My Tryst with Air India

As I read of the handing over of Air India to the Tata Group, a sweet homecoming after 69 years I noticed this comment about how Tata group Chairman N. Chandrasekaran took his first flight on Air India. I think that as a marketing strategy if the Tata Group were to invite people to talk of their first flight on Air India they can kindle lots of interest and connect with a larger audience. I share below my tryst with Air India.

My First Flight:

Sometime in 1977 or so I had just joined college, an irresponsible teenager who’s thinking did not extend beyond the next 10 minutes at best. My aged grandparents, in their 70s were invited by their daughter, my aunt, to visit USA and spend some time with her family. The only flight option then was to fly from Mumbai, or Bombay as it was then called. All things were set, and my grandparents developed cold feet at having to fly to Bombay in the morning, spend a whole day, then catch a flight somewhere in the middle of the night. In those days nobody flew much and so this was to be the first time they would step inside an aircraft. Their physical frailties also worried them.

At the last moment as these concerns cropped up my uncle suggested that I would accompany them to Bombay from Bangalore, be with them till they boarded the aircraft – and in those days we could literally go right up to the door of the aircraft and even inside to drop off such aged relatives. I would then fly back home the next morning. The bonus to this whole plan was that Air India would give my grandparents a room at the 5 star Centaur hotel and meals. A cousin of mine from Pune offered to visit and be with us. All was set and I was going to board my first flight in life – on Air India/ Indian Airlines.

Taking care of grandparents was the last thing on our mind. The opportunity to stay and eat at a 5 star hotel, the chance that we could bump into Dharmendra, Hema Malini or someone like that were the stuff going on in our planning. The responsibility was going to be a breeze, just be with the grandparents, get them to board the flight, sleep in a 5 star bed and the next day catch a flight back home. Little did we know what lay in store for us.

Everything went like a breeze and we accompanied our grandparents till the boarding gate, friendly staff of Air India promised to take good care of them, and sometime after midnight as we stepped out of the airport me and my cousin whooped with joy and raced back to Centaur hotel to sleep and enjoy the comforts, the bath tub etc. The staff at the reception didn’t exactly laugh at us but politely told us that our entry into the hotel was over the moment my grandparents had left. The fact that I had to catch a flight the next day did not figure in their hospitality plan. And if we were to be so kind, we should leave and no, we could not sit in the reception overnight.

So, after midnight me and cousin found ourselves on the footpath outside Bombay airport looking at each other wondering what to do. We had a long night ahead of us, we didn’t exactly have any money and luckily the weather wasn’t too bad. We sat morosely on the footpath watching the cars whizzing past, the street food vendors, and while I sat cursing the assignment, my cousin sat cursing me for putting him in this predicament. He could have been sleeping in his bed at home instead of sitting on a footpath in Bombay.

We had read stories of how chaps sat on footpaths in Bombay and lady luck had smiled on them and they had become film stars overnight and I tried to cheer us up with such dreams. He almost chased me all over the place saying such chaps were also picked up by cops, gangsters. Finally, resigned to our fate, my cousin said that Bombay is a city that never sleeps and we would put that theory to test. With bright streetlights all over, we spent the rest of the night wondering all over the area, experiencing the colours, sights, smells of Bombay, the traffic never seemed to stop, we invariably bumped into people on the road and the theory was indeed true. Finally exhausted by the early hours, we ate vada pav from a street vendor and the moment the airport opened to allow passengers inside, my cousin pushed me in and went his way to catch a bus to Pune while I winged it back to Bangalore. I can’t even remember that journey or even the final bus ride back home, totally exhausted.

It was a long time before I could see the comedy in that experience – first flight to first five star to first night on footpath – all in the space of less than 24 hrs.

Escaping Death:

By the early 90’s, working, catching a flight was commonplace and I was scheduled to fly to Goa. I had a wait listed ticket at something like 10 or 15 and was sure that I had no chance to get a seat but I still went to the Bangalore airport around mid-morning. Sure enough, the flight was announced, I didn’t get a seat, and this flight was the last flight for a while and the airport emptied up quickly. For reasons unknown I sat there thinking if I should take a bus or what since my client meeting next day was important. Literally the only chap left I suddenly saw the Indian airline chappie waving to me and calling me. I went to him, and he said that a couple who were to be on the flight could not board because only one of them got a confirmed seat and so there was one seat left and the aircraft was waiting and if I could run I could board. I could not believe my luck when a voice in my head said – is there something that destiny has in store for you?

Dismissing all such thoughts I boarded, soon we were cruising. The aircraft had the full contingent of the West Indies cricket team on way to Goa for a match but I did not get much chance to go talk to them. I had a middle seat, lunch was served and one moment I was eating and the next food was flying all over the place and the aircraft went haywire. Before I could panic, the chappie next to me in the window seat with a beaming smile said – Air Pocket. I relaxed. The chaos continued for some seconds and then suddenly the plane levelled off and in a hushed silence we landed in Goa. As I stepped out I heard a air hostess tell someone - god saved us, another passenger said something about good flying and I did not give a 2^nd thought and went off to my hotel.

Early next day I drove to my meeting and met the client and his team and as soon as they saw me, they all shook hands with various comments like “You are lucky” “What an escape” and so on and I was bewildered. I asked what they were talking about and they were taken aback at my ignorance till one of them asked me to read the newspaper. It spoke about how the flight on which I was the previous day had momentarily lost control and was nose diving to the ground before regaining control and landing safely. I got into a panic over the incident reading this and if that chappie sitting next to me on the flight was there, I would have first kicked him for his idiotic pronouncement and then hugged him for not creating panic. But in any case, I think I escaped death that day.

First International flight:

If my first flight ever was a comfort to discomfort story, my first international flight was a variation of the same. Early 2001 I was to board an Air India flight from Mumbai. The flight as usual was at some ungodly hour in the night and I was at the airport around 9 PM. Those days airports had little comfort and millions of mosquitoes. The lady at the check in politely refused to let me check in because the counter hadn’t opened yet. I still had 4 hrs before the counter opened. Resigned to my fate with a heavy suitcase filled with MTR ready to eat food packets I wondered what to do next.

An Air India employee, maybe a senior chap standing there spoke to the lady in Marathi and between them they got busy. Soon the lady called me and said she would help so I could relax properly. She took my heavy suitcase, gave me the boarding card and all that stuff and with a friendly smile told me to relax and rest till the boarding time. I was grateful and went in search of a chair to sit and spent the next 4 to 5 hrs swatting mosquitoes, jumping around and generally cursing my situation.

Much past midnight I decided to check if the counters were open and as I walked I bumped into the lady who had helped me. She gave me a surprised look and asked – what are you doing here? I said that I was waiting for the counters to open so I could go inside. She said – we helped you check in and gave you a pass so you could go inside and sleep in the lounge since this place is full of mosquitoes and you stayed here all the while? I had no words to say as I was feeling like a complete idiot which I was at that point. She just shook her head and walked away saying – at least now go inside.

Frequent Flyer:

In over 30 years of flying the best frequent flyer program I have experienced is the one that Indian Airlines/ Air India had. You genuinely felt rewarded because the free ticket you finally redeemed seemed worth its while, had value. When they gave you a value of Rs 100 it was indeed Rs. 100. Today every loyalty program is a sham that when they give you Rs. 100 all you can redeem it for is Rs. 1 or Rs 2 at best.  

A once globally acclaimed airline was run into the ground by a series of blunders by government after government as they plundered the airline and soon the unions and staff joined this plunder and today the airline is in a sorry state.

The 20 to 50 year old flyer today will never remember the golden days, diamond class service, global class management which is what Air India was for long. Above all Air India had a sense of humour, a cheekiness, it was as iconic as the Amul moppet and their cheeky branding. If the new Air India team can recreate that old magic, they can beat the global airlines and again become a leader, the pride of India and the preferred airline to travel on. They need to discard that stiff necked sarkari outlook and become peppy, contemporary, fun, and young.   

The current employees if they have even an iota of pride and loyalty to their job, employer, airline, brand coupled with an iota of commitment and wish for regaining the old glory and passenger loyalty would do well to trust the Tata Group and support them and make Air India great again.

The humour and cheekiness of the maverick genius Bobby Kooka backed by a equally maverick genius boss in JRD Tata together made Air India actually publish booklets shown alongside which are so politically incorrect that in today's times I would not be exaggerating if there were riots, parliament stalled, court cases in plenty, a global outrage, boycotts, and heads would roll like football. Anybody having a chance to read these books must have a heart of iron or gold to either ignore or roll on the floor laughing. 

The Government, Indians, Air India itself, Girls/Women, The staff including the pilots, the Board of Directors, even the Chairman JRD Tata - nobody is spared. It is scathingly funny and one wishes for a world such as those times where everybody seemed to have a sense of humour.