Sunday, February 17, 2008

Thank you, Jet Airways

After a long, tiring weekend, we were on our way back from Kerala to Chennai. And it was exactly at lunch time too. My daughter was hungry, sleepy and tired. I was absolutely dreading the flight back knowing the last thing she needed was to be made to sit in her seat with a seatbelt and nothing but the clouds to watch outside. I made sure I had crayons and paper and a book to read to her.

Jet Air totally surprised us. I'm sure its been around for a while but this is the first I'd heard of it. They had these little TVs for inflight entertainment. And, the greatest gift of all, they had a Kids Channel that had lots of cartoons (including Dora the Explorer, my daughter's favourite!). I was delighted. She was delighted. And everyone heaved a sigh of relief! :) It was the most pleasant plane ride we've had in a while.



They also gave out little packets of coloring pencils and books for the kids in a little bag. The only drawback was their kid's meal. The steward told us that we had to have requested it earlier, which we didnt know (on the other hand, when we flew to Kerala on Paramount Airways, they had a child meal ready for her, even though we hadn't requested it - now that's called service!). But I'm not complaining. Dora beats the kid's meal anyday.

Thanks, Jet Airways. And thanks Paramount, for catering to people who don't warn in ahead!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't see why Jet Airways couldn't have provided something for the kid. What exactly does a "Kid's meal" have anyway? If I were running the Airways, I'd make sure we always have a spare or two to give out. They should realize that these are the little things that mean a world of difference when it comes to flying their airways again. Oh well.. I'm sorry! I'll end my rant here. I'm just bored at home on President's day. :-)

Arundathi said...

Hey po - i agree that they should have a couple of kids meals to spare, especially since you cant really plan when kids will be hungry! but i'm really not gonna complain too much because of the fact that they were otherwise really nice!
kids meals usually consist of things kids love to eat like chicken nuggets or pasta or (in the case of the paramount meal) veggie cutlets and chocolate cake...
thanks for stopping by!

Unknown said...

Thank God for TV & Cartoons, eh? Like I said, I was really bored the other day and started googling for Indian blogs (Chennai specifically) and bumped into yours. I'll keep checking; so please do keep writing :-)

Anonymous said...

PARAMOUNT AIRWAYS PREFERS HINDI SPEAKERS ONLY

When Paramount Airways was introduced, every one might have been exited that for the first time airline based out of Tamil Nadu was started. There was also expectation that the aviation sector in Tamil Nadu would improve. For a long time Bangalore was the only headquarters for all airline. TamilNadu was a desert of aviation enterprise ever since Air Asiatic wound up.

There was also reports of Tamil newspapers inflight abort Paramount, which would have attracted exitement in the emotional TN market.

To tell the truth Paramount Airways is no different from they claim to be. They are just part of the Hindi-speaking herd which are based in Tamil Nadu only in name.

THeir vacancies within Tamil Nadu DO NOT care for knowledge of Tamil but require Hindi. Speaking Tamil is considered shameful in India's aviation industry. Speaking Hindi is actual considered good etiquette. Paramount Airways has also shown this preference.

They barely link 3 of the busiest airports in Tamil Nadu, which others like Air Deccan have already been doing.

The only thing Paramount Airways is unique is that they are the most expensive.

To sum it up, being an expensive airline which at the end of the day you get the usual English and Hindi only treatment, you would rather pick others for less.