Small unpleasant experience on Spice Jet flight
(Originally posted on 07-Oct-2010 on my Yahoo Pulse Blog, which I have stopped using now because it has a 5000 character limit per post).
Spice Jet sucks. That may not be true of the airline as a whole but at least I had a minor yet unpleasant experience with them.
I was returning to Hyderabad from Bengaluru in Spice Jet flight SG871 on Saturday, 02-Oct-10. After the plane took off, one member of the crew started distributing water bottles. As she approached my seat (22C) and was a couple of rows ahead, one lady from the row behind me called her, asked for water and took a couple of bottles. I could have stretched my hand and taken a bottle, but didn’t do so thinking the hostess should be allowed to do her job in an orderly manner. The hostess went back to the rows ahead of me and started giving the bottles again.
She approached my seat, gave a couple of bottles to the passengers seated in my row across the aisle and went away. I thought she would come back and start giving the water bottles again. But that was the end of the water distribution exercise. I didn't like it at all.
The crew started bringing the trolleys for selling food. As the trolley came next to me, I first purchased a veg sandwich and fruit juice. I asked the food-selling hostess (whose name was written as Serin on the laple pin) pointed to the water non-distributor and asked her name. She told me the water non-distributor’s name is Priyanka. I told Serin to advise Priyanka that if she is giving water bottles to passengers, she ought to distribute to all. Not to just a few. Serin started apologizing, so I immediately told her, it’s not her problem and some people should not be recruited to the jobs that they hold.
After landing at Shamshabad airport, as I was disembarking, I vented my irritation to a lady who looked like the chief hostess: “if you give water, give to all”. She started saying something, but I just walked out of the plane, saying “you will hear from me.” This blog post is written to keep that word.
I really don’t know the reason why Priyanka did not give water bottles to the remaining passengers. Moreover, it beats the bejesus out of me as to why she chose exactly me to stop distributing the bottles. Is it a case of discrimination? I had seen one of the crew members had printouts in her hand. Did Priyanka run out of water bottles? That sucks if it is true. Spice Jet doesn’t stock enough water bottles for all passengers?!! Does it give away only a few bottles as a publicity gimmick? Or did the lady have to hurry for her next task of selling food, so she just stopped her task incomplete? That shows immaturity at work and bad time management. Probably Kingfisher takes the best hostesses away, so only the mediocre are left for other airlines. Did she get the job not because she deserved, but someone had recommended her and got the job for her in Spice Jet?
Whatever the reason was, it was a bit unpleasant to me. I liked the fact that the Maran group bought a big stake in Spice Jet and then was on its way to acquire majority stake. I silently felt happy about a South Indian group making strides in the business world. And believe me, that was one of the reasons I chose to return by Spice Jet though I had quite a few other options. But I think ownership doesn’t matter, if the people on the ground, or in this case people in the air, are mediocre. The incident happened on Gandhi Jayanthi, and Spice Jet staff would help themselves and their company if they keep in mind what the Mahatma had said about customers.
Small example this may be, but it is illustrative of how a lot of people in our country just don't know what real customer service is. I intend to write a few more posts on this subject.
Spice Jet sucks. That may not be true of the airline as a whole but at least I had a minor yet unpleasant experience with them.
I was returning to Hyderabad from Bengaluru in Spice Jet flight SG871 on Saturday, 02-Oct-10. After the plane took off, one member of the crew started distributing water bottles. As she approached my seat (22C) and was a couple of rows ahead, one lady from the row behind me called her, asked for water and took a couple of bottles. I could have stretched my hand and taken a bottle, but didn’t do so thinking the hostess should be allowed to do her job in an orderly manner. The hostess went back to the rows ahead of me and started giving the bottles again.
She approached my seat, gave a couple of bottles to the passengers seated in my row across the aisle and went away. I thought she would come back and start giving the water bottles again. But that was the end of the water distribution exercise. I didn't like it at all.
The crew started bringing the trolleys for selling food. As the trolley came next to me, I first purchased a veg sandwich and fruit juice. I asked the food-selling hostess (whose name was written as Serin on the laple pin) pointed to the water non-distributor and asked her name. She told me the water non-distributor’s name is Priyanka. I told Serin to advise Priyanka that if she is giving water bottles to passengers, she ought to distribute to all. Not to just a few. Serin started apologizing, so I immediately told her, it’s not her problem and some people should not be recruited to the jobs that they hold.
After landing at Shamshabad airport, as I was disembarking, I vented my irritation to a lady who looked like the chief hostess: “if you give water, give to all”. She started saying something, but I just walked out of the plane, saying “you will hear from me.” This blog post is written to keep that word.
I really don’t know the reason why Priyanka did not give water bottles to the remaining passengers. Moreover, it beats the bejesus out of me as to why she chose exactly me to stop distributing the bottles. Is it a case of discrimination? I had seen one of the crew members had printouts in her hand. Did Priyanka run out of water bottles? That sucks if it is true. Spice Jet doesn’t stock enough water bottles for all passengers?!! Does it give away only a few bottles as a publicity gimmick? Or did the lady have to hurry for her next task of selling food, so she just stopped her task incomplete? That shows immaturity at work and bad time management. Probably Kingfisher takes the best hostesses away, so only the mediocre are left for other airlines. Did she get the job not because she deserved, but someone had recommended her and got the job for her in Spice Jet?
Whatever the reason was, it was a bit unpleasant to me. I liked the fact that the Maran group bought a big stake in Spice Jet and then was on its way to acquire majority stake. I silently felt happy about a South Indian group making strides in the business world. And believe me, that was one of the reasons I chose to return by Spice Jet though I had quite a few other options. But I think ownership doesn’t matter, if the people on the ground, or in this case people in the air, are mediocre. The incident happened on Gandhi Jayanthi, and Spice Jet staff would help themselves and their company if they keep in mind what the Mahatma had said about customers.
Small example this may be, but it is illustrative of how a lot of people in our country just don't know what real customer service is. I intend to write a few more posts on this subject.