Review of IndiGo flight New Delhi → Jaipur in Economy

Indigo |DELHI to jaipur | AIRBUS A320NEO (6E763| vt-ith) - 26TH SEPTEMBER 2019

Hello and Welcome to Trip Report 32!

Presenting another rotation on India's Best LCC: IndiGo!
This being Part 2 of my flight from Colombo to Delhi on Sri Lankan Airlines 

Putting my hate for red-eye flights aside, I decided to make the most out of a undesirable situation and decided to fly with IndiGo once again mainly because they were the only available (late-evening) connections from Delhi (DEL) to Jaipur (JAI). This also meant that I'd be more than certainly be flying on their A320neo! 
Fares were on the cheaper side too, which included the standard 15Kg of Check-in baggage as well

My booking was done via. IndiGo's App. 
The Process was unbelievably user-friendly  with the booking and transaction finalized in a few minutes.
However, do note that IndiGo does not accept Internationally Issued VISA Cards on their Payment Gateway (do correct me If i'm wrong). They do accept MasterCard though which seems to be the most preferred payment platform in India  

PRE FLIGHT

A long-ish layover of around 3 1/2 hours awaited us at India's Capital on arrival from which did seem a little too much, however little that we realized was that Terminal 1 was 10KM away from Terminal 3, which would take around 20-30 minutes via road!

Luckily Delhi Airport did have free shuttle service between terminals which was much needed for an airport as big as Delhi!
My First Interaction with IndiGo's staff were at Terminal 3 just as we cleared Immigration who gladly gave us clear instructions to navigate to Terminal 1 and informed us about the shuttle service that would take us there 

3 Hours to Departure:

Bus tickets were issued at the counter and we got ourselves on to the shuttle bus to Terminal 1
The bus was packed to capacity as expected, with many of us taking up the journey the "Subcontinental way" : Standing 

 With a brief stop at Terminal 2 to drop off a few passengers, we then continued to Terminal 3, the drive showcasing Delhi's AeroCity    

On reaching Terminal 1, we hurried ourselves to the main entrance, through the initial Document Check at the door  and proceeded to the Check-in counters

IndiGo too follows the same concept of AirAsia with all passengers regardless of Destination being cued up in a single line of Counters. The Process though was very efficient!
Check-in Kiosks were available at the beginning of the counter which required each passenger to Self Check-in and print out their boarding passes prior to entering the cue, this resulting in quicker customer waiting time and a faster baggage drop at the counters and overall a smooth flow of passengers.
IndiGo had also placed their Ground Crew all around the Baggage Drop and Self-Check in area for passenger assistance which aided in the overall smooth process of checking-in. Passengers who were running late were quite fairly given first priority to fast-track their way from the counters.
 Quite unlike AirAsia which tend to forget about their customers and look at the easiest option of offloading as and when they liked.         

2 1/2 Hours to Departure:

Security Check! CHAOS!
Either the crowds were simply too much to handle or maybe something else was wrong!
The entire process took at least One Hour with many passengers deciding to switch to the faster/more efficient counter midway as most of the Counters were  just painfully slow!
Thankfully we had time on hour hands and I do recommend a solid 3 to 4 hours at Delhi for transit and connecting flights

With just under One and a half hours remaining for Departure, we made our way to the Food Court at the Domestic Concourse at Terminal 1.
Was pleasantly surprised to see a wide variety of fare available which was pretty impressive for Indian standards and by far in my opinion the Best Food Court at an Indian Airport (to-date) 

The restaurants at T1 were just too many to chose from, thereby we settled for Nizam's! 
Do try out their signature "Kathi Kebab's"   

After Dinner, we then proceeded to departures which looked like a train station just before rush hour!
We were lucky enough to find the last few vacant seats 

IndiGo was boarding 6E6162 to Chennai (MAA) prior to us

Two Things were now Guaranteed!
A Bus Gate and my second Airbus A320neo for the day

A Summary of today's routing:
IndiGo (6E/IGO)
Flight Number: 6E763
Equipment: Airbus A320neo
Reg: VT-ITH
Seat(s): 4A
From : Delhi- Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL/VIDP) 
To: Jaipur International Airport (JAI/VIJP)

DEPARTURE / IN FLIGHT

Watch the entire FR here!

Boarding was called soon after 6E6162 left the gate and all passengers were boarded on IndiGo's own buses and were promptly transferred to the awaiting Airbus A320neo

SpiceJet: India's WORST LCC

IndiGo Airbus A320neo (VT-ITH)

The Crew were Professional and Super friendly, Quite unlike a few LCC's that I've flown on in the past or even some full-service carriers for that matter. 
IndiGo focused on getting all the basics right! A immaculately maintained, clean aircraft came to sight while pax were welcomed and guided to their allocated seats in order to ensure an on-time departure which in today's case resulted in us departing before schedule which was very satisfying  

Seat 4 (A)

IndiGo, when compared to other LCC's in the region offers a solid basic product, perfect 3-3 standard economy class seats with a greater seat pitch.
They do allow 15Kg's of Check-in luggage and 7Kg Carry on unlike its some of its competitors in the Indian Market
Snacks and Beverages are available for in-flight purchasing, and you do need to pay a little extra for a preferred seat which was around $5 for this sector and much cheaper compared to some full-service carriers that have decided to charge for preferred seating   

 In terms of Domestic service as an LCC, 6E have established their market and marked their presence in the Indian Aviation industry for many years to come which is why I Rank IndiGo as India's Best LCC   
However, I wouldn't award them the accolade as yet as India's Best Airline mainly because I'm yet to try Air Vistara which is a totally differentiated Premium Product. 

Just to compare their Competitors namely SpiceJet (in terms of size) and AirAsia India which offers a very similar product, GoAir (not flown with them yet) and not forgetting Air India Express, I would say that IndiGo would simply outclass them all 

Bonus : Click here display hide

Flying on an ATR operated route with IndiGo?
You can most certainly look forward to the same high quality product and the same service as flying on their Airbus fleet!   

I was greatly impressed by the service of IndiGo right from booking until the very end which is yet another reason why I want to try out their International Economy Class product as well!

 

My Next Review would feature India' Worst LCC : SpiceJet