Duringmy Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I had a very long layover at Delhi Airport (DEL), prior to my Air India 777 first class flight. This allowed me to check out several lounges, includingthe new Air India Maharaja Lounge, which opened in early 2026.
"Admittedly the issue with the Air India First Lounge is that you have to fly Air India"
Truer words have never been typed on this blog before. Kudos Ben
Great stuff, Lucky. Impressive space, for sure. GE90 powered refrigerators, I guess. 🙂
This looks like one of the top two nicest first classes lounges ones in the world…. Why wasn’t the title of this article something like “WOW!!! AMAZING Air India First Class Lounge Review !!
😛
Twelve hours is quite a long stay! Looks fantastic though.
While that travel with Air India line might indeed be true, but hopefully, the airline through its lounge and other soft touches is trying to show where it aspire to be. Especially because these are relatively easier than being stuck with supply chain issues out of AI's control.
Air India gets a lot of brickbats at home and outside, and especially because of the high expectations set during tenure of Vistara plus the promises post acquisition. Yet, wheels seem to be turning in the right direction, even if slower than what people would have wanted.
Too bad you couldn’t get the ex-Etihad 777s, as those are predominantly BOM-based, yet all of AI’s real estate is at DEL. Those are the only planes with a decent First Class product. Given SQ’s daily A380 Suites departures from both Indian cities, it will only be proper for AI to open up this lounge for other Star Alliance passengers in F. Certainly, this looks like one of the best small First Class lounges in the world — and it’s amazing that DEL has two of the world’s best F lounges, both this and the Encalm Xenia lounge!
Not to answer for Ben, but my own perspective - I’m very much a carnivore normally, but India is the one country, where when presented with the (in India very typical) veg vs non-veg menu option, I typically go for veg. In the (Hindu) Indian culture, vegetarian cuisine is dominant, and they do it better than anywhere else in the world (in my very subjective opinion) - it is typically the more exciting option. As an aside, I never had any GI issues with meat in good establishments in Delhi (i.e. airport and good hotels), but realize perhaps that’s my own luck.
Vegetarians are only 30% of the population in India.
There are a Ton of awesomedishes which aren’t based on vegetables.
I had the non-veg options at this lounge and they were also phenomenal. There's definitely some places to be concerned for ordering non-veg in India, but this lounge (or xenia) isn't one of them. They do their meat dishes fabulously. To Tom's point, you can't go wrong with veg food in India, absolutely agree.
Agree across the board. In general, I find this to be a fascinating discussion. I've worked in consumer goods/foods in both India and the US, and two things stand out here:
1. India is disproportionately more known for vegetarian food, because it just feels a lot less of a compromise for meat eaters (to Tom's point).
2. Ironically, I find the meat based dishes to be the best hidden gem, just because of how the spices integrate into that, but of course, that's subjective. (Kct's point). It is also true that a small chunk of Indian population is vegetarian (Dingus's point), just that the meat eaters consume it far less frequently, due to religious reasons, reinforcing the stereotype.
3. A lot of people traveling to India avoid meat due to contamination fears, too, when in fact Indian cooking methods eliminate a lot of the common fears. A lot of the GI issues people face, in fact, remain water borne. I've seen that often times being conflated with food and hence the meat avoidance.
I was just curious which factors were at play here.
I have no idea who they’re choosing to be the next James Bond, but I doubt he’ll be drinking “Jack Daniel No 007” either shaken or stirred.
The alcohol selection is very weak in this first class lounge. Xenia lounge’s alcohol choices are much better. Hennessy VS in a flagship first lounge? Never knew Black Label could be considered premium whiskey. Their alcohol matches those at credit card lounges and definitely not international first class lounges.
Johnnie Walker Black is considered high quality whiskey by a certain generation of Indians who remember having to import it at high cost or otherwise smuggle it in during the “license Raj” days. It’s almost comical how many of my older relatives think of it this way. I’ve even seen a couple of US luxury hotels replace the Macallan or Glenfiddich with Johnnie Walker Black in their top-shelf liquor package for Indian weddings in the hope of making a quick buck.
Hi MPS. Thanks for the clarification but I guess at a flagship first lounge at an international airport it just seems odd to think of Black Label as premium especially in 2026. By the way, do the older generation of Indians still view Hennessy VS as very superb cognac?
Maybe, but I don't know for sure since I don't drink much cognac. My wife introduced me to single malt scotch. I introduced her to bourbon. Ours is a happy marriage. 🙂
I guess it's a great lounge to eat some indian food. But the alcoholic drink selection does not seem very impressive. And the room is rather tiny. It just needs one annoying other passenger there, and your experience is diminished. Also, does not look great for working. The private room with a bed is a plus, but otherwise I am not sure how this can rank among the best in the world.
Love this lounge and visit it frequently. Especially love the food and the peace. Also fond of the rotating drinks, in particular the local whiskey brands. I got introduced to Amrut and Indri through this lounge, and these single malts are right up there on my top shelf now.