Trip Review – Jet Airways Jaipur to Mumbai business class
Jet Airways is the largest full service carrier in India (Air India and Vistara being the other two) and has recently come under intense pressure due to the ongoing cut-throat competition in the Indian aviation market driven by low cost carrier Indigo Airlines. Jet Airways has been struggling to pay its employees and a bailout package is in discussion with Etihad Airways which already has a 24% stake in the Airline.
Jet Airways seems to have undergone a shift in its pricing strategy. Earlier one could hardly find a difference between its fares and those of other low cost carriers for flights for the next month. To our surprise this time the fares were sky high. So high that the difference between its Business class aka Premiere class and Economy class was only around INR 1,000
So booking a full fare premiere ticket was a no brainer given that a change of time/dates was not an option and Jet Airways is the last flight of the day on this sector. I booked the flight using the smart buy portal of HDFC Bank to earned a sweet 33% reward rate on the transaction (Check this link for further details http://bit.ly/BestCCIndia).
A premiere ticket allows you to select a seat in advance and check in window opens 48 hours prior to departure. The airport has the facility to print your own boarding pass which is useful if the check in queues are long and you do not have check in luggage. Traveling in premiere is not really a big advantage here as the queue is generally long since it’s shared with platinum and gold members.
Check in was smooth and security check was a standard affair. Please note that Jaipur is a smaller airport and does not have a dedicated check in for guests traveling on business class. There is one paid lounge before security and one after security but both are not really that great. Unlike most major airports guests in premiere do not get complimentary access to the lounge. In all fairness Jet probably does not offer the same due to their poor quality.
Boarding was from the ground floor via a bus to the airplane despite the airport having the facility of an aerobridge. This seems to be a recent cost cutting measure taken by the airline. In fact an Indigo flight to Kolkata was using one of the aerobridges. Never really thought such a day would come. Premiere Guests have preferential boarding which is again shared with Jet Privilege Platinum and Gold members.
There are three rows of 2-2 seating in the premiere cabin. Seats are comfortable with plenty of legroom. A hot or cold towel is offered as per your choice along with a beverage (Choice of fresh lime or watermelon juice). Almost half of the seats were occupied and I did see a couple of Jet Platinum members complaining to the stewards about the lack of upgrades despite empty seats. A small smile emerged which I had to hide quickly. Don’t get me wrong on this. I was a platinum member and had got only one upgrade in some 30 domestic flights which really made me ask the question, are there always so many platinum members on a flight that end up getting an upgrade? I was disappointed at some level on losing my platinum status but was relieved as well that now I could give other airlines a chance. Enough ramblings about this and back to the flight. It seems Jet had reduced the number of complimentary upgrades and is trying to earn extra revenue by offering last minute bid to upgrade and cash upgrades at the counters.
The gentleman seated next to me was especially unhappy about the lack of a charging point for his mobile phone. When the steward came to take the order for food, he told her “If you really want to make my day, please get me a power bank”. He said it with such innocence and desperation that I could hardly stop myself from laughing.
Jet Airways has rolled out it’s in flight entertainment portal Jet screen on most of its flights and can be accessed via WiFi. You need to have either the official Jet Airways app or Airtime player app installed before takeoff to use this facility. The range of content on offer is decent for a short haul flight within India.
The washroom was not very clean despite being exclusively available to premiere guests. It seemed like the basin had a problem with drainage.
The amazing food on offer is the best part of traveling in premiere with Jet airways. Being a vegetarian always leaves you with only one choice compared to the two for non vegetarians but I guess that’s asking for a bit too much. The food looked delicious.
The brown bread was hot and crispy at the same time. The salad was a very healthy choice consisting of sweet potatoes, radish, carrots and cabbage leaves accompanied by olive oil. The main course was paneer (cottage cheese) tikka masala along with bhindi do pyaza (okra) accompanied by rice. The food was tasty with the right blend of spices. The paneer was also cooked to perfection and I was more than happy to indulge in some healthy proteins. The desert was a raspberry and passion fruit mousse which was very tasty. I did not finish the whole thing as I have been on a carb binge for the last 2 days and wanted to be a little proud of myself for having done my small part in staying healthy. Overall the food was top notch. Not my best meal in a domestic flight in India but still great.
The flight landed in terminal 2 at Mumbai airport which is a much more pleasant experience. The flight was surprisingly on time and arrived at Mumbai at 10:40 pm. Can’t really remember the last time there was no congestion at the airport during landing. Half an hour delays are the norm. The plane again does not park in T2 next to an aerobridge but near T1 which is a fairly long bus ride (around ten to twelve minutes). Arrghhhh!! Premiere guests have priority baggage which reduces your wait time at the arrival counter.
Overall Jet Airways has a good business class product. Some areas were a let down but there really is not much competition in this sector to compare with (unless we think of Air India business class which is not in the same league in this sector). I seriously hope that they get their house in order soon. Otherwise the only other options in India for as full service carrier would be Air India (I use that as my last option when nothing else is available) or Vistara (great product but limited flights to/from Mumbai.
Overall rating – 3.5/5
Food – 4.5/5
Seating – 4/5
2 Comments
Kris
Hey thetrviews…Really liked this blog. Its very informative. I also love & follow your channel..Great!
Manish
Excellent description of the Business Class of Jet Air and the overall journey details. I agree that Jet needs to re-look seriously at the services it is offering to its customers, else it is sure to loose its loyal customer base…