On a recent Vistara flight, I was served the Jain meal I requested. As I opened the foil for the main course, I smiled at what I saw. Spinach-corn, rice, and kofta. And my mind flashed back to the meals I used to eat on Jet Airways a decade ago.
For an entrepreneur or anyone in business, regular flights are a way of life. Airports, gates, stores – all become so familiar. There was a time when Indian Airlines was the only option in the skies. Regulations changed, and many new airlines came up. The one I fell in love with was Jet Airways. They had a way to make you feel special in the skies. After a long day of meetings as I took the flight back to Mumbai from whichever city I was visiting, I looked forward to the Jain meal. They always had something special.
And then, just like that, Jet went bankrupt. It became the era of low-cost airlines and Indigo ruled (and still does). The ‘free’ meals disappeared. There were very few Jain options in the meal catalog – and they were not the ones I liked. Post-pandemic, my local travel also reduced – with more flights internationally than within India. With congestion delays, it also became harder to do morning-evening flights. A Mumbai-Delhi flight used to be under two hours, it now takes close to two-and-a-half. A Mumbai-Bangalore flight was 90 minutes; it is 120 minutes now. With Mumbai’s single runway, the long taxiing time at most of the new airports, and the rapid increase in the number of flights, an extra hour gets added to travel time in the skies. Add to that the traffic to get to the airport.
I always preferred Indigo through the years because the other domestic options were quite bad. Indigo offered efficiency and punctuality. And then into the skies came Vistara. I stuck with Indigo for some more time because of the frequency of their departures. Friends started talking about the “Vistara experience” – like the good old days of Jet. I decided to give them a try. After a couple episodes of “Sir, we have a full flight. We will need to take your bag and check it in.”, I upgraded to Premium Economy. At least now, no one pushes me to hand over my bag! And then there is the extra legroom.
The meals are nice, too. A throwback to the brief period in Indian aviation history where Jet and Kingfisher brought romance to air travel. Vistara promises the same now. As I ate my green-white-saffron meal, I was struck by the fact that the taste was also the same. Two meals, a decade or two apart, a common chord.
