[satan's_valet]

Originally Posted by carbhp

We are interested in Chennai to Singapore but the deal allows only Kuala Lumpur. Any advise would be appreciated. I heard that good buses/train are available.

Is it economical to fly from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur and from there to Singapore for Vacation and come back to Kuala Lumpur again to depart to Chennai?

You have train connectivity between KL and Singapore. It is a 6-7 hrs journey. There are some nice hotels available in KL if you want to use the place as a stopover. You can check TripAdvisor for the hotels.

If you can get a good deal on your flights, then it would be possible and affordable to visit Singapore also.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Sadly they do not fly from any of the airports in India to Malé, Maldives. Was planning on booking two return tickets for September. The rates are on the cheaper side no doubt.

For Maldives, cheapest fares wil lbe from Trivandrum and Kochi. Air India operate to Male' from Trivandrum and Bangalore, Spice Jet flies in from Kochi and Maldivian (the national airline of the Maldives) flies daily from Trivandrum and also thrice weekly from Chennai. In addition there is another gateway point other than Male with Maldivian's weekly flight from Trivandrum to Hanimadhoo. Srilankan also connects all these cities in India (and a few others including BOM and DEL) via Colombo to Male'.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by carbhp

We are interested in Chennai to Singapore but the deal allows only Kuala Lumpur. Any advise would be appreciated.

Assuming you are Indian citizen... Remember that you need visas for Singapore and Malaysia. Travelling via KL adds another visa application/fee to the workload/expense.

[goandude]

Has anyone on this forum made a claim for delayed baggage on an international flight by air india? Their website states "On international journeys, if delivery of baggage is delayed beyond 24 hours when a passenger is on a visit to a foreign country and has no access to their own wardrobe, then an interim expense of GBP 50.00 or equivalent in local currency is reimbursed. In India, the amount is INR 3,000."

My daughter had her baggage delayed at CDG Paris. The luggage was eventually delivered to her Paris address 40 hours after her arrival. Wondering how to claim the 50 GBP or 3000 INR as she didn't have time to claim the same in Paris.

[Jeeper1941]

Originally Posted by goandude

Wondering how to claim the 50 GBP or 3000 INR as she didn't have time to claim the same in Paris.

The way AI works nowadays you'll probably spend more than Rs. 3000 trying to claim the "compensation"!

[Turbanator]

Chennai to Singapore but the deal allows only Kuala Lumpur. Any advise would be appreciated. I heard that good buses/train are available

You can take Train but at Borders everyone has to get off from train and pass through security - its little botheration specially if you are with family - taking off with your luggage and standing in long queue's , security guys & Dog's sniffing for Drugs - try to avoid , you can instead look for seperate flight from KL to Singapore - there are plenty and cheap

[StrangeWizard]

I have a query related to domestic travel.
My cousin has just landed from UK and he is flying to Goa via Indigo today.

The ticket says Terminal 1B Santacruz so is it located at the Sahar International Airport only or at the domestic airport in santacruz?

[binand]

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

The ticket says Terminal 1B Santacruz so is it located at the Sahar International Airport only or at the domestic airport in santacruz?

It is the one at Santacruz. An easy way to remember is that all 1X terminals are at Santacruz, and all 2X terminals are at Sahar.

If he's transferring, he can take advantage of the inter-terminal bus service (it is before you exit the terminal building).

[wantarangerover]

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

I have a query related to domestic travel.
My cousin has just landed from UK and he is flying to Goa via Indigo today.

The ticket says Terminal 1B Santacruz so is it located at the Sahar International Airport only or at the domestic airport in santacruz?

It is the santa cruz (Domestic) terminal. There is a bus shuttle service which will take you to the santa cruz terminal from the Int'l one, and you can check in before boarding the bus. Make sure to ask around for the bus timings if the timings are tight.

I can understand the confusion, as the airport is actually same (sahar and santa cruz) from the operations side, but separated on the outside. And they call both as CSIA, which adds to the confusion.

[Superleggera]

I just a did BOS-FRA-BLR round trip on Lufthansa. I was pleasently surprised by the positive attitude by Lufthansa crew this time and the service was great. The last time in flew in Lufthansa was about two years ago (same sector) and I felt they had a racist towards Indians at that time.

WE indians need to learn a lot on how to behave in public places. The flight to Bangalore was scheduled to leave from Gate Z19 and the attendents had tough time for controlling the crowd gathered at the gate. There was no line formed, people were trying to push thru from all directions. As usual, they called passengers with Kids first, followed by elderly passengers - but they were not able to get thru the entry points because of the crowd. Same was the case when they called passengers based on seat numbers ranges.

And one of the drinking water fountain was filled with Pan spit.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Superleggera

The last time in flew in Lufthansa was about two years ago (same sector) and I felt they had a racist towards Indians at that time.

A few years ago a little birdie from the airline industry told me that the flight crew considers the Asian sector as punishment postings!

Originally Posted by Superleggera

We indians need to learn a lot on how to behave in public places. The flight to Bangalore was scheduled to leave from Gate Z19 and the attendents had tough time for controlling the crowd gathered at the gate. There was no line formed, people were trying to push thru from all directions.

True, that. I usually plug in my earphones or read till the cacophony dies down. I have had a couple of instances when I saw no one near the boarding gate, so proceeded towards the flight. However, either the entry chute was blocked with people grabbing free magazines or everyone trying to stuff their luggage in the overhead cabins. I ended up chatting with the flight crew about their travel plans till eventually some burly flight attendant marched everyone to their seats.

Since the time someone last tried to crush my coat with an oversized bag in the overhead cabin, I always try to board last regardless of the class of my ticket or my seat number. I dont know if that makes me racist, but I find it more peaceful than someone asking me to help with their bag or exchange seats or step on my toes or brush their backpack against my head or, we all know the list!

[Anghammarad]

I have a bit of a query, not sure about this being the right thread for it but here goes.
I am planning a trip to Germany for two weeks, and was wondering if anyone could tell me the best way to keep in touch with family from India while I was there.
Looked at International Sim Cards like TSim and Matrix, but someone told me to get a local sim from the airport itself at Munich.
Basically I will be using the phone to call home and make a few local calls to friends in Germany. Any suggestions? Am totally green behind the ears when it comes to this so I wold appreciate any help in this regard

Note to moderators: Please post this to the appropriate thread if it is in the wrong one thank you.

[mazda4life]

Originally Posted by Anghammarad

I have a bit of a query, not sure about this being the right thread for it but here goes.
I am planning a trip to Germany for two weeks, and was wondering if anyone could tell me the best way to keep in touch with family from India while I was there.

I have been using dial91 since we disconnected vonage and this is the link for calling India from Germany, its quick, no hassles and u can assign pins for fast dial https://www.dial91.com/call-india.as...ny&City=Berlin

[Anghammarad]

Originally Posted by mazda4life

I have been using dial91 since we disconnected vonage and this is the link for calling India from Germany, its quick, no hassles and u can assign pins for fast dial https://www.dial91.com/call-india.as...ny&City=Berlin

Thanks for the link.
This is a VOIP service essentially, which means I will have to enable my internet service in order to use it there. Which again means expensive bandwidth usage from Vodafone India.
I was looking for more along the lines of lycamobile or lebara mobile, but wanted to know if there was any option to pick them up from the airport itself, or if anyone had better recommendations?
Thanks again

[phamilyman]

no man. lebara or anything else is basically a shortcut to buying a local sim (except you have total clarity on rates to India but no data). In a country where they speak english properly (I would think so in Germany) and where you'd have wifi access, you can do:
a. Carry indian SIM. Don't use it. Call via skype or rebtel or actionvoip or anything else using hotel wifi.
b. Buy local SIM. Call directly (often expensive) or use calling cards to India. I did this when i was there ten years back! You may wish to check now. This has the option of being able to use data (google maps!).

What we do on our foreign trips? #a