While looking at tickets for an upcoming holiday with friends, our Simple Flying reviewer had
several airlines to choose from for the final leg of their return journey from Delhi to Mumbai.
They opted for flag carrier Air India to see if the recent Tata acquisition had started
having any significant effects on the overall experience. The decision to fly Air India on
this part of the trip meant that a change of terminals at Delhi airport was required,
including a good few hours spent at the airport after the inbound flight. But, here’s how it went.
After being dropped off at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi,
the first stop was to head over to the check-in desk. But before that,
there was a significant line to get into the airport.
For those unaware, Indian airports require you to present your flight
tickets and proof of identity to enter the airport’s concourse.
Armed guards at the entrance will check the ticket and verify your identity before allowing you in.
Depending on airport conditions, you may need to allow for some additional time to deal with this.
For a flight scheduled to depart at 1900, the decision was made to arrive
at the airport a little less than three hours before the flight time.
Once inside the building, it was quickly off to the nearest Air India check-in desk in sight
at 1610. In this case there was no queue. Going straight to the nearest agent, it was
quickly discovered that this particular check-in desk was reserved for international flights.
However, the Air India agent behind the counter was more than happy to help.
Baggage drop took around 10 minutes,
and no one in the group was anywhere near the maximum weight limit.
In case you didn’t know, Air India allows 25 kg (55 lbs) for the check-in baggage
even on domestic flights. This is much more generous than the 15 kg (33 lbs)
offered with low-cost carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet.
After dropping the bags and pushing the trolleys aside to the designated area,
the group began walking towards the security check for domestic departures.
Again, the queue wasn’t too long, but it didn’t move very quickly either.
Here it was required that all electronic devices be emptied into a tray,
with hand-carry baggage placed in another tray - both of which would then pass through the scanner.
While this sounds pretty straightforward, one scanner was fed by two adjacent lines,
so there was quite a wait to place trays onto the roller.
On the other side of the machine, trays would be delivered to travelers on one of two
automated rollers. Trays coming on the outer rollers were cleared by security and free to
be grabbed by the passenger, while those on the inner rollers were flagged for security concerns.
At the end of the inner roller, security officials would scan that tray’s RFID
tag and then scan the code on your boarding pass with a different reader,
before directing your attention towards a computer monitor. The screen would have an x-ray image of
your bag, and the security officer will point to objects of concern and ask for an explanation.
It was a relief that the bags in this video made it into the outer section without hassle. However,
this wasn’t the case for other travel companions. As it turned out, the security personnel mistook
a couple of randomly scattered fridge magnets meant as souvenirs from the trip to be knives.
But, once the officials were satisfied, it was allowed to proceed toward the gate.
A Word to the wise: Don’t clutter your hand baggage with multiple unnecessary items.
And if asked, promptly show the officials what they ask for so
you can be on your way sooner. Arguing with the official will get you nowhere!
All-in-all it took our group just around 40
minutes to get past security after entering the airport.
The overall experience was incredibly smooth, but the security check was a little nerve-wracking.
The security check was completed at around 1645. Today’s flight was Flight AI 624 and was at
gate 34B of Terminal 3, which is located near the end on one side.
The walk was long, but thankfully, there was enough time. There were many people waiting
at the gate, giving the impression that it would be a full flight. Boarding started about
five minutes later than planned, but the our flight reviewers were in their seats by 1820.
The boarding process continued for another half an hour, and towards the end,
safety announcements were made stating that the aircraft was being refueled.
With all aboard and the plane adequately fuelled for the two-hour flight, flight AI
624 was being pushed back from the gate at 1859, a minute before its scheduled departure time.
As mentioned, today’s flight was aboard Air India flight 624 on July 1st.
AI 624 is a daily scheduled service from Delhi’s IGI Airport to Mumbai’s CSMIA,
operated using an Airbus A320neo aircraft.
The flight is scheduled to depart DEL at 1900 for a 2115 arrival in India’s financial capital.
On July 1st, flight number AI 624 was operated using an A320neo registered as VT-CIN,
a reasonably new, 4.3-year-old airframe that has been with the Indian flag carrier since new,
data from ch-aviation shows.
Air India took the brand-new plane on May 2nd, 2018, and has been using it on domestic as
well as short-haul international routes like Mumbai to Abu Dhabi or Chennai to Singapore.
Like all AI A320neos, VT-CIN features a two-class cabin configuration with a total
of 162 seats between regular economy and business class.
Of those, 12 seats are in business class, while the remaining 150 are in economy.
After having flown with IndiGo and SpiceJet within a week before the AI flight,
one thing that instantly noticeable was how Air India does a fine job of including
Indian culture in the overall flight experience.
When setting foot on the plane, passengers are greeted with the
traditional Indian greeting “Namaste,” instead of the usual and frankly quite
dull “hello” or “good evening.” The cultural connection doesn’t stop there; Air India crew
refers to passengers as “Atithi,” the Hindi word for guests, another tiny yet impactful gesture.
As initially expected, the flight was filled to the brim.
In this review, we are seated at seat 22A with a pleasant view through the portside window.
After pushing back from the gate, our Airbus A320 fired up its engines and began taxiing at 19:06
hours. Runway 11 was assigned to the aircraft for take-off,
which happened in a relatively short eight minutes.
The Recaro seats on this aircraft were quite comfortable. They provide 28-29 inches of pitch
and measure 18” in width. In the case of our flight review and flight reviewer,
we were unable to fully use the four-inch recline functionality
as the nice lady behind politely asked to move forward since she was traveling with a baby.
The legroom and tray table were functional but average. However, one thing that some passengers
may find irritating is the absence of a seat-back pocket. This meant that there was no place to stow
personal belongings (like a phone) away during the meal. Indeed, there was some space behind the tray
table, but it was only good for storing pieces of paper like the safety instructions pamphlet.
Less than 20 minutes after take-off, cabin crew announced the beginning of the meal service.
However, since the plane was full, it took another 20 minutes for the crew to get to us at row 22.
Our flight reviewer pre-selected “Vegetarian Hindu
Meal” through the AI website a few weeks before the flight.
Surprisingly, Air India’s food on this flight was spot-on. The menu included
traditional Indian curry and dal (cooked lentil curry) along with some hearty side dishes.
For the main course, there was the following:
Matar paneer, (a North Indian curry made from green peas and paneer (cottage cheese) prepared
in a tomato sauce with plenty of spices), Dal Makhani (a lentil curry, also riddled
with various spices), and plain rice.
This combination was meant to be had with one Aloo Paratha (bread
stuffed with a spiced potato filling).
There was a small cup of curd and an even smaller box of mixed pickled
vegetables to go with the meal. For dessert, Ras Malai was provided,
which is a sweet dish from Eastern India made from clotted cream flavored with cardamom.
The meal was quite enjoyable. The curries and rice were steaming hot, and so was the bread.
But the dessert dish stood out as particularly satisfying as it was soft and incredibly juicy,
bursting with flavor in every bite.
Another thing that stood out as note worthy was that the cutlery was
all-metal, not something you often see in economy class!
After covering around 1,200 km (705 miles),
flight 624 arrived into Mumbai at 2100 hours, 15 minutes earlier than scheduled.
If you would like to catch a glimpse of some of Air India’s retired Boeing 747s,
make sure to grab a window seat on the left side for any flights arriving into this airport.
The airport uses runway 27 most of the time, but the alternate runway will not disappoint either.
To wrap things up, the flight was extremely smooth, and the entire
experience was only improved by the caring and efficient cabin crew that
went out of their way to accommodate special requests on a full flight.
The journey took a short hour & 45 minutes,
and included some incredible sunset views right after departing Delhi.
Have you ever traveled with air India before? If so, what was your experience with the airline?
Let us know by leaving a comment.