Saturday Edition

dispatches from the new world of work

Sir, May I Clean Your Glasses?

"Airline service"—I've called it the ultimate oxymoron for years and years and then more years. Well, that was before I met Kingfisher Air on a roundtrip to Mumbai last week. First there were the "butlers," I guess you'd call them, that carried our bags on and off the plane for those of us lucky enough to be in business class.

Courtesy piled upon courtesy, all at a decent price—the food was grand. (Though, truth be known, I think almost all Indian food, as prepared in India, is pretty grand.)

But it was that last touch. As we neared the beginning of our descent, the flight attendant in biz class walked down the aisle asking us if we'd like her to clean our glasses.

Holy shit!
(Sorry for the expletive.)

NB: The wonderful founder is Branson-like in his peculiarities!

Tom Peters posted this on 10/15/09.

Comments

When a man puts his signature in an advertising promising you a finest experience in the Indian skies, he means it!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Kingfisher_hording.JPG

Posted by Alex Ikonn at October 15, 2009 11:05 AM

Flew Kingfisher economy Mumbai to Bangalore last week. Better than many business classes I've been on. Great experience. And that experience was effortlessly natural.

Posted by Norman Towler at October 15, 2009 1:20 PM

now that really is 'wow'!

(I bet you don't get that on many airlines)

Posted by Ian Sanders at October 15, 2009 3:30 PM

Tom,
That is really a WOW factor . Kingfisher redefined Indian aviation industry standards by managing moments of truths . They treat the passengers like guests.

Posted by Harish B at October 15, 2009 11:23 PM

Fantastic! It certainly is a WOW factor and what a Little BIG Thing indeed!

KINGFISHER--what a cool name too!

Posted by Judith Ellis at October 16, 2009 10:04 AM

As one of the first flyers on KF when it took off in 2005, I am not surprised at all.

Your observation on "Branson-like" peculiarities is absolutely spot on! Heard of the Force India team in F1? :)

Posted by Pratish Menon at October 21, 2009 12:13 PM

Kingfisher Airlines is/will be the face of Indian Aviation!

Posted by Sriram Kannan at October 23, 2009 1:49 AM

Can you please tell me if Kingfisher Airlines flies out of Newark,NJ (EWR_Liberty ) Or New York (JFK ). Looking for tickets to india. thanks suman

Posted by suman bohm at October 25, 2009 4:24 PM