My first flight.

Ok, I have had my flights of imagination in worlds lesser known to anybody but myself; but this was the first time I was flying in the territory known to the birds and people who can afford the flights.
I was all excitement, I had never had felt a force closer to the g force that you experience when the plane takes off and the acceleration (0-60 in 6 secs flat does not qualify!). I left for Mumbai on Friday evening after an eventful day and stayed with my friend and kept asking him about the things to do and not to do on a flight and inside the airport. (This is closest to Navjot Singh Siddhu’s famous kid in a topless bar!).
I left my friend’s place at 4.30 in the morning and reached Sahara Airport after changing three modes of transportation. I reached the airport by 6 in the morning, and I was ushered in to the security check. The dream was materializing. I was about to fly in an hours time!
I went through the security gate and the customary and formal checking (I do not understand what purpose they serve coz I have never heard of any body with intentions to hijack being discouraged by those procedures!).Then I went to get the boarding pass.
The dream......hmmmm.......it was coming to an end..... and HOW is what follows....

I had the ticket of Sahara airlines on a JET airways coupon (which, when I got it, found very natural because of the merger thing in the air).The lady at the counter who has been trained to give fake smiles and greet you with the softest of voices even when she hates you like anything, greeted me with similar sincerity;with the same I- want- to- help-but- I- can't look! She said that she could not allow me to board the flight as it was on a jet airways coupon!
I was asked to speak to the Jet airways people and only they could take me to Calcutta. I spoke to them and was told that even though the ticket was on a Jet airways coupon, they could not take me in unless the Sahara people endorse that as it was for a Sahara flight!
As the merger deal fell through, they had stopped accepting the other party’s coupons!
I was losing my patience, and my dreaming was changing to a nightmare.
I was asked to cancel the ticket I was holding, and that I would need to book afresh and only then I can fly. Also, that as the ticket was booked by a travel agent (Travelguru.com) they could not refund the amount, theycould only stamp it 'FULL REFUND'! I would have to claim them.

I had no choice but to do what I was asked to, and I booked a new ticket for Calcutta and thankfully I got one for Rs5150, Rs1700 more than what I was paying initially! Thank god to credit cards that I was able to book that, my account only had 4000/- bucks!

I was told in the sweetest voices that they understood it was not my fault, but they could not help me. I felt as if they were telling me, look, we get paid to talk in sweet voices and do hell with your problem and get off my face.

And to top it all, the guy who advised me to book afresh, had the audacity to tell me that i was NOW actually flying cheaper!! I have had enough. I turned around and said," You have some balls to say that to a guy you have harassed in last 45 minutes, for a seemingly stupid thing!”
I was relieved to be actually leaving that I did not think much of the cost of the flight. (I would when I get the credit card bill!).

I did not get a window seat, the one who had, was sleeping all the time and I cursed her all the time that if she only wanted to sleep, why the hell she was occupying the window seat!
I learnt all the intricacies of SAREE trade because of an over enthusiastic lady to my immediate back, she had the ability to talk nonstop and she did that for two and a half hours, the entire duration of the flight. And she had the right volume, loud enough to not let you sleep and soft enough to ensure that you don’t turn around and ask her to talk softly!
And then, the airhostess was not pretty! Man, I said, all this has to happen to me!
At least the breakfast was good! I had no clue how to go about it. I just kept observing my neighbors from the corners of my eyes and went about it the way they did. They asked for Tea, I asked for tea, which was, to put it simply, YUK!
In the mean time, I forgot to tell you the good things about the flight. The acceleration on the runway, the steep climb while takeoff, the joy of things getting smaller and then getting lost in the clouds, the curve the plane takes while turning, the chance to look at the Mumbai sea from up above, the sight of the high rises, it was great! But that joy only lasts some 15 minutes, once you are in the clouds, it gets boring, it seems that the plane is stationary; there is no movement at all!
I just read every newspaper that was there to be read in the flight, and reached safely to Calcutta. How much I wanted to experience some turbulence in the air! Some bomb scare maybe, to add up some Xing that was missing in the airhostess!
One thing I could not understand-about the emergency procedures that we would need to follow if the plane had to make an emergency landing in water- where is a water body big enough for a Boeing 747 in between Mumbai and Calcutta? I found that very funny that security procedures are being followed just for the heck of them!
I landed at the Calcutta airport sharp at 10. and then I was waiting for my luggage, and as it went round and round without showing any signs of bag, I was getting anxious. I saw people staying calm about it, but I only pretended to be. That flight was to leave for Guwahati, and if they forgot to bring my back down, I would be with the only clothes on my body till they got it right. But after 15 mins, I saw my bag and was relieved to see that!
Then I had my ticket cancelled at the Calcutta airport and I left, for Salt Lake. The best thing about coming home after so many days is that taxiwalas think that you are totally new and ask for absorbitant fares. It is a joy to see the look on their faces when you tell them the exact fare and distance!
The flight was over and it left some questions to ponder about!
I had a valid ticket, some airlines had the money I paid, and there was of course a vacant seat. They could have saved me of all that trouble by just communicating among themselves and taking me on board. They did not. Have we enterd the age which realizes that the consumer is the god? Probably in India, we are not yet ready for that. There were two airlines, playing ping ping with me, when I had done everything right! And to think that nobody would lose his job over this, it makes me hate my job, coz I might lose it if I deal my clients like that!
We are still some way still quite some leagues away professionalism, and let us not get excited with the prospects of a improving services industry as we are actually not. The gloss is there, the substance is not. We run behind the shield of norms and rules when we are held by the collar and are made to answer the questions.
And it is 7 days since I logged my complaint at the Travelguru. I am yet to hear from them.
One thing is for sure, I am not going to use any of the three service providers ever if I can help that! And it also makes a case for the poor call center operatives for it is them who have to handle the angry customers for the goof ups at the backend!
Are we making the right people accountable? NO.
Are we ready to set things right? NO!
'Chalta hai yaar!'(...?...)