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Food on the IA
The customer-jury at work.
CALL IT an introspection or a customer-interface programme, the rules were strict. Friday's menu on board the airline's carriers was spread on a table — breakfast, high tea and dinner. The caterers' names were camouflaged and codified for in-house analysis. Frequent fliers were invited to be on the jury. It was a public scrutiny to which Indian Airlines chose to subject itself.
Interestingly, one aspect started ominously in the face of the flier-invitees and others who participated in the customer-oriented exercise. The IA doors were now open for constructive criticism for betterment of service. And, more importantly, its message — ``what the customer wants, he knows best''— too appeared to be sinking in at the right quarters.
And for a change, IA came up trumps, almost unscathed. The inspection panel, comprising a cross-section of its clientele, felt that the quality of food on metro flights was good. With regard to non-metro, the less said the better. One flier preferred to term it as ``stale on most occasions'', while another said she was served `chappatis' that were like biscuits. The prime focus was on food, probably reflecting the homework that IA market managers had done. If food was not an issue of debate, the cutlery came in for criticism. The common refrain was that they broke easily. Some referred to the quality of service of the national carrier and said there was scope for ample improvement on that score.
The IA personnel took the `responses' in their stride. Its Regional Director, R. Sampath Kumar, acknowledged the support offered by the jury and said the government enterprise was aware of its responsibilities and accountability to the tax payers. The authorities were strict on the caterers and rarely failed to invoke penal clauses for poor service, as more than Rs. one crore was spent every month for the on-board catering alone.
There had been occasions where caterers had been changed overnight for gross violations of norms, he pointed out to the ``inspection team''.
By Shanker S
Photo: M. Moorthy
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Life
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