[vasoo]

Originally Posted by MCR

I took Lufthansa.

Bangalore -Frankfurt : Cattle class. The seats are too cramped in economy.
Frankfurt - Philadelphia : Nice wide seats in economy. Good legroom too.
Philadelphia - Newport News : US airways corporate jet. Absolutely loved it.

The return leg was exactly the opposite of above. But the flight times are simply huge and add to that the airport layovers. Next time I will fly non stop on Delta or Continental.

Lufthansa is one of the better airlines in Europe. I found their connecting flights from FRA worse than the ones connecting BLR to FRA. Most of them dont have seat back video screens and even if there, it will not have customizable movie option (play,stop rewind, forward etc).

There is no Delta or Conti service from BLR yet. The one through CDG is Air France and it is much worse than Lufthansa in terms of service and airport facilities.

There are no non-stop flights to any US airports from BLR. As far as I know, the only options are Air France, Emirates and some more Gulf based airlines, Lufthansa, BA, Singapore Airlines and some other SE Asian airlines and SriLankan Air. Of the above Emirates and Singapore Air are the best followed by Lufthansa and BA. I have not tried Qatar or Etihad airlines yet.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by Nitin

I'm not sure how many people can help me find the right answer to my question, given the situation. None-the-less, any valuable input is appreciated.

I'm here in the US on an EAD card & Advance Parole document(basically one step before the Green Card). I'm travelling to India in May, through BA. Houston-London-BLR. BA claims that I need a transit visa to fly with them.I'm not sure if anyone else has had the same issue. And the transit visa seems to be a pain in the neck, with the amount of paperwork requested (not that anything can be done about this).
Would anyone be able to confirm that this is my only option?

Normally you don't need a transit visa in LHR unless you have to change airports in London. There are at least three international airports in the vicinity. The option you may have is to look for flights that does not need an airport transfer and has connections from LHR itself (Heathrow).

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by Nitin

I'm not sure how many people can help me find the right answer to my question, given the situation. None-the-less, any valuable input is appreciated.

I'm here in the US on an EAD card & Advance Parole document(basically one step before the Green Card). I'm travelling to India in May, through BA. Houston-London-BLR. BA claims that I need a transit visa to fly with them.I'm not sure if anyone else has had the same issue. And the transit visa seems to be a pain in the neck, with the amount of paperwork requested (not that anything can be done about this).
Would anyone be able to confirm that this is my only option?

Take a transit in the middle-east or some other country in Europe. LHR either ways is chaos and I wonder what is this concept of a transit VISA.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by Nitin

I'm not sure how many people can help me find the right answer to my question, given the situation. None-the-less, any valuable input is appreciated.

I'm here in the US on an EAD card & Advance Parole document(basically one step before the Green Card). I'm travelling to India in May, through BA. Houston-London-BLR. BA claims that I need a transit visa to fly with them.I'm not sure if anyone else has had the same issue. And the transit visa seems to be a pain in the neck, with the amount of paperwork requested (not that anything can be done about this).
Would anyone be able to confirm that this is my only option?

Is it possible for you to book Houston - Dubai - Blr? thats the best route and no hassle for transit visa.
LHR is anyway chaotic along with CDG.

Abhi

[Nitin]

The thing is I booked the tickets last month, thinking at the process is simple. I've had to get the Schengen Transit visa in the past, when I was going back to have my H1-B stamped, and I was on an OPT.
I got the process started, but now I'm not sure if I'd have to file a different application for my wife, though all her info is included in the main application and I have indicated that we are travelling together.
Why can't people make things easy! Beats me!

[ontheroad]

Hi Guys, Anyone knows any tollfree number or any contact numbers of Emirates in India? We need to do an urgent dep date change and seems they dont have any contact telephone here :(

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Hi Guys, Anyone knows any tollfree number or any contact numbers of Emirates in India? We need to do an urgent dep date change and seems they dont have any contact telephone here :(

Try this one.

Mumbai
Address
Emirates Contact Centre, Interface -11,
Unit No. 301 3rd floor,
off New Link road,
Malad west,
Mumbai 400 064
TelephoneIn Mumbai call 022 4097 4097
From the rest of the world call +9122 4097 4097
Fax+9122 2844 4670Working hours(open 24 / 7)


This is basically for skywards members, but guess they will be able to help out.

[goandude]

Has anyone been to Honolulu recently? Need a decent B and B for 2 weeks near the Univ area. googling was not much help. Also how long does it take to get over the jet lag?

[mental4vray]

Hi,
I will be travelling to LA next month from Mumbai. Any suggestions of what route and airline should I go through? I am currently thinking of taking either Emirates via Dubai or Virgin via London.

Your suggestions will be very helpful.

Thanks

[ghodlur]

Need some advice.

Which of the following is best for the economy class in Mum-London sector in terms of comfort, food service.

1) Kingfisher Airlines
2) Jet Airways
3) BA

Need to book tickets urgently.

[pankaj_sachdeva]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Need some advice.

Which of the following is best for the economy class in Mum-London sector in terms of comfort, food service.

1) Kingfisher Airlines
2) Jet Airways
3) BA

Need to book tickets urgently.

I have traveled on Del-LHR sector and my preferences will be Kingfisher followed by jet.

I do not have experience of BA flights but IIRC our company's travel-desk used to prefer Virgin Atlantic over BA before shifting the loyalties towards Kingfisher.

[revtech]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Need some advice.

Which of the following is best for the economy class in Mum-London sector in terms of comfort, food service.

1) Kingfisher Airlines
2) Jet Airways
3) BA

Need to book tickets urgently.

do not fly BA.terrible service..chose between jet and kingfisher depending on fares.i would fly jet.have flown to london many times..good service.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by pankaj_sachdeva

I have traveled on Del-LHR sector and my preferences will be Kingfisher followed by jet.

Originally Posted by revtech

do not fly BA.terrible service..chose between jet and kingfisher depending on fares.i would fly jet.have flown to london many times..good service.

So its Kingfisher vs Jet, the final deciding factor would be the comfort part esp the seats since my forward and return journeys are in the night. Can I hope to get a good sleep on baord?

[bblost]

BA. My sister in law flew down from Dallas to Hyderabad.

The plane was grounded in London due to some technical issues. 4 hours later, they are moved to another aircraft. By then the crew's time had lapsed.

The flight which should have landed at 5 AM, landed at 2 AM the next day.

[pankaj_sachdeva]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

So its Kingfisher vs Jet, the final deciding factor would be the comfort part esp the seats since my forward and return journeys are in the night. Can I hope to get a good sleep on baord?

I believe you can. My last journey from London was in night only and after having sumptuous chicken in dinner with good alcoholic beverages, plugged in ear plugs and switched off for a good night sleep. The seats were comfy too with a pillow and a blanket.

Btw:it was a kingfisher flight.The in-flight entertainment system was also pretty much ok for passing time.