Stopover in Bangalore

[blu]

I'm doing the BLR transit next year (QF-BA). Have been advised there will be an 080 hotel in T2, should be open by year end. It doesn't seem possible to use the T1 airside 080 hotel. The Taj looks close but landside could raise problems.

 

[PaulyB]

I'm doing the BLR transit next year (QF-BA). Have been advised there will be an 080 hotel in T2, should be open by year end. It doesn't seem possible to use the T1 airside 080 hotel. The Taj looks close but landside could raise problems.

As it happens, I am flying tomorrow (Fri) morning from Sydney and was going to do an update. We are staying at 080 hotel although I am still unclear if it is genuinely airside as they have told us to get Indian Visas! But give me another 24-48 hours and all will be revealed....

 

[RooFlyer]

We have the same flights but booked for September with a 36 hr layover. The thought being if it’s 12hrs we may as well spend a full day and explore a city we haven’t been to. I’m planning to stay at the Taj hotel which whilst not connected to the terminal is 2 minutes drive away for the 6am departure. You will need a visa to exit the airport but these can be applied for on line.

I've stayed at the Taj at Bangalore Airport before, and despite it being only a few hundred metres from the terminal, took me nearly 15 minutes by their taxi due to traffic congestion... so take that into account! I wanted to get out and walk but it was through a construction site and looked a bit muddy. Hopefully that will be improved when you get there and walking would be an option.

I'm planning to stay at the Taj at the airport in November - not transit but between arriving in the PM and a tour pick up in the morning.

@jpp42 - any tips on good/bad room locations, esp wrt noise?

@pjm99au - a bit of a review would be welcome if you stay at the Taj, esp update on the walking access and general amenity of the hotel.

 

[PaulyB]

So, here is my promised update on transiting at Bangalore. I'm not really sure that this is going to be helpful because our circumstances were unusual but, here goes. It's not a pretty sight...

To recap, my wife and I were flying SYD-DUB with a 14-hour transit in BLR. The transit was from QF and then BA, both in J.

The flights were excellent on both counts and I thought the crews were really terrific.

A further recap is that we were planning to stay at the 080 Hotel, not to be confused with the 080 lounge which acts as a poor imitation of a QF or BA club. We had instructions from the hotel which were...

• Guest should hold an onward travel ticket from Bengaluru Airport, Valid within the next 24 hrs. in order to check in at 080 Transit Hotel.
• Guest should have proper Indian VISA to stay at the Hotel
• 080 Transit Hotel is located inside the terminal 1 on domestic departure hall before Security hold area next to airline check in counter no 1.

I couldn't really wrap my head around the concept that we were going to the domestic terminal or that we needed a Visa but I got a Visa anyway.

On arrival, I sought the local QANTAS staff help and she was really really good. Showed her the receipt from the hotel with the details. but unfortunately, I was advised that we had to get clearance from security to go into the transit area. 2 hours... Yes, really.....
There is more to that but we eventually got the clearance and happily went off to the hotel...

Except, dear readers we were taken to the lounge which was in the transit area, airside in Terminal 1 which is where the BA leg was talking off from. Oops.

But realizing the mistake, the manager of the lounge and the QANTAS ground staff put their heads together for another hour as well as appealing to the immigration manager's better nature to allow us into the country so we could go to the hotel.

The top boss, bless him, wouldn't budge so instead, a wonderful night was held in transit. To his credit, the manager and team at the lounge were lovely. They even gave us a semi-private area to sleep except that it was next to a very noisy kitchen so we moved to the couches in transit! The showers and food were welcome though.

Morning takeoff was interesting because I only had a printed version of the boarding passes. So the BA crew were scrambling trying to find us so that they could print the cards.

So - I would say that if you are going to fly and stay at 080 hotel, just do as you would do if it was the Taj. Enter the country, which of course is why we needed the visas... It's still airside because they will escort you to the security checkpoints so the hotel's entry point.

Why did that not happen for us? Honestly? I could not make any sense of the idea of going through immigration and so I sought help. The Qantas rep didn't know there was a hotel and the whole thing snowballed. In the end, it was my own stupid fault for not insisting we ring the hotel and understand their instructions better. I trusted and did not verify.

The other thing that is interesting is that a previous poster's in-laws were doing the same trip and were not able to check their luggage through to LHR. I discovered the issue here. According to Sydney check-in (these guys were legends) the system assumes about a 6 or 8-hour (don't remember) transit with different airlines.

They were able to circumvent it though and our luggage was checked through successfully to Dublin. So, well worth checking at check-in, as long as the ticket has the same PNR. It did take about 20 minutes for the supervisor to be able to do it though so patience will be key..

Thank heavens we were in J.....

 

[Flashback]

This is getting better and better...or scarier and scarier....
We arrive 5pm and leave at 6a so it's going to be a super early check-in. I presume /hope BA has their club there.

There will be a big sleep time so maybe a night at the Taj seems like the way to go as long as we are confident about the transport to and from...

I can definitely do without a trip to the city!!! Thanks!

Ah sorry, I should have read more carefully and realised it's an overnight layover. I wouldn't do anything except stay at the Taj in that case. Yes you'll have to brave immigration but it's not terrible (get your eVisa) - still way better than Mumbai or Delhi due to fewer international flights. And although I did have bad traffic that once, it was back in Feb and the construction may have sorted itself out. The Taj will supply a car for you upon request, so you will definitely get there.

As far as the BA club, definitely not, the only options in BLR are shared lounges. BA uses one simply called "BLR International Lounge" which I haven't been to but seems to have relatively poor reviews (which is typically of most lounges in India). It does appear to be open 24 hours. I can't recall that I've been to this one, on my previous flight I was flying Singapore Airlines which uses Oberoi Lounge, which is not great either.

Interesting, I used to regularly travel there and I'm sure it was a Plaza Premium or similar lounge that I used at BLR flying BA.

Traffic in Indian cities can be bad but in Bangalore it's another level of bad.
Travel at night is better, but wonder what yo'll see at that hour

Very, very true. It is not too bad at 4am IME though..

 

[Spamam]

I found the 80 lounge great, probably due to on demand dosas.

 

[PaulyB]

I believe they are moving or renovating very soon . The kitchen is incredibly noisy and it’s pretty cramped. There is another lounge as well but 080 is the QF etc place to go. Only within 3 hrs, I think

 

[Steven of Mysore]

There is actually a helicopter service from the airport to the city !

Post automatically merged: Nov 12, 2022

Many nice hotels in Bangalore apart from the taj .

However, the Taj is a short walk from the airport terminal (it's an ON layover) - assuming the very messy construction is finished (the Taj is expanding). Having lived in Mysore for years and BLR is my 'home' airport, there is zero chance I would bother going into the city during a 12hr transit.

Post automatically merged: Aug 17, 2023

I found the 80 lounge great, probably due to on demand dosas.

Yes. It's a surprisingly good lounge. One of the best in India - low bar. Qantas use it for Business passengers.

 

[Flashback]

However, the Taj is a short walk from the airport terminal (it's an ON layover) - assuming the very messy construction is finished (the Taj is expanding). Having lived in Mysore for years and BLR is my 'home' airport, there is zero chance I would bother going into the city during a 12hr transit.

Post automatically merged: Aug 17, 2023

Yes. It's a surprisingly good lounge. One of the best in India - low bar. Qantas use it for Business passengers.

Mysore is definitely worth a visit if you have a 2-3 day stopover though, of course!

 

[RooFlyer]

Mysore is definitely worth a visit if you have a 2-3 day stopover though, of course!

Planned for this November

 

[pjm99au]

We flew into Bangalore this afternoon with a stopover before continuing on a BA flight. We are staying at the Taj

First thing to note is that as from last week QF and BA both now fly in and out of Terminal 2 at BLR. T2 was domestic only but they have now opened up the international section. Transit through the airport was seamless with good signage. A bit of a pfaff with finger prints but pretty good otherwise. The terminal is in the final throes of being finished

There is a free shuttle bus that runs every 10 mins between the two terminals. The bus stop is located to the right as you exit T2. There is good signage to the Terminal 1 shuttle. The shuttle does not require any on going ticket to board and is also used by staff for the staff car park. The shuttle drops off on the departures level of T1 right beside the covered walkway bridge to the Taj. Walking distance is an easy 300m or so to the Taj.

The Taj has opened its west wing and you can check in there but you then get a car to the east wing. Better to walk left down the road at the end of the covered walkway and about 20m down on your right is a sloping footpath down to the east wing reception.

The shuttle bus runs 24/7 apparently but I will try and get the hotel to give us a lift to T2 when we leave at around 3.30am

There was signage in T2 to a 080 hotel land side but I didn’t see any signage to an airside hotel.

 

[pjm99au]

On our way out of Bangalore now heading to Europe. I can highly recommend the Taj even if it is just for a 12 hour layover. Great accommodation, really friendly and helpful staff. They have three restaurants. A fine dinning Indian, a fine dinning Japanese/ Chinese and a more western cafe. We ate at the Asian and it was fabulous. It’s raining this morning so the hotel drove us to terminal 2 rather than the return bus trip. If doing the bus there would be a walk of 100m in the rain between the hotel and the covered walkway

Lounge access in Terminal 2 is in the new 080 lounge 1 level up from the main retail concourse level. Easy to find just after duty free. The lounge has quite a large bar and a separate restaurant area. Breakfast was pastries, fruit etc and eggs made to order. Not a great spread but sufficient. The lounge is in an open mezzanine and is quite warm

There is no airside hotel that I can see.

 

[Hamole]

Will like be having a 14 hour stopover in June next year going from London to Sydney and was not obvious to me if we would be able to use the 080 Hotel which is airside.

Have contacted them and confirmed this is only available to passengers who have a ticket departing terminal 1 which is domestic, so not an option for us or others getting home from Europe this way.

Going to the Taj seems like the way to go.

 

[jpp42]

Great to hear things are working well with the new terminal and bridge connection from the Taj at T1. Changing terminals for the QF->6E connection is a small hassle but seems they have minimised it - I assume the shuttle bus doesn't get caught in traffic?

 

[AmanKumar12]

Hi everyone! I had a stopover in Bangalore last year and loved every bit of it! If you're there, don't miss the Bangalore Palace and Cubbon Park. Also, try the local South Indian cuisine, especially the masala dosa and filter coffee.

 

[PaulyB]

Umm. Don’t think I said that. We never left the airport…

 

[blu]

Getting closer for us. Anyone walked back to Terminal 2 at an early morning hour. We can't get the hotel to respond to our question on booking hotel car transport (both ways). And prefer to avoid taxi (no rupee).

 

[pjm99au]

Getting closer for us. Anyone walked back to Terminal 2 at an early morning hour. We can't get the hotel to respond to our question on booking hotel car transport (both ways).

If you are talking about walking then I presume you are staying at the Taj. If so there is really no need for a car either way. Just get the free shuttle bus to and from terminal 1 - the Taj is a 5 minute walk from the shuttle stop and to walk back to terminal 2 you will need to walk to terminal 1 first.

 

[blu]

Was tipping not expected at the Taj? I did see an older reference to a 525inr cash charge for the hotel car transport. Also saw you can't take any rupee out of the country?

 

[Flashback]

Was tipping not expected at the Taj? I saw an older reference to a 525inr cash charge for hotel car transport. Also saw you can't take any rupee out of the country?

You most certainly can take INR out.

Tipping not expected there, but always welcomed - especially for airport transfers.