For passengers flying the national carrier Air India, the differences it highlights against the competition are more baggage allowance and legroom and a complete meal experience. And on Friday, March 13, the 138 passengers on board its Hyderabad-Chennai flight (AI 546) got all these and more. As one of them remarked, the airline was indeed living up to its marketing tagline, “A feeling called India”.
The experience began shortly after boarding commenced at Shamshabad airport before the scheduled departure time of 9.15 p.m. using the aerobridge at Gate 26. As the cabin crew welcomed the travellers on board, an unmistakeable odour began to assail them, literally wafting through the floorboards. When some passengers began to make small talk about the air quality, the crew were seen hurriedly using air fresheners which only masked the dank smell temporarily. The stench was soon back during the dinner service.
When a few passengers, including a frequent flier, made queries with the crew, and wanted to know whether the captain was aware of the problem, they were given feedback forms and also told that the 180-seater Airbus A321 (VT-PPK) had flown on the Chennai-Colombo-Delhi-Colombo-Chennai sectors earlier in the day, with a large consignment of fish in the cargo hold on one of the routings.
After the flight landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule, at 10.25 p.m., the lead crew member apologised, adding that the engineering department was aware of the issue and working on it.
