Booking the Trip: Annual India Visit with Emirates and Air India
Review: Emirates Airline A380 Economy Los Angeles to Dubai
Review: Emirates Airline A380 Economy Dubai to Mumbai
Review: Pune Lohegaon Airport Terminal
Review: Air India A319-100 Economy Class Pune to Hyderabad
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Hyderabad Domestic Terminal
Review: Air India A319-100 Business Class Hyderabad to Pune
Review: Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2 International
Review: Emirates Airline 777-300 Economy Mumbai to Dubai
Review: Dubai International Airport Terminal 3
Review: Emirates Airline A380 Economy Dubai to Los Angeles
YOUTUBE: Emirates: Los Angeles to Dubai
YOUTUBE: Emirates: Dubai to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Air India: Pune to Hyderabad
YOUTUBE: Air India: Hyderabad to Pune
YOUTUBE: Emirates: Mumbai to Dubai
YOUTUBE: Emirates: Dubai to Los Angeles
After using the Plaza Premium Lounge for a while, I went for a little walk around the terminal and came back to the gate, which was conveniently right next to the lounge.
I ensured that I was the first to board so I could get proper pictures of the seat before the person seated next to me came.
First things first, the legroom was very, very good for domestic premium cabin. I got up once during the flight and this was the first time on a narrowbody in business class that my seatmate did not have to get up to make space for me. Even with their legs stretched out comfortably, there was enough space for me to get up. And we’re talking row two. The bulkhead row, row 1, had even more legroom. Below is a picture of row 1 I took on my inbound flight to Hyderabad:
So as you can see, row one has, even more, legroom than the already spacious row 2. The one downside of row 1, of course, is that there is no under seat storage. But at that point, you can stow all your stuff overhead and there is plenty of room for you to get up and retrieve it whenever you’d like.
Now back to my seat, here’s what I thought of the seat itself. The seat cushion was pretty well padded. The back padding was still hard, but much better than the economy class seat, and the head rest was a little hard, but still comfy to rest your head on.
A pillow was provided at every seat, which I think is great for a one hour flight.
Each seat had a TV, but I didn’t really use it so I can’t comment on the in flight entertainment system.
Also, each seat had individual air nozzles, which I always appreciate being there. Another thing that I noticed is that all the window seats in business class had no footrests, however, all the aisle seats did have footrests, just in case that’s something you value.
The center console was fairly spacious, but you could definitely tell and feel that the seats were old and worn.
There were some old-style seat controls at the side of the right armrest on the aircraft.
The power ports were located below the center console. I really don’t like airlines positioning the power ports here because it’s definitely a little harder to find the port and reach down with the wire to plug in your device properly. But I’m still thankful that there are power ports.
At this point, a crew member came around the cabin with a tray with pre-departure beverage choices of water, apple juice, and coconut water. I went with coconut water, and it was chilled and refreshing. But the glass was quite small. Speaking of which, details like this are small, but it’s worth mentioning: I appreciate Air India using actual glass for their pre-departure beverage as its something even United, American, Delta, and Alaska can’t get right, even on their international first and business class products!
At this point, a Vistara A320 pulled in. Vistara is a fairly new airline that I’ve heard many many great things about and I really want to fly it in premium economy or Business class. But mileage wise, they have their program and they are partners with Singapore Airlines and SilkAir. While SQ’s frequent flyer program is very good for Suites redemptions and other Star Alliance redemptions, the miles expire 3 years from the day you earn them I think. But we’ll save the Vistara chat for another report hopefully.
We had a lengthy taxi out to runway 27L, our departure runway, but then we had a slightly long roll for an A319 and climbed steeply out of the airport.
Very quickly after the seat belt sign was switched off, the crew got to work and foot was served while we were still climbing!
The snack tray consisted of a vegetable sandwich, an apple pie kind of pastry, some bottled water, tomato sauce, and hot water which I asked for. It was a great snack and serving for a one hour flight. The sandwich was cool, soft, and the inside veggies and sauce had a nice, light taste to it. The apple pastry was sweet and good, but filling. Everything I ate had some taste which is good. The sandwich tasted fresh, but as good as the apple pie was, the texture tasted a little stale.
I went to check out the bathroom after, which was fairly basic.
Our descent began rather early.
we had a choppy final approach into Pune but the views were something for sure.
After landing we had a very quick taxi to our gate, from which we deplaned by jetway.
Overall, this was a great one hour flight for the most part. The food was good, the seats were alright, but the service could have been a little better. The FA was not proactice enough with all the passengers. There was trash on my console and around all the other PAX’s seats as well until I finally took one for the team and hit the call button about 10 minutes before touchdown where the FA finally appeared and noticed everyone’s trash. But otherwise, good service for a one hour flight and definitely worthwhile. Stay tuned for the return Emirates flights back to LA!