Reviews
Our main contact with the Primavera was Connie. She was wonderful both before and during the wedding, helping arrange and organize the process. It was largely thanks to her that the services were able to run smoothly. She kept a sharp eye on things and made sure everything proceeded well despite any individual momentary difficulties.
The service and circumstances of our flights were ridiculously bad, far worse than any prior experience with airlines.
First, we were lied to when making the reservation. We booked (and paid extra for) a nonstop flight via OneTravel.com. When we came to the airport we discovered that the flight stops in Midway. This is not a small thing, or a mistake, or any sort of excusable behavior. It's a pathetic moneygrubbing lie from an airline that claims to be 'honestly different'.
On the way back, when we got our seat assignments, the ticket agent gave us the rearmost seats in the aircraft, saying that most likely we would have the three seats to ourselves, since the seats were not desirable. A short time later, there was an announcement asking for people to give up their seats because the flight was overbooked. If the flights are that full (and the fact that the same happened on the way to Boston suggests this is normal), then there are clearly not going to be any empty seats.
Then we got on the plane, which smelled like a public toilet (all the way through, not just near the lavoratories).
Shortly after takeoff (in a plane that smelled like a public all the way through, not just near the lavatories), during the beverage service, I asked for an extra packet of peanuts for Sonia, who was hungry. The stewardess refused to give it. (fears of bankrupcy, no doubt) On the way back, they were handing out their extra snacks, and completely ignored Sonia's attempts to get their attention.
During the layover (the one we were not supposed to have), we stepped out to eat. I left two books and a bag of candy in the seat pocket in front of me. Sonia's seat pocket was full of garbage from the previous flight, which the cleaners had never bothered to clean out.
When we came back, we discovered that the cleaning crew had taken the candy and took a bookmark from inside one of the books. This was a rather pretty bookmark, and a present to Sonia. Obviously, this was not just a mistake, since the books were left behind (I guess they aren't much use for the illiterate), and someone had to have reached into the book to get the bookmark. They don't even have the excuse of cleaning, since they didn't bother getting rid of the garbage in Sonia's seat pocket!
The bookmark was a present to Sonia, and the candy is something I need during takeoff and landing. Without it, my ears hurt, particularly during landing.
The stewardess, when confronted with this, was thoroughly uncaring, and claimed that she'd call the cleaning crew, but never got back to us.
To summarize: ATA's employees are lying, cheating, spiteful, thieving and incompetent. Their flights are dreadful and being on them was the worst part of our trip. We highly recommend against using them or onetravel.com (which is likely at least in part to blame for selling us tickets with a stop as non-stop).
Do not book Sonny Desai or his ilk for any event.
Sonny Desai competed with ATA for most incompetent award (and won). ATA appeared to be malicious - Sonny seemed to have the brains of malnourished sea urchin. He was incapable of following simple directions, even when repeated numerous times.
He showed up with four other guys - absurd for the situation, where one guy, (and maybe someone to help set up) is more than sufficient. He erected a large banner advertising his own club. (I got him to take it down.) Then...
We met with him ahead of time, and asked him to play a mix of American, Indian, Russian and Jewish dance music. We gave him labeled CDs of Russian and Jewish he could pop in at need. We even gave him American music CDs so his job consisted almost solely of picking Indian music, and swapping CDs. We requested the following:
- No rap
- No country
- No more than one or two Bangara songs (a type of Punjabi music)
...The first song to come out of his speakers when we asked him to start the dance music was rap. About a man who cheats on his wife. The second through fifth songs were Bangara. This set the tone for his behavior for the rest of the evening.
We repeatedly had to go to him to try to get him to change what he was doing. It usually took four or five imperatives to comprehend a command, and even then, he usually went back to what he was doing a few songs later. He actually argued with simple directions, claiming to have some sort of method which evidently, the people merely paying him were beneath. (His method consisted of taking 10 songs to transition between any two genres.) Here is a sampling of what he could not understand:
- Play some slow songs as well as fast songs.
- Don't play only slow songs.
- Stop playing all Bangara music.
- Play song x. (it's amazing how hard this was for them)
- Stop after this song for a toast. (took half an hour)
For every one of these requests, we had to go back several times to get them to obey - for instance, they played 3-4 indian songs after we asked them to mix with samething else, despite that with every song, we told them to do something different.
And at the end, he took down his equipment and left before told to do so... while the wedding party was outside doing the bouquet toss... before we had the last dance.
Do not do business with this man.