Flying Air Deccan
It is 10:30 pm in India time and my flight to Singapore will be leaving at 11:30 pm. I am enjoying the very last moment in India at the cozy Internet Cafe of Chennai (Madras) airport.From Bangalore to Chennai, I took a Air Deccan flight (Indians call it "Airrr Deccan"!). It was fun !!Air Deccan homepageAir Deccan is the most successful airline discounter in India and it covers almost all major cities in this huge country. It was a very short 40 minutes flight from Bangalore to Chennai as the distance of the two cities are similar to that of Tokyo and Nagoya.The airfare was cheap. My ticket itself costs 879 Rupees and I paid 1100 Rupees (2800 yen) inclusive of taxes and charges. My Indian colleagues says the last-minute booking is even cheaper and it would cost roughly 500 Rupees (1350 yen!!). No wonder I saw so many Indian passengers rushing into the Air Deccan counter for the cheap flight hunting, while hardly any people were seen at other airline counters. I used to be a backpacker and my previous experiences tell that, in India and South East Asia, discount airlines are not punctual at all. So I allowed at least 4 hours at Chennai airport in case of expected delays. However, what happened was my Air Deccan flight was just delayed for 10 minutes and it arrived at Chennai on time!! I was so grateful of this unexpected punctuality :-)As a cheap airline, their aircrafts are usually located in the farthest side of the airport. In both Bangalore and Chennai, I had to travel 3-4 kilometers by bus from the gate to the aircraft. The services were basic but not too bad. They issue baggage claim tags to avoid missing baggages. They also checked all passenger names and even helped me to direct to the gate. In the aircraft, there seemed no seating rules. The airhostess said to me "You can sit anywhere you like". So I looked around, to find one beautiful Indian lady sitting in the window seat. I was tempted to sit next to her but I felt a little bit awkward and nervous (I am a shy guy..) so I ended up to sit next to a middle aged Indian guy.Anyway, the flight was not too bad. So was my 2 week visit in India. I am not sure if I 0have the next time (probably yes...) and I am even unsure if I take Air Deccan again in my life. See you and good luck, Airrr Deccan !