Archive for the 'Travel' Category

25
Oct

US Consulate in Hyderabad Open

US Ambassador David C. Mulford has opened the Hyderabad US Consulate on October 24th.  This consulate which will initially start processing 100 Visas by Mid December will scale up to 300 Visas per day by January 2009.

Stating that the ceremony fulfilled President George Bush’s 2006 promise to open a new consulate in this “historic and important city”, he said Mr. Bush was a great friend and admirer of India.“The President has also been able to envision the impact this relationship can have on the world in future. As a result, we have seen enormous growth in the breadth and scope of the US-India relations”.Strategic partnershipTerming the US-India ties as “broad, deep and flourishing”, he said the unprecedented growth of the collaboration in the past four years encompassed everything from defence cooperation to agriculture, reflecting the widespread support in both countries to broaden existing ties and build new ones.Referring to the signing of the 123 Agreement by the two countries for civil nuclear cooperation, he said it capped eight years of efforts to elevate the bilateral relationship to a true strategic partnership.Diplomatic triumph“Hard work and creative negotiations by both the nations changed the American law and shepherded our agreement through international community in a “diplomatic triumph for both nations”.Appreciating the State government for leasing out the historic Paigah Palace to serve as a temporary consulate, he said Hyderabad was chosen in clear recognition of its importance as a major social, political and commercial centre.Momentous occasionChief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy described the opening of the US Consulate as a momentous occasion. It would result in avoiding 65,000 to 70,000 trips each year to Chennai by those seeking US visas.The Consul General of Hyderabad, Cornelis Keur, acted as the master of ceremonies.Sensitive issueIn a brief chat with reporters, Mr. Mulford said that outsourcing was a sensitive issue and it may not come down unless there was a major change in the economy.

24
Oct

British Airways Launches Hyderabad Service

British Airways announced Non stop service to Hyderabad from London. This I think will very well replace the loss of KLM’s service, but at the same time will create for the regulars who prefer northwest and delta since none of the skyteam partners fly into Hyderabad at this time.

Flying from Hyderabad to the USA and Canada has never been so convenient. Starting 7 December 2008 British Airways will fly from Hyderabad to 22 cities in North America via London.The launch of this new route allows us to offer the only non-stop service between Hyderabad and London offering World Traveller (Economy), World Traveller Plus (Premier Economy) and the award-winning Club World cabin (Business Class).Hyderabad complements the 5 routes that we already operate from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata 

24
Oct

KLM Suspends Hyderabad Amsterdam Service

KLM today announced that they are suspending the Amsterdam Hyderabad Service effective Feb 1 2009 in response to the financial results on this route. KLM announced that it will book confirmed passengers onto other flights and will continue its services to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Not so great news for many of us who have been relying on the Sky Team Airline Alliance. 

AMSTELVEEN, OCTOBER 22 2008 - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is suspending its Amsterdam–Hyderabad service, effective February 1, 2009. KLM launched flights to this destination in October 2005 in anticipation of a growth in traffic to India.KLM is suspending this service in response to financial results of this route and local market developments.All passengers will be booked onto other flights.KLM continues to serve the Indian market with daily services to both Mumbai and Delhi.KLM and its partners will continue to focus on India, operating direct flights from Amsterdam and Paris to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Madras.For more information:KLM Media Relations, tel. 020 – 649 45 45. 

03
May

My First Kingfisher Airlines Experience

Recently I travelled from Kolkatta to Hyderabad on Kingfisher A320 Airbus. Thought I should share this experience considering the hoopla that surrounds this airline and its service.

Believe me, service in any airline in India is much better what we get in US. But airlines in India like Jet Airways and Kingfisher claim to be full service. So, I thought I should share my experience so that the chairman can take a note of things that dont work the way he thinks they are working.

As my cab to the airport came to a halt, a man wearing a kingfisher shirt [ Bright red, you will not miss them.. ] came up to me and asked if I was flying kingfisher and took my bags and walked me all the way to the security check point. This service is available for all kingfisher passengers and the check-in lines were very well staffed making it an easy experience. Boarding was good.. it was the only airline boarding the flight by seat no’s in India so far and it made my life easy since I was pretty much in the tail area of the plane [ My company restricts biz class travel to international only.. ]

Good :
1. End to End service and they refer to passengers as guests
2. Leg Space in Economy Class
3. Eye Candy .. [ Mr. Mallya really knows what men want ;-) ]
4. Yana Gupta .. [ Introduces the security features of the plane.. Heck who will not watch the video ?? ]

Attention to detail needed in these areas..

1. Great inflight magazine, lots of pictures, but the friggin thing doesnt have a CrossWord or a Sudoku.. Its a 2 hr flight what am I supposed to do ?

2. Kingfisher Personal Entertainment system was limited. [ I liked the Jet Airways System which has a touch screen feature and covers movies, music, tv shows, book reviews, book summaries etc., and lets you pick anything you want. ]

3. In-flight advertisements on Kids Channel : A kid sitting next to me was pissed off an kept complaining to his dad about the ads.. Barney stopped every 5 mins to show him ads about fidelity..

4. Need to pay more attention to the seat trays.. They were not cleaned well, otherwise the plane was very clean.

Food : Jet Air is the best with linen napkins etc. May be this segment was an exception, but they served an appam and veg/chicken stew in this flight and I am completely lost. Who serves appam and stew to a crowd of Bongs and Hyderabadi’s [ Remember.. this was a flight from Kolkatta to Hyd ]. Also stew is not the best inflight food when combined with turbulence..

Overall it was a good experience.

From gate to plane : The best experience I ever had.
In Plane Experience : Ok, but can be improved with a little more attention to detail.
Food : Long way to go.. Jet wins easily [ may be an exception.. but I will update when I have a better experience ]
Fare : In line with Jet Airways




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