Is this airline run like a discount airline? Less legroom, restrictive baggage policies...? Or is it standard?
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1Full-service airlines don't have particularly generous legroom or baggage policies for passengers in economy class, either— "low cost" describes a business model, not any standardized level of service or quality. Skytrax rates "full-service" Delta, LOT, and Royal Jordanian as 3-star, the same as easyJet and Allegiant, and worse than "discount" jetBlue or Virgin America.– chosterApr 14, 2015 at 14:29
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2 Answers
The wikipedia article says:
In August 2014, Jet Airways announced that it is discontinuing its low fare arm JetKonnect and JetLite making Jet Airways 3rd full service airline in India besides Air India and Vistara.
What grounds do they have to make this claim? It has a frequent flier program, an airport lounge and flies internationally. The long haul flights have First, Première (Business), and Economy classes. Fully enclosed suites in First, lie flat beds in Business and free meals in Economy. These are definitely marks of a full service airline.
While they are not in an alliance like Star Alliance, Oneworld or Skyteam, they do have mile earning and redeeming partnerships with lots of airlines. This is also quite telling.
Jet Airways traditionally started off as a full-service airline, and as of today, continues to be a full service airline.
During a period starting in the mid-2000s, the aviation sector in India saw massive price crashes due to the introduction of low-cost / budget airlines such as Air Deccan (later rebranded as Kingfisher Red after an acquisition by now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines). Jet Airways acquired a competitor called Air Sahara and rebranded it as JetLite and JetKonnect (the airlines continued to use the old callsign "S2" as opposed to Jet Airways' "9W") to compete in the same segment. JetLite and JetKonnect were priced somewhat differently, with one being low-cost, and another being mid-tier.
It's worth noting that the above subsidiaries were primarily for internal flights within with India, so the discussion is somewhat moot for international flights; with the exception of a few South Asian routes, international flights were always under the main Jet Airways brand. In 2014, Jet Airways absorbed the low-cost brands and went full-service. It's also now partly owned by Etihad Airways.
By all characteristics, Jet Airways is considered a full-service airline:
- It has multiple classes of services, including a business-equivalent "Premiere" Class and First Class.
- Flies to major airports, as opposed to smaller secondary airports.
- Has in-flight entertainment on the Boeing 777-300ERs it flies on long-range international flights, and on Boeing 737s / Airbus A330s it flies internationally.
- The seat pitch on its flights (30-32", based on the aircraft type) is actually pretty standard for economy airlines.
- I can't find a handy chart yet, but from personal experience, their baggage allowance is pretty standard as well - 2 x 23kg on economy on long haul flights.
- Jet Airways is not a part of any airline alliance yet since it needs to get the Indian government's approval to do so, before it can join one. (This was a political issue, since the national carrier Air India wasn't allowed to join an alliance until 2014 when it joined Star Alliance.) However, Jet Airways has bespoke partnerships with airlines across Star Alliance, Oneworld, and Skyteam.
answered Apr 14, 2015 at 17:56
