Right, I%26#39;ve mentioned it on another thread but people wnated to know about my flight with them.
Very good all round experience.
The check in at Heathrow was perfect. The queue was very long and we thought that it would take ages but we flew through. As it%26#39;s a new flight they have really updated the check in service. There were passport scannng machines that you just put your passport in and they registered you on the flight. We changed our seats at this point so we had two seats next to each other at the rear of the plane so we could look out of the windows. You just choose your seats on the screen and confirm them yourselves at the passport scanning screen.
From there you join the small queue for the baggage check in and that%26#39;s it, you go through to the bar and have a few drinks.
We found our seats on the brand spanking new plane and settled in... For me this is the dodgy part as I%26#39;m 6ft 2. No worries at all though. The seats have 34 inches of legroom which was more than enough. I was very comfortable and had a few inches of legroom to spare. When I reclined my seat (sorry to the chap behind!!) I obviously lost a bit of legroom and it became a bit snug, but it was by no means uncomfortable.
The food was very good and there was a copious supply of beer (kingfisher beer surprisingly!!). There was a choice of Indian curry both meat and vegetarian and a western dish. There was a selection of western movies (about 30) but there was nothing really up to date. There was also a huge selection of Bollywood films!! You could choose from 5 or 6 live tv channels although the reception was a bit dodgy at some times inflight. You could also access a camera under the plane so you could see the land below as you flew!!
We left heathrow 40 minutes late but that was due to the weather conditions and had nothing to do with Kingfisher. The wings had to be de-iced but we arrived in Bangalore 20 minutes early.
Bangalore airport is very new and very clean. I found the aiport security blokes a bit stuffy but that might have been because I%26#39;d been travelling for 10 hours!! Take some Dollars with you as I don%26#39;t think they accepted Sterling. We waited for an hour and then boarded the short flight to Sri Lanka. It was only an hour flight, but we had another curry (and beer!!) and the food was again very good. This plane was a bit smaller and we didn%26#39;t have as much legroom as before but it was only for just over an hour so it wasn%26#39;t too bad.
On the return flight the check in was VERY slow as they had ';system errors'; with their computers. The guy on our desk was really slow. I%26#39;ve seen glaciers move quicker. It took 35 minutes for him to check in the 2 people in front of us but when I had a quick word with the supervisor he sped up a bit.
One the return flight everything was very good. Due to the ';system errors'; in Colombo we were told we had to make any seat changes in Bangalore but they didn%26#39;t seem too keen on doing this. We had a chat to a really helpful Kingfisher chap in Bangalore, he phoned his Supervisor and we were immediately changed to window seats. The guy really went out of his way to help and we were very impressed with the chap. The food was even better on the way back, in fact my meal was very good indeed.
All in all 9/10. The flights only cost 拢394 so we weren%26#39;t expecting luxury but it was as good, if not better than the previous long haul flights I%26#39;ve taken in the past with Virgin and BA.
Very pleased.
Hope this helps...
Kingfisher Airways... Review.
Sounds brilliant!
One note: the check-in at Colombo is not really KF to blame. The %26#39;handling agent%26#39; for all airlines is a monopoly position of, yes, Srilankan Airlines and known to be not using the most modern technology and neither the best-trained agents ;-( Especially with airlines with relatively new technology, like KF and Emirates (which has web check-in, with seat allocation, even from Colombo) and then connecting it to the pre-2000 checkin terminals at the Colombo desks is, hmmm, challenging.
Thanks again,
%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]
Kingfisher Airways... Review.
Does Erik have a grudge against SriLankan Airlines?
Since Emirates established a dedicated counter for on-line checked pax I have the choice of 2 counters (also business counter Skywards silver member).
4 weeks ago my check-in took less than 5 minutes. I did not even manage to fill in the embarkation card before I was checked in.
Hans
Hmmmm.. There are all kinds of positive and negative exceptions. Last fall with Emirates the queue for people who were pre-checked in was 2 persons (for 2 desks) and that for people without checkin about 20-25 persons each for 5 desks. So also with Emirates the check-in at Colombo can be messy.
What is especially weak in Colombo is the ability to link tickets. E.g. Sandya last fall had Amsterdam-Frankfurt (ticket 1) and then Frankfurt-Colombo (ticket 2). In Amsterdam (Lufthansa) no problem at all to label the luggage all the way to Colombo. In Colombo IMpossible to label the luggage back to Amsterdam, only to Frankfurt. Causing waiting, carrying, to check-in desk etc. etc.
This is the general trend I%26#39;ve had in Colombo over the years, so the mess with Kingfisher check-in does not surprise. They do improve gradually but always a few years behind more modern airports, like e.g. Bangalore or Mumbai or European...
All the best,
%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]
For both trips, both to Colombo and from Colombo to Heathrow our luggage was checked in for the entire journey. We didn%26#39;t need to worry about it until we arrived at our desination.
Yes of course you%26#39;re right, I was not complaining about the possibility to label through on one single ticket :-) Just defending Kingfisher that the check-in troubles in Colombo most likely were not much of their fault, but caused by the check-in handling agent whose name was already mentioned...
Have fun,
%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]
Travelling on 2 different airlines on 2 separate tickets the ability to check your luggage through to your final destination is the exception rather than the norm.
Hans
Disagree. We%26#39;re often forced to do so as we%26#39;re from a small country. In 80-90% of airports, both first world (including Singapore) and modern third world (including some in India), it could be done. In Sri Lanka never heard of. It%26#39;s partly caused by having a monopoly for the ground handling to this one single company, quite bad because it takes away much imperative for self-improving...
Have fun,
%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]
Erik
You are not forced to travel on 2 separate tickets.
Hans
Hmmm... quite another discussion... we often are. Even recently for a flight to the Caribbean the agent had to split into 2 tickets (London-C and Amsterdam-London) because of the extreme price difference with an all-in-one. In other cases it is us who split - e.g. because the %26#39;Lanka family%26#39; tickets from Srilankan (35 kg allowance) only go for their own flights while we have frequent-flyer luggage upgrade for the Ams-Frankfurt flight, or because Kingfisher does not yet sell from Amsterdam, or whatever...
But anyhow it was just an example of the inefficiencies at Colombo checkins. We%26#39;ve had others too, even at the business class desks which we%26#39;re sometimes entitled to. Botton line of the discussion is whether Kingfisher had specific problems with check-in and I stand that most likely they don%26#39;t - it%26#39;s a general disease of Colombo airport. Once they remove the monopoly position for ground handling this can improve, the plans exist for the last 5-10 years but happen slowly as so many changes in Lanka...
All the best,
%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]
can you tell me if you need a visa at banglore thank you. martin
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