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jbalonso777

Touted as the next best thing in aviation, rather THE best thing to happen in Indian aviation in a while, all eyes were on the joint venture between two formidable companies in the world: TATA and Singapore Airlines. No need for an introduction for them, we all know them pretty well.

BOOKING AND ALL - A SECRET SALE?!
(**It was a few days after my booking when I learnt that Vistara just reduced prices, no sale as such!**)
Frustrating times towards the end of 2014 as Vistara took their time in planning routes and schedules, but one thing was for sure: they would be flying between Mumbai and New Delhi. Perfect for me!
Looking at their initial offering, both in terms of timing and service onboard, I was a bit downbeat. Factor in their initial bookings being open till 15FEB15. As time went on, Vistara announced more flights between Mumbai and Delhi, fitting in with my 9W255 arrival. Five and a half hours in Mumbai T2. Hmm.......

The fares Vistara quoted were a bit steep, but they are a premium airline, and they offer more than just a meal (that's what the top brass say). One fine day in early February (close to SpiceJet's cheaper than train fare sale), Vistara quoted a fare just ₹500 more than the cheaper FSC alternative, Jet Airways. No prior announcement, just my keen eye searching for the lowest fare. Without a second thought, I booked on:
Vistara UK944 Mumbai (dep: 1405) to New Delhi (arr: 1605) 12th July 2015 Airbus A320-200

The booking process was pretty straightforward, no hiccups. There weren't any particular hiccups along the way. So that was good. Also, Vistara automatically assigned me seat 12A, as per my preference on Club Vistara. There was a slightly tacky share option at the end:

Confirmation - awesome!

Really now, Vistara? Rolling Eyes

THE WEBSITE
While the website was pretty OK, here's where it got a bit annoying: I wanted to change my seat preference from 12A to one row behind, 14A. While this was done without a hiccup, it automatically reserved a Vegetarian Hindu Meal for me. No thanks, I'm good with the standard meal. But no. This wouldn't change back to a standard meal, on the site. Grrr.
I received my eticket soon in the mailbox. And of course, every change I made through the Manage My Booking section resulted a mail being fired at me. A la Singapore Airlines Smile

So you're selecting seats? How about selecting a Hindu Non-Veg meal too, then? Sad

WEB CHECK IN
All my aviation related activity began with Vistara’s check in, which can be done 48 hours prior to departure. Once again I got SEQ1. Relatively straightforward process, except for an annoying Q&A with yes and no radio buttons, that have to read carefully. I checked the fares for UK944 on my departure date: the cheapest fares were still around (roughly Rs. 4.2k), so I assumed it would be an empty flight: Sunday afternoon, should be empty right…….?

Some screenshots here:
Confirmation of passengers, followed by selection of seats (plane looks empty eh..), the Q&A, BP printing, check in complete, and finally, the boarding pass.

THE DAY!
Being a continuation to my first part, I’m sure you’d be aware that I was up all night packing and doing other random nonsense. One spot of bother was the luggage allowance. Jet Airways gave me 30kgs, and Vistara only half that. Luckily, my trustee luggage weighing scale and the Jet Airways check in showed that I was within the limits: 15kgs!!

Rotation trends suggested that the plane doing UK765 from GAU and IXB would head to Mumbai from Delhi as UK959, stay the night at Mumbai, go back to Delhi, followed by DEL-AMD-BOM, before operating UK944 back to Delhi and then doing the flights from Delhi to Hyderabad and return. VT-TTG, Vistara’s newest plane came in to BOM as UK959, as I eagerly waited to see who’d operate 9W256. However, VT-TTG was at BOM when I landed from Colombo, so eliminating any chances of getting this bird, my predictions going wrong again, sigh….

With so much time in hand after the 43 minute before time arrival of VT-JBF, I was at Starbucks with Yatrik, Hiren and Sanjeev: they suggested me to have something because the ‘box in a box’ meal would not be sufficient at all........

CHECK IN AND PRE-BOARDING STUFF
Yatrik and Hiren dropped me off at the magnificent T2’s gate 1, where the VIstara flights depart (and IndiGo international, annoyingly!). I entered the terminal where a roving agent asked me if I was flying Vistara, and what class, he directed me to an empty counter. It was 1312 hours. A middle aged couple were arguing about paying for different fare classes, and so should be sitting together….wow the stuff that happens at home! My check in was done relatively quickly, bags weighed in at 14.8kgs! Laughing

Oh, there weren’t any newspapers at the check in counter…….

Post check in

What really defines Mumbai's T2!

Anyway, there was a random board that also directed Vistara passengers downstairs, where a CSF guard would check the boarding pass. I headed down the escalator, to be welcomed by some lovely plants and waterfalls! Security was quick.

FIDS showed UK flights and AI international connector flights. Some cafes and a were open, the rest? Under construction. UK944 would be departing from gate 87A. I headed through some areas which looked rather shady to be honest, this domestic part of T2 was rather strange.

When I finally saw the tarmac, I was surprised to see two Vistara planes parked together at different aerobridges! VT-TTC had the stuff going on around it, meaning that VT-TTC, not TTG would be taking me to Delhi. The other plane (VT-TTF) was….sunbathing. She’d head to Bengaluru later. Looking at the flight departures from domestic T2, and the number of people around, it was fairly obvious that this would be a full flight, which is strange considering it was a Sunday afternoon…and because its Vistara Wink

Two Vistara's at Mumbai, how about that?!

I looked at the activity: VT-JGT had arrived from Singapore, preparing for its next assignment to Dubai, while VT-JBR pulled in from its new home, Abu Dhabi. An Air India 777-300ER also pulled in, which I believe was from RUH. A UPS Boeing 747-400F was pushed back, when boarding was called…..

The boarding pass...

BOARDING
Boarding was called at 1340 hours, five minutes after boarding time. The sea of humanity that existed within T2 domestic all came together at gate 87A to board VT-TTC that would operate UK944 to New Delhi. A full-ish flight was confirmed, but how full was the question. I waited for everyone else to board, before the gate agents called out all of the remaining passengers to board the aircraft. My boarding pass stub turn off, I was wished a pleasant flight, addressing me by my name, which was truly awesome.

I inched closer and closer to TTC, being one of the last passengers to board the plane. Not the warmest of welcomes from the all female cabin crew, but I’ll give that to them because business class was quite full and they had their work cut out. Likewise, premium economy was rather full, with just four or five seats empty.

Most of the port side was full...

Bad bad picture of Premium Economy

I see economy, and there’s only three seats empty, one being my 14A. I take my seat, and buckle up. The seat was quite nicely padded and soft, relative to JBF at least. Legroom felt tight. The whole plastic thing on the seat back looked way too tacky, especially considering the fact that this is supposed to be India’s most premium airline ever.
Anyway, I look at the seat pocket and there is an old crumpled up tissue paper from a few flights ago. So much for cleanliness then…..

Plastic wins!

Flight attendants took quite a few packs and bottles of soft drinks, juices and other stuff, and heading straight for the premium cabins…not for us humble Y folk. We at least got a bottle of water, which was served to everyone (that didn’t happen on my Jet or Air India flights, unless on request). I was feeling really tired, I drifted in and out of sleep.

DEPARTURE
1356 hours, twenty-four minutes before departure, the captain came online to ask all ground personnel to deplane, which was soon followed by all the welcome announcements, a flying time of 1hr45min was announced. Pushback was at 1403 hours, a whole seventeen minutes before departure. Vistara wins for being on time. The pushback sequence is quite unique with Mumbai T2, especially the Vistara departure gates. So the plane is pushed back, turned straight towards the buildings behind, before being pulled in front till the engines were started. Unfortunately, the idiot me sat a bit too much in front so the flight attendant doing the safety briefing could see my camera. The video is messed up Sad

I felt like I was sitting in a tiny toy, when compared to the Boeing biggies.......

TTC taxied towards the active Runway 27, where we had to queue up for departure. All the gained time on ground was to be negated with this hold up. I saw VT-EVB baking in the sun, while another Air India Boeing 787-8 was parked. As we turned to hold short, I saw the Jahri Mahri slums - the sea of humanity waiting for us to depart was amazing! Was it simply because they were there to see just another plane to take off? Or because the wow factor of Vistara still remained with the people? Either way, it was amazing to see the interest that existed with the people around! We had to wait for that blue A320 thing before we finally took off with a roar, as is always is with the IAE V2500 engines. We soon headed northwest for a bit, before finally setting course for New Delhi. Seatbelt signs were turned off, curtains drawn for the respective cabins, I started to get bored. Razz

INFLIGHT - BOX IN A BOX!
One trolley was rolled up right to the front….and went past the curtains for the Premium Economy folk. Another trolley was pulled up to row 16 or so, which then went back and forth to serve the passengers. Two crew members were serving us, one had a genuine smile, the other was basically just there going about her business. 1451 hours, I got my meal tray…er..box. This came with the crew welcoming us onboard Vistara, and introducing us to the content of the boxes. I get it, this does take it a step further in terms of being personalized and all, but it isn’t exactly being personalized if it is not said with any enthusiasm. And that’s exactly what happened.
Anyway, I asked for a box with chicken in it, while the person beside me said non veg, and the person beside him asked for vegetarian. She handed me a vegetarian box, to which I said again, I asked for the chicken. She apologized profusely and handed me a non vegetarian box. This happens. Also, she did take it a step further by bending down all the way to get the meals. Very nice touch I'd say.

I opened the upper half of the box first. There was a strawberry cheesecake like dessert, a cold bun, rock hard (but deformed) butter, and a bowl of curd. The mains consisted of a chicken in white sauce thing, there were only three or four pieces, they tasted reasonable. The gravy was pretty nice, and went pretty well with what apparently was saffron rice. The rice was bland. The dessert though, was absolutely amazing. I found the mango pickle to be specially packed for Vistara, which was interesting. All in all, a pretty average (box) meal, dessert standing out.

Truth be told - I LOVE this design on the tissue at least!

We hit a patch of turbulence which was expected because of the monsoon showers that hit Delhi a few days ago. Tea and coffee service followed, I went for tea, which was pretty good…I mean, one can’t really go wrong there! The pilots did an amazing job to bank the plane away from the possible showers and further bumps. Trays..I mean..boxes were collected and thrown into the trash. Water bottles were given out.

Legroom tight, same as JBF, if not, marginally extra..

Obligatory winglet shot #2.
Wait, I'm on an Airbus, not a Boeing.
Once again:
Obligatory SHARKLET shot #1. Razz

DESCENT AND ARRIVAL
We went through some pretty big clouds when the Captain announced descent into New Delhi, where he said there would be some bumps into arrival. The skies looked beautiful with the clouds and all scattered around. The cabin was secured for landing, just when I saw a SpiceJet Boeing 737 not too far away from us, speeding away in the distance, but heading for Delhi only most likely. We cut through the many clouds as we got closer and closer to Delhi, and Earth.

A smooth landing was made on to Runway 29 at 1602 hours, that was followed by a quick taxi to the Terminal 3 gate. I was warmly welcomed by the sight of two Jet Airways Boeing 737-800s.

WELCOME THE NEW CHILD: THE VISTARA-CHILD?!
And this is where all hell broke lose. I waited for all passengers to get off first, being the last one to get off. I asked one flight attendant if it was okay to click a photograph of the cabin. She said it was okay. Just then, the attendant who was otherwise smiling all the time, frowned upon it and asked me NOT to take any photographs and videos. I was left bewildered and shocked. And most importantly, disappointed. A complete breakdown of communication between the crew members, and worse, the latter wasn’t aware of the fact that photography was absolutely fine in Delhi. I read their safety card, thankfully I took a video of the same, where it clearly states that the Government of India bans photography in some airports (in Vistara’s network: Goa and Bagdogra). This left me quite sad, and what’s worse I wasn’t even addressed at the door my anyone. Instead, I was welcomed with about forty people who were going to clean the aircraft, completely blocking my way. I’ve never faced such an incident (or incidents) before, so I guess, I did fly the new feeling after all! Very Happy

The other TATA airline, AirAsia India, was at the gate beside mine, VT-RED was about to fly down to Bengaluru, after flying in from Guwahati.

My small bag coming in a tray - nice, Vistara ground staff! Very Happy

I made my way to the baggage claim, which took a while even to start being handed back. I headed outside and reunited with my big brother after a long long time! After the shambles of Vistara, it was time to head for Vivanta…the Taj Vivanta Dwarka. Finding the taxi was not so easy, especially considering the loud crowd outside, cars honking, swears shouted at, etc. I was well and truly in India. The drive to the hotel was quite long, and through some mad traffic! I knew instantly that I’ll never be able to drive around in India Razz

Finally on reaching the Taj Vivanta, there was instant sense of warmth and caring, stuff that I was looking forward to onboard Vistara. Anyway, I got a room facing the runway 11 and parts of Terminal 2. The first plane I saw was…. a wonderful SriLankan Airlines Airbus A320! This felt amazing…home away from home?! I instantly called up Shivnendra sir, for our planned meet up. He came over just when an Air India Boeing 777-300ER took off right behind me. Shivendra sir took my brother and I to a wonderful spotting location, where mostly India’s full service carriers take off from, runway 29. Thankfully there were no blue A320s to deal with! Razz

Shivendra sir took us to a location with an amazing view of the clouds clearing up. About an hour there, it was time to head for the USI canteen. This was finally happening, for both Shivendra sir and I: meeting the elusive, pro-TR writer, and food describer, Sumantra sir! I probably had a bit too much for dinner, because some airline’s boxed-up food was simply not filling enough. I should’ve listened to the Mumbai party and had some savories at the Starbucks. Sigh. Sumantra sir, Shivendra sir, I honestly don’t have so much for dinner…
It was amazing to meet up with Shivendra sir and Sumantra sir (and his wonderful family!). The three of us talked a lot about aviation, which would eventually be diverted away by Sumantra sir’s TW, who’d speak to my brother about other non-aviation stuff! Everything from schools, to political science, to Delhi being the best metro, to Delhi having the best metro, food but of course…it was an amazing evening!

Unfortunately, at times I was completely dazed at times, simply because I was awake for more than twenty-seven hours now. Controlling my sleep was getting difficult, and I completely fell asleep in Shivendra sir’s car on the way back!
Sumantra sir, Shivendra sir, I thank you for a wonderful time that evening!
I came back to the hotel, and completely fell asleep, after pulling on for thirty hours. A new day awaited, another (big Boeing) flight was in line!

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Again, a much-awaited trip report! You came on the TR scene as a breath of fresh air, with a refreshingly new style of writing, descriptions, with and humour and of course, lovely pictures. no one has posted so many masterpieces in such a short time after joining as you have, and we all look forward to a JB TR, more so when we know one is just around the corner. And yes, I Was looking forward to meeting you, Dada and Shukla-ji (I am ashamed to be a Delhi'ite, not even having met so many prominent members, in person) for the first time. I remember our rapid email exchanges, with schedules being finalised, Aditya dropping out, Dada changing his schedule for the rendezvous, and I am glad it all worked out like a charm, and you were your perfect gentlemanly self, in spite of going without enough sleep.
Lovely description of the booking process, and the quirks!
And once again, what a lovely soft way to give details for the even more interested, unlike my on-the-face approach.
Lovely pictures...seeing them on this big screen instead of taking them out of my mobile, storing them, and viewing them later: doesn't quite match the experience of seeing them in a TR. Thank you!
`The blue A320 thing', ha ha!
Wing shots!
Oops: the departing no-photography insistence is not nice. Most members of the cabin crew now-a-days are aware of passengers' liking to go click-click, the odd few are disappointing.
No one could have summarised our little rendezvous better, more so the av-non-av part Smile

And to see you incredibly attentive to remember all the details, in spite of being completely drained out. Amazing, Sir, amazing!
We now look forward to the rest! I will not venture a count, as I got it incorrect the last time `round.
Thank you once again, Sumantra.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:40 am Post subject:

ameya · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:15 am Post subject:

Thanks JiB for the TR. Nice pics

Photography banned at Pune as well!

Glad about the meet up in Delhi!

Waiting for the other flights TR
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yatrik · Member Joined: 08 Nov 2012 Posts: 19

Nice TR Jish. Looking forward to get a chance to fly UK. For my upcoming DEL trips, UK was way too higher, ended up booking 9W & AI.

The box food looks good !

I carry almost the same size of bag, and on AI, I get it in a tray everytime !

Karan69 · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1334

Nice TR JiB,

The question is for the same price and times [leave aside FFP] would you pick Jet or Vistara on BOM-AMD and BOM-DEL respectively

Karan

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

- The system automatically selected a vegetarian meal? HAHAHAHahahaa ..... oops. definitely a system quirk good catch tho Laughing

- sounds like a pretty normal FSC domestic flight
- bit dramatic ehhhh with the "all hell broke lose" Wink

sure it sucks to not be able to take a cabin pic and have 2 crew say different things but it's not a big deal at all IMHO. Also if you're the last to get off the aircraft you pretty much will be greeted by the cleaning team.
- great pics, as always from your TRs.
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jbalonso777 · Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:57 am Post subject:

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Again a great part two of the TR Jish, and sorry for the delay as have been catching up on all the TR’s.

Good to know the loads were good on Vistara as I know a lot has been discussed on this forum about the poor loads. The dirty tissue on the seat is not a premium experience but with outsourced cleaners who keep cleaning airplanes day in and day out a hit and

The idea of keeping a bottle of water in the seat back pocket is good as it leads less stress to the crew. The bending down and giving the meals is a very SQ trait which they have trained the Vistara crew I guess. The box meal looks good and for a domestic flight I would say nothing to complain, although the rice looks a bit on the dry side.

Not allowing you to take photos was a mistake specially when one of the crew gave you the green light.

Sri_Bom

jbalonso777 · Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:28 am Post subject:

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 12:04 pm Post subject: The videos!

Hey all, and happy Sunday!

I have the videos of this flight up on YouTube

The video trip report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9k-Drdm67E
Take off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8pKqg9L9Ng
Landing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwa9SnGFqSU
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:16 pm Post subject:

So, as promised, albeit horrendously late, the spotting pictures with Shivendra sir (dated July 12th 2015)

I wanted to spend time on editing these, but I guess that will never happen Sad

Room with a view! UL195 from CMB operated by 4R-ABP, A320-200

VT-JFW, Boeing 737-800W operating 9W357 from Mumbai

VT-SCR, Airbus A319-100 to Bahrain

VT-JFS, Boeing 737-800W operating 9W731 from Patna

VT-PPT, Airbus A321-200 operating AI48 to Kochi

VT-ANH, Boeing 787-8 from Sydney/Melbourne

VT-JCR, ATR 72-600 operating 9W2629 to Udaipur

VT-TTB, Airbus A320 coming in from Guwahati and Bagdogra

VT-PPF Airbus A321 operating AI10 to Ahmedabad

VT-JFH Boeing 737-800 operating 9W689 to Lucknow

VT-SCU operating flight AI442 from Aurangabad

VT-SCK Airbus A319 operating flight AI415 to Patna

VT-JCX ATR 72-600 operating 9W2652 to Bhopal

Two

Third one chips in...

Oh hey, another one!

And an epic picture was formed. Cool

VT-EPB double bogey A320-200 operating AI812 from Lucknow

VT-JCZ ATR72-600 operating 9W2793 to Indore. And with that, we spotted all 3 of Jet's ATR 72-600s!

VT-EDE Airbus A320-200 from Kabul Afghanistan as AI244

VT-ESC double bogey A320 to Indore as AI636

VT-JFM Bowing 737-800 to Mumbai as 9W362

VT-ESB double bogey A320-200 to Bhubaneswar as AI473

VT-TTD Airbus A320-200 to Pune as UK991

VT-JGC coming in from Mumbai, most likely

VT-SCP Airbus A319 operating AI624 to Mumbai

VT-AII operating flight 9I9604 from Allahabad

VT-PPO from Mumbai as AI660

VT-JLF Boeing 737-800 operating flight S24392 to Ahmedabad

VT-ATF Airbus A320-200 operating flight I52327 to Goa

And the last one, VT-JBX operating 9W548 to Dubai...

Three double bogey A320s, four ATR 72-600s, one Dream)liner, and quite a few airlines. Pretty nice spotting session! Very Happy

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

jbalonso777 · Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 3:20 am Post subject: