Spicy air travel

Was on short vacation to Goa few weeks back , while on my return I did have enough turbulence before we reached Chennai safely. Well, it was not turbulence due to weather, but due to cancellation of flight from Goa to Chennai. One would think, so what, flight cancellations are common, but I felt mine of unique.

Our return flight was at 4:40 PM, since we had visited scenic beaches the previous day, we did not have any plan to visit place the day of our return journey. Our initial plan was to check out at Hotel around 1:00 PM have lunch and proceed to airport, which is about 35 KM from our hotel. However, the previous day our cab driver suggested to start an hour early and he can take us to couple of beach in south Goa near airport before dropping us at airport for flight. This seemed fine and we agreed.

The next day, the driver picked us up at hotel post check out at 11:30 AM and we went to restaurant for lunch. Post lunch as the driver was taking us to a beach, it was 12:20 PM and a got a recorded phone call from airline stating the flight is cancelled for the evening and asking me bluntly to reach out to call center.

While on the way to a beach, I called up airline call center at 12:30 PM and gave my ticket PNR number and waited for a moment. The rest of it,

Call center: Yes, Sir how may I assist you.

Myself: What does your system say about my booking

Call center: Sorry sir, we really apologize for inconvenience caused, you flight is cancelled for the day.
(This was after I asked about the booking).

Myself: Why?.

Call center: Technical problem in flight,sir.

Myself: That's you problem to fix, so what are the options?

Call center: We have a flight tomorrow at 1:00 PM and you can travel with same ticket with no extra cost.

Myself: What??.... Will you provide for accommodation for stay, as I am not native of Goa and checked out of hotel? It will cost me a fortune for a night stay with family.

Call center: Sorry sir, we can’t provide accommodation (same reply came again and again).

****I was asking myself whether I have taken air ticket or a bus ticket to get such response? ****.

Myself: Come on, if you are not providing accommodation, is there alternative flight to other location like Bangalore, Hyderabad or Mumbai from where I can take flight to Chennai.

Call center: No sir, it already 12:45 PM, we have a flight to Bangalore at 1:55PM and to Hyderabad 2:15PM (then onward to Chennai at 19:25). From call center system allows for changes only upto 2 hours prior flight. Hence, unable to make change.

** I got some solace, immediately asked the cab driver to how long it takes to reach airport from that spot as he was driving towards beach location. He told me 30 minutes, immediately instructed him to drive to airport. ***

 Myself: Please get your supervisor, online. I will be in position to reach airport in another 40 minutes should be in time to reach in time Goa to Hyderabad flight. Hence put me on Hyderabad flight and had to shout" *********** and finally"

Call center: Hold on sir……….. Finally call center person confirms flight changes are done.

My wife and daughter, watching this, made a remark that they way, I was handling the situation was as thrilling like a movie scene..:).

In fact, there also a call few minutes later from airline spokesperson, stating my flight was cancelled, I shouted and asked her to check my reservation update in the system, she took few minutes and confirmed back...Hmmm....
 
Finally, we reached airport for flight by 1:10 PM and where in time for the flight check in and reached Chennai via Hyderabad.

Though, I was able to reach my home and flight cancellation is part and parcel of this industry, I had to manage the crisis on my own initiative for the fault on airline part.

Few question, for which I do not have answers,.

1. Airline being part of travel and hospitality industry, is it not the airline, who should have called me and informed about the flight option as from their internal computer system as they would know that, I am traveling with family and base location is different?.

2. In worst case, if airline cannot provide alternative on same day, should they not provide with appropriate accommodation?.

3. Being a no frill airline, compensation or accommodation are not applicable ?. If this is true, then passengers can be taken for a ride, particularly for small aircraft, when there are no adequate bookings and they can cite this point, if really needed.


Interestingly, the in flight crew circulated the feedback forms and collected it back, though I did mention few points in feedback. Not sure, whether these would be addressed OR is their a guideline/rule of law for passengers in event of cancellation by airline regulatory body for domestic flights in India?.

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Goa, India - Travelogue - Part 2

This is part 2 of my Goa Travelogue. Part 1 is here.

Next day, based on reviews on web short listed some of the Goa – North beaches and started from hotel at 9:00 AM. Being monsoon, it was drizzling intermittently in morning and little worried that it may play spoil sport, however post 9:00 AM the rain stopped.

Our first stop was Fort Aguda. The Portuguese built fort in 16th century has a history behind it (refer Photos). I believe it might be one of its kind in the world where you can view the Arabian Sea from on one side and lush green on the other side. Normally in the vicinity of sea shore, one would not find greenery, but here you would find lush green around you. Interesting all north Goa seashore is different. Most of the north beaches were unique, it might be from top of hillock with greenery around.

Short distance from Fort Aguda is Sinquerim beach. This is one among the scenic beach in Goa. At first look, this was similar to ‘Uyire’ song location in film - Mumbai, but later I got to know that ‘Uyire’ song sequence was shot at Bekel fort in Kerala. But Sinquerim beach resembled almost similar with fort like wall at certain places. One can have good view of scenic coastline from old fort like structure. Added to this there is greenery, coconut trees around, hillocks and rocks spread across provides nature indication as why these beaches are unique of its kind.

Next on our list was Baga beach. It looks to be a regular beach when you just look at it and was crowded and hence did not like it at first sight. However, on the other side there are hillocks, greenery and more importantly the water streams into backwater flow as you walk across some distance away from crowd. We went to this place in the afternoon, the backwater formation was wonderful and scenic. Nice beach for nature lovers, once you get absorbed and look around.

Ajuna and Vegator beach nearby to each other. These beaches are unique, more than sea shore with sand, you will find yourself perched on top of hillock and apart from Arabian sea, you can get absorbed by greenery, coconut trees and hillock on sides. In Vagator, one would be in position to look at Chapara fort at a distance, this would require some trekking for which we did not have enough time or energy as its was already 2:00 PM and were just was just munching snacks. Time for our lunch, and hence had to travel back close to 40 KM to reach Panjim had late lunch.

Next day, we had initial plans to visit couple of places on way back to airport, but gave it up and proceeded to airport straight as Spice Jet provided with some anxious moments on travel back to Chennai with cancellation of Goa – Chennai flight for the day. 

Goa…… has not lost its charm, still worth a trip to experience the uniqueness of its beaches.

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Goa - A travelogue - Part 1

Travel to Goa was in my mind for some time now. As Goa is approx 1000 km from Chennai, traveling by car was ruled out, the alternative option was only Train or Air. I understand there is a weekly train from Chennai and considering travel time, this was ruled out, since had a very short vacation in last week of June and the option was only air. Train to Goa from Chennai is said to go via picturesque view of Dudh Sagar falls approx 80 km from Goa.

Short trip of with 2 nights, 3 days stay in Goa and had the hotel booked with Marriott resort. We took Spice jet as it offer daily flight to Goa, however we did have some really spicy time with Spice jet on our Goa to Chennai return which will write later.

We reached Goa in evening around 4:00PM and found the weather pleasant, with short spell of welcome rain as this being monsoon season in Goa. Goa airport to Marriott take about an hour’s time. I was pleasantly surprised by the greenery all around. My thought was Goa being a city on shore, I thought it would be like Chennai and however it was different than I expected and more importantly, not much of traffic on road towards Marriott.I understood from the cab driver,that it was off-season now and the peak season would be towards Christmas.

Marriott resort was right on the beach, and it was altogether a new experience to view the beach right on from the reception just about 100 meters away. I still remember Kanyakumari, which  used to have a TTDC hotel right opposite beach, but it was about 500 mts away, not sure whether Hotel TTDC at Kanyakumari is still there?.

Though Marriott is right on Miramar Beach, the particular stretch along Marriot is not attracted by public and as it looks to be little far from main Miramar beach. It was calm with some scenic view. Just in front, in about few kms away right on the Arabian sea, one would find hillock, with fort Aguda housing the ancient light house built by Portuguese in 1612 AD. On the other side, one would side Mandovi river flowing into sea with a greenery hillock on other side. There is ferry spot along Mandovi river. All this provided an awesome view...

We had Dinner in a near by restaurant and were back post dinner relaxed till about 10 PM on Miramar Beach.

The next day, we choose to visit some of the north side beaches of Goa… Will continue about it later....

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Indibloggers - A force to reckon with.

This is my 5th year in blogging and had been associated with indiblogger since 2009~10.However, had never attended an indiblogger meet, each time had been pre-occupied with some engagement which was either personal or professional.

This time, when I received the email about the 'Ambi pur' blog meet, I immediately registered for the same and wanted to attend it, though it was on Sunday afternoon which would require me to sacrifice my Sunday afternoon nap.

Based on indiblogger email, being a blogger, writing on mainly business and review topics, some thoughts kept flashing in my minds. The meet is organized at Hotel Hayat and lunch is to be provided to close to 250 bloggers plus incurring other expenses. Oh.. so much......., does it mean blogging community have really become a force to reckon with? Similar to product launch press meet, which are normally done by corporates!!??!. Hmm… happy to be part of this journey.

Finally the D - day arrived : Sunday - May 26th noon.

Started from home around 12:40, due to metro rail constructions, the Annasalai now has so many deviations. Thank god, being a Sunday was able to drive through quite easily and reached hotel around 1:10PM and had the valet parking slip provided by security.

As I entered hall, was pleasantly surprised to note arrangement and ambiance made in professional way. The seating logistics was nice and the registration process was seamless as we moved in. I scanned around the packed hall, it was interesting to note, majority of them present should be in the age group of 20~30 year. This is a clear indication, that blogging is still young man's forte and growing in India. In developed economies, the newspaper industry is in doldrums the reason attributed was information available in web and blogging. Will this, percolate to Indian market as well?. May be yes, as years pass by when bloggers become more mature and readers gets interested in quality of information presented, blogging will naturally grow and mature. Looks like, we are already having the indication of blogging growing with each passing year.

Coming to the blogger meet, we did have some interactive session and got to know more about some of the bloggers through "30 secs of fame” on which I did have an opportunity to present myself. This was followed by Lunch, which was sumptuous with very good spread.

Post lunch had a presentation by sponsor - Ambi pur, some part of presentation was technical with chemical structure. However, I got to know that Ambi pur neutralizes the bad odor and thereby eliminates odor completely, where as normal perfumes does not neutralize bad odor and hence, as long as perfume is strong (few minutes), the perfumes smell just overrules bad odor and after some time bad odor wins again.

The first thing, I did post the meeting is test up Ambi pur car fragrance. In last 10 days or or so, my every drive in the car had been refreshing and pleasant. Further, compared to regular or old model Ambi pur the new one easily fixes A/C vent grill and able to remove it if not required, particularly if you are leaving the car for service or any other time, when you wish to have the Ambi pur removed. Also, unlike the earlier once, the liquid comes is sealed pack, so that it does not spill over easily – full marks from design improvement perspective compared to earlier one.

Another 2~ 3 weeks is still left to finally certify the product as a blogger :-), as Ambipur had claimed that the fragrance will last for about 30 days and so far it has been performing well.
At the end of the meet, happy to note, the blogging community is becoming a force to reckon with, as product companies are now are ready to sponsor such event for bloggers.

Thanks to Indiblogger team for all your efforts towards the blogging community and happy to be part of it. Need to have such meet more frequently.....Good-luck and hope we find more sponsors for such meets......

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Cricket - Bidding Vs Betting

According to web dictionary, meaning of bidding is an offer (often competitive) of setting a price one is willing to pay for something. A price offer is called a bid. The term may be used in context of auctions, stock exchange, card games, or real estate.

Meaning of betting - is the activity of predicting results and placing a wager on the outcome.

Last few days, Indian news is all about betting and spot fixing.

To me, bidding or auctioning and betting has a very thin line of difference and both are not right in cricket, as human is the subject of bidding or betting.

 In first place, sport or hobby start as passion and once a person starts playing for school, college, university, state or in a highest level to home country one would get patriotic about it. One cannot say the same after being auctioned for money… I meant, auctioned. Are the entities which win auction of player’s philanthropic or nonprofit organization? I think not. Like any business entity they might look at the return on investment or maximize resource utilization :-).

Interestingly, there is so much hype and cry for betting. But, unfortunately one did not see such opposition on player bidding for huge amount. Is it because bidding is legal, while betting is illegal?. Also, read an article in a news paper about FICCI is seeking to make betting legal.

To me, as I said, auctioning or betting should not be allowed when human is the subject of bidding or betting. Once, auctioning or betting happens it could get extended into spot fixing or any other forms of fixing.

Let team sport like cricket be made to remain as gentleman game, played with passion and patriotism and not reduced to action film played as per predefined scripts.

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Body + Mind treatment = Medical Tourism.

IT back office, outsourcing including medical transcription has re-defined the outlook of India in the last 10 years or so. In today’s world one may not find top fortune company which does not have back office operation or processing in India. The other emerging field in India is medical tourism.

According to reports, it’s reported that 150,000 medical tourists came to India in 2005, based on feedback from the organization's member hospitals. The number grew to 200,000 by 2008. A separate study by ASSOCHAM reported that the year 2011 saw 850,000 medical tourists in India and projected that by 2015 this number would rise to 3,200,000.

As medical treatment costs in the developed country can be many folds when compared to India, this make prospect of international travel for medical care increasingly appealing. International health care accreditation and affiliations, medical support technology equipments and high speed internet communication make treatment effective through a collaborative approach could be a per-requisite for medical tourism. Clearly India has distinct advance here, as there are hospitals with facilities as comparable to any developed country.

Medical tourism is mostly sought for treating a critical health condition and hence it’s not just about medicine alone which can successfully treat a person. To be in good health trust, environment, and positive mind plays a critical role in recovery. India have a distinct advantage here as well, all year through sunny weather, visit to nature scenic places like Kodai, Ooty, Munnar in south, Kulu, Manali, Darjeeling in north would be so soothing to mind. On top of this, India is said to be one amongst the oldest civilization in history. Hence for those who are interested to understand life and evolution of mankind, there are supporting literature and distinct historic places of importance. All this can be so relaxing to mind.

As the journey called ‘life’ progresses, the machine called ‘body’ starts getting old it requires medical attention at times. The medicine and technology can bringing in necessary correction to keeps this body functioning. However, there is a mind game which is critical not only in recovery, but also understanding life and getting on with it. This is where India can play critical role, particularly for those who want to get deep into self realization.

To me, medical tourism is a function trust, usage of advanced medical technology to diagnose and treat health problem in a cost effective way, proper pre and post care – this is where there need to be collaborative effort between hospitals of different countries and hospitality partner who need to play a vital role to ensure that mind is at peace due to medical condition and its associated treatment.

Medical tourism is still in its infant stage and has long way to go. Clearly, India would have a distinct advantage on many fronts.

* This article is a part of Indiblogger's Modern health care touch lives contest in association with Apollo hospital. Apollo hospital do offer international patient services *

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Petrol price reduction - May 2013

In May 2012, the petrol price was about INR 77.00 Per litre and Diesel was about INR 44.00 per litre at Chennai , a whopping difference  of about INR 30. In fact, I heard petrol car manufacturing was almost stopped due to slump in demand around same time and many were focused on buying diesel car, in spite of paying higher upfront cost of more than INR 1,00,000, even though their car usage was low.

Last year May 2012, had made some basic calculation comparing year 2008 price peak barrel price of oil, exchange rate against market petrol price and posted about the about the increased price of petrol. My observation was based on the  chart below in May 2012 (i.e INR 77 /litre) is higher or overpriced by about  INR 13 then.

A year later now, there is not much change in situation, barrel price is around USD 100 and USD exchange rate is almost same. However, the petrol price at Chennai is now dropped to INR 65 and diesel per litre is in range of INR 50, with a difference of only INR 15. This should bring some cheer to petrol car users and it could well mean, my earlier calculation on petrol (overpriced) right???!!! :-)

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