
all smiling, all greeting us, all with happy faces, all were slim!
Beat that you North American airlines!

Luggage unloaded quickly. We grabbed our bags and left with the
Oberoi driver. What a treat without the constant harassment of a
Delhi hotel driver. The Oberoi driver left us alone to our thoughts
and the views ahead. The only two sentences he uttered were "Can we
start our journey now?", "are you comfortable with the ride?". OK, a
third sentence "our hotel on the right. What a pleasure! Unlike the
Kempinski Leela hotel driver. Constantly trying to get us to do
something with him, tried to be chatty, tried to make his life story
about "I have to work hard so my liver is not that good". Right.
And you are driving a BMW 325 top of the line here buddy.

OK, back to Kingfisher. I had an inkling feeling that we had a less
than 25% chance of flying out of Shimla back to Delhi. Why? Virtually
There website for my file suggested the flight status "not confirm".
I couldn't get pre-assigned seats from Kingfisher website as it said
"no plane scheduled". My A-brain kicked in before we left for Delhi
and had prepared. In India, you have to have plan B and plan C. The
reason I selected Oberoi wasn't just because it was a 5-star hotel; I
wanted to ensure we can be taken care of in case of flight
cancellation for plan B travel plan. True to form, we were taken care
of with a cost, of course. But that was minor compared to the Indian
travel headache. The return trip took over 8 hours, first two hours
in windy hill road at times with width only one car could pass. Iron-
wife because sick-wife from the tight turns for 2 hours. Anyway, on
Saturday before we left I double-checked with hotel about flight. He
knew the flight was canceled so I told him to organize my transport,
we had options: 1) car directly from hotel to hotel or 2) a 4-hour
ride to another town to catch a train to Delhi. No thanks on option
2. Been to Delhi train station. No way. No announcement of arrival
and a place of more poverty than I want to see again. More things to
go wrong and more things to organize for Delhi's pickup. Option 1 it
was. and Rs 17,000 (CAD 390) later.

Right now, I have Kempinski Leela receptionist handling my Kingfisher
refund. We are staying at the residence level. Got all the
services. The staff is so well trained. Friendly, hardworking and
efficient. I don't mind. But once you step out of these hotel
shelters, you are on your own. Like a small fish in a shark infested
water. Be wary, be very wary.... And be streetsmart and a GSM phone
that works in India and the hotel phone numbers programmed in.