(plane engine roaring)
(soft music)
- I've been on a quest
to fly on all the Boeing seven four seven in the world.
And 10 years ago, I flown on an Air India, seven four seven
400 from Jeddah to Mumbai with a stop in Hyderabad.
I want to share with you that flight experience today.
(soft music)
It wasn't very easy to fly on Air India, seven 47.
At that time, the Air India seven four seven fleet
has been already removed
from flying to places like London and New York.
Instead, it's been gone to the middle East
primarily Saudi Arabia to carry labour
and expatriate between Saudi Arabia and India.
So, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia is massive
and also a very messy airport.
(soft music)
Around 10 o'clock at night,
the line started to form at the Jeddah terminal
boarding for the Friday night AI nine six four service
to Hyderabad.
The airport has no jet bridge at Jeddah.
It took almost an hour to board a flight.
Every single load of passenger has been brought by bus
and then you walk up on a stairway
and seeing the seven four seven.
I love it because seeing the seven four seven up-close
and able to take a few quick pictures was incredible.
Just, you know
really exciting moment before the journey starts.
We had about an hour delay because of the boarding delay.
The plane was filled in economy
but it was empty in first class.
And I was the only person in first-class.
It was incredible.
I have all 12 seats in the front
- (flight attendant speaking)
- It has 26 seats on the upper deck on Air India
and about 380 seats in a economy class.
When I stepped into plane at that time, it was 18 years old.
The plane looks very tired, honestly, and here
are some pictures in the past Air India
used to have a reputation decorate up their cabin.
The whole wallpaper was very tasty with a lot of culture,
they call it your palace in the sky.
I was slightly disappointed because it was a rather plain
cabin compared to the past what Air India has done
to their seven 47, 200 and 300.
(soft music)
At the same time,
I think I was the only guy being so excited
on that seven 47, it almost shock the crew because
all the other people just want to get home and they don't
care what aircraft type they were flying on.
And I made a special trip to get
to Jeddah just to fly on the seven four seven.
- (flight attendant speaking)
(upbeat music)
- So we departed at three minutes before midnight
out of Jeddah runway three four left
It was a very powerful climb and it was very fast takeoff
considering it was a short medium flight.
I really enjoyed that bank
over Jeddah heading toward the East.
You can hear the engine spooling up.
The whole cabin was themed.
I was the only one sitting first class
enjoying that beautiful climb over a full moon.
10 minutes after takeoff the seat belt side came off
and the crew quickly came
rolled out a full cart of meal in front of me.
The speed was so fast.
It was fascinating.
The meal was fantastic.
There were like six or seven items.
It was like a buffet.
They serve right in front of you, which I love.
That's the old school, seven 47 service.
They were vegetable biryani
They were chicken biryani.
They were eggplants, potato.
And they were lamb tikka in skewers.
And with the really good rice vermicelli dessert.
And I really enjoyed all the food.
And then I just fell asleep in the flat bed
There were no bedding or anything.
It was just a small golden pillow and a blanket.
And I fell asleep all the way
until the descend into Hyderabad.
(plane engine roaring)
We landed in Hyderabad in pretty hazy weather
in the morning and all the passenger deplaned
there were about 300 people getting off the flights.
And we waited for a new passenger to come on board
at that time the crew came over
to serve me breakfast tea with some Indian snack.
At that same time, I was able to get
up to the upper deck to take a look
even got to meet the two pilots.
I still remember their name from my lap book.
It was Mr.Opender Singh and Mr.Vikram Singh.
Air India pilot were very careful.
They didn't allow me to go to the cockpits,
instead they came out.
And have a chat with you
and talk about the seven 47.
On the upper deck have a look on the side bins
It's all still
with decoration and wallpaper, which is fantastic.
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I was expecting a very quick and short and easy flight going
to Mumbai, but I was wrong another 300 people came in
as domestic passenger joining to seven 47.
The flight to Mumbai was also uneventful,
had another breakfast meal.
At three past 10:00 a.m.
We arrived in Mumbai.
(plane engine roaring)
We landed on runway 14 with a hard landing
and all the bricks were slammed
to stop quickly on the short runway in Mumbai.
And that was my Air India
seven 47 journey and I for awfully enjoyed
I'M really glad that I had the opportunity to fly on it.
(upbeat music)
And now I want to share
with you one even bigger fan of air India.
My friend Anthony has spent most of 2020
recreating an Air India seven four seven experience just
because he loved it so much.
And this is worth to take a look.
- Sam, welcome on board Air India.
(gentle music)
- (speaking foreign language)
- (gentle music)
- When I stepped on board on air India, seven 47 back then
like all of my senses were literally stimulated
and it's what inspired me to actually
recreate that experience right here in modern day times.
I promise everyone the moment they step
on board, this aeroplane
they're going to feel like they're flying on Air India.
- Welcome on board Air India.
- One of the things I specifically remember was
like the rich pattern upholstery
and the artwork on the sidewalk panels.
They call it the Jharokha window library.
and it literally was like a story
of an old Indian tale from Lord Krishna, the paisley motifs
on all the galley walls, the flight attendant uniforms.
They were dressed in these saris
from Rajasthan and then the Indian music playing on board.
The aeroplane.
When you put it all together
and the fabulous Indian cuisine, it was seriously like one
of my all time favourite in-flight experiences.
Building the Air India seven 47 experience is
actually no easy task.
There were so many brand elements that went
with that service that I literally spent a year recreating
every single item, things like the silverware,
the glassware the Air India menu very detailed
with fine like strands of rope in between the pages.
This was actually my favourite boarding pass from Air India
back then ,pink and white with a maharajah in the middle.
- Two of my favourite napkins on Air India
this traditional design with the Air India logo
and then this other more complicated pattern.
But I wanted both.
- I liked this one better
- Me too.
The experience would be nothing
without a traditional Air India peanut pack complete
with the daily seven 47 service London, Europe, India
right on the packaging.
And then one of my favourite parts
about an Air India drink was this stir stick
with the little Maharajah printer right on both sides of it.
And then who can forget the Air India coaster
and that fantastic design.
And then of course Sam, you know, one
of my favourite things ever are tray liners.
All had element and brands on it.
Like the maharajah on every single piece that we use
in the aircraft.
I had to produce three types
of glassware in order to make this experience.
And you need these in enormous quantities.
And so I have the traditional cocktail glass from Air India.
I created the juice, orange and water glass
and then finally the wine or specialty glass
for the tray table.
- And look at these gold plates.Wow
- Yeah, these, these gold plates we're going to
be using to serve the mango chutney
that'll go with our samosa for the appetiser.
So Sam, one of my favourite carts, I think at the Air India
experience is going to be this tea and coffee service
like these fantastic vintage Indian tea pots are
going to be used to serve lots of vintage Indian teas.
This would be the Air India coffee or tea cup
and our air hostesses are going to be
imagine them pouring your tea
into this cup on board, this seven 47.
(soft music)
- Now I'd like to just show you
what the air India first-class fabric
is going to look like.
And this is a really complicated pattern.
It took me quite a bit of time and effort to get it right
but you can see how amazing this is going to look.
I've done a lot of different airline replications
and almost every other one has one wall pattern
throughout the entire aircraft, but on Air India,
literally every single zone has its own unique wall
covering.
And so it takes an enormous amount of work
and enormous amount of printing to actually get it right
for that exotic aircraft.
I've already reproduced the seat maps for the stickers.
And then I've got large quantities here of all the things
we're going to use on board the flight,
even the bag for the back of the seat.
(gentle music)
So last October with some very close friends
and family members, we did the very first trial run
of the Air India experience complete with all those products
and brand elements, along with some amazing Indian cuisine.
It was my funnest night of 2020
(gentle music)