Air India Business Class - Singapore to Europe

[MEL_Traveller]

What could one do in Deli with a 13 hour layover? as the lounge there is awful they say.

go visit Delhi (visa permitting)

 

[dajop]

plus star alliance points earning? ..... The connection time in DEL is somewhat short at 1 hr.

Definitely points earning, although slow at coming through (to Krisflyer anyway). My transfer to Jet mucked up the earning on both outbound sectors, I should be able to claim the DEL-CDG sector on SQ, and try for ORC on SIN-DEL, but if that fails I'll see if I can credit the 9W flight to AA. As for connection, 1 hr is do-able with boarding pass (which you would normally get in SIN), I had 45 mins and no boarding pass for second sector - it was tight. CDG was the tightest connection though, other destinations that AI fly to in Europe (LHR, FRA, MXP/FCO) have longer connections.

Is business class called Executive?.

Yes it is

What could one do in Deli with a 13 hour layover? as the lounge there is awful they say.

Lounge was sort of OK, more on that later, but I went to Priority Pass lounge. In hindsight I should have just used lounge for some of the stay and spent the last 6 hours in the airside transit hotel for around ~$100 AUD. I didn't have time to get a transit visa - here in Singapore they need 7 working days ... and the time queuing to submit and queing to collect, getting photos etc, just not worth it. But if you have a NZ passport (or small number of other countries, such as Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, Japan) you can get visa on arrival, which may be worthwhile to visit Delhi for the day.

 

[dajop]

My visit to Europe took in Luxembourg (where my partner was for work), then to Lake Maggiore, Genoa, Cinque Terre and after the clouds came into Cinque Terre and the forecast was for a couple of day rains I took off to Menton, just across the French border, close to Monaco. Was a nice place to spend a couple of days:



Unfortunately though, due to the reliability (or otherwise) of trains in that part of the world, I had to leave at 2pm for a 11:30pm flight (train travelling time was five hours, but with two connections, I needed plenty of time). As it turned out the first two trains were running late and would have created issues if I didn't have plenty of time up my sleeve. Before leaving though a quick last swim and then a shower in one of the many dotted along the beach, as I didn't know what the shower situation would be at Milan Airport.

 

[dajop]

Eventually I reached the airport at around 8:45pm and proceeded to the Air India checkin counter.

A warning - for anyone thinking of doing the trip ex-Australia - make sure you have a printed itinerary available showing a flight from Singapore to Australia. Before checking in, someone inspects your passport for an Indian visa. As I didn't have an Indian visa, I indicated that I was connecting to Singapore, so they checked the res. system and that was OK - then they started looking for a Singapore visa. I handed them my national identity card (as I am permanent resident here) and they went off to the Air India staff member to check it was OK. Eventually after about 5 minutes or so I was allowed to checkin.

After that , checkin was smooth and proceeded through the fast track lane for security, where there was no-one in the queue and then through immigration and to the shared lounge.

At MXP, Air India, like most other airlines, use a shared lounge, in particular the "Sala Montale Lounge" (in fact EK seem to be the only one with their own lounge in the non-Schengen area). The lounge wasn't very busy, most passengers were there for the BA flight and after that started boarding, the lounge emptied out to just me and 2 other people. Food and beverage offering was basic, I had some packet noodles, chips and fresh fruit. A shower was available for 15 Euros ($22 AUD), but I declined, as each toilet cubicle had its own sink I sort of gave myself a pre-flight sponge bath instead. Powerpoints were few and far between, couldn't sit right beside a powerpoint, but with the lounge so empty it didn't matter.

Once the plan landed from FCO (the flight operates DEL-FCO-MXP-DEL 4 days a week and DEL-MXP-FCO-DEL the other 3 days), boarding soon commenced.

This time I had 2J, and didn't take long to turn left and find my seat. Again with only 10 passengers in cabin of 18, empty seat beside me and plenty of room to spread out. After boarding I was offered hot towel and had some sparkling wine, which was replaced immediately once I finished the glass. Good service to start with!

It wasn't long before we were taxi-ing and climbing out of the airport, with some impressive thunderstorms and a decent light show to the south. Thankfully we didn't go near that.

 

[dajop]

Supper service commenced shortly, dinner menu included:

Appetizer:
Hors d'oeuvre


Choice of main course:
Shrimp & Roasted Red Peppers in White Wine Sauce, served with Potato Gratin & Grilled Vegetables
Murg Handi Laziz: Delectable chicken curry cooked in a pot, served with Pulao, Spiced Vegetables and Dal
Palak Kofta Curry: Spinach & vegetable dumplings simmered in spicy curry, served with steamed rice, Spiced Vegetables and Dal
Shahi Panir & Baby Corn Korma: Cottage cheese & baby corn in a rich cashew gravy served with Pulao, Spiced Vegetables and Dal


Accompaniments: Oven Fresh Breads, Paratha & Yoghurt


Sweet moments:
Cannoli
Gajar ka Halwa, carrots steam in sweetened milk with cardamom.


Cheese, Fruits and Chocolates


I selected the chicken, the cannoli and finished with some cheese and fruit and a little packet of 2 Baci chocolates.

Pre-dinner snacks: (they brought round various packets of Indian snacks and nuts, I chose smoked almonds, and put them on the plate, I didn't realise there were other fresh snacks as well):



Appetizer (salad):

 

[dajop]

Main (chicken, tasted better than it looks):


Dessert:

 

[RooFlyer]

I would find it difficult to do Air India (just mental bias), but the TR certainly opens up the prospect, thanks

How would you score it Vs Finnair?

 

[dajop]

After meal service, amenities were handed out. Like SQ, no amenities kit, just eyeshade and socks, with other amenities in the bathroom

But unlike SQ, for this night time flight, pyjamas were also handed out:


I changed into the pyjama top (for temperature control I prefer just to have shorts on, not PJ bottoms), and put my bed flat, and they handed out some soft quilts, and I soon went to sleep. The seat was OK, I sleep on my side, so plenty of width to curl up a little, but I wouldn't want to be much taller (6'). Unfortunately MXP-DEL is fairly short (shorter than SYD-SIN), and flying time only 6:50 so not a lot of sleep time, but to the crews credit the service was completed very quickly.

About an hour out I awoke, and as soon as I woke was offered a juice and continental breakfast

 

[dajop]

I would find it difficult to do Air India (just mental bias), but the TR certainly opens up the prospect, thanks

How would you score it Vs Finnair?

I was surprised myself, fearing the worst, it was better than expected. I've never flown Finnair, but I probably would rate on a par or even perhaps slightly better than (because of the seats) Thai business class.

 

[dajop]

After landing, another long long walk to transit security. This time with BP pass in hand, no need to stop at transit counter. It took about 20 mins to go through the security - about 20-30 people in the queue in front of me, then of course all the stamps - for the hand luggage and the boarding pass!

I then proceeded to the Air India lounge. My first question - was there a shower? Yes - but it's out of order! Seats were comfortable enough, there were some recliner chairs which were good, but food selection was ordinary and the hot food cold.

After a couple of hours I went for a walk around the airport, stopped in at the bookstore to buy some books (they are usually cheap) and a can of coke (the only place in the airport, apart from McDonalds, who had post-mix) that stocked Coke, all the lounges and other F&B outlets only stocked Pepsi.

As my credit card comes with two complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits a year, I found the Plaza Premium Lounge, near the transit hotel, where I had a nice long shower! FWIW, with no lounge access you can still pay for a shower for 700 INR (~$12AUD). Food was also better here than in the Air India lounge. Internet access was a pain to start - you need SMS verification and it didn't work on my Singapore mobile, but the lounge assistant was able to help.

After a while there, I then moved to the SQ lounge on the floor below, courtesy of Star Gold status with SQ. It was very much like the refurbished MEL J lounge. The base food selection was the same as the Plaza Premium lounge, but the SQ lounge had a few extras as well. Also some better quality beverages. After they called the SQ flight I then went back to the AI lounge for an hour, where I relaxed again on the recliner seats.

I think if I did this again, I would consider paying the $100 or so to get a room the transit hotel, maybe get some shuteye from 4-10pm. Otherwise, with hand luggage only, I would think about trying to sacrifice the last sector and get on the MH flight that was leaving 2 hours after I landed, that would get me back to SIN that night. But I suspect, whilst this approach could work at places like SIN, this may be impossible at DEL!

Hardly anything to report on the last flight, it was full though. I only had pre-takeoff beverages and the bottle of water provided in each seat, skipped the meal and went to sleep. Probably the biggest concern for the whole trip came in the last six minutes, I had woken, a looked at my watch thinking "we must be landing soon", and out the window I could see the part of Malaysia you usually reach close to final approach. Sure enough, on came the captain "6 minutes to landing", so the crew hurriedly got everyone's seats upright, stowed everything and had 3 minutes to spare pre-landing. I am more used to the SQ announcement "30 minutes to landing, cabin crew prepare cabin for arrival".

 

[RooFlyer]

I was surprised myself, fearing the worst, it was better than expected. I've never flown Finnair, but I probably would rate on a par or even perhaps slightly better than (because of the seats) Thai business class.

Oops, sorry, I thought I recalled you commenting on Finnair But I follow the Thai comparison.

 

[Limewood]

The fare was $1735 SGD (~$1500 AUD) .... SIN-DEL-CDG/MXP-DEL-SIN, about the same price or cheaper than most carriers fares in economy to Europe

Cant seem to find J fares SIN/DEL/MIL anywhere near $1500, now about AUD$2800.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Cant seem to find J fares SIN/DEL/MIL anywhere near $1500, now about AUD$2800.

The fare seems to be partially withdrawn. Still available to CDG apparently.

 

[Limewood]

Yes I see CGD is the better deal, looked up 2 x J Sept/Oct was SIN$3705 - AUD$3200 SIN/DEL/CDG return for both!, have to consider this on 787 Dreamliner all the way.