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ameya

Finally, the last trip of the series and also the last TR. At the onset, thanks to all readers for bearing with me, for what would have now become monotonous.

As planned, I impressed upon the bosses to let me book Air India for the return journey. When the booking was made, it was 600rs more than LCCs but still within the budget limits of the company. I head back to Mumbai by AI 624 at 1900hrs. The ticket came, and whoa.. it’s a A321 – so I am assured a IFE which I have been long looking out for. I honestly do not remember when was the last time I travelled AI. Definitely not after the new planes joined the fleet. If my memory is right, I had travelled the last time from HYD-Begumpet to CSIA BOM in Jan end 2007.
I do not know the flight numbers of AI like I do for 6E/IT/G8, neither do I have the slightest hint of rotations of these birds so I have nothing special and extra to add and just figure out the Air India experience.

Few days before the travel, the company advises me to stay back for few hours more. Probably they have noticed that last weekend I left office at 1400hrs without taking a half day. So I instruct the concerned to rebook me at 2000hrs. AI 805 to Mumbai. Unfortunately, this is an A319, I am not assured a PTV as I think. However, this completes A319/320/321 on this route for me in last month. Also travelled the B737/738 combination.
A few days ago I updated the booking for my parents, and AI website was superb, however it did not let me enter my meal preference or seat preference. I suppose it has got a lot to do with how the ticket is booked.
None the less, I checked in with 6A. A quick glance at what am I likely to see in this peak evening hour at Delhi,

SG 046 arriving from KTM, CX 751 from HKG, UA 082 from Newark and then may be an occasional EK bird.

The flights arriving for AI, which could potentially operate this flight for me are Ai 701 from CCU, AI 503 from BLR.
On the departures side, I am likely to see JL 740 to Tokyo.. ohh JL 740 is this the 787 ? It is !
I finish a hectic day and the cab is supposed to come at 1700hrs, which doesn’t come till 1740, a very irritated me is waiting in the Gurgaon heat and finally the cab starts crawling towards the airport. At 1830 I am at T3, a glance at the blue bird at T3 – its still there but I don’t know which one it is !

I go thru the regular entry procedure, licence ticket see if he resembles close to the photo and head in. Web check in is done for seat 6A and the printout mentions that I should head to a dedicated counter to drop in my check in luggage, unfortunately I see none. However there is no crowd at the counters, many of which are open and I proceed to one of them. The printout is stamped, baggage accepted and I make my way to security. Poor chaps are confused as to does this flight board via domestic or international. Casual chat with another CISF personnel reveals their problems with respect to these international connectors and how they are in the dock every time the passenger clears the wrong security. Post that I have a quick bite in McDonalds – seeing a B777, A330 and a couple of A320s of AI at the international side. There is a gang of 3 AI staff and I started chatting with them, till they were called somewhere urgently. The B747, they told me, went back to Mumbai yesterday and they operated it as a commercial flight, what bad luck I said to myself, the load was 300 + said one of them. I am impressed.

I head to the piers now, check flight stats on my mobile as to when is the B787 expected and it says 1935, closer to my boarding time I say to myself and move on, check the flights on display, AI is having ontime departure for all of its flight, 9W is showing delay on 4 flights and IT on 2 flights. Not many departures from this terminal post 2000 hrs as compared to the LCC guys, who all have flights after 2000 in large numbers.

So I walk till the end of the private airlines pear and then all the way till the end of AI pier, spotting numerous take offs and landings of AI and 9W. SG bird arrives from KTM on the new runway.
Its 1915 and they have announced the boarding of my flight, its at gate 27B. at gate 29, VT-PPM was boarding for HYD and my bird was VT-SCQ. I am not sure which birds have IFE on the A319 side, all I knew was that all A321s have them. I believed SCQ has it.

I was just hanging around the boarding area with eyes set on the runway, and flightstats open on mobile with refresh button being pressed multiple times. Not trusting that site much, also checked the DIAL site in between to see the status of JL 740. At 1935, I refreshed to be told that it has landed at 1922 or something like that docking at gate 15 at T3. Heart broken, it dint use the new runway 
Now I rushed for boarding for what was an almost full flight in economy and 8 on 8 in business. I was wondering why AI is using a A319 for a 2000hr departure which is considered more peak time than 1700. Ideally 1800 onwards on a metro should be with higher capacity. But then they know best and I move on. The aircraft is neat, clean, tidy, has IFE and what more, a very comfortable seat and the maximum leg room. I am impressed.

Nostalgia obviously set in, however, the famous “SWAGAT” was not there in the seat pocket, instead the AI inflight magazine proclaimed that they now do 17 non stop BOM-DEL trips each way, have direct flights from Del-VTZ, restarted HYD-CCU and so on. Also, it shows the movie guide and has different selection on inbound and outbound. I am puzzled as to what is inbound and what is outbound.
Later I figure out that this flight was outfound, with pan singh tomar being the hindi movie, a manoj kumar classic and some more., along the map – my favorite channel.

Pushback was at exact 2000hrs and we waited for a B777 of AI to land and quickly made a powerful but late take off. At 6A on the baby bus, I was directly seeing the engine and dint give a good view of things below. None the less, as I settled in reading the magazine the food service commenced and had a delicious meal of – Palak Paneer, Veg Biryani, Mix Veg, Cucumber salad, Choclate Brownie, followed by Coffee. Ohh God, this is so better than the Airwich, the Cadbury desert or anything else.
Uneventful flight landed exactly at 2155 and was on bay 81 – between domestic and international by 2205.

Bussed to the terminal, the luggage followed and I was out of the terminal at 2225, that’s pretty quick. I am amazed by the overall experience. Yes, there were 3 aunty and 1 uncle serving, but then they were better and prompt than Jet Children, and I would prefer good and prompt service over looks if I get a good clean aircraft, amazing legspace, IFE, food, on time – certainly not in that order.

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:01 am Post subject:

Ohhh I dint see the post about mystery bird, one mystery solved !
Thanks !

Nimish · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:09 am Post subject:

Thanks for posting, at lesst AI still has the full FSC experience intact!
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

aeroblogger · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:43 am Post subject:

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

Ameya, thanks for a superb trip report, replete with nice spotting details. Some questions, and points:
- AI web check-in bag drop-off at IGI T3: it is a bit of an on- and off-experience, with the first counter closest to the exit. I usually do not take a chance at any airport (though I have tried it at DEL and BOM), I go straight to the counters. There are many counters, and I have generally found them to be quite efficient.
- Most of Air India's 319s have PTVs. The leased ones SCA-SCD do not. SCD has power ports which do not work. The first 319 that came in - does not have the PTVs. I do not remember which one it was - SCE/F/G - my memory fails me.
- The seat pitch is uniformly good on Air India.
- The food quantity seems to have picked up a bit!
- The last austerity directive had reduced the amount, depending on the flight duration
- The Air India website has seen gradual good changes from the initial SITA one, and the overall experience is quite satisfactory, in my opinion. Finding information, and retrieving details, is quite easy within one's login.
- Cleanliness of the plane inside is usually superb, now-a-days. It was a revelation being on VT-ESJ, one of the old double-bogey 320s. I could not find even a little grime mark on plastic joins, on an IDR-BHO-DEL trip in April this year.
- International connectors - I have not had any very recent experience on them. The check-in counters will usually have this information. The usual heuristic is the presence of a `D' on the boarding pass. The `D' indicates a domestic passenger on an international flight between domestic destinations/international connector. You have to go to the International part, for the security check. This is true for an Air India flight at any airport which has an international terminal.
- The new Air India magazine: I too miss Swagat! Darpan and Namaskaar were nice, too. This looks a bit bland, but the required information is usually there.
- I find inbound and outbound befuddling - can you please clear the confusion for me? Does this depend on the rotation? What happens if a plane has the same flight number even on the return e.g., DEL-RPR-NAG-DEL?
- This is something I have observed consistently - after the new planes came in, the ground agents and cabin crew behaviour took a change for the better. No, it is not just the new recruits. The Uncles and Aunties are on an average, very nice, efficient, and pleasant.
- This is something we discussed at DEL: the hub model seems to be quite well-planned, and the capacity planning on routes seems to be very good, on the average.
Cheers, Sumantra.

aeroblogger · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:33 pm Post subject:

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:45 pm Post subject:

Yes the inbound and outbound is a confusion.

Ideally the terms work for international and we all know the terminology there.

Here do they consider the hub as inbound or the HQ as inbound is unknown. Yesterday the service was for outbound !

Another thing I forgot to mention. The network map, with its usual, Not to scale and other disclaimers is ok. But come what may, Goa cannot be inland, it has to be on the coast Razz

and changing states is not allowed, Jabalpur should be shown in MP only, not chattisgarh.

The first thing that you see as you enter is the earphones, which are packed in a plastic which reads " Made in China" - this should be replaced ASAP. The next chinese thing that came was with lunch, Sugar - it read "Chini" but thats acceptable Very Happy

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

Jabalpur? I seem to have always missed this city on route maps in the Air India magazine, though Air India Regional has had regular flights there, for a very long time.
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:09 pm Post subject:

My boarding card had "D" on it. I am confused. This was a purely domestic flight

aeroblogger · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:24 pm Post subject:

747-237

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject:

Yeh, A318 is the baby bus, but then A319 is the baby bus in India

747-237 · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:49 pm Post subject:

ameya · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:48 pm Post subject:

Parents flew PNQ-GOI today on AI.

Peanuts and juice is what they got for a 55 min flight. I guess the same on what is given on a HYD-PNQ leg.

aeroblogger · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:18 pm Post subject:

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

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

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

aeroblogger · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 11:19 pm Post subject:

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

Yes, you are correct, Rohit - I missed that out. International connecting passengers would have already had their customs and immigration done, if they were put through the IGI T3 connection to the domestic part. I have done a few such legs quite some time back (so has The Wife), and it was the `D' that made us go in and out of the customs with ease.
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:09 am Post subject:

Well now I am confused. The "D" exists and this flight wasnt a connecter.

May be it was once upon a time and the AI web check in still prints it as "D" ?

Just a possibility I thought

aeroblogger · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:15 am Post subject:

ameya · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:38 am Post subject:

I submitted it to my accounts chap. I will see if I can take it back.

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

The `D' mystery is solved. I have been stupid enough to forget that Ameya clearly mentioned that he had got his boarding pass stamped. Any electronic boarding pass for a domestic flight on Air India has a large `D' on it. This has been happening since 2011. I have numerous PDFs of similar boarding passes. The `D' on a card boarding pass/boarding card - the type one gets on an airport check-in - indicates a international connector/domestic leg of an international flight.
Whew!
Cheers, Sumantra.