Delhi Terminal 3

[nlagalle]

Hi Guys,

I'm in Delhi at the moment and departing tomorrow night from T3. I'm going to head out early as there have already been problems. And at the same time I am going to check out the OW lounge (flying CX) and also the two priority pass lounges.

Will update this thread tomorrow night from the lounge!

Nick

[moa999]

nlgalle.
Good luck. Hopefully a few photos.

From what I have read on FT the OW lounge (Kingfisher lounge) does not open until mid-August.

AA moves to DEL / Delhi Terminal 3 July 29 2010! - FlyerTalk Forums
American Airlines Moves Terminals at Delhi - Jul 28, 2010

AA is sending passengers to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Cafe instead.
Not clear what CX is doing.

[nlagalle]

nlgalle.
Good luck. Hopefully a few photos.

From what I have read on FT the OW lounge (Kingfisher lounge) does not open until mid-August.

AA moves to DEL / Delhi Terminal 3 July 29 2010! - FlyerTalk Forums
American Airlines Moves Terminals at Delhi - Jul 28, 2010

AA is sending passengers to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Cafe instead.
Not clear what CX is doing.

CX haven't updated their website as yet. Priority CLub have listed 2 lounges in T3 so hopefully they will be open.

And yes will have photos as well!

Nick

[nlagalle]

nlgalle.
Good luck. Hopefully a few photos.

From what I have read on FT the OW lounge (Kingfisher lounge) does not open until mid-August.


AA is sending passengers to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Cafe instead.
Not clear what CX is doing.

Just checked the OW website and it says 14th August it will be open. Priority pass lounges look open.

[taswegian77]

Just checked the OW website and it says 14th August it will be open. Priority pass lounges look open.

14th August sounds perfect timing as I am flying out to SIN on 20th August so it will be freshly open.

[nlagalle]

14th August sounds perfect timing as I am flying out to SIN on 20th August so it will be freshly open.

Well I'll write up my thoughts on the airport when I get home, just waiting to board QF30 in HKG.

And I reckon the lounge won't be ready by the 14th either!

[taswegian77]

Well I'll write up my thoughts on the airport when I get home, just waiting to board QF30 in HKG.

And I reckon the lounge won't be ready by the 14th either!

Yes wouldn't be the first time a lounge has not opened on time. any way look forward to the T3 review, has to be better than the old airport. on the plus the old terminal had Subway and wi-fi that worked if you tossed heads three times in a row and crossed your fingers ...LOL

[nlagalle]

Yes wouldn't be the first time a lounge has not opened on time. any way look forward to the T3 review, has to be better than the old airport. on the plus the old terminal had Subway and wi-fi that worked if you tossed heads three times in a row and crossed your fingers ...LOL

I'll fill you in tonight, bit let's just say i couldn't write the review cos the wifi worked so well, NOT!!!

[nlagalle]

OK I'm finally back home and caught up enough to write up my thoughts on Delhi T3.

Firstly I arrived in Delhi at the old Terminal and departed on the new. There was a lot of articles in the local papers about the new terminal and all the issues it had, including it not being finished etc. So it has taken a beating all ready!

I left early for the airport just in case there had been articles on long check in times. The new flyovers to the aiport are done and getting there wasn't too bad. The cabbie said to me that it was his first trip to the airport too so he wasn't too sure where to go to! mind you the access to the airport isn't easy as the police have half the lanes blocked. But we got there ok. There are 3 lanes to pull up in, one for cabs, buses and ordinary cars. And like the old terminal you had to show your ticket/itinerary and passport to get in the door.

Once in there it is huge. 12 check in areas - A to L. now my first issue was finding the CX desks. I am sure the screens had different desk locations as it took me 3 times to get it right! I was checked in within 5 minutes thanks to an empty J line (thank you OW Sapphire!) and was given an invite card to the Premium Lounge.

Immigration was an easy process. Lots of lanes and was done in a few minutes. From there it is straight through to the security check (which those who went through the old terminal know that the lounges were in between immigration and security). They are quite pedantic there everyone was frisked regardless. All up it too me 10 minutes to get through.

after security, it's a massive open area where there are duty free stores. One big thing noted in the papers during the week was the lack of goods in the stores. It was still the case on Friday night! some weren't even open.

I wandered upstairs to the lounge which was just above the stores. There is only 2 open at the moment, The Kingfisher lounge is another few weeks ago.

The lounge was very busy - seating was at a premium. Managed to get a seat and something to eat. Food wasn't too bad, I went for some rice and chicken. The drink fridge was a bit bland, Pepsi cans and a couple of other varieties. no post mix machine etc. had the usual coffee machine and I believe you had to pay for alcohol.

by contrast the ITC Welcome lounge was literally empty - not sure who would have access to that one (I didn't see it in the Priority pass website).

There is also the Plaza Premium lounge, however I couldn't find it. There was another sign pointing to lounges in a different direction but nothing was there. I believe there is a hotel there (i read it was airside too) and it maybe up in there. I'll check back when I go back in September/October.

On the wifi, I had all sorts of problems getting on and reverted to my Datacard (which worked well in Delhi), however at the airport the signal was hopeless. hopefully that gets fixed up.

From the lounge shopping area you walk in 1 direction to the gates and it becomes a T interesection. Longest gates away are gate 12 and 24. Gate 12 takes up to 15 mins to walk too.

Now i was hoping to get a 00:05-00:30 departure time on a gate, but guess what, the most of the gate displays weren't working! wasn't happy Jan!!

My walk to the gate was straight forward and I was able to priority board.

There were also stories about planes being stuck at the aerobridge as staff couldn't open the bridges due to them not being given passwords for their biometric cards. they also had cases where the bridge was set to departures, not arrivals and people ended up in the wrong spot. I'll see if I can find the story online. I was laughing reading the string of errors.

However I think once it has been finished it should be quite good to travel to. Certainly better than the old one! Unfortunately I didn't take any pics, was busy doing a couple of work things.

Nick

[taswegian77]

OK I'm finally back home and caught up enough to write up my thoughts on Delhi T3.


Nick

Thanks for the report. My plans have changed since this and I am now going via BOM and doing a dom BOM-DEL rtn flights so wont get to see the new T3 until my next venture in India.