Jet Or Kingfisher? To Thailand

[mearkat75]

i will be flying out beginning of Jan to see my hubby

so the cheapest i can find is either Jet or Kingfisher from Heathrow.now im travelling with our 4 year old daughter,so which is better for kids? i hear Mumbai is bad...

we usually fly Etihad,but prices are abit high this time

thanks for any info

[taff33]

My and I flew with Jet airways,very good flights,food sort of curries ( but they are both Indian airlines so to be expected).Bombay not to bad not long to wait for on going flight I will certanly use them again.

[beano2274]

Kingfisher is 5 star.

[nong38]

I flew with Kingfisher here this July, 5 star, what a joke, food poor, entertainment not operational and information on board wrong. I would recommend them unless lasr resort. Good safety record though.

I flew with Jet last year, good flight and short stop over in Mumbai, well organised a better bet, but, as said before its all curry based.

Given a choice I would choose Jet.

[bifftastic]

I used both this year. Jet in January, Kingfisher in May. Jet gets my vote although, to be honest, there wasn't much to choose between them.

I vote for Jet simply because they gave me an emergency exit seat on both legs outward and return cos I checked in early enough and asked them did the same with Kingfisher but they couldn't do it.

Seats were good, food was good, staff were fine, entertainment system was ok too. On both. I sat next to someone on the Kingfisher return flight BOM to LHR who just couldn't sit still, got up and walked around for 2 minutes approximately 31 times and I wanted to stick pins in his eyes but that can happen on any flight.

Mumbai airport, however, and everyone that works in it, is an absolute joke. Imagine a motorway service station in the UK in the 1970's staffed by idiots with no manners, organised by people who just don't care about anything other than employing as many people as is humanly possible to check, re-check and check again, that you have a passport and a boarding pass, and you will have some idea of what's in store for a weary traveller.

The simple feat of moving you from one part of the airport to another whilst in transit has been made into the most complicated and badly organised process imaginable.

Still, it's only for an hour or so, and once you know you'll be herded around like sheep and have your bag and your person searched, scanned and rummaged through, even though your in transit and have just got off a plane which came from another airport where this was, quite adequately, done already and have any duty free alcohol you have been foolish enough to purchase will be poured away, your passport and boarding pass checked, let me see...... eight times! Once by a soldier who is standing next to a man who has just checked it, but he needs to check it again, and finally head towards the next plane, thinking you've finished with all the checking, but no! There's a table, where sits a man, with a huge paper print out of the passenger list who wants to see, yep, your passport and your boarding pass then he looks at the list, for 5 minutes, finds your name, puts a tick next to it and sends you off with a dismissive wave toward the plane door........

... so they can check your passport and your boarding pass

but whilst on the 'planes, all is good, it's just Mumbai airport that isn't. Did I mention they look at your passport and boarding pass quite a lot?

So, it's Jet for me but only by 'a nose'

Cheers,

Biff

P.S. I will now dream of Mumbai airport the unresolved emotional issues resulting from my visit to the airport equivalent of Fawlty Towers are tempered slightly by my sharing something of the experience with you good people.

Edited October 7, 2010 by bifftastic

[rak sa_ngop]

Why don't you take a look at Air India. I just made a return trip with them and was really pleased with the experience. Friendly staff, good curries (can order special meals in advance I believe) and free drinks. Travel through Delhi where they have opened a nice new terminal. Only downside is that there is a bit of queuing to get re-issued with new boarding passes, but its very civilised and the terminal has lots of duty free and good food outlets.

I have just re-booked with Air India for another trip in January and found a price which was lower than both Jet or Kingfisher. This was from BKK to Lon return so no point in telling you the amount, especially as prices here are more expensive than in the UK.

Good luck!

[nong38]

Air India do indeed have good prices, their safety record is at the bottom end of the spectrum, it up to you to choose what is important in life. Kingfisher are in the top 10, the last time I looked, I always look before I book. Mumbai is as described earlier,but when the Commonwealth Games Stadium is finished (2011) they gang are going to come and sort out Mumbai Airport, until then take a packed lunch and some toilet rolls.

[champken]

I couldn't agree more with the descriptions of Mumbai airport but believe me Delhi is not much better, in fact having recently flown with both Air India and Jet i have vowed never to fly through India again, we all know the saying "couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery" well that just about sums that lot up

[roamer]

I posted this in August. Personally I think if your used to flying on Etihad or similar through the Middle East you might want to really evaluate just how much your saving.

" Just flew this route. IMHO the bad outweighs the good. The Mumbai London sector not bad at all, Airbus A330, nice flight attendants, pretty good food though not always sure the air quality is improved by a couple of hundred folk eating curry. AVOD, well if you like listening to music make sure you have an mp3 player or get ready to listen to the 3 somewhat obscure Euro CD,s. Films somewhat better but mainly old classics with a few later releases. Not a patch on Qatar with over 300 Cd's and tons of good movies. Still, that alone wouldn't be a big put-off for me. What will deter me flying this route again is the Bangkok- Mumbai sector. Its an A319 with pretty cramped narrow seating, I'm not the tallest bloke in the world but even so 4 hours or more with my knees against the seat in front is not my idea of fun. The Mumbai security checks are a repetitive nightmare. Tip, if you do decide to fly this route the Kingfisher rep that meets you in transit will give you labels to tie to your hand baggage before you go through security. Whatever you do make sure the label gets stamped. If not then when you try to board your flight they check it again, if no stamp you have to go all the way back again, get it stamped and return. Happened to at least 4 passengers on my flight. Second tip stay VERY close to the rep who meets the plane, he will take you off along a long corridor, turn a corner and sit down at a desk and then go through the rigmarole of checking boarding cards, crossing you off a list etc. Ok if your at the front but your in for a pretty long wait if your near the back of the queue.

It's a mystery to me how this airline got a 5* rating for its economy flights, it ain't bad but airlines like Qatar or Singapore are streets ahead. Tea served with creamer instead of milk was another oddity ! As I say, its manageable but unless it comes in exceptionally cheap and your watching your cash then there are certainly better options out there.

[LAKRA]

I flew Jet 3 weeks ago and have gone with them quite a few times. The airline is good both in price and service. Given all the adverse comments (all of which are true) about the transit in Mumbai; it surprises me that Jet still uses it as their hub for the London Bangkok route.even though they are now using the new terminal in Delhi for most of their other routings.As someone said before; it's only a short transit period so it's a case of 'grin and bear' or 'whinge and bear'!

[bifftastic]

but when the Commonwealth Games Stadium is finished (2011) they gang are going to come and sort out Mumbai Airport,

Umm, would those be the same people who built the bridge that collapsed and the poisonous swimming pool? I thought the stadium was finished, seeing as the games are actually happening now, or maybe they'll be finishing it afterwards?

Thanks for the tip about Air India, I'll be checking them out for future flights, Delhi can't be worse than Mumbai

[mearkat75]

Thanks for the info,sounds pretty bad! do people actually miss their connecting flights due to this madness??T he flight i was looking at had only 2 hours transfer in mumbai,would that be enought time to get thru?

Thanks again

[roamer]

Thanks for the info,sounds pretty bad! do people actually miss their connecting flights due to this madness??T he flight i was looking at had only 2 hours transfer in mumbai,would that be enought time to get thru?

Thanks again

Very little chance of missing your flight, it would be their fault and cause complications plus relatively few other airlines using this as a transfer point. Plus if you follow my tip earlier about staying close to the rep you should be amongst the early ones through security. If the saving is significant and money is tight then go for it and grin and bear it. The reality is that for those of us who commute on trains to work or ride the Tube experience far worse on a daily basis.

[bifftastic]

Thanks for the info,sounds pretty bad! do people actually miss their connecting flights due to this madness??T he flight i was looking at had only 2 hours transfer in mumbai,would that be enought time to get thru?

Thanks again

2 hours is plenty of time, it's a bit mad and a lot silly but it doesn't take all that long to actually get to the gate for boarding.

The tip about staying close to the rep is a good one too

The second time i did it I was expecting it so it was ok really, just a bit of nonsense to put up with. As mentioned above, not that far removed from the daily commute in London

[billinparadise]

Hi ,,I fly with Air Asia from australia to Bkk ,,very cheap and very good ,,,they fly to UK now why not try them ,,they stop in KL new budget terminal ,,,cheers

[bkk_mike]

Given all the adverse comments (all of which are true) about the transit in Mumbai; it surprises me that Jet still uses it as their hub for the London Bangkok route.even though they are now using the new terminal in Delhi for most of their other routings.

The answer is almost certainly that the big banks in the US/UK have their Indian operations predominantly in Mumbai, Hyderabad and/or Bangalore. I can't think of any that have a major presence in Delhi. (Mumbai is where the Stock Exchange is after all).

That means there's regular business traffic for London to Mumbai, where there isn't nearly as much business traffic on the London-Delhi route.

[steve187]

not sure of the price you were looking at but, eva air have prices from £550.00 and £460.00 for child in January, just a thought.

http://eservice.evaair.com/online/html/english/plan/eibsa009.asp?Dep=LHR&Arr=BKK&Trans_Type=P&Segment=RT&Options=4

good luck with your planning