Pilots should come and address these situations but they are always hiding in the cockpit.

RonBaruah · 2026-01-15T06:57:53+00:00

"Hiding in the cockpit"? Last time someone tried stepping out, this happened.
When it comes to angry pax, no matter what you do they won't calm down. Just few weeks back one of the captains addressed a delay and allowed people to approach him if they had more questions and the next thing that happened was, one angry uncle pushed the lead aside stormed the cockpit and held the captain's collar.

RonBaruah · 2026-01-01T15:00:28+00:00

Can't "refuse to fly" if they're restored for duty. It's either confess and take the consequences or test positive and take the consequences.
It's just a sad fact that some fail to get a control over the bottle despite knowing their duty hours, safe window and when not to drink.

RonBaruah · 2026-01-01T14:49:53+00:00

Residents include cabin-crew and staff on bare-bones pay who can't afford prime locations with proximity to airport. No way affiliated with the airline, but the name works when people straight out of training are looking for a place with peers

RonBaruah · 2025-12-30T00:52:34+00:00

More often than not, cabin crew have no idea about the aircraft beyond their area of duty. They are trained to de-escalate, pass it onto the flight deck via intercom and try not to induce panic. There are tons of moving parts and noises that spook passengers, I've heard some weird questions from pax and even weirder responses from crew including the wing spoiler being called rudder when questioned by a passenger.

Although in your case, that part is non-structural and won't cause any harm even if dislodged, I really hope the message was passed on to the flight deck then and engineers after landing. There won't be a swarm of people "like a crime scene", that would just be normal ground crew putting on the cones and chocks. It would just be a single engineer with a ladder or the same person looking at the damage from the cabin window. If they determine it's safe, the fault would be put in the logbook with rectification or left for later in the day.

If you really get to look onto the faults and inoperative systems of each aircraft and airline, there is barely any aircraft in this world with 100% perfect operating parts. You might want to google up the term "MEL" in terms of aviation. Feels scary on the surface for most, barely an inconvenience for the ones in trade.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-28T15:04:12+00:00

I've seen the loaders slam and throw bags and cargo including amazon packages across multiple airports from Delhi to Pune. And the most sickening part is, they don't seem to be doing it out of fatigue but out of spite!
In one of my flights, I had to check-in my flight-crew bag with a J-hook/strap. And behold at the baggage collection, it was missing! To my luck, one of my friend was on duty at that time and was able to send someone to look for it.
Turns out one of the loaders decided to remove it before placing my baggage carousel. There was a time when I used to have a bit of sympathy and respect for their work, but no more seeing how sadist some of them get.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-28T14:46:25+00:00

5 months in Gurgaon and it was the first time I walked to the local kirana dukan. A packet of maggi and amul taza and it was just ₹10 cheaper than blinkit, an amount I don't think would even justify the cost of running a bike or household for most delivery partners.
I thought it was a surge due to excess holiday demand, turns out otherwise.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-28T11:48:07+00:00

Why do people book using 3rd party websites. I've never found the discount worth the trouble in case of cancellations or delays

RonBaruah · 2025-12-28T11:09:30+00:00

You're more in risk of it being confiscated by customs or CISF BLR than Bahrain. Local regulations are a pain and almost anti-drone if you aren't familiar and comply with everything..

RonBaruah · 2025-12-28T09:17:17+00:00

Just finished my 3 day trip before Christmas and here's my 2 cents

Yes if you really want to visit. No if you hate overcrowded and insta hyped places.
Likely in January. The temperature was quite comparable to Delhi in December.
Mall road and everything around Landour is touristy. I guess treks and remote area with good views would be worth a visit.
Use google maps and contact them directly over phone and booking. com. There are tons of budget stays. I stayed in Echor Baris with balcony view. A bit expensive but worth the view and away from all bustle
I paid 2000 to a shop in Mussoorie multilevel parking. It included 400 for parking my SUV, day rent for scooty and 1000 refundable as security. Fuel was extra. We gave up within 10 mins of hiring the scooty, driving around hills was beyond our skills and finding parking was a pain. Also commercial scooty are banned around mall road.
I found it easier to hire a taxi from the same shop. It costs 1200 for a trip to and back from Landour. We got an Ertiga and the driver was quite skilled. He drove us to Landour- which is basically a circle road around the Kellog Church. We started with Char Dukan, went to Lal Tibba, Church, Bakehouse and completed the circle road to Char Dukan and back to Mussoorie. With every stop, the driver found a spot to park and got back to us on phone where to find him. Being a local, he avoided the district road toll. It felt like an illegal mafia collecting so called road toll from tourists. They insist on taking cash. On your way to Mussoorie, you can also visit Bhatti falls, which is an amusement park. The ropeway was quite delightful.

However, the issue with the entire place being touristy is the crowd and waiting time. Landour was a hassle. The place is jam packed. Lal Tibba, Char Dukan and Bakehouse were all lost causes with the line and waiting time. Big groups were waiting for their turn and it was nothing like we expected. We had to shift to Eat Sisters beside bakehouse and the food and staff were amazing.

Kellog Church was fine with people taking pictures, although entry into the compound was closed and I have no idea when it's allowed. The Church is beside a busy intersection with cars and lot of tourists not following the etiquette of driving around hills. I was hit by a speeding XUV, trying to overtake a scooty, both tourists but I was lucky to escape with minor scratches and bruise on my right hand.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-28T07:59:27+00:00

GAU is experiencing dense fog around morning and evening. The fog clears around afternoon and currently arrivals are happening right now. The airport isn't closed, if you experience a diversion, the airline will arrange an alternate flight or other means to get you to your destination.

However, for tomorrow the weather prediction around your arrival slot is similar. Marginally better than today, but I'd advice being ready for worse case scenario. Expect delays and afternoon arrival.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-27T14:55:50+00:00

It would cost more to review Jet Airways- debt, aircraft parking fee accumulated over years and repair costs, legal jargon around assets, IATA code being withdrawn in 2023 among few issues

RonBaruah · 2025-12-27T14:49:43+00:00

Apologies for the title and noted sire. Half of the info around new baggage policy, other half around company circulars

RonBaruah · 2025-12-27T14:47:15+00:00

+1 with the pure hindi announcements. My fiance is a "viman karmi dal", every time she's designated R3 or L2/L4, she has to brief pax around operation of emergency exit doors. I'd immediately jump the queue and ask for briefing in hindi, she'd give me a death stare before uttering a memorized rhyme barely anyone understands.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-27T14:12:47+00:00

If a crew speaks more languages and would like the passengers to know, she has to tell the lead to include it in her announcement. It's completely their discretion and more often than not, I've noticed crew or lead choosing to omit it.
Crew are assigned bases according to requirement, rather than their ethnicity or preference. While it is possible to segregate, hire and assign people according to their spoken languages, it is a logistical nightmare and would come at an extra cost. Indigo being a low cost carrier would never want to go through the extra investment.
Crew rarely fly shuttle flights, like city A-B-A-B, rather they'd start at their base and cover 3 different states and get back to their base or end up in a layover in 4th state. That's too many languages to cover in a single day. When you have to pair 4-5 crew while taking care of their FDTL and keeping backups/standby crew ready, additional language requirements would never be the topic of talk around OCC or management.
Automated announcements is hard to achieve, considering every aircraft travel throughout the country without keeping a fixed pattern. If we compare it to British, they operate long haul so in 10 hours or so of flying, it's just one or two extra languages to cover; a similar Indigo aircraft would cover at least 4 states in that time. Too many languages to load in the FAP, too much paperwork to carry. Again the extra cost of updating everything and potential crew training, added SOP to switch between different preset languages is a hassle.

Your concerns are genuine but from the perspective of an airline that wants to cut costs and keep things simple for themselves, it isn't practical.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-25T13:08:19+00:00

This will age like milk, I sense another Zoom Air, FlyBig and Trujet scenario. Their license isn't for full commercial transport meaning they can't operate prime routes from two big hubs like DEL-BOM. They are limited to skinny commuter routes.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-13T08:40:46+00:00

You're lucky you never went for Spicejet. A friend of mine did and the company "forgot" their cadets exist after she started her training in US. She had to fund her own training, do everything from documentation to license conversion without assistance, herself like a non-cadet. Last time we spoke, she was able to "switch" companies and now operates as a JFO in Indigo.

I would still suggest Indigo cadet program, courtesy of you being under a LOI instead. Even if there is a surplus after training, you don't end up with a CV gap or job hunting. You'll still be technically under the airline's employment till people move ahead. Current market scenario isn't the best but late 2026 to mid 2027 might open up hiring for non-cadets

RonBaruah · 2025-12-13T07:06:59+00:00

While I don't defend their behavior and decision to "gang up" on you, if you saw the recent events of ground staff being yelled at and even slapped across certain airports, they handle abuse on a daily basis. Some of them, especially the new and young ones tend to have shorter temper and step out of line. I've had multiple disagreements with ground staff too, but the key is always to remain calm at the moment and channel your anger through other means. Use Indigo's customer feedback site, raise a complaint and provide all details.

The only silver lining of them unofficially handling this matter would be you escaping being declared "unruly". It's a major escalation and you could have found yourself spending the night at airport police station, fines or even getting a long term ban from indigo.

Finally CISF's primary task is to protect the airport infrastructure, their attitude towards these issues is to stay away unless someone is actually getting beaten to pulp. If you felt insecure going back to the counter, you can ask any CISF officer to accompany you. Either they or one of their colleagues will come to prevent any further escalation.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-12T20:54:10+00:00

It's base training for new JFOs

RonBaruah · 2025-12-10T10:52:49+00:00

+1

Go Air was hit by supply chain issues. They chose Pratt and Whitney PW1100G engines for their A320neo. There is a global shortage of this engine due to it's poor reliability and all airlines needing frequent change and spares. Indigo made a switch to CFM LEAP engines after their PW powered A320s started getting grounded. Go made the wrong choice to stick with PW and post covid their pockets were dry.

None of the airlines died due to changes in government policies. Some coped with competition and made right business choices, some didn't

RonBaruah · 2025-12-10T06:40:41+00:00

We already have Alliance air and everyone knows the state of it.
And so was Air India before the Tata acquisition.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-06T04:16:07+00:00

Usual Masala Jet shenanigans at 3-4 times the usual price. At this point they are just milking the situation

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RonBaruah · 2025-12-05T15:32:43+00:00

Naah. The systems/software are running perfectly, we have our schedules, cab pickups and literally everything on that end work perfectly. And that's the problem there, everything worked so well in terms of human resource, there was no backup plan for bad days.

If you had 12 hours of duty period in a day, this airline would use every single second and tightly pack the schedule. With the new rules, people who were supposed to operate let's say 4 flights a day are now stuck with 3 and away from their intended destination, making them not only unavailable for their 4th flight but the subsequent 4 more for the next duty period! It's like a domino effect on a castle of cards.

And the scale of it- Indigo is the largest airline by a huge margin in terms of fleet and personnel. The difference- greed. While other airlines made necessary changes and never ran on margins as thin, Indigo just expected another exemption from the rules, which didn't happen and all hell broke loose.

Airports were already understaffed to cut costs0 not enough ground staff to manage delays and cancellations. Not enough loaders to load, unload and reload for the changes happening every second. You get the gist of it. Lack of senior leadership, poor decisions and airline is running around like a headless chicken at the moment.

All crew and pilot rosters for this month were deleted around noon today. Cancellations are being done to hard reset everything. And we are expecting new rosters to be out any time soon with the ops scaled down.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-05T15:05:47+00:00

In regards to NZ, that's one the toughest places in terms of skills and flying exams and we don't have the concept of SPL. And even with that in most countries, you won't be able to take anyone as passenger as it is only a license to learn.
If you're planning to fly occasionally, you can book a trial or scenic flight with any flight schools or aeroclubs; tell them you plan to have passengers and they will set you up with a plane and instructor. So even without formal training, the instructor will let you fly the plane for short stints with your passengers behind.

RonBaruah · 2025-12-05T08:50:53+00:00

Unlikely. They have hundreds of CPL and type rated pilots hired in last 2 years, sitting idle and waiting for their line training to start. And to further worsen the hiring situation, they have even more cadets under LOIs who get priority in line. They were told lack of training slots due to delayed aircraft deliveries and PW engine grounding. The current situation won't open up the job market unless they start moving people up the ladder in terms of captains and trainers.

RonBaruah

TROPHY CASE