Review: United Airlines 767-300 Economy Plus: Washington DC to Zurich
Review: SWISS A330-300 Economy: Zurich to Delhi
Review: Air India A321-200 Economy: Delhi to Pune
Review: Akasa Air 737 MAX 8 Economy: Pune to Bangalore
Review: The Ritz Carlton Bangalore
Review: Indigo Air A321Neo: Bangalore to Pune
Review: Singapore Airlines A350-900 Regional Business Class: Mumbai to Singapore
Review: Singapore Airlines NEW SilverKris Business Class Lounge Terminal 3 Singapore SIN
Review: Singapore Airlines A380-800 Business Class: Singapore to Frankfurt
Review: Lufthansa Senator Lounge Concourse B Frankfurt FRA (Non-Schengen)
Review: Singapore Airlines A380-800 Business Class: Frankfurt to New York JFK
YOUTUBE: United Airlines: Washington DC to Zurich
YOUTUBE: SWISS International Airlines: Zurich to Delhi
YOUTUBE: Air India: Delhi to Pune
YOUTUBE: Akasa Air: Pune to Bangalore
YOUTUBE: Indigo Air: Bangalore to Pune
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Mumbai to Singapore
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Singapore to Frankfurt
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Frankfurt to New York JFK
Pune Airport has a strict no-photo policy due to it being a defense airport, so it’s pretty hard to get any photos from the terminal. That said, there really wasn’t much to it. Boarding was by group number ordered by people who purchased priority boarding to those who didn’t essentially and then by seat beyond that.
The two fare classes to choose between for any flight are below, and for me, I would’ve gone for the saver fare class, however, I booked this flight so last second that only flexi fare class seats were available to purchase.
I had boarding group 1 but oddly the gate agents boarded backwards by group number so group 1 was towards the end.
PNQ-BLR
19 December 2022
Boeing 737 MAX 8
After boarding I turned into the all economy cabin. My seat was 6F which was the window seat on the right side of the plane. The seat itself was very much bare bones and fitting for a low cost carrier. This flight was only an hour long so I wasn’t too worried about it.
The legroom was a little on the tighter side. For reference my knees were hitting the seat in front of me and I’m 5′ 10″ or 1.78m.
Eventually the crew did their safety checks and we pushed back.
After a quick taxi to runway 28, we jetted off facing west and turned south towards Bangalore.
There were some nice views of the outskirts of Pune as we continued climbing.
Eventually the crew began their service for the flight. Depending on whether you had food or not, that was the extent of the service. If you purchased the flexi fare class, a food item of your choice and a drink was available for free, but for the saver fare it was nothing. If you think you’d want to eat something from the flight, it’s almost always a better value to buy the flexi fare class rather than buy a saver ticket and pay additional money for food.
Now I will say the service was really slow. The crew seemed to have trouble finding people’s orders, and additonally a lot of people seemed to not even realize that a free meal came with their purchased fare class. So this made the service a lot slower than it could’ve been. I expect and am hopeful that Akasa will have figured this out by now.
Here’s a look at all the food options that were available for purchase.
I went for the Chicken Kathi roll. Now keep in mind that even though there’s a price listed for each of thesr food items, it’s completely free with the flexi fare.
The roll was good. It was chilled, but it was simple and flavorful. I’m not sure how I feel about having this at 7AM, but it was still tasty.
The views outside the aircraft were also really nice and enjoyable.
Eventually we began our descent into Bangalore with some great views below us.
We touched down onto runway 9L in a foggy Bangalore and had a quick taxi to the gate.
We parked at a remote gate and had a bus take us to the terminal.
Overall, the experience was pretty standard and nothing mind blowing. It’s always nice to have a new low cost carrier in the market to keep prices under control, and Akasa is a solid carrier without a doubt. Their fleet is entirely made up of 737 MAX 8’s and this fleet will be healthy and last for a very long time. The seats are a bit tight on legroom, but for the distances flights within India cover, this shouldn’t be a problem for most cases.
I’d say if Akasa fits your schedule, then it’s a solid option, but I wouldn’t go out of your way to fly them if other better airlines fit your schedule better.