[sockeyeron]

I was in India last month and had the opportunity of flying Deccan from Goa to Bangalore and then on to Cochin. The flight to Bangalore was on time and pleasent but the onward flight was delayed four hours with no real explanation.
This caused no real concern as the prices were excellent and afterall, it was India.

I was also booked AirDeccan from Cochin to Mumbai two weeks later and then to London.
I checked with Deccan two days before the flight to Mumbai and I was informed that Deccan had cancelled all flights from Cochin for three days. They would give no reason but assured me that I would receive a full refund. (which I did receive)
I was staying at Gowri Residence in Alleppey and their travel desk was able to secure seats on Kingfisher for less then prices posted on the net and saved my bacon.

I am not complaining about Air Deccan but be aware that they seem to be the least reliable of the internal airlines in India.
Ron.

[john.sw]

I agree with you about Air Deccan.  They can be very cheap (and do not have a two tier system with foreigners paying more than Indians), but they are a "no frills" airline.

If I am flying Air Deccan and  I need to be somewhere on time, i.e. catching an international flight out of India, I will always arrive 1 day early in case of unexplained delays.

[jyotirmoy]

Yes John I agree with you. I dont like to take a chance specially in the peak summer rush...

[Arun B]

Although I have not taken Air Deccan myself, I have heard from lot of people complaining about delays they had to leave with. Worse than delays is that they cancel their flights very often, which can leave you in trouble if you are in a hurry. So I usually avoid them unless I find a handsome bargain that no other airline can meet.

I flew between Bangalore-Delhi and Bangalore-Kolkata in last 3 months, and booked my tickets about 3-4 weeks before departure date. The prices offered by budget airlines were a few 100 rupees less than others would offer. So eventually ended up taking Jet airways on all the flights.

[crvlvr]

Air Deccan runs a tight ship and keeps their planes in the air as much as possible. Obviously, any sort of delay leaves them little room int heir schedule to make up time. And the delay usually cascade to subsequent flights the aircraft is scheduled to make.  Typically  the flights in the morning (like our meeting at work) tend to run on time and the ones later on in the day delayed.

[malkers]

I flew to Cochin from Bangalore on Saturday and actually took off at the scheduled time of 6.00am which was good but obviously this was the first flight of the day.

Whilst in Cochin however I had a text message to say that my 7.05pm flight back on Monday was now rescheduled for 9.45pm, then later again I had another text to say it was 10.45pm but at least this was the day before so I didn't have to waste this time at the airport and it meant I got to spend a little more time in beautiful Fort Cochin and caught the sun going down over the fishing nets which I'd missed on Saturday and Sunday night!

I still sort of trust them as I'm sure they will improve.

My test ahead is a trip to Andamans in a couple of weeks which involves flying to Chennai first and then catching an onward flight to Port Blair, the same thing in reverse a few days later.  One long delay and I'll be stuck in Chennai and unable to get a refund for a missed flight so I'm taking a bit of a chance here!

Cheers

[Prof. Lionel Aranha]

With Air Deccan you always keep your fingers crossed. Cheap needn't be the best!. If you have an appointment to keep; then Air Deccan is best avoided.