Air Vistara Premium Economy Experience

I had written earlier about the complexity of One timeupgrade voucher Vistara often offers to its Club Vistara members. During a recent trip, I managed to use my upgrade voucher, which enabled me to travel in premium economy as against the economy ticket that was booked. Refer this earlier post to know more about the upgrade offer.

In this post I will share my premium economy experience with Air Vistara 

Premium economy passengers get priority boarding after business class passengers, if any. I could get to my seat early and relax. There were no one else in the entire row- there were 4 rows of premium economy, totaling 24 seats. During my flight there were about 8 passengers in Premium Economy, rest were all empty.

There was no welcome juice, but cabin crew served water, gave a wet towel to wipe our face and a menu card. Seat pocket had that day’s newspaper, probably left behind by previous flight passenger, so I spent a few moments going through the newspaper while other cattle class passengers (which includes me most of the time) took to their seats. Premium economy seating isn’t drastically different from economy- width is same, it is 3 abreast or 6 per row just like economy, but the leg room is a few cms more, seats recline a few cms more and you’re most likely to have an empty middle seat than economy, since less people book premium economy.

A curtain separates premium economy from business class in front and economy in the rear. There were no bulk heads. Premium economy passengers get to access an exclusive toilet in the front, meant for only business class and premium economy passengers.

No lounge access on the ground for premium economy passengers.

Upon take off, the food service started. I had to choose from 2 veg option and 1 non-veg option. I selected a veg option and got this. Pretty elaborate with curd, dessert, a piece of bun and salad. Got a cup of apple juice, as well as a cup of tea later. Food was tasty, I took my time to finish it while the cabin crew patiently waited to clear my plate. Vistara claims to sell Starbucks made coffee and tea- which obviously feels premium.

Still about 2 hours of flight time left. I decided to sleep off. I could have slept flat across the 3 premium economy seats in my row, but somehow felt that doesn’t suit a premium cabin passenger, hence slept in my seat in sitting position. Probably because I was tired and probably because the cabin was very peaceful, I slept super well all through the flight and woke up only when landing preparations announcements came up. Not sure if I missed any additional rounds of food service, but I doubt- it was about 2.5 hours flight, so there won’t be a second meals service anyway- but some light snacks was a possibility.

Got to deplane ahead of the cattle class, could sit comfortably in the bus. The bus was exclusive to Business and economy class passengers- there was no crowding of economy passengers and it took us to terminal quickly. I guess because it was late night aircraft was parked in a remote bay and didn’t use aerobridge.

Overall Air Vistara’s premium economy experience was a pleasant one. Do keep an eye on their fares- I have seen some instances where premium economy fare was cheaper than economy! But typically premium economy is about 30-40% more expensive than an economy seat. Try once a while if budget permits or you’d like to treat yourself a bit of luxury.

Similar: Vistara Economy Experience * Lufthansa Premium Economy Experience * Air France Premium Economy Experience * AirAsia X long haul experience

Goa to London for INR 3000- Impossible but true

This is a tip off from Ajay Mirchandani. He alerted me to an unbelievably cheap flight from Goa in India to London Gatwick Airport in United Kingdom.

You can fly for just 30 pounds or INR 2900 approx. This fare is for one way, with food, inclusive of taxes but without baggage. Adding a 20kg bag will cost another 30 pounds. (try different dates, you might get it cheaper as well) Seat selection and various other add-ons are extra.

Is this for real?

Yes. Apparently this is not a regular commercial airline. The travel is via Thomas Cook, which operates chartered flights based on tourist demand. This particular flight is bringing lots of tourists to Goa from UK, who would have paid around 500 Pounds for the trip. On its way back, travel agency is selling seats for dirt cheap for whoever is ready to fly on designated dates.

If you're not from Goa you can reach Goa by a domestic flight or train..

Please note the following

You may be ready to pack your bag and fly, but UK Visa will take its own time- about 10-15 working days under normal scenario. Be sure you’ve required visa to fly.

What about return?

While you can reach UK for dirt cheap on above deal, return flight won’t necessarily be cheap. Some of your options are
1. Try WOW Air- they will be flying to New Delhi from London Gatwick via Iceland from December first week- if lucky you might be able to fly back to India for about 13500-20000 range
2. Fly back one way with any full service airline- Emirates, Jet Airways, Qatar etc- might cost you around 30000-35000 INR
3. Extend your trip to Europe with Ryanair or EasyJet low cost airlines- you will need Schengen visa- can return to India from Europe using low cost airlines like FlyDubai, Air Italy etc
4. Pay about 400 Pounds to Thomas Cook itself to fly you back with next batch of tourists,

If you’re dead serious, act fast.

Use this link to check and book. Check for one way- using return date won't show cheap fare.

If that doesn’t work, begin here at https://www.thomascookairlines.com/en/cheap-flights/india/goa/

search for one way flight from Goa (GOI) to LGW on 19^th Nov (or other dates of your choice, fares may vary)

AirAsia Ultra long haul-Chennai-Auckland via Gold Coast experience

Flight to Auckland, New Zealand is one of the longest ones on Air Asia network. The other ultra long haul routes are Honolulu US and Jeddah.  While I have flown on Air Asia multiple times, including two long haul return trips to Osaka Japan and Melbourne, flying even longer to Auckland with one stop at Gold Coast was a different experience. If you have such ultra-long haul trips coming up, going through this post will help because of following reason:

1. To understand what happens during the brief technical stop in Gold Coast Australia
2. To understand various minor nitigrities that you should know to optimize your experience or minimize disappointments
3. To understand cost of food and other purchases in-flight- what are the alternatives available and if they are worth

Ticket Booking:

My ticket was booked more than an year ago, during an Air Asia Big Sale. Chennai to Auckland and back cost me INR 23635 (NZD 550/USD 300 approx). 3 months before the trip the return ticket was selling for about 44k, 7 days before it was selling for about 70k and the day before, when I checked, round trip was priced at 98 k INR. This is just to give you an idea how the prices fluctuate.

Add-ons:

I didn’t buy any Add-ons- no baggage, no meals, no seat selection. My objective was to complete the trip with minimum spend as possible. If I was to buy all available add-on, my ticket would have costed more than a full service airline.

• A 20kg back from Chennai to Auckland and back would cost close to INR 20k
• Seat selection would cost between INR 2000-12000 one way or 4k (standard seats in back) to 24k (hot seats in the front quiet zone with extra leg room) for round trip, depending on which seat is selected
• Buying about 3-4 meals one way would cost 60-80 MYR- that is INR 2000-3000
• Insurance extra, in-flight entertainment tablet, blanket/pillow rental etc extra
• Thus if you buy baggage, seat selection and meals that would be 24-47k INR extra, taking total cost of my ticket to 47-70k INR- I would have preferred to fly SQ or Air New Zealand via Singapore instead if I have to spend so much.

7 Kg cabin baggage allowance was good enough for me. With some bare minimum additional spend on food, I was able to travel to NZ for one third the normal cost, for which I am thankful to AirAsia.

Web check-in

I did the web check-in as soon as it opened-some 14 days before travel date. Was assigned 23A for MAA-KUL but was  assigned 51D for KUL-OOL and OOL-AKL legs. 51D is an aisle seat in the last row of the plane, close to lavatory. I asked airasia to do a web check out and did a fresh check-in several days later- was still assigned the same seat. My guess is AirAsia’s algorithm would have decided on a seat moment ticket is booked. Unless you prefer to pay extra, you will not get good seats-but you can hope to be lucky that some seats of your choice are empty and you get to change your seat after take off.

The flight.

My flight began in Chennai on the morning of 16^th October- pretty standard 4 hour flight to Malaysia’s KLIA 2, the hub of Air Asia on a standard Airbus A320. I was expecting check-in would take time as they may have to check my visa on Australia APP and NZ APP, but check-in was fairly quick. May be they had pre-checked my details after web-checkin.

Had to wait half a day at KLIA2 to board 2330 flight D7 206 to Auckland via Gold Coast, Australia. Had some noodles and coffee at WHSmith  (read this separate post on how to find cheap veg food in KLIA2)

KUL to Gold Coast flight is about 8 hours and 20 mins- could vary a bit depending on winds

You’d typically need 2-3 meals during such a long flight. I had eaten enough at KUL to avoid delaying food purchase as much as possible. As it was night time when we boarded, I went to sleep. The flight was not quite full- had about 10-15% seats empty. Luckily I could ditch my pre-assigned 51D and shift to an empty window seat- I even had an empty middle seat. I am glad I didn’t pay to select a seat.

Around 6 hours into the flight, I ran out of 1 litre water I had refilled at KLIA2. I had to decide between buying water or a combo meal that included water or manage without one. I have written a separate post about food options in AirAsia X flights- which are 20-30% expensive than standard Air Asia flights. Upon evaluating my options I decided to manage without buying food onboard. May be I should have- because 2 apples and a banana at Gold Coast Airport cost me almost as much as a meal (7.5 AUD = 22 MYR)

Gold Coast Approach

Gold Coast transit process:

There’s no visa free transit in Gold Coast for Indian nationals. If you need visa to visit Australia, you will need transit visa to transit via Gold coast to Auckland. There were many incidents of passengers assuming a visa free transit and simply denied boarding. So be careful, get your Australia transit visa unless your passport is strong enough for a visa free entry into Australia. Transit visa costs about 1000 INR in VFS charges (No charges from embassy) and takes about 7-10 days. More about NZ visa in this post.

We had to get off the plane, under the watchful eyes of Australian officers who keep a keen eye for anyone sick, nervous or anything abnormal. Photography is prohibited. Then we clear security check, go to gate, wait and board the plane again. There was no immigration check on transit passengers. It was a welcome escape to stretch our legs and refresh. Gold Coast airport is pretty small- not too many things to see do or buy. A restroom, one coffee/snacks shop and few other shops are all that is accessible to transit passengers. Most items cost 7-10 AUD. An apple or a Banana was being sold for 2.5 AUD each. Free drinking water fountain is available. AirAsia does a crew change in Gold Coast. Different set of Cabin crew board the plane in Gold Coast.

The final leg lasted about 3 hours-depends on wind etc before we crossed Tasman sea and landed at Auckland. Flight was full for this final leg. There were more passengers now than the earlier leg. I could still have my window seat.

All flights were on time. In fact, flightstats details show that D7 206 and D7207 are remarkably on time, with only very small delays if there is any.

The return flight- I was auto assigned 51H- asked for a change of seat and was told that I have to pay. I didn’t. As my luck would have it, my adjacent seat was fully empty- so I could have both window and aisle for myself on the two seater. The rear end of A330 used by AirAsia X has just two seats from row 46 onwards- 2+3+2 configuration as against standard 3+3+3, as fuselage narrows down closer to the rear end- a bit more comfortable than 3 abreast seating. Had to keep listening to the sound of toilet suction repeatedly but no other issues. Managed to sleep through the trip so that I will be ready to spend the day actively once back in India. The return flight was almost full, with only few seats empty here n there. I asked if they have the 25 MYR meal combo, I was told the cakes are over.

In Auckland, boarding gate was not displayed till the time gate opened- like 30 mins before departure. However I saw the incoming plane heading to Gate 5, so knew where to wait.

Key points to note;

1. Do not forget transit visa requirement

Managing without food will be very difficult. You might want to pre-order online and save a few ringgits.  But several food items- like the 8/10 MYR veg noodles, vegetable rice etc are not available for pre-order, so we have to buy it onboard at listed price. AirAsia carries limited inventory of food, so they may run out soon. I saw many passengers bringing their own food and water.

2. Traveling as a family:

If you wish to sit together, you may have to shell out more money to select seats together. Cheapest seats across 3 legs would cost roughly around INR 2000 per person (standard seats in the back). You can take some chance and try changing seat after boarding or swap with other passengers.

3. Entertainment for kids

The 8-9 hour flight will be boring to kill. You could either sleep or have your own means to kill time. There’s no entertainment screens or inflight streaming in AirAsia X flights. But passengers can possibly rent a tablet filled with some entertainment content. Better to carry your own means of entertainment/time pass like a tablet loaded with games or videos etc, or books to read.

4. No charging points- be sure to carry power banks, fully charged electronic devices, as you can’t charge them on board- not even USB charging-unless you’ve booked the expensive Premium Flatbed seats.

                                                                                          

5 Carry whatever needed for your comfort- neck pillow, eye blinds, blankets etc. Nothing is included, few items can be rented for a fee.

Overall I am happy AirAsia facilitated by Auckland visit in budget. Of course you will not get services of a full service airline- like pillows, blankets, food, entertainment etc but that is fine. Air Asia is a low cost carrier so we have to keep our expectations aligned. They are fairly on time and reliable and will take you to your destination at cheapest possible fare. You may have to miss some of the luxuries but the money saved on flight can be spent at the destination or even for another trip.

WoWAir Extends India booking beyond March 2019, adds Vancouver

WowAir was so far selling ex-Delhi tickets only till end of March 2019.

Recently they have extended bookings till October 2019, which is great news. You can now plan your trips for rest of 2019.

This extension also hints that WoWAir is committed to India operation. Earlier they were accepting bookings only till March 2019- I was wondering what would they do after April- fly somewhere else instead of Delhi.

However the lowest known fares can't be seen right now-a round trip to Iceland from Delhi at present costs about INR 44000, whereas during sale it used to be 27000. So may be it is worth waiting a bit till next sale kicks in. Note that 13499 one way ticket is still available as part of WOW Air's Diwali offer on select dates n destinations. Do check- this could be your last chance.

WoWAir has also announced another destination- Vancouver, Canada. But again return ticket will cost you INR 44000 onwards, without food and bag allowance. Vancouver is on the western end of Canada, very close to Alaska. Should be fun worth visiting sometimes. You can also plan a multi stop tour on WoWAir's website.

Be advised that lowest fare tickets won't get you any food, bag allowance, seat selection etc. Only a small personal item is allowed.

Looking forward to WOW Air's India operations launch in about 45 days.

AirAsia X value meals combo deal worth it?

AirAsia X is the long haul unit of popular budget low cost carrier Air Asia. The inflight menu of AirAsia X is slightly different and a bit expensive. For example, A Ramee veg noodles that cost 3.5 MYR in KLIA2 WHSmith store costs 8 MYR on board airasia, but 10 MYR on AirAsia X. Rice with vegetable curry meal costs 17 MYR on Air Asia but costs 22 MYR on Air Asia X. Similarly many other items are expensive by a few ringgits or 20 to 30% on Air Asia X compared to AirAsia.

Not sure of the reason for increased price on Air Asia X- possible reasons are as below:

• AirAsia X passengers are probably deemed capable of paying little more as they are flying long haul
• On a short flight like 3-4 hours one can manage without food, but on a long haul flight it is difficult. Passengers will be forced to shell out for food, even if it is bit expensive
• AirAsia X has more cost to carry the food onboard as they fly long distance and burn more fuel- for example, For KUL-OOL_AKL leg, AirAsia X won't be uptaking food in Gold Coast or Auckland- they carry all the food from KUL. That is 300 passengers * 3 meals (two on KUL-OOL and one on OOL-AKL legs) *2 (for the return trip)= 1800 meals- Don't think they can carry so many meals- probably half of that- not everyone buys- but the cost of logistics is relatively high on AirAsia X

One thing that caught my attention during my Air Asia X flight between Kuala Lumpur and Auckland recently is their Value Meal Combo deal. It was advertised everywhere- behind tray tables in-front of us, on the bulk head and so on. The promise was that a hot meal, a 500 ml water bottle and a piece of cake can be bought for 25 MYR instead of original price of 31 MYR.  Towards the end of my Kuala Lumpur-Gold Coast leg I ran out of water and almost made up my mind to purchase this value meal. It was then the reality stuck me.

There’re 3 hidden things in the AirAsia X value meal deal

1 Only cheaper hot meals are included- meals that cost 20 MYR or less. Slightly expensive items- Malaysian Rice, Rice with Veg curry and beef with black sause and rice- which cost 2 MYR more at 22 MYR are excluded from this value meal deal. I wanted vegetable curry with biriyani rice but that couldn’t be had with this combo. I will have to pay 22 MYR for meals and buy water additionally if needed.

2 While all advertised image shows as if we will get a full loaf of butterscotch chocolate cake, what we get is one small slice. This isn’t called out anywhere in external displays but the detailing on the printed menu calls this out. So if you thought you’ll be getting lots of cake, you will be disappointed.

3 The piece of cake isn’t really worth 6 MYR. The hot meal costs 20 MYR, the 500 ml water costs 5 MYR. The butterscotch chocolate cake isn’t separately listed for us to know its individual price, but since the combo price is listed at 31 MYR and then discounted to 25 MYR, the cost of the small slice of cake works out to 6 MYR or 1.5 USD. Not sure if it is really worth it. What you’re effectively getting free in the Air Asia X combo meal is this slice of cake- nothing else. 

I had a choice to make- buy a meal on board for 22 MYR or the 25 MYR combo (with Kabali Biriyani rice) or manage without it. I decided to manage without the purchase. If I could have had the 25 MYR combo on Vegetable Curry with rice I would have purchased it. The exclusions and poor mathematics of the combo deal put me off. Eventually I quenched by hunger a bit by buying 2 bananas and an apple in Gold Coast airport for about 7.6 AUD or close to 400 INR- Not cheap- almost same as 20 MYR. Gold Coast Airport doesn't have too many options and is expensive as well. So if you're thinking you'll buy something in Gold Coast during transit, it might be better to buy on board.

While I see to be criticizing Air Asia X for their pricing, let me state that cost of a meal onboard AirAsia X is much more cheaper than other low cost carriers I have seen- such as Fly Dubai, WowAir etc. Thus please note that I am not really complaining. Purpose of this post is just to share my observation and appraise AirAsia X passengers as to what to expect. Because I didn’t pay a lot for my ticket, I don’t mind paying another 500-1000 on meals if absolutely necessary. But I will make an attempt to explore cheaper alternatives and save a few bucks if I can. Every saved rupee will eventually help buy a new ticket!

Another thing I noticed are the cost of meal on Osaka  to Honolulu sector. None of the 20-22 MYR meals are available for this sector. Air Asia X passengers flying to/from Honolulu will have to buy meals at 66 MYR a meal, which is 3-4 times the normal cost. This is again probably due to captive customers who don’t have any other alternative for 8 hours plus high cost of logistics involved in ultra long haul flights. Passengers should be prepared for this.

Is the food cheaper in Auckland?
No. While a meal onboard airasia may cost you 20-22 MYR, a proper meal in a restaurant in Auckland would cost around 17-20 NZD, which is roughly 40-45 MYR or twice the inflight food cost. But of course, restaurant food will have more choices, better quantity and you can have it in a more spacious and relaxed manner. But if you're very calculative and wish to spend every possible dollar, might be good idea to have your meals enroute to Auckland inflight and skip the expensive dinner at Auckland on the day of your arrival.

Below are some suggestions for Air Asia
1 At present the online pre-book order options are very limited. Why not make all menu items available online for pre-book?
2. On the combo, will be nice if it can be kept a bit flexible- someone may like coffee instead of water or coconut water or noodle instead of cake. Giving some flexibility will be highly appreciated by the customers- yes it may cost a ringget or more.

Air Vistara upgrade voucher issues!

Update: Recently Vistara is allowing upgrade confirmation much in advance.

--------------------- Original Post ----------------------------------

Here's a first hand experience as to how reputed airlines like Air Vistara tricks its customers.

September first week I received below email from Air Vistara. This email promised me a free upgrade, if I fly with Air Vistara before September 30th. It said voucher will be sent within 20 days and can be used during booking/check-in of a future flight.

Note that email clearly says "Booking/Check-in". Implying upgrade can be done upon booking.

All fine.
I did fly Air Vistara between Chennai and Kochi in September, before the deadline. My detailed Air Vistara first flight experience in this post.

I had also booked a ticket to Delhi for 2019

20 days later, I did receive my upgrade voucher. All fine and fair till this point.

I call Vistara customer care and ask them to use this voucher and upgrade my 2019 ticket. I was given a shocker "The upgrade is possible only at the airport and if and only if seats are available"

This statement was never revealed anywhere-they make people buy tickets with a lure of upgrade and then wash their hands saying "only if available".

So now, I need to depend on my luck. The tweet mentions a link where their new rules are defined- these rules were not included in the initial email, nor the link. How am I supposed to know these limitations? How hard it is to include in the email that upgrade is subject to availability?

Vistara's social media team is unable to give any response when questioned "where are these terms or a link to it in the email", "why does the email say 'booking/check-in' if offer is to be availed only during check-in' etc.

 If I was clearly told that the upgrade is luck based (subject to availability)- there is no guarantee of any upgrade, I wouldn't have bothered to book new tickets. Is it wrong to expect some honesty and straight forwardness? I am sure they would have tricked lots of people in similar way- sending a misleading email that does't fully disclose the limitations, make people spend money and then slap then with new rules that takes away any chance of them getting any benefit.

Vistara is the only airline left in the Indian skies without any image crisis. More and more people are turning to Air Vistara given the crisis  with other Indian airlines. Last thing they want is to leave their customers feel cheated. At the minimum be honest and disclose every critical info when you're sending some promotional mails.

I have a counter offer for you Air Vistara- I will pay you 5 lakh rupees for a Chennai-Delhi ticket....Sounds great? good, issue me a ticket. Fine print is that I will give you 5 lakh rupees only if I have that much cash with me on the date of flying.- else I am sorry, you've to fly me for free!.. Sounds disappointing? That's exactly how your upgrade promotion is being done.

I will probably live without my upgrade. But with shaken trust, I will be extra careful in future not to take any of Air Vistara's offers at face value. Have to first ask for all hidden terms and conditions, then decide if the offer is worth.

Also this "upgrade only at airport if available" compromises the premium cabin experience in following way
-Since I don't know if I will be upgraded, I can't plan to carry baggage as per premium cabin allowance
-Since I don't have a premium cabin ticket, I can't use dedicated check-in counters meant for business class.

Do you agree my reasoning is fair?

I checked how to file a complaint-there is one page on DGCA website made in 2000 which just doesn't look worthy of it. http://dgca.nic.in/grievance.htm

Have sent an email to DGCA complaint address, but the mail has bounced. Have asked in a tweet if there's another email ID- let me see

Similar: Jet Airways bid for upgrade scheme more expensive than buying new premier ticket. * Vistara Economy Lite fare without food.

Is this the longest leg room ever on a plane?

How much legroom do you get in a plane? Some of the most generous airlines have 33-34 inch legroom while some of the budget airlines have the least- 30 inch legroom on their planes (Ryanair, easy jet etc). Most other airlines have about 31 to 32 inch legroom.

Of course, leg room is a bit longer in exit rows, because of which these rows are sought after by passengers and many airlines charge an extra fee to assign the exit row seats. Business class and first class passengers naturally get a much more spacious legroom.

But the longest leg room I ever had on a flight was recently in a Srilankan A321 flight from Colombo to Chennai. Two seats on row 11, 11 A and 11 F had double the leg room- more space than my legs could stretch, due to this strange seat configuration.

Row 10 and 11 were emergency exit rows. Row 11 naturally had extra leg room, but what was interesting is that there were no 10 A and 10 F seats. So passengers in Seat 11A and 11F could stretch their legs as much as they could. I was lucky to be in 11A and I had all the space in front of me, more than what a business class seat would have offered.

However, note that there are two jump seats in place of 10A and 10F. Cabin crew may take this seat during take off and landing. No one did on my flight, though I saw a staff taking the jump seat in-front of 11F during landing.

I wish I should have taken a few more photos from different angles...

Other factors to note: No overhead space- the cabin space above is used for some emergency equipment and not available for passengers to store their bags. I had to keep my bags several rows behind and thus was last to get off the plane. (I had kept it two rows ahead of me, was asked by crew to move it back)

Seats recline, but tray table is in the armrest which can't be folded- few drawbacks worth living in exchange for extra leg room.

I was not given any ABP briefing (instructions given to Able bodied persons sitting in emergency exit row). A cabin crew later said cabin crew manager was supposed to do that.

Have you ever had a longer leg room in any airplane?

Also read: Detailed review of Srilankan Airlines