Even after so many years of operation, I see no improvement in RNAC. It seems to be worsening rather. The often heard big scandal in aircraft purchase aside, a look at the general management of RNAC, its customer service and the way it treats its passengers both on ground and on board make it # 1 shame carrier instead of a flag carrier of the nation.

A few questions/comments:

1. Why RNAC requires that a traveler with a confirmed return ticket on RNAC must go to its office in New Road for reconfirmation whether you are flying within 24 hours of the arrival into the country or more.

2. When you go to the RNAC office in New Road, the people in the counter make you feel as if you are there to bother them. There is sheer lack of customer service and professionalism.

3. At a check in counter, they allocate better seats to the RNAC staff traveling on free tickets; those paying passengers are treated as secondary. This has happened to me three times consecutively.

4. If you are flying RNAC to Delhi with an onward connecting flight, you have to face an ordeal. For some strange reasons or arrangements, RNAC does not check your baggage all the way to your destination to the connecting flight from Delhi. Even if it does on the paper, you still have to contact at the Delhi airport an RNAC baggage handler, who seems uninterested, unhelpful and tired, to make sure that your baggage has actually arrived and passed on to the connecting airlines. I have flown other airlines from Kathmandu with a connecting flight and did not have to go through the RNAC type paperwork in Delhi. I don?t know why RNAC still needs to go through this age old paperwork. Even if they must do it for some reasons, the least RNAC could do is to make it easier for the connecting passengers by being prompt, informative, and customer service oriented.

5. RNAC asks for a phone number when you book or reconfirm a ticket. Several times when they knew that the flight was late, nobody bothered to inform me, nor do you get a responsible answer when you call the RNAC checking on a flight status.

6. The worst scenes are at the check in counters in Delhi, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The peons tout you when they see you have a little more extra luggage and negotiate openly to exempt it for extra money. Of course, it happens with the full knowledge and connivance of the RNAC staff in these stations. I have personally been approached many times and rejected it outright.

Here are my suggestions to RNAC:

a. Overhaul the management

Fire those lazy bum good for nothing flight attendants and corrupt staff immediately. Establish a standard of quality customer service; drop the staff first policy. Listen to the customers and make improvements. I know most of the staff hired on the basis of the Minister or some higher ups chits and through back door are still in the RNAC; most of the productive ones have left for the private airlines. Hire young staff on contract. Train them and retrain them on an ongoing basis. This is one way to turn the corporation from its current moribund state to a money making business. Bring in "managers" who are good in modern management, not those bums who are connected to this or that "raja" or somebody higher ups. They have runined the management culture of RNAC over the years. It is a profit making business and hire the managers that practice the principles of modern management.


b. Choose only limited international destinations that make sense from the operational and business point of view

No need to fly all over that you cannot keep the schedule. I would rather focus on quality of service to limited international destinations than having a bad name for not meeting its obligation. The destinations like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Delhi, Lhasa, Dubai would probably make sense to keep up with the schedule and assure the quality service. For God?s sake, make other arrangements for the King to fly. Every time King takes an RNAC aircraft with him, the entire schedule is screwed up causing a lot of inconvenience to the RNAC customers.


c. RNAC must realize its money timely and with late from those who owe it

Often we hear that RNAC is yet to realize its money from various travel agencies, individuals, HMG and even embassies. What RNAC should do is any undisputed amount owed by various agencies and individuals to RNAC that is not received even after two reminders within a reasonable period of time should be published in the newspapers and also on the website.

Alternatively, if the labour disputes and low quality of work continue to hamper the operations, one way to salvage RNAC would be to put it into liquidation, send the staff home and revive it with completely new staff.

d. Take the passengers complaint seriously; reward the employees who perform well

Listen to the passengers when they have a complaints; give the employees a bonus from the profit. Practice transparency, transparency and transparency.

Please take it as a passengerspeak. All said in the interest of saving the national flag carrier from going down into the history to become the national shame carrier.

I agree with Bihan. RNAC is a bit cheaper than others, that's the reason why I choose that frequently, but I pay the price for that. Now I have decided, I would rather spend couple of more bucks but will not fly with RNAC untill I feel this is worth flying. Shame to the RNAC management!

Very good n' constructive observations.

I think the best solution is privatization of the airline; any govt agency as such is prone to tiring beurocracy and ineptness.

I totally hear you, Bihan. I stopped flying RNAC years ago. And I have now stopped complaining about the airline altogether . But I have a story to share about RNAC . There was this one time when I had to go to the RNAC office at 44 Janpath in New Delhi to re-confirm my ticket. And this was long before I came to the West and expected some semblance of customer service from an airline. Back then I was like any other Nepali kid studying in India, a little shy, a little aggressive, a little talkative and a little quiet. I was a little but of everything - the only thing not little was my appetite to have a good time! :)

So anyways, I walk into the RNAC office and find a dozen or so people in there - a couple of them standing next to the service counters and others sitting on the chairs and sofas. There were 3 service counters open, each manned by an RNAC staff with an identification card hung around their necks. I try to figure out how their queue worked and quickly give up and stand behind 2 people already at one of the counters.

10 minutes pass and I am still standing there. 20 minutes pass and nothing. 30 minutes pass and I haven't moved an inch and neither have the people in front of me. The person at the counter has been hammering at the computer for the last half-hour and occassioanly looking up to ask a question of the person being served. I am begining to get frustrated. I was still a patient guy those days. But the person infront of me was not I guess. He leaves the line and storms out of the RNAC office mumbling something to himself.

After what seemed like an eternity, my turn finally comes. A naive 19-year-old, I quickly forgive and forget the ordeal of the last one hour without even being asked to do so. Come to think of it, the person at the counter, never apologized for keeping me waiting. Back then those kind of things didn't bother me me so I go up to the counter and flash my Binaca smile (or was it Dabur Danta Manjan, I forget)

He returns the gesture by putting sachet full of Pan Parag in his mouth, his eyes never in contact with mine all this while. He holds out his hand expecting me to place my ticket on it. I do so and tell him I need to re-confirm my ticket. He slowly flips to the pages of my ticket and types something into the computer.

A good five minutes pass before he looks up and says "seat chainna, belka ko flight ma tyo hapta bhari".

"Ani kahilo ko flight ma chha ta, dai " I ask politely. We make eye contact for the first time that afternoon.

"Khai ... hernu parcha" he says and stares at his screen for a couple of minutes. I felt as though I were inconveniencing him by asking him that question. Maybe that was how he wanted me to feel. Without looking up he says " Sombar bihana ko chha, janeho tesma?. Aajkal sabai flight pack chha. Tourist haru dherai chhan"

I wanted to fly on Wednesday or Thursday and he was telling me he only had a seat the following Monday! I could not fly out that late because I was going for a short vacation. Winter vacations were for 15 days only and I would get to spend much less time in Kathmandu if I flew on Monday. And I wasn't trying to get a ticket last minute. I was in the office 3 or 4 weeks before the trip. I was told that was sufficient time to confirm your ticket.

Frustrated, I ask him if there is any way he can accommodate me on an earlier flight. Then without warning, out of the blue, he takes me by total surprise and launches a diatribe against "certain types of Nepali students". He spares no one under the sun - the kids, their parents, the government, no one. I am 19 and proud, a little arrogant I must confess, full of self esteem and boy yes, hot-headed. I am also on my nerves end. His Pan Parag is beginning to annoy me. His pancake-sized glasses make my palms itch.

I feel a rush of blood into my head. My primordial instincts are taking over. I stop thinking. The last time I was this way I was bad. I don't even want to recall how bad. I feel I cannot control myself and I am going to break his nose. I feel a deep uncontrollable anger taking over me

Then all of a sudden something pops up at the back of my mind and says I must not do this. My dad's reputation is at stake. The whole family's reputation is at stake. And my uncle is a fairly important person in RNAC - everyone will find out what his nephew did and it will all be in the papers. This will make him and the rest of the family look really bad. A picture of my mom flashes across - "Ke kareko babu timile esto".

But dang, I hate those pizza-sized glasses that dude is wearing. I am going to smash them. Come what may!

Then by what surely must have been divine intervention, someone I knew walked into the scene. She was working for RNAC in their New Delhi office as I found out then. I must have done something right in a previous life. I thank god to this day for not just did her presence provide an honorable way out of the situation, she actually got me the very flight I wanted!

I had long forgotten the incident but the posting on RNAC brought back some memories. I haven't had the need to fly RA for a long time now and I don't know if I will fly it again. As for that guy and his out-of-the-blue implosion, I think it must have been the Delhi heat ... something about Sardars going mad at noon?

:)

RNAC = Really Non-sense Always Cancelled

It's a shame to say RNAC and Thai airways were born on the same day same year......... look at Thai (Sky is the limit)

Thank you bihan and other friends for this posting. It is shame that our national flag carrier is in such a bad shape.

http://www.nepalnews.com.np/archive/2005/aug/aug22/news02.php

RNAC slashes airfares

Royal Nepalese Airlines Corporation (RNAC), the national flag carrier, has revised the air fares to different destinations until August 30.

The RNAC has reduced the fares in the Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Mumbai sectors in view of the convenience of the passengers, an RNAC statement said.

According to the statement, one-way fare on the Kathmandu-Dubai and Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur sector has been slashed to Rs 14,000 from Rs 18,000. The two-way fares for the sectors have been fixed at Rs 28,000 from Rs 35,000.

The two-way fares for the Kathmandu-Mumbai sector has been fixed at Rs 15,980 instead of Rs 17,600. Similarly, the one-way air ticket fare for the Kathmandu- New Delhi will cost Rs 3,000 instead of Rs 6,800 if the ticket is purchased five days prior to the flight date. The two-way fares for the sector have been reduced to Rs 13,050 from Rs 17,600.

The corporation has employed the process adopted by the international airlines companies while fixing the air ticket fares for those sectors, it is stated. nepalnews.com pd Aug 22 05

Long Live Nepal.....

I thought this was a good thing till I tried to make sense of it. Can someone help me understand why anyone in the world would want to buy a roundtrip Kathmandu-Delhi ticket for Rs 13,500 instead of buying two one-way tickets for Rs 3000 each?

Why RNAC did not buy or own any Boeing aircraft for 45 years or more?

Many international Airlines company like RNAC became multi-billion worthy companies? Good example: Thai Airlines. What happen to RNAC?

RNAC is the most corrupted organization. Why RNAC did not control organize heavy corruption?

Why RNAC did not develop in management?

Royal Corruption Investigation Authority must investigate to all high level officers of RNAC?

We need answers from RNAC high level managing directors, Managers, senior officers and pilots, too.

You people must not destroyed Nepal and Nepalese values and reputation. But you did it and are still doing it.

I think RNAC should be named as "afno maachhe" airlines. If you know someobdy there or have a friend or can exert source-force, anything is possible there. They will happily bump out a passenger. They will look after you if you are related or somehow known to you. Other passengers go to hell should be there

Well said, Captain Haddock. Reading your experience reminded me of similar experience I had in Delhi too. I consdiered myself lucky to get a seat after a lot of hassles till I boarded the plane as the last passenger only to find that there were at least 16 empty seats.

Nothing makes sense in RNAC operation. Close that damn airlines immediately which is center of the corruption.

I admire the brave pilots of RNAC though.

Sathi ho,

After reading this thread, just thought about sharing my purano experience with RNAC. I had posted in Sajha a couple of years back.

As per my initial plan, I checked out of the hotel the next morning. I went back to the same little eatery I had visited the previous morning. This time I opted for some piro piro rice noodle. I tried the Thai way of eating from the spoon (supposedly it is considered very barbaric to eat using the fork) but I gave up. I followed the conventional western way. Since I was a "farang" (bideshi) in the area, I guess it was ok. Chamcha le kasari chauchau khana saknu ta.

Once again I crossed the overhead bridge to the bus stop. My destination was Wat Arun. As I waited for the bus, I realized that the traffic looked worse than it did the previous morning. Once I boarded the bus, it again started moving at a snail's pace. I started becoming concerned that if the traffic were to continue that way, then I would miss my flight. Since the Hulampong Station was on the way (that was where I was planning to return to catch the train to the airport after visiting the Wat), I simply decided to abandon my original plan and go straight towards the airport.

Without too much difficulty, I found the train that I was to take. Although I was disappointed for not being able to visit Wat Arun, I was at least relieved to be on my way to the airport without having to worry about the traffic jam. It was a local train with lightly padded seats. An elderly Buddhist monk started chanting as the train pulled away from the station. The initial part of the trip passed through the slum area with little huts lined parallel to the track. Later on, it passed through the industrial area before reaching the township of Don Muang, from which the airport is named Don Muang International. The next stop was right across the street from the airport terminal. There were many sano tino pasals on the platform. After crossing yet another overhead bridge, I was inside the air-conditioned terminal building. I had about three hours before departure. I immediately checked one of the overhead monitors, and to my relief the RNAC flight was listed as on time.

(Flashback: When I was booking my ticket two months earlier, the travel agent had asked me about my choice of airline advising that both RNAC and Thai operated flights that day. Although I was aware of the jet leasing chaos and the unreliability of RNAC, I still decided to give it a try. I had made that choice partly also because of the fact the RA flight left 4 hours later than the TG flight which allowed me to spend additional time in Bangkok. Tespachi po I started panicking about my decision. I feared that RNAC may be left without a leased aircraft and therefore my flight would be affected. I also started fearing that due to some flaw in the computer system, my reservation may be cancelled. I was also praying that ?aru je sukai hos tara tyo din samma chahi RA bankrupt bhaera banda nahos.? Every week or so I called the RNAC office (1-800-26-NEPAL) to make sure the schedule had not changed and my reservation was still intact. My last call was prior to boarding from O?Hare Airport, approximately 53 hours before the scheduled departure. Fortunately everything looked ok then.)

After reclaiming my baggage at the luggage hold area, I walked towards the RNAC check-in counter. Unlike other airlines counters that were staffed with good-looking staff, a kaali fat Thai lady who was working at a kachuwa pace staffed the RA counter. One Nepali guy right behind me on the line requested me to carry some of his items because of overweight; I politely refused it stating that my baggage itself was close to being overweight. Check-in was done manually and an oversized boarding pass with a handwritten seat number was handed to me. I still had a little over two hours time. I decided to have some lunch at the Rajthanee Food Mall, on the 3rd floor of the terminal building.

It was a fancy looking place and many pilots in their uniforms seemed to be patronizing it. I ordered a Thai style seafood meal. The service was slow and the food was not as good as I had the previous evening. My seat overlooked the runway and it was nice watching the aircraft movements. Just before I was ready to leave, I saw an RNAC jet land with its red and blue stripes across the fuselage up to its tail. Filled with the excitement of boarding that jet to land at gauchar, I impatiently cleared the immigration and security to reach the boarding gate.

I was curious to know whether I would be flying on Karnali or Gandaki. Karnali parecha. The Boeing 757 aircraft, which used to look so grand in gauchar beside the older 727s of RNAC and 737s of Indian Airlines looked dwarfed because of the 747s and other large aircraft parked on adjacent gates. After impatiently waiting for the boarding announcement, I was finally on my way inside the Karnali.
chipledhunga Posted on 16-Mar-03 08:36 PM

RNAC ko airhostess ko baray ma ta ke kura garnu, sabai budhi budhi. Some were dressed in blue khaddar ko dhoti with laligurans imprints. A few were wearing the Sherpa ko jasto chuppa. Nobody was seated beside me. The interior had light imprints of pagoda roofs. Due to inadequate cleaning, it had a light yellow tinge. As the stewardess started distributing newspapers, I secured myself a Gorkhapatra. Ramailo lagyo Nepali patrika padhna paunda ani Nepali ma announcement haru sunna paunda. There were no video screens, so the safety demo had to be done manually. There was not any audio entertainment either. The flight left right on time and was soon over the hazy skies of Bangkok. I started talking to a young Japanese couple seated behind me. It was their first visit to Nepal. As the beverage service began, the Japanese lady requested some wine but the stewardess refused it stating that it would be served only with the main meal. Kyaa thees lagyo. I opted for beer. Carlesberg serve garyo, paani jastai po rahicha. It was the only time I had that beer. The menu card was already in the seat pocket. ?Turkey linu huncha ki fish linuhuncha? bhanera sodhdai budhi mau haru auna thalay. I chose the fish. It was cooked in Thai style with coconut milk gravy. It turned out to be one of the best airline meals I have ever had. Macha sanga alikati wine khana paryo bhanera I requested some red wine, the stewardess came with the glass about one-third full and apologized saying ?sorry hai yeti banki rahicha hernus na.? Kasto laazai lagyo bhandekhi tyo bela.

Later during the flight, paikhana janu paryo. I walked towards the rear of the aircraft. One Indian looking dude was munching on what looked like several packets of peanuts poured over the cover of the in-flight Shangri-La magazine. Out of the two toilets, one was blocked by a steel bar apparently due to being out of order. As I was waiting for my turn, I noticed in the galley that the cabin crew was packing some beverage containers into their bags. I wondered if that included any red wine. Toilet ma pani haluka Nepal ko jasto gandha audo rahicha. I also noticed a sign in fading red ?kripaya flush garnu hola.?

It was not long before the approach to Kathmandu began. Soon the mountainous terrain came in sight. The Himalayan peaks were obstructed by the clouds. As the aircraft descended, I started becoming more and more charged by excitement. Pretty soon it became evident that we were over the valley, marked by haphazardly constructed houses lined along narrow unpaved roads that penetrated khetbaris. Considering the approach path via Bhattedanda, it must have been the scene of rural Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The only landmark I could identify was the brick factory at Jagate. Within a minute or so, the aircraft touched down at gauchar. Part of the landing announcement was ?the local time is 36 min after 4 pm in the afternoon and the outside temperature is 26 degree Celsius.? I wondered why didn?t she simply say 4:36 pm.

Aba bharyang bata orlinu paryo haina, air-bridge hamro kaha hunu. Kasto sheetal feel bhayo dhoka bata niskinda. Right below the cockpit there was a Visit Nepal 98 logo. I was overjoyed as I stepped on the tarmac. While waiting to board the Sajha ko neelo Mitsubishi bus, I turned my eyes towards the hills of Phulchowki, Chandragiri and Shivapuri. The Japanese lady commented, ?It?s so beautiful..so much cooler than Bangkok.? After an impatient series for waiting and queuing for about an hour, I was finally outside the terminal with my family

For the entire thread (Bangkok ko Galli haru ma Haraunda), visit:

http://www.sajha.com/archives/openthread.cfm?threadid=9681&dsn=sajhaarchive

Guys don't scare too much, I'm going home with connecting flight of RNAC, hope everything goes fine.. Ram Ram

Dude, if it is connecting flight from Bangkok, you will have good time to hang around Bangkok for couple of days. Make sure you have some good mood to go for beautiful areas. I am sure you are not going to fly the same day and time as that appears in your ticket.