Weight accumulation

No, I am not talking about weight gain or loss. I am writing about the limited weight that we can carry on air travel.

Different airlines have different limits. While Air Deccan did not increase it from 15 to 20 kg even after becoming Deccan some others let u carry a 20 Kg of maximum. Business class travelers have it 25 Kg (in some airlines).

Why not accumulate it?

Now coming to the point of accumulating it. More often than not during my travel(especially traveling home) I carry way beyond that paltry 15-20 kg cap. Then I go requesting, insisting and citing instances where I was waived off a few Kilo grams last time and all that. But, once in a while I carry only a hand bag too. Now, if an airline could actually create a loyalty card where I could accumulate the unused check in luggage weight, how great it would be. Just as the last time I traveled by Deccan I checked in only 5 kg. I would have been so tempted to travel by Deccan if the remaining 10 could be used again in near future and letting me carry 25 kg next time. Most of the premier airlines like Jet airways, Kingfisher and Indian airlines do have loyalty pro grammes where by customers do get freebies for enrolling and then accumulating free miles. What they cannot accumulate is unused weight limits. I would definitely become a loyal customer to an airline that could offer me something like that. In fact most of the Indian people traveling to or from their native would be delighted by this as they have to carry lot of ghar ka khana etc.

Benefits:

1. Loyalty could substantially improve for family customers as families often tend to carry more average weight.

2. This could be a great differentiator for an airline in the highly cluttered aviation sector.

3. It could be a great feature to advertise.

Limitations

There would be a possibility of having passengers once in a while who would come with 200kgs of luggage smug smile on face and their membership card in pocket. Keeping air safety in mind the airlines may not be able to permit that and keeping the loyalty pro gramme in mind they may not be able to say no to the passenger either.

But, if the accumulated weight would lapse on a regular basis like half yearly or so then there could be way out.

Well, till when something like this does not come up, I can only think of requesting, insisting or finally giving up and paying more.

Mumbai Airport

Last weekend(extended weekend) I was in Mumbai just for a break. Being from Bangalore entering the arrival terminal on Mumbai airport almost felt as if I had traveled a few seas across and reached another country.

No exaggeration! Just look at the help desk in pink, orange and white. It looks better than a privately run internet cafe.

The amount of space available is so huge it raised the question in mind - where was all this space till now?

Ofcourse GMR(builder of the new mumbai airport) is spending a good time, effort and space to make the travelers realize what it has done. But, it is only adding to the looks of the airport.I do not have pictures of departure longue with me but that was equally good.

Like a few other international airports they have come-up with their own magazine too - 'Mumbai touchdown'.


Did you ever see a feedback form drop box on any of the Indian airports? Well, I have seen one on Chennai international departure terminal and it was being used properly to dispose of small litter like chewing gum wrappers, shopping bills etc.

Visiting the Mumbai airport after 1.5 years I was highly impressed to see all this and decided to fill the feedback form with positive comments. My cousin with me picked up the Hindi form, which was tough to understand with so much of pure Hindi(its disappointing though that we in India find it difficult to understand Hindi). Well you think who reads all the feedbacks, don't you ? To my surprise someone seems to be doing that as I received an SMS from 'MUMBAI ARPT' thanking me for the feedback.

Message - Thank you for your feedback. It will help us continually improve passenger experiences at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. *Empowered by Moveo systems* Some advertisement there at the end.

But, so much gesture by an airport - to enter my phone number into the system, only to send me an automated message is commendable. For the rest I can show only this. Yes, again from the same airport.

The Blue Umbrella

I haven't written movie reviews here before. I will not be writing them in future either(I mean frequently). But since I found this one worth watching, worth reviewing and may be among the more unknown movies of the year bygone so here is why you should watch it.


Colors are as vibrant as they can be. In fact once you watch it you would feel that urge to visit Himachal pradesh during your next vacation!

Cinematography is beautiful with camera showing views which we often miss out in real life even when we go for those vacations.

Acting had to be outstanding with Pankaj Kapoor playing the lead role. But, even the child actor has done her role well enough and is fitting in very well as a north Indian kid.

Script has a lesson for most of the kids but there is a surprise element every now and then keeping predictability of next scenes low and hence making you wait for the next scene.

It has been popularized as Child movie because it has a theme which could be a lesson for kids but then watch it and you realize isn't this the case with all of us. Why only kids?

Yes, it is a tad slow but if you like watching movies for more than songs, dance, love making scenes etc then this one's worth it.