Whenever i book a ticket with a low cost airline i wonder if I am doing the right thing and will I it really be worth the "low cost" tag. Well here is my experience of this weekend that gave me enough to pen my experience here....

I booked the lowest tickets available to and from Delhi via Go Air as I needed to be in Delhi for the weekend. While booking, it did cross my mind that I should not bother going low cost and travel Jet or Kingfisher and be sure of reaching ON TIME. But then saving 3 thousand crossed my mind :-).

My flight to Delhi from Mumbai took off by the clock and landed by the clock and I was all smiles when I landed in Delhi thinking I had beat the system(and my fears) by getting the lowest cost tickets and also reaching without a problem.

I thanked the Wadia family, Capt Gopinath, Indian Airlines, Airport Managers, Praful Patel and everyone who made low cost travel possible :-).

My return flight to Mumbai was at 6.30 pm from Delhi. My mobile rang at 4 pm and a polite young man told me that the flight to Delhi was Delayed and will leave at 1 am......for a moment I remembered all the people I had thanked including the Wadia family and Praful Patel....it took me some seconds to understand what it meant. Sensing my anger and confusion the person at the other end of the phone suggested that I move to the Mumbai flight that goes to Mumbai via Jaipur......that was the life jacket, I guess for customers who get a sinking feeling.

So now I was booked to reach Mumbai via Jaipur and the flight was to take off at 7.05 pm.....not bad isnt it, was my thought.

So I walked into the airport (which these days looks more like Mumbai Central Rail station) to a poorly staffed and chaotic Go Air counter. The lady at the ticketing counter saw my ticket and gave a mysterious smile.........it almost felt she said " ha ha so you wanted to save money.....".

While she printed my boarding card she smiled and with no 'pain' said that the flight will take off at 8 pm !!!!! I could again feel her say "no gain without pain". With my shoulders drooping I walked away from the counter - did I feel like Sehwag on his way back from the pavilion after his many bad knocks.

You know what, the flight actually took off at 8 pm and I thought the worst was behind me and I will be home soon. The flight landed in Jaipur and took off promptly after some excited and super busy Go Air staff ran up and down the plane to make sure all was fine.....

So the plane again took off and this time from Jaipur and I was on the way home........30 mins into the flight a sweet voice of the lady Captain announced that the ATC (air traffic control) in Mumbai had asked the plane to slow down and reach Mumbai at 11.20 !!! So the plane "changed gears" and went into "glider mode".
 
So the plane finally landed at 11.30.......i got my bags after a 30 mins wait (not sure why) and walked out of the airport at almost 12 midnight.

As I walked out of the Airport I looked back at the 7-8 hour roller coaster ride I had courtesy Go Air and was left wondering if I was smart to travel low cost....

In the meantime we leave for holidays soon and as usual we have booked my tickets on a low cost airline for the family......some people never learn!!!

The journey continues........