Air India J DEL-SYD - Quick Trip to India

[somebol]

A report on my recent quickie jaunt to India. My routing was SYD-DXB-HYD-DEL-SYD on QF F, EK F & AI J. The main focus of this report will be AI's new direct DEL-SYD service, so I won't be writing too much about QF F & EK J.


Given my previous TR writing effort on AFF, which I abandoned after writing the intro, this time I decided to hold off posting until I complete the entire report.


SYD - DXB
I did not utilise the QF chauffeur service as I am outside the 40k zone for Sydney and I would have to pay for a cab ride home on my way back. So instead I decided to park my car at the airport, I got a good deal, valet parking for 10 days for $200.


Day of departure, I drove to work early and left work early reached QF F check in by 1pm. Check in complete, off to F lounge.

This is only my 2nd visit to the F lounge, first was in 2009, so I was really excited. I had already booked a facial the day before with the F host.


QF11 & QF7 were delayed so FLounge was bursting at the seams. Nevertheless I was able to find a seat in the dining area, table just vacated, and enjoyed a nice 3 course lunch.

soup, very yummy

pumpkin ravioli... quite nice.

coconut panacotta

It was going to be my first time on QF A380 F, so I left the lounge a bit early only to arrive at the gate just as boarding was announced. Priority boarding was working so I was quickly shown to my seat, 2A.

The seat was good, but I felt it was a bit too far from the windows. One of my favourite things about F is that you get 3 windows to look out from, here even though I had the 3 windows I really could not see much.


Crew were friendly and the service was friendly and casual. To be honest I was a bit underwhelmed with the QF F experience. For e.g. 2 hours into the flight I was told that they had run out of CdC champagne, None of the crew offered to make my bed, I did it myself.

I misplaced photos of lunch on board, but basically it was a choice of small plates and large plates. I think I had the onion soup, and an asian curry with rice. I felt portions specially on large plates were quite small.

 

[somebol]

Arrived DXB on time, made my way to the new EK FLounge which was really awesome. Breakfast and refreshing shower later, I left for the F lounge in B concourse as my flight to HYD left from there.

A concourse F Lounge

dining area

mezze

breakfast

B Concourse F Lounge

 

[somebol]

DXB - HYD


EK have 3 daily flights to HYD, one of them is an A343 equipped with suites. HYD is only 3 and bit hours flight, so I was surprised that it has a regular suites service.

bling!

breakfast of champions!

arabic coffee with dates.

Dom on a 3.5 hour flight!!

The flight itself was uneventful, which is how you would want your flights to be I suppose. The crew disappeared after breakfast, not that I needed anything. BTW I was the only one in suites.

Arrived on time, I was first to immigration, made my way outside where my EK chauffeur was waiting.

 

[somebol]

HYD-DEL
Nothing to report here, a quick 1.5 hour flight.


Sightseeing in Delhi.
I had a day to kill in Delhi, so I hired a car (with driver of course) and went to see some sights. It was a very hot & humid day.


Humayun's Tomb
Tomb of the mughal emperor Humayun. Built in the 16th century, it is a UNESCO world heritage site. This tomb is said to be the inspiration behind the Taj Mahal.

Tomb and mosque of Isa Khan

Inside the tomb of Isa Khan

Commoners Gate

 

[somebol]

Humayun's Tomb contd..

The Tomb!

Emperor's entrance.

mihrab facing mecca, cut from a single stone.

 

[somebol]

Purana Qila
Literally translates to "Old Fort", it is the oldest existing structure in Delhi.

West Gate, current main entrance

North Gate

Qila-i-Khuna Mosque

Sher mandal, Humayun's private library where he fell to his death.

South Gate

West Gate from the inside.

 

[somebol]

DEL - SYD
This is the flight I both dreaded and looked forward to. I was eager to try the 787 and AI's new J product, but at the same time I was worried about AI's infamous incompetency both on ground and up in the air.


Our pre-booked cab arrived on time at 10:30 and we were on our way, being Saturday the traffic was light and we reached DEL T3 in about 30 mins. As always is the case in India we had to show our itineraries to the security guard before we are allowed inside the terminal. Check-in was painless, we were assigned our pre allocated seats 1A, 1B.
Then much to my surprise we were assigned 2 personal attendants to escort us to the lounge. The attendants were really helpful, they carried our carry ons and also filled in the departure cards for us. There were separate F/J lanes for immigration & security and luckily both were not that busy. We arrived at the lounge only 30 mins after we checked in, which for me in an Indian airport is a record!. Our attendants left us in the lounge & we thanked them for their help.

Del T3

AI J Checkin

Escorts


So far the AI ground service was very efficient and exceeded my expectations, I was now really looking forward to the flight & AI service.


The lounge itself is nothing to fancy, the seating is quite decent and not too crowded. Although the food options were really lacking, I mean during lunch hours all they had out were a couple of spring roll type hot foods & pre-packaged breads / rolls. There was a bar but it was not attended.

buffet

 

[somebol]

We proceeded to the gate at the time indicated on our boarding pass. At the gate boarding was well under way, we were quickly processed and were on our way to board the plane.


On board the first impressions of the seat were positive, looking at pictures on ausbt I was concerned the seats may be too narrow and confined. But to my relief the seats were quite comfortable and spacious. But there was absolutely no storage options except for the alcove under the foot rest. AI really missed an opportunity here, the seat was quite nice but they could have done more and provided more storage options where you can store your wallet, phone etc.

There are 18 seats in J and today's load was 100%, even economy was around 90% full, so AI seems to be doing well so far on this route. 4 FAs worked the J cabin.


Once seated, we were offered amenity kits and offered welcome drink choice of water, apple juice and champagne. This was the highpoint of service today, after this everything went downhill... fast. Naturally I chose champagne and what I was served was absolute swill. I took a sip and left it at that.

Push back on time and we taxied for what seemed like an eternity before taking off at 2:15pm local. Take off was really smooth and I thought we gained altitude much quicker than normal. I could be mistaken but the angle of attack seemed a bit sharper than normal.

 

[zainman]

Great TR so far! Have been looking for a AI 787 trip report. Did you use any sort of points/miles on this trip?

Would love to visit India one day but being from a country India doesn't really get along with much, I have to get a visa and fill in all sorts of security forms etc which puts me off.

 

[somebol]

The purser announced a flight time of 12.5 hours, and the service would consist of lunch, refreshments & breakfast.


Once the seat belt signs were turned off, menus were distributed. To say the menu was disappointing would be an understatement. Salad as an appetiser in J? No wines listed just "selected wines". And what about refreshments & breakfast they were not even listed on the "menu". Needless to say the whole experience was feeling more economy than business class.

Atleast the IFE was decent.... not. The inflight mag listed a load of english & indian movies along with a wide range of music selection. But the IFE only had about 10 english & 5 indian movies and one hindi audio channel. To top it off the headphones were not noise cancelling, but the standard economy version. Luckily I had my QC15 with me so I used that instead.

An hour into the flight, tablecloths were laid and no drink orders taken. Instead they brought the drinks out on a trolley (think economy) first on J/K side of the aircraft. Meanwhile we were served nuts... in a packet (again very economy). It literally took them an hour to serve drinks on the J/K side after which they came to the A/B side but had to retreat as the seat belt signs were turned on. Purser announced that the service would be suspended due to turbulence. But there was no turbulence... infact it was quite smooth. 30 mins later signs were turned off and service resumed. At this point it was over 2 hours since our tables were laid, and all we received was a packet of nuts!. When the drinks trolley came to our seat I asked to see the champagne bottle, which is....

The meal....

Reminder, this is supposed to be a J meal.


After a decidedly average meal, water bottles were handed out. And the crew proceeded to entertain us with a magic trick, they vanished for the rest of the flight. Call buttons were ignored, if you wanted something you had to go to the galley to get it. No mention of refreshments...


2.5 hours before landing, lights were abruptly turned on and breakfast was served, I politely declined. Arrival cards were handed out, but no express passes.


We landed on time, using an old express pass I joined the express pass queue which only had 15 people but only 1 counter serving the queue. The normal queue had 6 counters open! so I switched and was processed much quicker than had I stayed in the "express" queue. Nothing to declare, but I was selected for a random bag inspection. Made my way to pronto valet pick up area where my car was waiting, and off to home.


So would I fly AI J again? To put it simply NO, given the economy level service & meals I am not inclined to repeat this experience again. Specially when CX J ex India can be had for a similar price to AI there is no incentive to fly AI.
Suffice to say, I didn't ask what the other wines were. I decided to stick to water for this meal service.

 

[somebol]

Great TR so far! Have been looking for a AI 787 trip report. Did you use any sort of points/miles on this trip?

Would love to visit India one day but being from a country India doesn't really get along with much, I have to get a visa and fill in all sorts of security forms etc which puts me off.

QF F - AAward
EK F - QF Award
AI J - purchased ticket.

 

[RB]

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I am off to India in Nov & flying SQ-you have me thinking I will enjoy the flights more than your DEL-SYD

 

[somebol]

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I am off to India in Nov & flying SQ-you have me thinking I will enjoy the flights more than your DEL-SYD

Definitely, SQ is eons ahead of AI

 

[LadyC]

Thanks for posting - always interesting to read about a new flight experience (even if only to confirm I wouldn't fly Air India )

 

[under the radar]

it's difficult to 'present well' many indian cuisines that is pleasing to the eye (without copious amounts of individual bowls)....so i guess a 'doggy dish' is more effective in keeping components 'in order'!! (a nice way of saying..it's cost effective and easier for cabin crew!) .... and we all know AI doesnt have 'cash to spend' on 'luxuries'!! it's just another example of a 'legacy/traditional' airline struggling to 'keep up' because it's still shackled by 'traditional values/red tape/management...etc...'

 

[anat0l]

Thanks for the report, somebol.

Definitely, SQ is eons ahead of AI

I'd like to see the fool who would argue the contrary.

it's difficult to 'present well' many indian cuisines that is pleasing to the eye (without copious amounts of individual bowls)....so i guess a 'doggy dish' is more effective in keeping components 'in order'!! (a nice way of saying..it's cost effective and easier for cabin crew!) .... and we all know AI doesnt have 'cash to spend' on 'luxuries'!! it's just another example of a 'legacy/traditional' airline struggling to 'keep up' because it's still shackled by 'traditional values/red tape/management...etc...'

I don't really have an issue with the presentation of the dish which somebol selected. The only way to make it possibly look better would be to get a big plate and "set it up", e.g. rice on bottom, curry neatly piled on top, vegetables on the side. That would make it look very European. A more demure but traditional way to present it would be to have three dishes - one with curry, one with vegetables and the last one (large plate) with the rice. Of course the latter would mean a lot more work for the crew.

Nothing wrong per se with a salad as an appetiser, but I would assume it would need to be substantial, preferably served with a protein of some kind (cheese, meat, tofu). Unless the small appetiser was meant to be a precursor to a substantial main course (but from looking at what you received, that doesn't look like the case).

I assume the salad was served first, then replaced with your main, because I can't see the salad on your tray in the picture. I assume the other dishes are cheese, fruits, box of chocolates and some sort of soup which wasn't on the menu - possibly to "fill" the appetiser up. And further after, the main was cleared and dessert was offered (perhaps wheeled out on a trolley).

Not a very good show from AI, but then I've come not to expect anything great of them. Most of the Indian airlines are in the deep; AI only has the key advantage of being an airline of the government (one very good reason why it could take on its B787s). I assume they're still pulling in the numbers en masse thanks to significant Indian travel (i.e. Indian citizens and expats) and - assumed - cheaper airfares.


Some other questions:

• How was the Boeing 787 in general? Is it much quieter than other aircraft you have flown? Comfort, experience etc.?
• When you said "there are no storage options" I assume there are still overhead bins? (Sorry, pedantry here)
• Are the colours of the seats and cabin just as unappealing as the AusBT article?

 

[somebol]

I assume the salad was served first, then replaced with your main, because I can't see the salad on your tray in the picture. I assume the other dishes are cheese, fruits, box of chocolates and some sort of soup which wasn't on the menu - possibly to "fill" the appetiser up. And further after, the main was cleared and dessert was offered (perhaps wheeled out on a trolley).

No, the two bowls on the upper left side of the tray are the salad & desert. As you noticed there was another bowl with lentil soup or dal. The whole meal was on the tray, which is why I said it was economy type meal.

Some other questions:

• How was the Boeing 787 in general? Is it much quieter than other aircraft you have flown? Comfort, experience etc.?
• When you said "there are no storage options" I assume there are still overhead bins? (Sorry, pedantry here)
• Are the colours of the seats and cabin just as unappealing as the AusBT article?

787 are nice, I liked that instead of blinds you just darken the windows. Even at their darkest you can still see outside which is good.
There are overhead bins, but minimal at seat storage.
The seats were just fine, the colours did not as bad as they appeared in the ausbt article.

 

[anat0l]

No, the two bowls on the upper left side of the tray are the salad & desert. As you noticed there was another bowl with lentil soup or dal. The whole meal was on the tray, which is why I said it was economy type meal.

Geez...even Jetstar knows how to serve multi-course in their Business (despite their use of plastic ware).

That said, many Business Class cabins around the world are trying to minimise the amount of plating they are doing by putting many elements on the tray at once. But most of them still do multiple platings, at least to replace main with dessert (and most do the proper three course thing).

Reminds me of a PE meal actually - just like a Y meal except plated using china rather than plastic ware.

 

[vitagen]

Ouch, I would be quite disappointed, especially since it was a revenue ticket. I'm not surprised by AI though. Ive only flown on them once, when I was 12 and still scarred.

 

[Melburnian1]

somebol, excellent trip report, but you omitted the important detail as to whether you slept, how well and for how many hours.

I assume that AI does not provide pyjamas, and nor does it provide a mattress. Did you simply sleep with a blanket over you (a long one?) and a pillow?