Mumbai

[Rono]

Folks,

I have to go to Mumbai for business on 23-25 November 2010.
My questions are as follows;

1) Can anyone recommend accommodation as my meetings will be at the Bombay Exhibition Centre Goreagon East. Also what should I expect by way of travel to and from the venue?

2) We usually entertain our overseas guests - any recommendations on what to do keeping in mind we usually take customers & their partners.

3) I will want to be flying with Qantas and using their lounges or affiliates lounges wherever possible - how realistic is this?

4) last question and a tricky one, I want to go from Mumbai to Islamabad in Pakistan but most people tell me the easiest way is to fly back to Singapore, then to Dubai, Lahore then Islamabad.

regards

Paul R

 

[samh004]

4) last question and a tricky one, I want to go from Mumbai to Islamabad in Pakistan but most people tell me the easiest way is to fly back to Singapore, then to Dubai, Lahore then Islamabad.

Qatar flies from BOM to Doha to ISB, but they’re not with OW. It is a pretty good option though.

CX also flies from BOM to BKK and TG from BKK to ISB.

 

[taswegian77]

Folks,

I have to go to Mumbai for business on 23-25 November 2010.
My questions are as follows;

1) Can anyone recommend accommodation as my meetings will be at the Bombay Exhibition Centre Goreagon East. Also what should I expect by way of travel to and from the venue?

2) We usually entertain our overseas guests - any recommendations on what to do keeping in mind we usually take customers & their partners.

3) I will want to be flying with Qantas and using their lounges or affiliates lounges wherever possible - how realistic is this?

4) last question and a tricky one, I want to go from Mumbai to Islamabad in Pakistan but most people tell me the easiest way is to fly back to Singapore, then to Dubai, Lahore then Islamabad.

regards

Paul R

Check when QF files to BOM as I do that leg a lot and they only fly there on odd days I think. Last time I flew for a short trip I arrived on the FRI (so THURS flight) and dpearted on the SUN flight back to SIN.

 

[somebol]

Folks,

I have to go to Mumbai for business on 23-25 November 2010.
My questions are as follows;

1) Can anyone recommend accommodation as my meetings will be at the Bombay Exhibition Centre Goreagon East. Also what should I expect by way of travel to and from the venue?

2) We usually entertain our overseas guests - any recommendations on what to do keeping in mind we usually take customers & their partners.

3) I will want to be flying with Qantas and using their lounges or affiliates lounges wherever possible - how realistic is this?

4) last question and a tricky one, I want to go from Mumbai to Islamabad in Pakistan but most people tell me the easiest way is to fly back to Singapore, then to Dubai, Lahore then Islamabad.

regards

Paul R

1) There should be plenty of Luxury / 5* hotels near by... spg has Westin... you could check that out. Most hotels can arrange for a car + driver... or you could use the local taxis (much cheaper)

2) Depends on what you want to do I guess... for eating out.. mumbai has a lot of fine dining restaurants (multi cuisine)... can't recommend specific ones as I haven't been there for a while.

3) QF51 is your friend.

4) not sure... there might be issues with visiting pak after visiting India... again not sure

 

[Rono]

Qatar flies from BOM to Doha to ISB, but they’re not with OW. It is a pretty good option though.

CX also flies from BOM to BKK and TG from BKK to ISB.

Sam, appreciate your efforts, however, I have a problem.
I searched on Qatar's own website and also Cathay's, no flights to Islamabad?
www.kayak only showed PIA, Emirates/Air India and then Kuwait Airways.

regards
Paul R

 

[arraitch]

Sam, appreciate your efforts, however, I have a problem.
I searched on Qatar's own website and also Cathay's, no flights to Islamabad?
<snipped > only showed PIA, Emirates/Air India and then Kuwait Airways.

regards
Paul R

It involves a bit of mucking around, but the airport web site (at www dot islamabadairport dot com dot pk) has a list of airlines that service ditto. Check Ticket Reservation => Airlines.

 

[samh004]

Sam, appreciate your efforts, however, I have a problem.
I searched on Qatar's own website and also Cathay's, no flights to Islamabad?
www.kayak only showed PIA, Emirates/Air India and then Kuwait Airways.

regards
Paul R

I said Cathay flew to BKK, where you’d have to pickup Thai.

It involves a bit of mucking around, but the airport web site (at www dot islamabadairport dot com dot pk) has a list of airlines that service ditto. Check Ticket Reservation => Airlines.

I tried the booking, and got the message:

We regret that it is not possible to do an online booking for connections between BOM and ISB. Please call your local Qatar Airways office for further assistance.

So you’d have to make 2 separate bookings to get there, but it is possible. There are no flights on the 25th from Doha, but the 26th and 27th have flights. Both leave in the evening and arrive very early (03:00) in the morning.

 

[Rono]

I said Cathay flew to BKK, where you’d have to pickup Thai.



I tried the booking, and got the message:



So you’d have to make 2 separate bookings to get there, but it is possible. There are no flights on the 25th from Doha, but the 26th and 27th have flights. Both leave in the evening and arrive very early (03:00) in the morning.

Thanks Sam for the clarification...

One question and it could be hairy...is PIA not an option?


regards

Paul R

 

[samh004]

One question and it could be hairy...is PIA not an option?

I’d have to hand that one over to someone more in the know. I just went for airlines that could earn you status/get you lounge access or airlines that I’ve heard good things about (though Qatar has been purely based on TV ads… ).

I just had a look at Wikipedia and from that PIA seems to have a good track record, but on their website I couldn’t select ANY Indian cities, and I believe they fly to two, so I’m not sure how you’d book

Edit: PK275 flies from BOM-KHI on the 25th November at 14:10-15:30. Next flight is not till the 29th though. It’s operated by an A310.

 

[Rono]

I’d have to hand that one over to someone more in the know. I just went for airlines that could earn you status/get you lounge access or airlines that I’ve heard good things about (though Qatar has been purely based on TV ads… ).

I just had a look at Wikipedia and from that PIA seems to have a good track record, but on their website I couldn’t select ANY Indian cities, and I believe they fly to two, so I’m not sure how you’d book

Edit: PK275 flies from BOM-KHI on the 25th November at 14:10-15:30. Next flight is not till the 29th though. It’s operated by an A310.

Sam, appreciate the additional info and must say that I have been working backwards on this list - ie from the most desired outcome to the ?
kayak.com shows PIA flying from Mumbai to Islamabad for $343 or thereabouts.
Seems to me if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.
Obviously there must be some very good reasons why people don't.

regards

Paul R

 

[samh004]

kayak.com shows PIA flying from Mumbai to Islamabad for $343 or thereabouts.
Seems to me if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.
Obviously there must be some very good reasons why people don’t.

I don’t believe there’s a direct flight though, the price quoted may be the flight I found to Karachi, and then something domestic onwards. It does seem easy, other than you can’t go to any airline websites and choose an Indian city followed by a Pakistani city…

PIA doesn’t seem to be bad though, and their J tickets would probably be relatively cheap.

 

[browski]

Couple of points.

Goregaon is in North Mumbai - which mean at least a 2 hour drive to Colaba (CBD). Therefore, I'd recommend staying at one of the Sahar airport hotels in Andheri - maybe the Hyatt Regency, ITC Sheraton Maratha, Le Meridien or the Intercontinental.

Secondly, restaurant wise, I'd be heading to Bandra. Olives is great for entertaining/dining. Blue Frog good for drinks.

Fly Emirates to Islamabad, via Dubai. Plenty of flights, easy connections. Credit to Velocity.

In fact, you'd probably be better doing the whole trip on EK. So fly Australia (OZ)-DXB-BOM-DXB-ISB-DXB-OZ all on EK.

If you fly OW from Australia, remember that both CX an QF arrive into BOM at 1.30 and 2.30am respectively. SQ has the best arrival time at 11.00pm. QF is painful because it is not a daily flight, but you can codeshare on the Jet Airways flights on the alternate days.

Finally, do not plan any 9.00am meetings.