Late last week I ended up scheduling a few meetings in the Middle East, and I booked to fly out from Mumbai on Jet Airways to Muscat (Oman). Jet Airways kind of suited the timing as well, the flight was a 10 PM flight which meant I could spend the Sunday at home and fly out in the evening.
Me and a couple of colleagues were at the airport at 8 PM grabbing a few beers, but we did not eat too much, since we expected dinner on our flight. Here is what the flight details say on the website.
Now, this is supposed to be a ‘full-service’ Jet Airways flight, which meant the minimum meal service I expected, even after they axed the goodies, was at least this.
Instead, I was in for a shocker when the cabin crew asked me if I wanted to have Veg Rice or Non-Veg Rice for dinner. Now, I am not too fussed usually about what I eat on a plane, but here we were, looking for dinner service, and what were really getting was snack service at 10:30 PM. The drinks trolley rolled by quickly and I asked for a Coke, half a cup of which was served without ice and lime. They never came around again to ask for another round!
I had quietly begin to wonder why could they not work this flight under their low-cost airline brand JetKonnect and ask me to buy-on-board. Is it too much for their pride? Have a look at the current ‘full-service’ International meal service dinner:
There you go… the small size of the tray gave away everything but service lentils and rice for dinner just did not cut it. This non-vegetarian food plate had 10 grams of chicken in it, if you want to know. Here is what was further missing from the last time I had an airline meal on 9W:
- The tea/coffee service gone (No more coffee mugs!)
- The bread/Indian bread is gone
- Instead of a curd preparation, now you get a 10 buck yoghurt package in your plate.
- Desserts, long gone I suppose, but here is where Jet Airways makes it tacky. You get a Rs. 5 (10 Cents) bar of Cadbury’s chocolate. Really?
You ain’t Swiss to be giving away ‘thank you’ chocolates at the end of the flight and I know it!
Don’t get me wrong, the airline is finding it tough to be in the air and be profitable at the same time. But hey, why not just kill the meal altogether and call it a low-cost flight then? And make some money via concession sales as well? It is a well-established global airline model, and why should we be any different to be asked to pay for our food and drinks?
But if you promise a meal, make it a meal service. And here is the meal I got the morning after on my ‘breakfast’ service flight on Emirates (economy).
This quite reminded me of the Jet Airways meal service back in the day…
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This is comment 6 years later in 2018 on blog published in 2012.I traveled in July to Bali from Mumbai in Garuda . As dinner time 11.30 India, We got 2 Cocktail Samosas & Chole, 1 desert Phirni, 1 round bread for dinner + 1 round of Drinks (tea / Coffee / Softdrink / Juice / beer / Wine)
But the samosas were very tasty and we enjoyed. But some people especially who travelled in transit to Mumbai from Ahmedabad went hungry. So high time we carry own food while travelling international.
Today i took new delhi – Abu Dhabi Jet Airways flight and you would be shocked that in the name of dinner we got less than a snack.
No Desert.
No Juices/Cold drink.
No Indian bread.
Just a small meal having 1 roti (broken into 4 pieces) and little subzi and a small bread and butter and couple of fruit pieces.
That’s all ladies and gentleman for dinner on an international flight from Jet Airways.
Next time probably they will do away with this tiny snack also .
Jet Airways always was known for fantastic in-flight food with real cutlery. Snacks just don’t cut it. I am thoroughly disappointed.
A VEGETARIAN on #Jetairways flight?? READ THIS:
SINGAPORE to DELHI flight 9W17 From Singapore To Delhi Travel Date 27-Apr-2016
Inflight VEG food: Was given “Taiwanese Pot SALAD” containing white sauce; smelling and tasting like FISH !!! MANAGER gave a Comment Form to fill and assured response. No reply since one month.. Earlier I SMELT something FISHY in JET-food, but now I smell a RAT HERE!!! WHAT SAY ???
I travelled from kathmandu to hyderabad on 13th October. The vegsnack served in kathmandu flight was awesome . I tried to know the name but they didn’t answer. But thanks for unknown dish
Hi AJ
That meal is pretty bad. I havent been flying Jet for quite sometime now, i think last i flew must be in February. Since then got lower back problem and rested for quite sometime and then had international trips to Dubai and flew Emirates, and ever since flying Emirates, this would be my 4th trip to dubai. And after flying Emirates first time i asked my cousin in Dubai who works as Revenue Team Leader in Emirates Airlines, does Emirates have profits even after giving all that and he laughed and said yes they do make profits.
Seriously after reading this article and seeing those snaps i wont mind traveling Indigo if i were to fly domestic.
The real thing that bugs me is why do you give out a free sandwich on 9W FSC flights and sell the EXACT same sandwich on 9W-K flights! There should be some difference between the two! Don’t make a thin line between their products, please.
@Abhijith, no, I don’t give the free sandwich. If it were me I’d at least find a nice cheeseburger for everyone 😉 on a serious note, i couldn’t agree more. If you see the 9w documents, Konnect was originally supposed to be a swing product (transitionary). now, it is more permanent but everything costs the same, including the redemption rates. however, they claim the products are different (only the food is not there!)
Dear AJ
Dont know if it was your post on JET food or your personal intervention when went for your recent hanger visit to JET AIRWAYS,but must say the tea time snack on 9W 311 yesterday [7th july] non veg was great.KHEEMA PAO, Choc filled biscuit and Kwality walls Strawberry icecream.KEEP IT UP JET AIRWAYS.
@Devendra glad to hear they are making it better. Else no difference between them and an LCC
Hey AJ, until last year i used to pity international flyers who did not pick wither KF or Jet to or out of India. Not anymore..
I had the same sentiments with Cathay Pacific…. http://the1stclassproject.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-first-ever-depressing-trip-with.html
On domestic routes, it does appear that Indian/Continental breads are out on virtually all flights, except the ones that have a breakfast service. Dessert – its almost like something served at the whim of the Ops team that day…very variable. I do MAA-DEL-MAA a LOT, and the dessert service in economy is variable. Not to mention the aftermint – completely out of the cutlery pouch where it normally was included – now available ONLY on request at the time of tray clearance.
On the international routes, I have one coming up shortly, which promises “Dinner” service, so let’s see. But I do recall a MAA-BRU leg in 2008 (1 am types flight) which promised dinner on the website, but I clearly recall being served a Kathi Roll with a soft drink.