Loosing Brand identity

I took 4 flights on the Jet Airways network in the past month and was appalled to see the lowering of standards in what was once india’s carrier of choice. All the 4 flights were on JetKonnect: not surprising since most Jet flights seem to have switched over to the “low-cost” Konnect brand. The lack of inflight service is not just what is off-putting. It is the overall degradation of the service offering right from check-in to baggage retrieval that is truly shocking.

In the last 4 9W flights i was on, check-in was a trying time, especially at Bangalore. The Pune staff is excellent as always(or maybe they just know us well), but the ground staff at Bangalore and Delhi are a clueless bunch of nincompoops indeed. On my last 2 flights, me and 2 dozen passengers spent 10 mins INSIDE the aerobridge before we could board as the cleaners did their job. Should’nt gate agents be more clued in on when to call for boarding etc? This after having witnessed a poorly handled situation with harried passengers at the check-in counter. Though I wasnt personally affected at the check-in counter, it clearly showed that processes at 9W seem to be loosening up. When the experience on the ground itself shows up so poorly, it kind of sets a negative tone for the flight as well. This certainly wasnt the case earlier, when travelling Jet meant a smooth experience from Check-in onwards. The crew on the flights did a reasonably professional job: a kind of understated, stand offish professionalism that we have come to love. However I couldnt help but see a lower than usual complement of staff on a full flight! There were just 4 cabin-crew on an all economy 737-800 with 186 seats. Not so long ago, they had 6 cabin attendants for a 124 seat 737-700! Considering that the FA’s had to do inflight sales as well, they were clearly struggling to complete their tasks. To make matters worse, there seems to be no system in place to ensure proper service. 2 FA’s were handling rows 1 to 14 while 2 others were handling rows 15-29. Which meant that those of us seated in the rear got our “snack packs” 20 mins before landing! Even IC’s aunties have a balanced system of FA’s working inwards. Or how about handing out take-away snack packs at the Gate to all passengers on Konnect flights? Seriously, is it THAT difficult?

Charging for meals may be a good idea and I am one of those who doesnt mind paying onboard to get a meal. After all, we have been doing it on transcons for a decade now! But when i pay for a meal, i expect a meal not a soggy sandwich! Indigo did a better job with their inflight food offering on my one flight with them than JetKonnect did on 4! And indigo flights were much cheaper than Jet! This is certainly not expected from an airline that once dished out great meals onboard that greatly contibuted to the experience. Meals on IC flights out of Pune seem to be catered on a lower cost base overall but nevertheless have put up an impressive show. Whats stopping Jet?

Then there is the question of aircraft maintenance. While the ATR’s seem to be relatively well maintained, I was appalled to see the condition of the 737-800’s. This week I saw VT-JNL with cracked and stained sidewall panels. Last year I was on a flight out of Nagpur on another 737-800 (JNA) which had seats with broken tables, cracked and stained sidewalls and truly pathetic cleanliness situation. This in Business-class!! I remember filling out a feedback form then but havent heard from anyone about it. Seriously: whats happening?

Think about it: flying cheap is important, but not when it FEELS cheap. One reason why Air Deccan lost the game was because they made everything feel cheap. Jet with this whole Konnect nonsense unfortunately is going down that same path. If people wanted to travel by an LCC, they would go to Indigo: they cost lower than JetKonnect on most routes and offer a great and classy LCC experience. Jet seems to be trying to catch both ends of the rope and by the look of it loosing both!

All flights are not moved to Konnect. There are routes like Delhi-Pune,where only 2 of the 3 flights is operated by Konnect and 1 is FSC. How is the average passenger to recognise the difference? Brand confusion reigns supreme at Jet today!

Lets recoup to see what airline we are talking about here. Not too long ago, their meal service looked like THIS. This is the airline that used to greet JP members onboard by last name and remember special meal preferences of JP members without having to specially pre-book them. Lounge access at DEL and BOM was specially welcome while waiting to catch a flight back home after a gruelling 20 day motorcycle ride or a day meeting clients. Reserved but Professional service that even the KingFishers of the world with their “Sexy” service cant match today but which appealed to the primary customer base: corporate frequent flyers. Effective service and product delivery was what built Jet Airways and that is what has been lost with this Konnect nonsense.

Last week i flew Delhi to Pune on Indian Airlines, got one of the newer Airbus A319’s, paid less than what I would have on Jet Konnect (9W363/4) and got a fantastic meal with great service onboard! The Indian Airlines flight even had seat-back IFE a-la KingFisher! This particular route is virtually a commute for many and right now atleast IC is clearly winning the race for the “regular” business.