Is Jet Airways doing the ‘Return of the Tamarind Candy’ all wrong?

Long long time ago, a staple fixture on all the Jet Airways’ flights was a little basket full of tamarind candies, along with cotton for ear plugs. I never could have enough of them, and that was one of the things that went away when the economy went rough, and Jet Airways had to pick things to cut off from their in-flight experience.

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Now, as a part of the revamp of the airline, Jet Airways brought back meal service on all flights. Some short flights you get a cold sandwich, on long flights you get a hot meal. But the candy is back, and it has been staring me in my face on almost every flight since December 2014 I’ve taken with Jet Airways. But I usually don’t eat them anymore. I’ll share why.

Wherever I’ve been in the travel and hospitality industry over the past years, be it a hotel, a lounge or an airport, no one every ever issued me candy. It was always presented in a basket, and you could pick one or ten if you pleased. It is a tradition to offer candy to welcome people.

However, now it arrives in a tray, and I get a feeling that it is not to make you feel welcome, but because the Tamarind Candy is something old flyers of Jet Airways associate with them, and they wanted to bring it back for them.

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I just hope they do fix the hospitality and do it right, and I’ll be more than happy to partake my fair share going forward.

Anybody else miss the candy service on Jet Airways?

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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. Candy basket is back in J, though not in coach. Experienced it in my recent BOM-BLR-BOM which was a mix of business and economy class travel.

  2. I do welcome the candy. I travelled on J last week and there was no separate basket – the candy placed in the meal tray. But I don’t mind it actually. I love them and asked for more, and was immediately another 9-10.

  3. Hi Ajay, can you do a update your annual mileage credit card post? Last year indusind has entered the fray in a big way – I’m using one of their cards and the service is very good.

  4. since naresh bribed praful patel and got the 5 years rule implemented, he has caused immense damage to aviation in india. he is now scared of vistara, hence the return of the candies and the other goodies. thanks sanjiv

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