My SpiceJet Q400 flight from Hyderabad to Goa was smooth and punctual…unlike Hyderabad airport.
As a reminder, I’m in the midst of a “vintage” trip report to India/Maldives. Although this flight took place in December 2015, it still captures what you can expect if you fly SpiceJet today and has not been previously published. Click here for more recent trip reports.
Rules have loosened up a bit at Indian airports, but I’ll always remember going from counter to counter having my hand baggage luggage tag stamped no less than four times. For some reason, it reminded me of how quaint it was in Cuba where handwritten paper tickets were used in place of e-tickets. Let me add here that I booked the tickets on SpiceJet’s website for $117 each nine days prior to travel. The whole check-in, security, and boarding experience was totally chaotic.
Anyway, we assembled to board and boarding began about 20 minutes prior to our scheduled departure at 3:10 PM. Hyderabad is not a huge airport and rather than hop on a bus we just walked about 200 paces from the terminal directly to the aircraft.
SpiceJet 3603
Hyderabad (HYD) – Goa (GOI)
Wednesday, December 30
Depart: 03:10 PM
Arrive: 04:30 PM
Duration: 01hr, 20min
Distance: 331 miles
Aircraft: Bombardier Q400
Seat: 15D (Single-Cabin)
There’s only so much I can say about a 331-mile domestic flight on a small turboprop, but a few observations.
1.) Seating was tight, but not unbearable. There are 78 seats onboard and each has a 30″ pitch (1 A,B and 2 D,E are exit row seats and thus have extra legroom). There was no wi-fi or power ports, but individual air nozzles were available.
2.) Without any other in-flight-entertainment, I browsed the in-flight magazines. At the time, SpiceJet was hiring flight attendants and I found the qualifications…interesting. Want to be ea flight attendant for SpiceJet? Young, female and unmarried only…
3.) SpiceJet offers a buy-on-board service on its domestic flights. The menu included sandwiches, snacks, and drinks. My wife ordered a Diet Coke.
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4.) The Q400 is quite loud!
Upon landing in Goa, we were bussed to the terminal.
CONCLUSION
I would not hesitate to fly SpiceJet again. The aircraft was clean, flight operated on time, and our baggage made it safely to Goa.
Next up: New Year’s in Goa.
A prop plane…cool! The last time I was on one (might have been the same model as yours) I was startled at how steeply it descended before landing. It was a bit scary but fun. Did you experience this too?
We did! Landing was indeed very rapid.
One time I was flying into Monserrat from Antigua and we had such a steep landing I truly got concerned. You could hear the warning signals from the (open) flight deck.
Took an early morning Q400 flight from Quebec City to Montreal last fall and really enjoyed the experience. The cabin was quite roomy (thanks Air Canada Express) and the aircraft handled well and wasn’t all that loud for a turboprop. Coolest part of all was seeing the gear come down and watching it make contact with the runway! I will say that, as much fun as I had on a cold, calm morning, I wouldn’t care to be in one of these during turbulent conditions. Seems like even modest turbulence would really throw this aircraft around.
Married females are welcome if they have experience as per the advert