My flight from Dubai arrived shortly before 8PM, while my connecting flight to London was departing at 1:45AM. At the door of the plane I was met by two Jet Airways representatives, who would be escorting me to the departures area. This is an area where Air India also excelled, when I connected with them…
Continue reading: Review: The GVK Lounge Mumbai Airport
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Great review, again!
Just a question, do you have any plans to fly domestic in the US anytime soon? Your Delta review for the 737 is pretty outdated (2011) and I was curious if you plan to fly with them again anytime soon.
I always wonder when I read reviews like this: what is the rule about tipping? Sure in the restuarant and for the massage I'd tip - tho how do you decide how much ? And the porters and "escorts" who pick you up and drop you off - is it expected that you tip? Is it frowned upon? As a New Yorker I tip for all sorts of things, but as a first class passenger being provided a service that's part of the ticket price... it just confuses me. At some point it get annoying to have to tip someone every time you turn around for setviesd that are ostensibly "included in the price". So what is the correct protocol? What is expected? Thanks!
@KyKatRo Well, Lucky flies domestically quite often but is there really anything worth writing about? Aside from transcons with premium service on AA,DL, UA, B6 and VA, it's basically recliner seats and a short meal/snack service.
Wow! They even served Nasi Goreng?
Then again, rice and the spice is pretty abundant in India....
GVK lounge jet airways uses for intl business class passengers is the east lounge. you were in the west lounge which it uses for first only. on the other hand, emirates uses the lounge you were in for both first and business class passengers. The reason this is important is because the east lounge has stopped the 15 min complimentary massage facilities and is just a tad bit less opulent (dont get me wrong, it is still really nice) than the west lounge. even ANA, etihad and a few others I think use the east lounge. The west lounge is the better one. passengers dont know about this and can feel cheated if they find out! jet airways - 3 star skytrax - I would expect them to do this but for ANA (5 star) to cheap out is SAD.
I believe the lounge's 4 hour rule is airline specific. When we tried to overnight in the lounge, the lounge attendant provisionally let us in, but then hunted us down and kicked us out after contacting Jet Airways to confirm that we were allowed to enter only 4 hours before our flight. Presumably then, the airline pays the lounge by the hour per passenger.
Is there a reason why airlines don't have or aren't allowed to have individual loungers at this airport? Just curious.
@Julia That's because Mumbai Airport is owned by GVK. So they know that allowing airlines to set their own lounge would not be profitable for them. Thus they use a single lounge for all airlines.
@julia @terminal48
And another reason is Mumbai airport does not have space anymore, and it is congested. Imagine around 50 million passengers fly through one terminal T2 every year. So they try to conserve and optimize space, and keep everything simple and opulent at the same time.. which GVK has done brilliantly. Mumbai T2 is by far the most beautiful terminal I have ever seen!
I have visited the Mumbai Airport Lounge as a First class passenger, twice. Once flying on Etihad and once on Jet Airways. For me this was the best experience I ever had at any First Class Lounge in the world, contract or not. It was simply superb. And the food was incredible. I think you just ordered the wrong food Lucky.
Ugh I hate pushy service. Its like they look at me being a white traveller and expect me to make it rain money on them for services I dont want.
Menu looks amazing - if you so wanted you could actually have lobster for soup, appetizer and mains!
I hope you got to walk around the airport a bit because the art is superb! I've never seen art like this in any airport that's for sure! I once took a flight that exited from Mumbai just so I could walk around and stare gobsmacked at the beautiful art on display. GVK Airport also maintains the premises quite well (but yes discoloured patches on the recliners are ugh); I currently live in India and find that while we have some of the best artisans and creative vision, our ability to maintain these treasures as time passes could be better! The art in the airport stopped me in my tracks. You have to see it to believe it--the scale, craftsmanship, colour, etc. Here's a link:
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/oP1DXgYt63n6hMzJN0xBYK/The-museum-of-departure.html
You appear to have been very lucky -- as most of the "Long Haul" flights leave Mumbai early in the morning. When I passed at 1 - 30 AM there was nowhere to sit and the standing room was very full also -- the people did warn me of the situation -- but the situation did not improve until closer to 3 AM -- after some of these LH flights were to or had left.
An empty lounge would have been as you described.
I concur with Rithwik - this is a top lounge, I have not tried anything like it either. I have travelled a lot in India, and from Indian standards, the food Quality in the lounge is superb. Talking about contract lounges: I tried the No 1 Lounge in Birmingham a month back, and it was a huge positive surprise. It featured a la carte dining and superbly served drinks. It may perhaps be the best business class lounge I've visited in Europe. I would love to see Luckys' review of that lounge.
So glad to see your thorough review Ben! I visit the domestic or international GVK lounges atleast 25 times a year. I mentioned your initial review to the lounge manager on the domestic side a couple of weeks ago. I am going to this lounge (on the international side) in a few hours - will show your review to the lounge manager. So exciting that you finally visited Mumbai! 🙂
1) Long walk on arrival - long walk at departure: the solution lies in using GVK Pranaam Services. It costs - but you get picked up in a buggy with a dedicated person who will bring you thru Immigration, Baggage Claim, Security, Transfer - whatever. Likewise on departure you can get the same personalized service. Why use this if you are flying First Class? Because F does not bring you a buggy and creates the kind of time limit you experienced (4 hour) at the lounge. I am sure with GVK Pranaam you would have gone straight into the lounge or another one of their private lounges (they have several!) which would have been better than the Priority Pass lounge
2) if you fly SWISS or EMIRATES you get to access the dedicated F sitting area on the lounge if you are flying in F. But if you are flying Lufthansa - even in F - you only get to access the Business Class sitting area. Same group - diff. policies. Shame on LH.
3) If a server "suggests" a tip.....its a recipe for INSURING that he/she does NOT get one. GVK should be made aware of your experience with both servers. As also they should be made aware of the disgusting "headrests" of the massage chairs. Its something that is so easy for them to fix.
4) Protocol on tipping at a lounge: we have often had exceptional service at LH/LX lounges (their own dedicated ones) around the world where we have spontaneously tipped a server or attendant for exceptional service. Unless the spirit moves you - don't tip!
5) Food quality: fully agree with you. Good - but by no means exceptional.
Small clarification. I'm at the business class side of the GVK lounge right now - flying economy but Star Gold. They do offer massages for everyone admitted to the lounge including economy passengers. On a side note, couple of staff were quite pumped to read your review.
Where is the limit? Should you also tip a stewardess who does her job properly?! I guess that could happened on Jet. On the other hand, what could you do when you receive below-average service on the airplane?!
And I also do mind with evaluation of the service on spot, hence pushy service. (for example I'm a member of AIr France programme to do evaluations of the flights, lounges and services - all is done through an app and nobody knows that they are being evaluated).
@lucky If I arrive in First Class on Etihad and depart in Business Class on Jet. Will I have access to the First class lounge here?
This lounge is fantastic I used to use it every time when I had my Star Alliance Gold Status. So glad you enjoyed it @lucky!!
Hello, about GVK Lounge at Mumbai...
Just want to know if i had to booked for avance for a transit le 28th december arriving by JetAirways from CDG via Mumbai to Cochi around 6hours ... and the way back the 06th of January (most important time: 10.30 hours to wait... ) between flight from Cochi and flight JetAirways to PARIS CDG ?
Please- let me know how much I had to afford.
-If i can pay by visa card ?
and do I have to contact you before arriving?
Hope you will understand my question ...(!) Waiting for your answer.
Please note: I am a retired chef purser from AF , but i reserved and payed my trip for holidays as a regular passager. Hope to read you soon. Cordialement SYLVIE
Given this is a contract lounge, seems there are variations between carriers in the same alliance as to which of the sections - Business, Premium, First - you get access to.
CX's maximum class of service BOM to HKG is business, and OWE in this cabin (and I presume any other) end up in the Business section of the lounge: irrespective of whether they're a DM or a OWE from another alliance member.
From reading elsewhere, it seems that other carriers with a similar operating model put OWEs in the Premium section of the lounge instead - QR for example.
Curious what other oneworld carriers operating out of BOM do...
I've been to this lounge a few times. I first went there the same week that it opened, before the massage chairs were dirtied up. The food even then was just your basic Indian 5-star fare which I've frankly never enjoyed, the kind you can expect at a Taj or a Park Hyatt but not the actual fine dining fare you'd expect at Emirates' or Qatar's First Class lounges, especially when it comes to Western cuisine. I enjoyed the barista made coffee and the extravagant bar setup though.
GVK is great, but Qatar's Al Safwa is stellar!
Also people saying this is the best lounge in the world, may be the best contract lounge - definitely not the best lounge. There are many amazing lounges from airlines all over the world.