Airliners-India.com

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Hello fellow A-netters!! With so many replies and views of my previous trip report, So I am submitting my second trip report to Airliners India
Firstly I am sorry for not taking any pictures because I mistakenly checked in by bag containing the camera.

Background-
Since last 2 years, our relatives were trying get my cousin sister married. But somehow it was been canceled at the very last moment. Either the Groom’s parents rejected or my relatives rejected the boy.
Finally this September a nice family contacted us for the marriage, & guess what??? The marriage got fixed at last. Eventually we came to know that the boy’s family resided in Chicago, Illinois. After fixing the dates, I also came to know that the marriage was going to take place in Kanpur, U.P. And to my surprise the wedding reception was going to be held in Chicago. I was in the seventh sky after hearing this news from my dad.

Meanwhile everything was been fixed, the groom’s parents contacted us and informed us that they are going to pay the price of the tickets to USA for any 10-12 individual.
As many of us knew that nobody is going to come to USA for a wedding reception. So only my sisters parents and her of course, my dad and me (mom refused so did my sis), my dad’s sister and my cousin brother were going to come.(these were the only once having a passport)
My sister’s parents asked me to coordinate this trip. Next day morning my dad got $16000 credited in his account.

Bookings-
Everybody told me that not to book on flights taking more than 18hrs from here. So I started searching flight deals and bang Air India offered me the best price. It offered us a single economy class ticket for just around 74000/- (incl. of taxes).So I quickly booked us on AI 101 from DEL to JFK for onward leg and AI 102 from JFK to DEL. The final price came out to be hefty INR 592000.

Next I visited to American Airlines website and found that the tickets price for a return ticket from JFK to ORD would cost me somewhere around Rs.14500 per head, so again I booked ourselves for this price.
The itinerary came out to be like this for the whole trip-
 AI 101 – DEL to JFK on 22st Oct
 AA1351 – JFK to ORD on 22st Oct
 AA876 – ORD to BOS on 29th Oct
 AA1915 –BOS to JFK on 29th Oct
 AI 102 – JFK to DEL on 29th Oct

As I was having my exam so, eventually I had to miss the marriage ceremony on 18th Oct, 2012. Till 18th I did not went shopping. So on 19th Oct I went for shopping with my mother. Now on 20th Oct, We received a call from Air India office regarding our booking. So we also informed that they would send their staff to help us getting through the check-in (a nice touch from Maharaja).

I was very excited about the trip as it was my first trip to abroad and that to USA. My childhood dream was going to be true. On 20th everybody assembled in our home in Ghaziabad. The groom and his family went on 20th itself. My dad and I went to leave them at the airport.
I was imaging lot of things about the trip and the flight for the next day. I couldn’t sleep properly that day due to excitement.

The D-day has finally arrived. The morning was much different from other days. I knew this was all due to my excitement. So morning went as usual with last minute packing. We did pack some heavy woolen clothes as the temp. In Chicago was quiet low (the max. was about 9⁰c and min. about -3⁰c). As the flight was about 1.35am in the night, so we planned to get to airport around 11pm in night as the airport is about 40kms from my residence.

After finishing our light dinner around 9.45pm, we bid our farewell to our family members and took leave from them. The cab came on time around 10pm and we left our home for this wonderful trip of lifetime. The roads were quiet busy, as it was Dusherra time. Luckily the roads kept emptying as we were proceeding towards the airport.

We arrived the Indira Gandhi International Airport T-3 around 10.50pm.The cabby wished us a happy journey, and we proceeded towards the Departure area. I took out all the passports and tickets from the backpack, and gave them to the respective family members. We went inside the massive building, and except me and my dad everybody was visiting this state of art terminal for the very first time.

So I went on and checked for the flight status on FIDS placed everywhere around the departure area, So AI-101 was on-time as usual.
Air India had an entire check in island G for themselves.We went for the check-in and as expected the staff was already there waiting for us.

A very young female staff came to us and took our passport and tickets. She went with us to the counter and checked us in. We checked in our luggage and to my surprise the weight of the baggage did not exceeded the limits (we had around 12 pieces of luggage for 8 passengers excluding hand baggage).

Now our boarding passes were printed & were handed over to us.We got 20ABC, 21ABC and 22AC. Then I asked the pretty lady about the load, and she said it was around 75% full. I then asked her if she could keep the 22B empty for us, so that the person sitting doesn’t get bored for the entire length of flight. Before proceeding towards the security check we got our money exchanged by Thomas Cook.

Now we all went for security and immigration. We had to fill the departure card before proceeding for the security and passport check. There was no line in-front of us, except two or three passengers. The security person nicely checked my passport and did a bit of chit-chat & we all were through security in no time. It took around 10mins to complete the while process but as usual the cabin luggage again took around 5mins more get X-rayed.

By the time we were airside it was already 11.40pm.Now after walking so much,we all were a bit hungry. So we headed to the food court located upstairs near the retail and duty free outlets. We had a bit of snacks and coffee. By the time we exited the food court it was around 12.15am, another 1 hour before boarding started.

We now proceeded to the gate area; we were going to depart from gate 26. Delhi Airport had only 4 gates with provision of secondary security screening. These gates a mainly used for non-stop US bound flights. By the time we reached our gate, we saw few people reading books or listening to music or working on their laptops.

Now we waited patiently for the aircraft arrive the gate. Meanwhile I took out the laptop and quickly opened flight radar and checked out the registration of aircraft.

Finally the aircraft arrived from the hangars and we all started queuing around the gate 26.The boarding began at around 1.00am. The secondary security procedure began. We had to put our hand baggage,shoes and belt in the scanner once more.
The CISF personnel checked our boarding passes and let us inside the gate area and onto the aerobridge that is located a level below.

Date: 22 October, 2012
Route: Delhi (DEL)-John F Kennedy (JFK)
Flight Number: AI-101
Aircraft: B777-337/ER
Registration: VT-ALK
Scheduled Time of Departure: 01.35
Actual Departure Time: 01.50
Scheduled Arrival Time: 7.35
Actual Arrival Time: 6.45
Flight Time: 15hrs 30mins
Class: Economy
Seat: 22A

We all were welcomed by one female crew nearly in late 20s and one young male pursuer in mid 20s. They saw our boarding passes and directed towards our seats. The B777 cabin was huge. There was uncountable number of rows. It looked like a long hotel corridor.

We settled in our seats quickly. Boarding was a bit quick as the load in Y was about 75%, in J it was around 80% and in First Class it was only one person. As expected the seat 22B was left empty for us. The IFE was still not switched on (only a welcome screen was shown).The headphone were already kept in the seat pocket.

People kept on boarding till the next 30mins. Finally at around 1.35am the doors were closed. Crew started the safety demonstration manually as well as on the PTVs also. Few minutes later Captain P Sandhu came on the PO and he welcomed us on board. He informed us the flying hours and also told us that we are going to experience some serious turbulence on our descend into JFK. At last he informed us we are going to make it before time arrival into JFK.

Finally pushed back started around 1.40am and we then slowly taxied to the new runway 11/29. Few minutes later the GE90s came to live .The cabin was still very quiet except a little engine noise. Within few seconds we lined up with the runway and few seconds more we were thundering down the runway.

The engines were on full throttle and slowly we took off. Few rights & left banks and finally we were on our way to USA. Within about 25mins after take-off we reached our cruising altitude (38000ft). Now the cabin lights had been switched on & we were free to move around in the cabin. By now the PTVs had been switched on and quickly changed it to the flight information mode. We were somewhere over Punjab and outside temperature was -46⁰c.

After about 1hr into the flight the first meal service began. Firstly we were given our so called “amenity kits” consisting eye-shades,toothpaste and toothbrush. Secondly we all were given a small snack consisting only peanuts and cold drink. Then we were handed out our menu cards. I ordered the non-veg. option & so did all my family members did except my sister.

On the non-veg. option, it was chicken curry, rice, a vegetable curry, a small bun, salad and for desert it was a vanilla cake. Within about 20mins of ordering, we all got them served on our respective tables. We were the first ones to be served on the whole flight. The dinner was absolutely delicious (as all ways on AI). The vanilla cake was awesome. By the time we all finished our dinner it was around 3am (IST).

By now everyone started to fall asleep. I firstly went to the toilet and then took a small walk around the flight. Then after coming back I started to listen to some soft music and gradually I fell asleep. After about 5 hrs I woke only to find the I-pod’s battery exhausted and ear phones still in my ears. We were somewhere over Norway and still about 7 hrs left into the flight. It was about 8.20am in Delhi.

The outside view was amazing as the sun was set to rise around that region. Then again I slept for another 2 hrs and finally woke up when we were over Green land. Still about five hours remaining. I switched on the IFE and started to watch a movie (Johnny English Reborn). Then after brushing my teeth, I just did little chit chat with a F/A. I requested her if I could see the flight deck after we landed, to which she agreed.

Five hours turned into three hours which became two, and time was dropping away quickly. The cabin lights were still dim, but most people were awake by this point. It was around 10.30am in Delhi. Customs and I-94 cards were distributed. Then lights slowly came on and the carts were rolled up the aisles for breakfast service.

Again, options were divided between vegetarian and non-veg. meals and were distributed alongside the coffee/juices/tea service. The main course consisted of scrambled eggs, French fries some grilled cottage cheese(paneer). There was small fruit tray also containing watermelons, apple and pineapple. A small bun was again given also. I ordered for a glass of OJ and a cup of tea.

Now after about 30mins the trays were collected. The crew began to prepare the cabin for arrival to JFK. Still about 1hr left into the flight we started to descent into JFK. The captain once again came on the P/A and after wishing us very good morning, he advised us to get back to our seats quickly as we were going to experience some severe turbulence. Within minutes the seats belts signs were put on.

As expected, the aircraft began shaking vigorously. But these things got over soon. It was pitch black outside. Only thing we could see was the wings making it ways though the clouds. Soon the landing gears were down with a big thud. The flaps were extended fully. We finally lined up with the runway 4L/22R. Within about 10mins we landed. The landing was pretty smooth but the braking was a bit hard. I think the reverse thrust was applied fully.

It was 6.45am in New York, the sun was still below the horizon but a bit of light was scattered around in the sky. We taxied to the T4 and onto the gate B24. The outside temperature was about 11⁰C. Soon the people started disembarking. My family also disembarked but I stayed back for the lifetime opportunity.

Few minute later the head F/A came and took me to the cockpit. I was on seventh sky. The captain asked my name and my also allowed me to sit on his seat. I thanked him and crew for a wonderful service throughout the flight. Soon I also exited the aircraft.

Now we all proceeded towards the baggage claim and immigrations. There was long line in-front of us. But the line moved quiet fast and we were through the immigrations in less than 20mins. Then we went for the baggage claim area. Our luggage was already on the belt. We all collected our respective bags and went for the exit.

This was the most interesting flight ever in my life.
Sorry once again for no pictures.
Thank you and have a nice day & pls do reply to improve this. Very Happy

Photos-

sabya99 · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 4:48 am Post subject:

Mr.Banerjee, it is nicely written with all the necessary details. I am surprised why they did not X-ray shoes/belts. This is a mandatory regulation of USDOT and enforced by TSA. Yes, food for AI 101/102 always good. Runway 4L/22R is also my runway although there was a recent security breech here. Were most passengers from Delhi area ? How many from Kolkata area? Lastly any other marriage party besides yours? Going to marry in Chicago in November is no fun. Only desi’s could do that.
_________________
Sabya99

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

@sabya99
Thank You so much for reading my report with all your patience. Very Happy

I too was surprised when I was not asked to take my shoes off.

I read the TSA regulations before hand,But this might be because we were in a family,so he must have thought sumthing else. I saw around 10 people removing their shoes but we were not asked except my brother.

And I am nt from kolkata and the reception was awesome.
And mostly all passengers were from Delhi I suppose. around 10 foreigners.

It was very cold in Chicago. We used to be at home or at the hotel room most of the times. Wink

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Very vivid trip report, Mr. Banerjee! You more than made up for the lack of pictures with some superb descriptions. It is great to hear that AI still keeps those high standards on the non-stop, including the amenity kit. Your descriptions had me glued to the computer screen till I had read each and every word carefully.
Cheers, Sumantra.

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thank You Sumantra & it was my pleasure that u read all the TR word to word. I never thought that i would write so much for this amazing trip.

Thank You once again. Would post more in near future.
Cheers!!! Very Happy

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

hey friends...... Pls commmnt on this TR ....... Need to improve this and want to post many interesting ones in the near future....... Very Happy

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Thanks for taking time out to post this short cirsp trip report Banerjee. Good to know the standards were maintaned by Air India in spite of the difficult times they are facing. Photos would have definately enhanced your report which you may want to consider next time.

Sri_Bom

ameya · Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 9:56 am Post subject:

Nice TR. Like any organization which has gone down, AI is facing a tough task to market itself properly.

I hope AI comes out of the whole mess like TK did, similar state it was in, once upon a time

Nimish · Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:43 pm Post subject:

Great TR - thanks for posting. I found the language and content to be excellent, and look forward to many such reports from you. The only thing missing is pictures - and I'm sure you'll get those included the next time around!
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We miss you Nalini!

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

thnks sri fr reding my TR wid all ur patiences....... Will right many more.......... I too ws missng th pics in this TR. Air india has thnk fully kept the standrds....... Smile

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

thAnk yoy vry much ameya............. Yeah Air India ws facing vry crucial times these dayz...... Bt nw it is quiet stable wid all of its flight flying on time and very less cancelation.......... Hope these new B787 dreamliners help AI in every possible way.......... At last we shud care fr this national carrier........ It is the glory of the nation........

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

thnks nimish........ I am glad tht u found this TR quiet interesting. It took me around 5dayz to complete this TR. In my nxt TR will post all the pictures taken by me.Nxt tym will nt commit the same mistake again.

Thank you once again........ Cool

PAL@YWG · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:51 am Post subject:

Hi Banerjee1000,
Your TR is very well written and the fact that you didn't have any pictures really didn't matter. AI's long haul product has consistent good reports lately, a sign of improvement I guess.

For Indian-style wedding, the traffic I always thought, India-bound but in your case it was the other way.
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Tally Sheet:
41 Countries ||55 Aircraft types ||60 Airlines ||75 Airports

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

thnks PAL....... I didn't expect tht widout the pics this TR would having so many views and replies...... In my nxt TR will surely add the pics..... And definetly nt frgt the cam in my checkin luggage. AI has definetly improved its standrds....... And I hope it will countinue to do so......... Very Happy

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:56 pm Post subject:

Good report, and pretty classy to see such an advanced prediction of the turbulence. Smile

Thanks for the share.
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Yeah.

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thnks dear...... It is mostly told before hand fr the safety of the passengers.
This ws predictable as Sandy ws approaching New York quiet fast.

Thank you once more and will share more on this site. Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

thnks SUMANTRA.......... I needed these kind of comments.
Feeling very positive now.
Thank you for keeping me updated. I never knew I would be receiving so many comments from u guys. I read many of the trip reports and found each and everyone to be very different from each other. All of them uniquely written by the members.

I am very new to this forum. It was my second TR bt unfortunately no pictures this time.

Thank You once again. It was sensational to read comments from one of the senior members. Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

But I thought u were one of the senior members considering the number of posts U on this forum........ Cool

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Okz......no probs dear.
Just tell me who are the senior members on this forum or on whole A.net/India site.????? Very Happy

For a student like me these things are pretty obvious I think so.

Nimish · Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 12:26 pm Post subject:

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thnk you Nimish fr ur wonderful opinion. My prevailing doubt is now almost clear. Atleast i gt to know A.net/India considers everybody equal.
Thnk you friends. Luv u Airliners-India. Very Happy

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Can someone help me to post pictures in my next TR.????
Actually last time when i posted them, I jst got to see the link to pic and not the photo. Sad

Pls. friends help me with this???? Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Mr. Banerjee, I do it by directly typing into the window. First, `Disable BBCode in this post' should not be on. I usually keep my pictures clickable, too, see the content here.

[url=https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N0BQzseD30M/TrfjtFWgp-I/AAAAAAAADf0/3WXOGsvTdck/s480/t3_display_1.jpg][img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N0BQzseD30M/TrfjtFWgp-I/AAAAAAAADf0/3WXOGsvTdck/s480/t3_display_1.jpg[/img][/url]

You can click on `preview' to have a dekko.
Here's looking forward to more trip reports from you!
Cheers, Sumantra.

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thank You so much......... i think it should help definitely.
If this does nt work will revert back to you positively.

It should work fr sure.
Thank You once again.......

Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

In the above example, I have put up the picture on Google Drive - Photos. On a click on the photo in a browser (right click, for instance), you will get an option of copying the URL of the picture. Please use that in the BBCode.
Cheers, Sumantra.

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thank You so much man........... It is helping me fr sure....... will post pictures in my next TR for sure. Very Happy

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

Good to see that AI are making passengers happy and satisfied on its ULH flights.

Nice trip report.

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thank You Jaysit.......... Indeed they r doing so to attract passengers.......
One could see tht only abt 75% of the flight ws full.
It ws my first trip so can't comment more thn this. Very Happy

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Hey SUMANTRA!!!!
Thnks for the help on posting pictures to my TR.......
But one more confusion is tht how to get at least a pic of size 640x480????

The pictures are turning out to be quiet small......... Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Its is showing the picture but very small ........ jst like my profile picture size....... it is showing a link saying picture size is 640x480. Crying or Very sad

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Please key in the link to the picture: let me give it a try.
Cheers,

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Hey!!! I have just edited down the TR. The picture is showing like tht only.
Pls. do sumthng for this Very Happy

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

I went to your URL, pressed the button to zoom, and then used
the right mouse button (I use Firefox) to get the actual URL of the picture. This is what I put into the BBCode statement.

The URL is:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/1314/dscn0542j.jpg

I used the following BBCode:
[url=http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/1314/dscn0542j.jpg][img]http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/1314/dscn0542j.jpg[/img][/url]

Hope this helps,
Sumantra.

banerjee1000 · Member Joined: 07 Jul 2012 Posts: 65 Location: Delhi,India

Thanks Thanks Thanks and Thanks........

Awesome buddy......... luv u fr this......
Very Happy

Did another one frm my side......

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

You are welcome, Mr. Banerjee!
Cheers, Sumantra.