Booking The Trip: A (slightly crazier) Southeast Asian Path to India
Review: P.F Changs LAX (Priority Pass Restaurant)
Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Premium Economy Class Los Angeles to Taipei
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Taipei Terminal 2 Zone A
Review: UNI Air A321-200 Economy Class Taipei to Seoul Incheon
Review: The Millenium Seoul Hilton
Trip Photos: A Day and a Half in Seoul
Review: Korean Air First Class Lounge Seoul Incheon
Review: Korean Air 777-300ER Kosmos Suites First Class Seoul Incheon to Bangkok
Review: Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Golf Resort & Spa
Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge Bangkok
Review: Miracle Business Class Lounge Concourse G Bangkok
Review: Malaysia Airlines 737-800 Business Class Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
Review: Malaysia Airlines Satellite Golden Business Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur
Review: Kuala Lumpur A330-300 Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai
Review: SpiceJet 737-900ER SpiceMax Pune to Goa
Review: Air India A321-200 Economy Class Goa to Mumbai
Review: Air India A320Neo Economy Class Mumbai to Bengaluru
Review: Air India A319-100 Economy Class Bengaluru to Mumbai
Review: GVK International Business Class Lounge West Wing Mumbai
Review: Singapore Airlines 777-300ER Business Class Mumbai to Singapore
Review: Crowne Plaza Hotel Singapore
Trip Photos: 8 hours in Singapore
Review: Singapore Airlines A380-800 NEW Business Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Review: Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge Hong Kong
Review: United Club Lounge Hong Kong
Review: Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Hong Kong
Review: Hong Kong Airlines Club Bauhinia Lounge Hong Kong
Review: EVA Air A330-300 Premium Laurel Class Hong Kong to Taipei
Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Premium Economy Class Taipei to Los Angeles
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Los Angeles to Taipei
YOUTUBE: UNI Air: Taipei to Seoul Incheon
YOUTUBE: Korean Air: Seoul Incheon to Bangkok
YOUTUBE: Malaysian Airlines: Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
YOUTUBE: Malaysian Airlines: Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: SpiceJet: Pune to Goa
YOUTUBE: Air India: Goa to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Air India: Mumbai to Bengaluru
YOUTUBE: Air India: Bengaluru to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Mumbai to Singapore
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Singapore to Hong Kong
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Hong Kong to Taipei
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Taipei to Los Angeles
After arriving from Goa, it was time to catch my connecting flight to Bengaluru. Now I already had a really short connection, but of course Air India and Mumbai Airport just have to make it harder on me.
So I head to the designated transfer area where a military officer checks your boarding pass and allows you through. Then you are released back to the main security checkpoint to go through security again. But my boarding pass wouldn’t read on the automated readers. Finally, an agent came over and told me my barcode was too faded and I had to go to the counter to get another one. Bear in mind this happened after boarding had already started according to the time on the boarding pass. So I spend another 10-20 minutes getting a new boarding pass issued and I had to run through security. As is always the case, security in India is always slow and always feels like the officers take a tea break after every single bag. By the time I was done with security, I had under 5 minutes until the gate closed. It didn’t help that the gates where Air India parks happen to be the furthest away. As I’m running to the gate, an agent called was walking around calling out “final call Bangalore” in Hindi. I went to him and told him I’m flying to Bangalore, he looked at my boarding pass, and said……boarding not even started yet. My jaw dropped. I had no more to say after that.
Now back to my flight. It was a super rainy day and boarding started 20 minutes late because they had to adjust the jetway so no rain fell through. That’s how hard it was raining.
Here’s the A320Neo taking us to BLR today.
And only on Air India will you board the plane late and leave late and have the sign still say “on time”.
Boarding finally began with business class passengers, Maharaja Club Members, and Star Alliance Gold members at which point I boarded the plane.
BOM-BLR
Airbus A320Neo
June 28th, 2019
I walked past the 3 rows of business class to economy class and had a bulkhead seat on today’s flight. As it is, Air India already has excellent legroom in its economy class in their normal seats. Well, the bulkhead seats are another level above that. There was a phenomenal amount of legroom and even on a domestic flight more than what is offered on major long-haul airlines like Singapore, Emirates, etc. There are also air nozzles at every seat which I appreciate.
That’s where the good aspects of the seat end. The seatback was really thin and hard and the seat cushion was alright. The headrest was also alright. There are no power ports which is fine on a narrowbody but with such a new plane you’d think they’d at least put some power ports in economy. I guess Air India is planning on remaining in the 1900s. Ultimately, this was not a big deal for a 1.5-hour flight but still would’ve been nice.
There was no pre-departure service, however, one of the crew members was a first officer and he was awesome! There were two first officers working our flight. One of their names was Ali and I didn’t get the other one’s name but both were excellent. For the sake of referencing the other flight attendant by name, let’s just say his name was John. So we have John and Ali. John was actually helping each passenger with their bag rather than just watching them walk to their seat and had a smile about it while doing it. That smile as you interact with people is the most important thing for me in an economy class service.
It was a very rainy day from monsoons and we got just that.
Finally, we began our pushback and taxi to takeoff. We were up in the air around 30 minutes late.
From here we climbed for a while.
The seatbelt sign didn’t even turn off until a whole 35 minutes after takeoff, at which point they closed the curtain between economy and business class. That’s 1/3rd of the flight gone just like that. Understandably because of the weather they had to do that.
Finally, breakfast was served less than 5 minutes later.
Now unless, you ordered a special meal (I didn’t), Air India by default serves only vegetarian food on their domestic flights. But look at this! A full hot meal included on this 1.5-hour flight which is really awesome. Now once your flight is above 1.5 hours, you are going to get a full tray meal. Depending on the time, you could be served “breakfast”, “lunch”, “dinner”, or “snack”. This was breakfast.
It looked good and I was ready to dig into the food.
The main course was a paratha and chole (garbanzo beans cooked in curry and Indian spices. It was delicious! The curry was hot, spicy, and flavorful just the way I like it and the paratha was hot and soft. I’d say that if you are an international passenger maybe from a western country traveling domestically on AI, the spice level may be something to watch if you aren’t used to eating spicy food, but that’s that. For me it was enjoyable.
A water bottle was also given with the meal which is a valuable aspect of any meal.
There was also mango flavored yogurt which was very tasty and refreshing.
Even the bread and butter was good.
Indian butters like Amul and Nova just click a different way than normal butter.
Overall, this was an excellent meal and a fabulous offering for a one hour flight.
A little later I asked for hot water and Ali brought it with a smile on his face. Like I said, economy class service should be on a lower level than business class, but a smile during interaction is all I ask for. I got just that and more.
10 minutes later, both Ali and John cleared trays and, again, with smiles on their face.
I can’t say enough good things about the service and food on this flight.
The rest of the flight is just views as we crossed over from Maharashtra into Karnataka.
Soon we began our descent into Bengaluru and had nice views of the country.
We had a smooth touchdown onto the runway and a brief taxi to the gate.
It was a beautiful day in Bengaluru.
Here’s one last look at the spacious bulkhead seat I had.
And one look at the plane upon deplaning.
Overall, this was a great flight. The crew was great, the food was a fantastic offering for a 1.5-hour flight, the seats had great legroom but could’ve been better equipped and more comfortable, but otherwise another great flight with Air India. I’d gladly fly them again without problems, despite people’s concerns of their ability to get anywhere on time.