Jet operates a two cabin service on this route, economy and premium economy.
First surprising thing was check in or the amount of luggage that was allowed to be checked in. In economy was allowed 28kg in hold plus 7 kg hand baggage. Needless to say despite the generous luggage allowance there were still people with excess luggage.[?]
I know the LHR - DEL route is notorious for its pax with overweight baggage I can see the extra luggage allowance being a draw when compared with allowances on BA and VS.
check in was quick, given a bulkhead seat without requesting it and then proceeded to the shopping delights of T3 at LHR.
Boarding the new A346 aircraft was quick and efficient. The cabin was light and airy and decked out in dark blue seats with the contrasting Jet Yellow logos. All the seats in economy were arranged in a 2 x 4 x 2 arrangement so it meant even the middle seats were only one seat away from the aisle.
On board service was excellent, reminded me of flying years ago, they handed out hot towels, menu selection cards and headphones. Did two meals outbound (day flight) and on the overnight flight back did one snack and breakfast. PLenty of drinks runs were made during the flight.
One thing i did note was the amount of time the cabin staff spent visiting the toilet and cleaning them. Sitting two rows down from the toilet it appeared during the day flight they serviced the toilets almost hourly. It was very much appreciated. The toilets also had Molton Brown soap, something which you only get in premium cabins on VS. [:D]The molton brown stuff was on both inward and outward flights and not sure whether it is regular thing or just to draw passengers into the new flight.
Each seat had its own on demand video system. The choice of entertainment was wide ranging but the films were not as recent but i have feeling there due to be updated the following week as the programme guide ran out at the end of feb. It felt and handled exactly the same as VS in flight entertainment system.
Seat pitch was better than vs economy at 31' and was certainly notably on the 9 hour flight into india.
One quirk was on the return flight that no chicken was available due to bird flu. Not sure why, but i am pretty sure that cooking chicken got rid of the virus! The food was average for economy with a selection of western and indian foods. One nice thing was that there was proper crockey in economy, i mean glass bowels for the salad, glass dishes for the main. the forks and knives were still plastic but it was the plastic that was solid and did not fold and had a nice weight to it if you know what i mean. they also gave out what appeared to be a3 sized cotton napkins with each meal. not much space for it in economy but a nice touch.
Jet Airways was Full on both flights and was overbooked i am pretty sure. Even the premium cabin was full.
I was very surprised at the level of service and in flight entertainment and at times it was on a par with VS. The flight attendents however a bit robotic and it felt they were scripted to do things. When some passengers requested something unusual it was as if it was unexpected and completely beyond them and needed at least two flight fa's to sort it out.
I believe that they will sort it out and vs had better watch out! The flights were full the attendents attentive and the food served in proper dishes. with on demand films and a quiet aircraft they only drawback was the awful scheduling of the flights (same as BA), if they had VS timetable to del i would be in a very difficult place. More baggage and a cheaper ticket with the same entertainment? who would you choose?
