Advice on Flying to India

I'm looking at potentially several trips to Delhi and Mumbai [?] in the next couple of months, and of course want to have the most pleasant experience travelling as possible.

I'd appreciate the wisdom of the members here about the pros and cons of the different flights/classes to India. Any comparable airline thoughts also appreciated.

Also, recommendations re good hotels would be a plus too.

Thanks.

HOTEL
If you are in Mumbai you should stay at the Taj palace, Make sure you donÕt stay in the Tower though as they refurbished the original building at it is very nice.

FLIGHTS
If you can I would say fly upper class (I would say that), But after the hustle and bustle of both amazing cities UC does help you relax back into normality.

Patrick

I would have to agree with patrickj77. I always fly UC to India (both Delhi and Mumbai). It is quite a long overnight flight there so ability to bed down and get some sleep is worth the cost alone. The flight home is a day flight and usually involves some time at the bar!

My various colleagues however always fly BA Business (possibly because the end destination is Bangalore and my route involves an internal connection)... and yet I STILL choose VS!

If your after internal flights, I swear by Jet Airways business class.

Originally posted by Ongen
I would have to agree with patrickj77. I always fly UC to India (both Delhi and Mumbai). It is quite a long overnight flight there so ability to bed down and get some sleep is worth the cost alone. The flight home is a day flight and usually involves some time at the bar!

My various colleagues however always fly BA Business (possibly because the end destination is Bangalore and my route involves an internal connection)... and yet I STILL choose VS!

If your after internal flights, I swear by Jet Airways business class.

Like you, I fly to Bangalore via Delhi so I can use VS. Nothing like brand loyalty!

I'd second your recommendation of Jet as well. Even in Economy, they're pretty good.

In Bangalore, stay at the Leela if you can afford it. Good alternatives are the Oberoi and Taj.

Chris

Originally posted by cshore
In Bangalore, stay at the Leela if you can afford it. Good alternatives are the Oberoi and Taj.

How very interesting you say that - I just spent 4 months in the Leela out there before they raised the corp room rate by 140 USD a night rendering it out of my budget [n] I am due to be spending the next few months in the Taj Residency - have you stayed here? I would be extremely interested in your comments if you have.

On the topic of internal airlines, I took a from Delhi to Bangalore on Indian - I was not impressed. For the very cheap option, Air Deccan has served me well for weekends away (think EasyJet in less painfull colours and even cheaper).

Chris - whats your reason for flying via Delhi - there are more air miles to be had via BOM [:p] And you wouldn't happen to be in the software / technology / outsourcing business would you?!!

Originally posted by Ongen

Originally posted by cshore
In Bangalore, stay at the Leela if you can afford it. Good alternatives are the Oberoi and Taj.

How very interesting you say that - I just spent 4 months in the Leela out there before they raised the corp room rate by 140 USD a night rendering it out of my budget [n] I am due to be spending the next few months in the Taj Residency - have you stayed here? I would be extremely interested in your comments if you have.

On the topic of internal airlines, I took a from Delhi to Bangalore on Indian - I was not impressed. For the very cheap option, Air Deccan has served me well for weekends away (think EasyJet in less painfull colours and even cheaper).

Chris - whats your reason for flying via Delhi - there are more air miles to be had via BOM [:p] And you wouldn't happen to be in the software / technology / outsourcing business would you?!!

We pay a _lot_ more than that at the Leela - with whom do you get your corporate rate?! I've not stayed at the Residency but locals I have spoken to recommend it. If memory serves, they say that the Residency is better than the West End.

I used Indian Airlines internal flights the first time I went and have never done so again. I wasn't impressed either. I've used Jet and been very happy with them every time. Colleagues have used Sahara and not complained.

I fly via Delhi because colleagues have reported that Bombay airport is terrible. Delhi is not that good to start with and I'm not sure I want to try anywhere worse! Anyway, until recently VS didn'y fly to Bombay every day so it was much trickier planning trips. Maybe I should give it a go...

Yes, I am in the technology business. I run training courses.

Chris

Much as I am a avid fan of VS, the fact that J2000 seats are still used on Delhi/Mumbai flights would deter me from night flights. I flew on a J2000 seat on an overnight flight to Delhi after having really gotten used to UCS on VS and was not happy. It is find for day flights but that is for the return leg. Some flights are UCS to India but those are mainly Mumbai flights rather than Delhi

Despite all BA problems, at least Club World seats on India flights goes horizontally flat. Jet Airways flights also go flat in business class. Business class service on Jet Airways domestic flight is ace! Food service beats any domestic/european service that BA or any European/US airline offers. The only down side is no priority boarding.

Ongen,

The Taj Residency is a poor hotel, restaurants good, but rooms very poor. Taj West End is far better.

Hotel ranking for Bangalore (my view) goes; Leela, Oberoi, Windsor Manor, Taj West End, Taj Residency. I have stayed in them all over the last 5 years.

Lloyd

Originally posted by cshore
We pay a _lot_ more than that at the Leela - with whom do you get your corporate rate?! I've not stayed at the Residency but locals I have spoken to recommend it. If memory serves, they say that the Residency is better than the West End.

No no - that is how much our room rate went up by in 1 year. Before that I think we were paying around 270 USD/night.

Our corp rate was organised by (could be wrong here) Amex - however the Leela were refusing to budge on the rate.

Rather strangely, my upcoming trips got cancelled this morning [:#] No more air miles for me [n]

Originally posted by Ongen

Originally posted by cshore
We pay a _lot_ more than that at the Leela - with whom do you get your corporate rate?! I've not stayed at the Residency but locals I have spoken to recommend it. If memory serves, they say that the Residency is better than the West End.

No no - that is how much our room rate went up by in 1 year. Before that I think we were paying around 270 USD/night.

Our corp rate was organised by (could be wrong here) Amex - however the Leela were refusing to budge on the rate.

I misunderstood you - sounds much more like normal service at the Leela. They don't budge on the rate for us either. When decent hotesl in Bangalore are in such short supply, I don't suppose they've got any reason to!

I see lloydfrancis has put me right on the ordering of the Taj twins.

Chris

I flew the daylight flight BOM LHR on a non UCS A340-300 and thought it was superb. Yes the IFE was crap but the non UCS are, i think, better for daylight flights as i love looking out the window. UC was half empty which was a bonus.

i have made the return trip to delhi, four times on vs in the last six months!!! [:#]

I have flown just about every airline possible on this route over the last ten years or so, and vs wins hands down. The staff are really friendly, in fact im on first name terms with most of them and usually spend most of my time in and around the galley with them!! I will never fly another airline on the the delhi route again[y]

Rupinder

I flew PE to Mumbai in Nov/Dec. The flight out was an old Airbus and the IFE was appaling. It's a long flight and anyone who says that the IFE doesn't matter is mad.

The return flight was a newly refitted with UCS instead of J2000 but the PE had better IFE.

I really didn't like the not knowing what kind of plane we would be on - it's a gamble!!

My friend recently flew JET business and said it was second to NONE!! As loyal as I would like to be to Virgin the thought of another crap flight like the one I had outbound would be enough for me to use another airline.

A Trip Report sounds in order (If you haven't done one already)