[Amrik Singh]

I would request readers with latest travel to reply to this query.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by carboy

For domestic flights how soon are you supposed to reach the airport these days if you do not have checkin luggage? Is 75 minutes a safe time time to reach the airport or should it be sooner?

Originally Posted by carboy

Do they still check vaccine records or do COVID tests at the origin airports? Does this take up any extra time?

Depending on Airport, the worst known to me is T3 in Delhi, just to get entry, it can take you 15-20 minutes and then sometimes the security clearance is a mess. T1 comes next, T2 is better. Some of the other Airports I recently used like Chennai/ Ahmedabad it took 10 minutes to clear everything.

You should have a soft copy of the boarding pass, and if it's a small airport, 60-75 minutes is Ok. You need to be at the boarding gate around 30 minutes prior to the flight departure.

NO covid tests or vaccine reports are asked/ checked. Even the masks are hardly enforced, not just in the Airport but also on planes. Unless you are on an overseas flight, where you may have present a test or certificate depending on the country of travel and also factor in additional time for immigration.

[ankan.m.blr]

Request for information on Delhi Airport. My wife and son will reach Delhi airport T1 from Bangalore at tonight 01.00 AM. It's an IndiGo flight. I have driven from Bangalore to Delhi ( and staying at a hotel) to receive them tonight. Please guide where should I park and wait for arrival.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Request for information on Delhi Airport. My wife and son will reach Delhi airport T1.

There's a parking space near T1; very close to Arrivals. You can follow the signs as you near T1; there are three lanes (for Departures, Arrivals and Parking). You can then tell them what pillar you're standing at outside of Arrivals so you can find each other easily.

Alternately, you can also consider if your hotel as airport pick up facility.

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

There's a parking space near T1; very close to Arrivals. You can follow the signs as you near T1; there are three lanes (for Departures, Arrivals and Parking). You can then tell them what pillar you're standing at outside of Arrivals so you can find each other easily.

Alternately, you can also consider if your hotel as airport pick up facility.

Thank you for the information. I'll check out from my hotel at midnight to go to the airport and then proceed to Himachal. Would you be kind enough to please share a Google map link to the T1 nearby parking. I checked in maps and found a couple of them, not sure which is the suitable one. Again, many thanks.

[Doonite]

Does anyone here have experience travelling on Air India's flight 787-8?

I'll be travelling in economy (emergency row) to Sydney next weekend and just wanted to know about what to expect or are there any tips and tricks that i should keep in mind.

Originally Posted by carboy

Do they still check vaccine records or do COVID tests at the origin airports? Does this take up any extra time?

After my VISA medical, I was given a stamped medical document from Max Hospital to carry with me when i travel. It contains information about my Covid-19 vaccines as well as some other information if i remember correctly. Just to be safe, Carry a print out from the 'cowin' website as well.

As far as i know, RT PCR test is not required to be presented currently and they don't do a 'on the spot' test at the airport either.

[Doonite]

My flight (Air India economy) for Sydney was on 30th of October and this will be a brief account of my trip.

At the Indian airport terminal 3, there was too much crowd and long queues. Took me an hour and a half to check in, clear security and immigration. There wasn't any complication at all, just some irritants like people pushing you from behind to hurry up and breaking the queue to get ahead. The boarding area was Gate 20 and the bench seats are average in comfort in that section. You barely have any loungers.

The first thing to greet me when I entered the flight were the stains on my seat, yikes! I had booked the emergency seat in the first row, so did not need to stress myself finding my seat. Then the pillow that they provide was also stained. The entertainment screen was not working for my seat or the seat next to me! The staff stated their helplessness. Thankfully, I had downloaded lots of episodes on my phone, of a series I've been wanting to watch for a while. I don't know how I would've passed my time otherwise. The food (Hindu vegetarian meal) was average but the desserts were good. I did not have any tea or coffee.

The flight arrived 40 minutes before the stipulated time and the landing was pretty smooth as well. The process of exiting the plane was typical people rushing to the exit ugh! Having a seat in the first row helped a lot here. Exiting the Sydney airport barely took me 10 minutes and it was a pretty smooth affair.

This is the only direct flight operating between India and Sydney. All other popular flights have a stop in between. I'll still recommend them over Air India. I just found the experience to be bang average.

Hope this helps someone

[ghodlur]

Experts, need some guidance.

I will be travelling to Manila, Phillipines in the first week of Feb 2023 from Bangalore. I am finding no direct non stop flights from Bangalore to Manila and instead will have to travel with a 1 stop flight with Thai, Malaysian or Singapore airlines and a layover at the respective country capitals. What should be the best option I should choose. I will be travelling by Business class.

If the Singapore airlines had a A-380, I would have opted for it without blinking an eye but unfortunately that's not going to be the case. Anybody travelled to Manila recently? How's the immigration process? Any help here would be appreciated.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

will have to travel with a 1 stop flight with Thai, Malaysian or Singapore airlines and a layover at the respective country capitals. What should be the best option I should choose. I will be travelling by Business class.

Changi should be the best, I won't worry about A-380 for such a short flight/s. Thai should be the second option. But I will pick either of these depending on the time of flight, my membership status with that Airline and the least hours I have to spend in the lounge & of course, the prices You should also check Cathay.

If you don't have to worry about the price & want to enjoy the fullest look at Qatar and Emirates too. No experience with your questions relating to Manila immigration.

[SR-71]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I will be travelling by Business class.

This alone shall dictate your choice. Its Singapore -> Thai -> Malaysian in that order.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Experts, need some guidance.

I will be travelling to Manila, Phillipines in the first week of Feb 2023 from Bangalore. I am finding no direct non stop flights from Bangalore to Manila and instead will have to travel with a 1 stop flight with Thai, Malaysian or Singapore airlines and a layover at the respective country capitals. What should be the best option I should choose. I will be travelling by Business class.

If the Singapore airlines had a A-380, I would have opted for it without blinking an eye but unfortunately that's not going to be the case. Anybody travelled to Manila recently? How's the immigration process? Any help here would be appreciated.

I have done that about a dozen times (counting to and fro). KLIA is the most efficient option. Unfortunately the Malaysian airlines leaves around 00:30 to 1:30am and lands at an ungodly hour around 5am and the onward flight is typically 90mins to 2 hrs later (don’t recall exact timings as I haven’t done this route since 2018-19). So barely 3 hrs of sleep on the first leg and similar on the second. This means you lose half a day for an afternoon siesta after check-in at Manila. Next best option is a 3-4 hr layover at the KLIA lounge, for a late morning flight to MNL, but I prefer sleeping at the final destination after check-in as the most common sense tension free option.

As for immigration I had a Visa-Free entry for 5 or more years owing to a US B1 visa so it was faster than withdrawing money from an ATM each time (or comparable). If you have a Schengen or EU Visa you might qualify as well. Also partly due to the fact that not many flights had the same arrival time at MNL airport around 1230pm in those years. The situation may be different now.

[ontheroad]

Spice Jet is starting regular European flights to Milan and Rome from Amritsar using their 737 Max 8 with a technical stop at Tbilisi, Georgia from 9th November onwards. Seems they have plans to connect Birmingham too.

[Dieseltuned]

As an Indian citizen traveling back to India from a holiday in Singapore, are we required to get a COVID test for 8 year old kid ? Any idea , recent experience would be helpful

[Aiel]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

As an Indian citizen traveling back to India from a holiday in Singapore, are we required to get a COVID test for 8 year old kid ? Any idea , recent experience would be helpful

As per the current Air Suvidha regulations, yes. Currently, any person above 5 years requires either a -ve RT-PCR test or a vaccination certificate. As 5 - 12 year kids are not eligible for vaccines in India, and so, a RT-PCR report is required for them. Most airlines do check it quite vigorously at the check-in counter.

We had to do the same for my friend's daughter (aged 9 years), when travelling back from Thailand.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Doonite

My flight (Air India economy) for Sydney was on 30th of October and this will be a brief account of my trip.

At the Indian airport terminal 3, there was too much cr
This is the only direct flight operating between India and Sydney. All other popular flights have a stop in between. I'll still recommend them over Air India. I just found the experience to be bang average.

Hope this helps someone

Qantas also flies direct. Bangalore-Sydney. 3-4 flights a week.

On another note, basis my experience of two very recent trips, I have decided that I will only use Indigo for Blr- Singapore, Blr- Dubai and the like.
The aircraft are clean. They are usually well on time. They let you buy what you need in terms of priority checkin and leg room seats, carriage of sports equipment et al, at a fair price. Their seats are slim yet supportive and comfy enough for me. The staff are helpful and efficient. The co passengers by and large are decent people who do NOT push and squeeze and dump oversized bags insensitively into the overhead storage nor encumber themselves and everyone else with innumerable kids bags and duty free bags.

They do not rip off their seat belts and leap up as soon as the plane lands and immediately crowd the aisles and push theirselves through everyone else in order to get to the exits first. Nor do they gallop towards the immigration just so as to be ‘first in line’. I am completely amazed by this positively aberrant behaviour (compared to the behaviour of our brethren in general) and am really happy for it!

Indigo lands in T1 in Dubai and one takes a Train to the Arrivals/ Immigration. T1 is less crowded and hence more bearable. In Singapore too they land in T1 which is excellent and just a walk away from Jewel. Ok, one disadvantage with Indigo is that there is no personal screen but I consider it a boon because I like to sleep peacefully in any Aeroplane journey.

If I contrast these experiences with SQ or EK or MH, I very quickly realise that I would prefer not to use these bigger name airlines any more on these sectors.

Now I am going to try using Indigo to Sri Lanka and KL too and see how it is.