After getting off the bus from the remote stand I followed the signage for international transit. Even though I already had a boarding pass, I was told I needed to go to the transit desk and get my boarding pass reprinted.
Continue reading: Review: Air India Business Class A321 Delhi To Colombo
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Can't help but noticed that you boarded the plane on the starboard side, the same as the cargo. Quite rather rare, but then, no surprise to India doing things a bit differently lol
Inefficiency is common at airports in India. I've flown through the Delhi and Mumbia airport each a number of times and they're by far the absolute worst airports I've ever experienced. These days I will(and have) pay extra to avoid them if needed.
Indian government is in a rush to sell off Air India to a private airline, so hopefully things will be better in 3-5 years. Air India has been bleeding money for a while, so I wouldn't expect any upgrades to the narrow-body fleet any time soon.
@Chris: Indian airports like Mumbai and Delhi make it painful for passengers to change flights. That is why, Indians prefer to change flights somewhere in Middle East or Western Europe.
@Thomas - It's a common procedure when an aircraft is transitioning from domestic to international or vice versa to segregate boarding and services by port and starboard to ensure nothing gets mixed up. Happens all over the world, although less common nowadays than before.
Wow, these are literally the same F seats that are on the old US Airways planes! And the condition is about the same.
So, flying in India is almost exactly the same as flying American's US Airways planes. Even down to the horrible boarding process. Oh, and the food on AA is worse.
@Lucky - Always found duty free at arrivals at Colombo airport interesting. Surprised you didn't pick up a washing machine or refrigerator upon landing there (as one does). =)
Lucky, what do you make of this? Air India to be broken up by the Indian government in order to privatize it (i.e. get rid of a money-sucking entity).
Visa on arrival in Delhi was an absolute nightmare. I spent at least 2 hours waiting for a line of 20 people to clear. Never again!
Too bad Sri Lankan has drastically scaled back its flights to Europe. Their A333-300 business class is rather nice.
I flew Air India from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi last year on the A321 in J and Id say I had a similar experience. The food is the highlight of any Air India experience by a long shot.
2 points though:
1. The windows mimic the ancient window designs of the forts of Rajasthan.
2. The wine served was from the Nashik region in Maharashtra, particularly from the Sula vineyards. They have a famous annual music fest (SulaFest) too!
Hope you review Vistara business class sometime; its a collab between TATA and Singapore Airlines.
@Lucky if you have a visa for India, then your best play would have been to go through immigration using the first/business class lane and clearing security landside, also using the first/business class lane.
Your experience transiting Delhi airport brought back painful memories of my experience flying KTM-DEL-CMB. The line at DEL was the slowest, most chaotic ever. Extremely long line, segregated by gender. In my case, the line for the men was moving a lot faster... to the point that by the time I got close to the head of the line there were about 15 women ahead of me, and literally Zero people on the male side. Several of us tried to move over to the male side but were told that was not allowed. This was about the only thing that was enforced during the process, because the rest of the experience required assertively holding your place in line while more aggressive folks barged through - all in full view of the security folks. So frustrating that I found myself losing all decorum and literally yelling at the security people (to no avail). I was raised better than that, but the frustration level just got the best of me. 🙂
Anyone who has to transit DEL should have their head read unless they're first class. Absolute horror show!!!!
Any body transited Mumbai since the new International terminal opened there?
My experiences on Air India narrow bodies also had the issues with no functioning TV's.
All the Indian Food looks exactly the same no matter what the dish served.
What? You didn't have your second boarding pass inspected by 5 people over about 10 metres? Of course, your only need to have it inspected 4 times if a cute airport worker walks by and stops for a chat.
We also had the female x-ray machine offline, so all women still needed to load their bags with the men and then walk past everyone in line back to the female security line.
But in all fairness, I found Delhi's transfer process to be much better than Mumbai's. I have a personal minimum transfer time of 4 hours between Domestic and International, and even then it can be touch and go as to whether you'll make it.
Lucky, you obviously fail to note the difference between branding and production. Your statement about the white wine being surprisingly nice inspite of being AI branded reveals a lack of knowledge about who makes the wine, and who pays to have the name plastered on the side.
If you did get your solar powered head out of the extra large clouds, you might have been bothered to read that Sula is one of Indias best vintners Are they as good as Chateau Margaux, eg, no way. Do they produce decent wines at a good price point, yes. But then, there wines may not be expensive enough for your solar powered self to consume without losing your dignity. 🙂
Never transited through Delhi since I prefer to go through immigration since I have a Visa. I've found no hassles with immigration or security in DEL. I find them consistently efficient and much easier, especially compared to my home bases, JFK & LGA. I think the two major airports in India are very well appointed and easy to navigate - again I'm not referring to airside transit. The longest I've taken to land, clear immigration, and meet my cab was shy of 20 min (much of it was walking the length of the terminal). Worst experience at any airport was in BKK where my friend, a Maltese citizen, took 2.5 hours to receive a VoA. Let's not even mention the hell-holds known as LHR, CDG, FRA or any major American airport.
@Emily +1
As as non-US citizen, clearing immigration at Ohare is the most painful travel experience. DEL is a breeze in comparison and I actually like the airport. Why doesn't the US invest into making their airports simple and comfortable to navigate?
So flying short distances on AI is just like regional flights in the US, but with better food and wine. Kind of anti-climactic.
Lack of IFE sounds like typical Airbus bait and switch sale. Airplane at very cheap price and then "oh you wanted IFE units in those monuments"?
"A few minutes later I was brought a tray with the food. With the exception of the main, everything else was still packaged. I’m not sure if this is just laziness on the part of the crew or if it’s to show that everything was handled in a “clean” way."
Hey @Lucky
It's indeed to show it's handled in a clean way.
Reason being that, "foreign pax don't trust us when it comes to unpackaged food or water." (As per AI cabin crew)
I can say so as while flying a short sector (BOM-GOI) recently, a couple asked a younger crew to provide them hot water for their baby (gave him the bottle). when this crew asked his senior in the galley, she told him the very same and instead of doing it himself to heat up bottled water and give it to the couple for them to do it themselves. Was a matter of "trust" as per the senior.
(They were quite loud for me & others to hear)
Sorry, @Lucky, I love your blog but I can't stand the amount of times you use 'etc'. I don't know if it's because I am Australian, and American language is slightly different, but it bugs me so much. It's overuse in your reviews is to the point where your sentences become confusing, such as:
"There was no entertainment, my laptop was almost dead (and there were no power ports), etc."
Whilst we pretty much know exactly what you're trying to say, it makes it sound like an incomplete list and doesn't sound well put-together. You also use it when describing the contents of an amenity kit too: "A toothbrush, toothpaste, socks etc". I know it's such a minuscule criticism of your otherwise outstanding blog, but I would really suggest that you consider more effective use of language in general. Otherwise, I love your blog!
@David78
It's Lucky's style and he rushes articles out rather than proofreading them. You should look back a few years ago when every article he wrote was full of GIFS which made it look like a teenage girl's blog...
I fly Air India's A319 and A321s quite frequently in both Y & J. While the planes could be in better condition, the pitch is better than other local Indian airlines and lounge access as a Star Gold can't be beat. I would count their Mumbai domestic lounge as one of the top 10 domestic lounges in the world.
I need a C-class domestic flight DEL-BOM in August.
Everyone, like this review, gives AI barely passing scores in Business.
Thoughts on Jet or Vistara C-class?
Flew Air India A321 about a year ago.
The IFE screens are still installed, the signs you see are covering the LCD panel. You'll find that the two buttons to the right of the sign are the brightness controls. For the non-bulkhead seats, the seat covers cover the screen. Notice how there's an outline or indent of a screen behind the cloth? In Y, it was possible to partially lift the cloth off, revealing a de-activated IFE screen. My understanding is that the system wasn't that great - being loop based, and with little content.
That airplane picture that you titled "Colombo Airport Plane" was a Mcdonnell Douglas MD-80 just in case you didn't know.