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A2A
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Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 55
Location: BOM
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 Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 2:09 pm Post subject: BOM Altitude Lounge, AI A321 Y BOMDEL, DEL Altitude Lounge |
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Guys,
I recently went over to Air India to try them out, in late march. got down to writing the trip report only now.
Managed to try out the American Express/ICICI bank Altitude lounge at Terminal 1A,, and then flew economy on the A321 to Delhi, where I got stuck with a middle seat, sigh!
On the way back, tried out the new Delhi Altitude Lounge.
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Check out my Indian aviation rants and raves at www.livefromalounge.com
Last edited by A2A on Fri May 31, 2013 12:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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Yet another nice pair of reports, AJ. I really wish you were more regular here!
The lounge is something I will just not have access to in this birth I guess, so it was nice to see the inside of a place I have admired from the outside. Being a regular AI traveller with Mumbai being a place I have to often go on official work, I have seen T1A and T1C inside out err...more out, than inside the lounges, at least.
About your Air India A321 experience, some of your observations surprised me.
- bad seat pitch? At least, I have never sat on 7B/7E, so I cannot say. AI's seat pitch on their current fleet: the A32S family planes, as well as the 777s, is about as good as one can get. I am a six-footer, I have had no problems ever on AI. You have written about the difficulty of having to touch the screen 3-4 cm away from you - which is a decent distance on a seat with good legroom. Further, there is a general feeling of roominess among many people (especially on this forum) of the near-circular cross-section of the A32S family, as opposed to the Boeing 737/8/9s.
- 8 IFE video channels? No Sir, you got that one wrong, I am sure on this one. They offer 6 video channels, of which usually, 5 are active.
- A greaseplate from Taj-SATS on AI? I guess they had an off-day here. From whatever I have seen, Jet's menus are often an oil-slick, as opposed to Air India's. I have not checked out the cottage cheese pakoras, primarily since I go in for a non-veg option, if one is available. You may be going against the general opinion about AI food in general, possibly owing to a slightly off-day that Taj-SATS may have had. From your picture, the other items look quite standard. Of course, AI's presentation in Y, and often in J, isn't anything to write home about - Jet on that count, is quite excellent. However, their recipes and both quality and quantity of the food, often more than make up for a slightly shoddy presentation job.
- Running the risk of some ghastly self-advertisement, you could check out my trip reports on this forum on
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/
Since I work in a semi-Governement organisation, I have to fly AI on most trips both domestic, as well as international. However, I have managed to fly on ALL domestic airlines, and many international ones, including BOAC/BA, Northwest Orient/NW, SAS, UA, DL, AA, SU, CA, CX, U2 - some that come off the top of my head. One of the things I can safely say over the ages has been that AI food has been among the best one can get at FL29 and above.
I like your quiet yet persuasive style of writing - I look forward to the remaining two parts! I am not a regular on BoardingArea.com, so please post the links here, on this forum.
Thanks, Sumantra. |
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A2A
Member
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 55
Location: BOM
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| Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| sumantra wrote: | Yet another nice pair of reports, AJ. I really wish you were more regular here!
The lounge is something I will just not have access to in this birth I guess, so it was nice to see the inside of a place I have admired from the outside. Being a regular AI traveller with Mumbai being a place I have to often go on official work, I have seen T1A and T1C inside out err...more out, than inside the lounges, at least.
About your Air India A321 experience, some of your observations surprised me.
- bad seat pitch? At least, I have never sat on 7B/7E, so I cannot say. AI's seat pitch on their current fleet: the A32S family planes, as well as the 777s, is about as good as one can get. I am a six-footer, I have had no problems ever on AI. You have written about the difficulty of having to touch the screen 3-4 cm away from you - which is a decent distance on a seat with good legroom. Further, there is a general feeling of roominess among many people (especially on this forum) of the near-circular cross-section of the A32S family, as opposed to the Boeing 737/8/9s.
- 8 IFE video channels? No Sir, you got that one wrong, I am sure on this one. They offer 6 video channels, of which usually, 5 are active.
- A greaseplate from Taj-SATS on AI? I guess they had an off-day here. From whatever I have seen, Jet's menus are often an oil-slick, as opposed to Air India's. I have not checked out the cottage cheese pakoras, primarily since I go in for a non-veg option, if one is available. You may be going against the general opinion about AI food in general, possibly owing to a slightly off-day that Taj-SATS may have had. From your picture, the other items look quite standard. Of course, AI's presentation in Y, and often in J, isn't anything to write home about - Jet on that count, is quite excellent. However, their recipes and both quality and quantity of the food, often more than make up for a slightly shoddy presentation job.
- Running the risk of some ghastly self-advertisement, you could check out my trip reports on this forum on
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/
Since I work in a semi-Governement organisation, I have to fly AI on most trips both domestic, as well as international. However, I have managed to fly on ALL domestic airlines, and many international ones, including BOAC/BA, Northwest Orient/NW, SAS, UA, DL, AA, SU, CA, CX, U2 - some that come off the top of my head. One of the things I can safely say over the ages has been that AI food has been among the best one can get at FL29 and above.
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Hi Sumantra,
Thanks for the compliments. I'm working on being regular here, so pardon while it is WIP. I'm not even regular with the BoardingArea gang you see, sometimes I am reading the stuff after days, so you're not alone there.
down to the feedback:
a) Maybe I am just not used to non-preferred seating so this seat pitch is not for me  (i am usually to be found in the bulkhead at 9W)
b) as for touching the screen, i meant not the distance from the screen, but the touch on the screen. in the sense i touch it at apoint 5 cm off the on-screen button (for instance to + volume), and it would react to that to increase volume, but not when I touch it where it is supposed to.
c) Food, I'm sorry those paneer pakodas, I haven't had as bad from my local halvai as well.
d) IFE, I might be wrong, it may be 6, it was off memory so I will rectify.
e) those lounges, are easy to go to. just get the ICICI-Jet amex, and you're a go. incredible value for 5K INR. If you want to see the value PM me and I'll justify 
More later.
_________________
Check out my Indian aviation rants and raves at www.livefromalounge.com |
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sumantra
Member
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 8:38 am Post subject: |
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Sorry, I confused the Z-axis distance with the X- and Y- axes ones. Yes AJ, many of the A32S planes in the AI fleet are unfortunately showing signs of their age. You will notice my lament about this in some of my recent trip reports, where I also look for reasons I have seen, which includes obnoxious behaviour of my co-passengers. I do not write for a prestigious website like you, so please pardon my amateurish trip reports. Keep up the good work AJ, I look forward to reading more from you.
Cheers, Sumantra. |
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A2A
Member
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 55
Location: BOM
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| Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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Sumantra,
Here is the Delhi Lounge report. Have a look, and think of picking up the card
_________________
Check out my Indian aviation rants and raves at www.livefromalounge.com
Last edited by A2A on Sat Jun 01, 2013 1:43 am; edited 1 time in total |
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sumantra
Member
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 1:31 am Post subject: |
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AJ, please make that `Sumantra', please
Thanks for the Delhi Lounge report! This looks quite nice. I have stared at it lo(u)ngingly, knowing that I will perhaps always remain on the outside of the lounge, please read below.
| A2A wrote: | | Have a look, and think of picking up the card |
Thanks for the information, but I guess my lowly official status and middle-class mentality will not permit J class travel, and privileges. I use free credit cards (from the good'ol days, Visa ones), and I have hesitated from Amex because of their reduced acceptance at many places. I do not go in for a Jet co-branded card, not just because of the material on this forum which pointed out the disadvantages of the same, my business goes to Jet only about once a year, far too less to get some actual benefit out of the deal.
I have only travelled once on J - that too on an AI Dream)liner, in my brief period of status in the Silver Edge Club. I look forward to reading your report on how the AI J experience was, on an A321. The presentation must have left you completely disappointed!
Cheers, Sumantra. |
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