V-Flyer

I was popping off to 'flat-pack' myself on a beach in Goa for 10 days and went to BOM UC and then got a connecting flight to Goa. There are loads of airlines that ply the Bombay-Goa route but as I had heard of good reports about Kingfisher I decided to 'suck it and see'.
The connection at Bombay between international and domestic is a typical Indian bun fight, just before you walk out of the international terminal you turn left(a rule worth observing when flying)into a queue waiting to check in to Jet and Air India domestic flights. For reference if flying Kingfisher just walk to the side of this line and wait for the bus to take you to the domestic terminal. The bus is a 10 minute ride to the DT. For some reason we got dropped off at arrivals and had to go up a floor to departures, no problems as lots of time.

Kingfisher 1st class check in was empty and were greeted with smiles lots of Mr and Mrs this and that, very painless checkin. Next you are taken to the lounge, signed in and shown around. The Kingfisher lounge is dire, coffee, water, warm soft drinks and stale 'sandwiches'. I can live with that BUT the bloke that started up Kingfisher owns a bloody brewery and there was NO BEER. Called for flight, escorted to the security lines and then we were just taken right to the front as we were told 'you are more important than the rest of these people'. I was a bit embarassed by the whole thing as us Brits are queue-a-holics. All Bom domestic flights are bussed out to remote stands and 1st class go in seperate 16 seater buses with red leather sofas 'nailed' to the floor. You are at all times escorted by agents whos primary reason is life is to make sure queues do not happen.
Boarded the A320 and was given a drink of sparkling apple juice(booze not allowed on Indian domestic flights). The seats were fantastic 48' seat pitch with a cradle recline, you could easily sleep in these. Cold towels were passed round and collected promptly.
Take off happened and the crew then came round with the menu's, this was a 43 minute flight and a full 3 course lunch was served. Brie salad, roasted king prawns and peppers, blueberry strudel and coffee. This was served on china with metal knives and forks etc and was far superior in taste to any thing I have had on VS recently. The cabin crew were excellent at all times, I don't think they were very well as everytime they passed you they would smile, must have had a bit of 'trapped wind' or similar!
After landing you are meet by more queue jumpers who take your boarding pass, find your luggage and bring it to you at the door of the terminal and then insist on finding your driver etc for you. A fantastic touch.

The return trip was a virtually identical experience, the one special bit was on returning to Goa airport the agent who dealt with me 10 days previously walked up to me outside and called me Mr **** and asked if I had had a pleasant holiday. To me that is a special touch.

All in all if you are flying within India give Kingfisher 1st class a go, I have never had such a good experience on any domestic airline anywhere in the World.