IA to be called ‘Indian’ now
I just saw the new avatar
of Indian Airlines as Indian. Somehow it feels a bit me-too – a la Srilankan for example. And the first impression looking at the image is not very great either. I read somewhere that the new imagery is supposed to evoke change and continuity at the same time – eh? Anyway it doesnt evoke either feelings. I still think the Srilankan imagery is far superior to this one – and feels much better. What is happening to our creative heads? Related perhaps I just read that 96% of Indian creative market is dominated by International creative agencies!
Haha old wine in a new bottle 😉 is still old. Although in case of wine – old is good – for Indian- it surely will not help in any way. When flying I never care how the outside of the plane looks like, it is the inside atmosphere and the whole ticket buying – flying experience that counts.
That said, IA is the cheapest flight I got from Mumbai to Mangalore in Feb and so I will be (a) flying Indian come Feb 2006.
this is not totally related to the post:I have listened to many indians complaint abt the IA in all ways. Yet, when i travelled Tokyo-Kochi-Tokyo I found that IA was far better than expected. Yes we’ve the limitations of the developing country. Still IA service is not that bad. The airhostesses are old but they do good service. It is the travlleres who usually make all kind of troubles.. Most of them come with prejudices and it is easy for them to find. We have to remember that whatever coming from India is part of us too. We’re also responsible for the products of India. If we boycott IA for travel, if we spread perjudices without experiences.. it is in turn affecting us only. The airhostess don’t smile contniously as you see in SIAL or other airlines. but Thatz the normal way. we don’t smile for 24 hours. If we continuously smile, it is artifical smile. Smile should be coming from the heart..hmm.. thatz enuff for now,, let IA stride forward!
Ullas, to be fair they are changing the interiors as well – even the dress of the cabin crews. But it will be take a lot of effort for IA to change the whole flying experience. I know the difficulties as I have worked with few airlines.
Rocksea, first as an ex airline employee and after travelling a huge variety of airlines, I have to say that IA service does have huge opportunity for improvement. I don’t think there is anything unpatriotic about being upfront about it. And I don’t think the excuse of being a developing country is really valid – we have some good airlines working in India – they too have the same limitations – if not more. Travellers causing troubles – well, that is true too – but then I don’t think bad travellers choose IA specifically – they travel on all possible options. So that is not a good excuse either.
If I boycott IA due to bad service – which I think I already do – coz if given a choice between IA and Jet – I prefer Jet, then it is just bad business for them. They better try and get me back on the plane. And I guess this was their attempt to do just that. And as I said – my initial feel is that for me they haven’t been able to achieve that objective.
Now about smile being artificial – well, that again is kind of interesting. In a way most of the smiles and welcome messages are indeed artificial. But it is something I expect – be it a cabin crew or a salesman on the shopfloor or a ticket checker in the train. I expect him or her to be courteous and nice to me. I am paying for the service so that is part of what I am paying for. If I don’t get that – well, I have reason not to be happy.
Just a short anecdote to end – I used to be responsible for inflight for an airline bigger than Jet and IA put together for a while. We were 8 of us managing the whole process – buying, opertaions, food and so on. I found out that IA and Jet both had more than 120 people doing the same function how many people were managing the same function. I wonder who had more resource limitations :-)Hope to meet you sometime when I visit Tokyo.
Well this time I will be flying Delta – hopefully they will fly till March if not more. The first ever plane I got into was a Delta and the service was excellent. I have travelled in a vaierty of airlines and I found that wherever there were Indian airhostesses – I was treated badly – Jet is an exception to that rule. I flew IA from Delhi to Bangalore and had the most funny experience till date – the fully boarded aircraft was kept waiting so that a air-hostess who was running late could board. So "Indian" sure has lot of catching to do.
As for being treated badly – it happens when I am the lone Indian in a crowd of Europeans/American passengers and the server is of Indian origin. Guess it is the "white is better syndrome" that hurts me – a brown fella. Sometimes I see folks with "African origin" getting better treatment that I do. Well the first couple of times I did get a bit riled up but now I just dont care. After all it is not as if I am giving a job interview in the sky. I never flew Air India till date – the reason being old aircraft and not too attractive prices.
well ya. i have listened to many reporting the "white is better syndrome". could be possible.
well ya. i have listened to many reporting the "white is better syndrome" at air india. could be possible.