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

Nanded. And Dead Tired. Dizzy iN NDC. Mar'13

http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13463.html

53.0 Apology. Introduction. An Appallingly Apologetic Introduction

I begin this trip report with a profound apology.
In this trip report, and the next three - the report will only be
half-baked, without much about the cockpit crew, descriptions of
the food, and even the plane registrations in most cases, since
whatever notes I had on this, including lots of pictures, got
completely erased in a horrid hard disk crash. I had written a
lot on all three of these trips (Nanded, Nagpur, Hampi and
Coimbatore), since they all had some very interesting incidents.
As luck would have it, I am left with something very negligible. If
I have been able to write something here, it is all thanks to
prominent Delhi plane spotter and good friend, Mr. All-Stare
MacLean, who had lovingly stored all my SMSes, and sent
me back some factual information, which I could quote in this
trip report, and the next three. As for the pictures, a positive
is that I have scanned in pictures from the positives developed
from my Analog SLR pictures.

The Appalling title comes from some lame puns.
I had an extremely hurried trip to Nanded, with a routing that
only aviation enthusiasts will possibly be able to identify with
as being `sane'. It was a trip to Nanded, and I ended up being
dead tired at the end of the (ad)venture. Thankfully, the
ad-venture did not turn out to be a bad-venture.
The second lame pun concerns the airport code for the city, NDC.
I ended up getting DC (`dizzy') (i)N NDC.

53.1 Looking Forward to a Q400 trip!

An invitation from Nanded cheered me up to no end, as this would
give me an opportunity to try out SpiceJet's then relatively new
plane, and sample some of the buy-on-board food.
This would satisfy both my primal urges - the first was the
relentless human dream to fly (in this case, on an exotic
aircraft type, which had been recently placed into service),
and the second of course, is as the reader may have guessed, food.
When I had to plan the trip, I quickly realised that it would not
be possible to make the entire trip by air. SpiceJet did not have
a daily flight connecting Nanded, and I did not have the time to
wait for an extra day in order to experience the Bombardier
`Dash-8' Q400. I asked my host if it would be possible for me to
land up in the early afternoon of 16 Mar'13 (Sat), and then set
out back for Delhi, the next day. This would see me doing the
DEL-BOM leg on my favourite airline Air India, and do the BOM-NDC
leg on SpiceJet. He put paid to my hopes, saying that it would be
too late for the work at hand. that set my mind to work.
Suppose I did forego the desire to patronise both my primal urges,
I could make this entire trip by doing the DEL-BOM and BOM-DEL
segments on Air India, and taking a night train on Friday as well
as Saturday, from Mumbai to Nanded, and back, respectively. That
would not waste much time, since I could catch up with sleep on
the train. However, my host dissuaded me from the same, pointing
out that I may end up a bit tired for the job at hand.

How would I manage it, then? I was resigned to a 2.5 day trip,
when it dawned on me, that I could try to return on the SpiceJet flight
on Sunday. This could possibly mean a dodgy connection. I looked
up statistics corresponding to this particular SpiceJet flight,
and much to my chargin, I saw that while it was generally on
time, one day, the flight was more than 2 hours in the red.
That set me thinking.
I would need to plan on taking an appropriate Air India flight
out of Mumbai, and the 8pm flight was the international connector
to the DEL-HKG flight. If the SpiceJet flight came in late, I
would have to rush from CSIA T1-B, to CSIA T2, to catch the
flight. Just to be safe, I booked the 9pm flight from CSIA T1-A.
AI 605, on an A321. It would get me back home completely exhausted.
I had wanted my onward trip on the SpiceJet Q4 to alleviate this
problem, but at least here, I would get a ride on the SpiceJet
flight. And just to be sure, I decided to carry only a small
backpack, and no more, so that in case of a tight connection, I
could simply rush off the plane, to the adjacent terminal, and
catch a flight which I had web checked in for, before.
Another alternative was requesting the Air India check-in agent
at Mumbai, for a hop onto an earlier flight, in case I came in on time.
I could choose the 5pm flight, in the best case.
My choices were, AI 660 (5pm), AI 658 (6pm), or AI 888 (7pm).
The last one would be the first dinner flight out of Mumbai.
I licked my lips, as I thought about it.
In the end, most of this planning (and lip-licking) would come to nought!

There was still the issue of how I would connect from the
Delhi-Aurangabad flight to Nanded. If the plane landed on time, I
would have a very tight connection to the Devagiri Express
(earlier called the `High Court Express'). I would not have any
check-in baggage, and my cabin bag would have to be small enough
to fit into a Q4's bin. For a change, I would be travelling light.
Really light.

Our forum's resident planning genius Ameya warned me of the tight
connection in no uncertain terms. To use his words, my best bet
was to take an auto-rickshaw from just outside the terminal
building, and even if the driver did a Rajinikanth and flew
towards the train station, it would still be uncomfortably tight.
Mr. All-Stare MacLean, the lean and thin prominent Delhi plane
spotter, gave me some other information. The Aurangabad flight
was the 3pm flight from Delhi, and very likely to be on-time,
since it was the first out of a set of afternoon departures from
Air India's hub, Delhi. It would be difficult to trace the
rotations of this plane prior to the AI 441 DEL-IXU leg, since
this plane would be a part of the bank of flights that came in
around the early afternoon, and this being the first flight in
the bank of flights, was not likely to be delayed a lot.
I even booked a train ticket for the connection, when I noticed a
45 minute delay on one day, and then, the clincher - a 1.5 hour
delay on another, in a one-and-a-half month period, when I was
watching the flight statistics every day. A talk with my host at
Nanded resulted in me cancelling this train ticket, and
requesting him for a vehicle to do the road trip from Aurangabad
Chikkalthana, to Nanded. This was something I was just not looking
forward to. 5 hours, my hosts have always insisted, but the last
two times I have done the route, the journey took at least 8
hours each time. I had had to do this once in the dark, and on
roads which were very bad for long stretches. I was not amused
when my host suggested this option, but he cheered me up by
telling me that the road had been repaired.

53.2 Country Roads, Take me...Road Trips, Some History

When I had made a road trip from Aurangabad to Nanded in Sep'07,
the conditions of the roads was pathetic.
My itinerary had been the following:

Set out Nov 16 (Fri) from New Delhi for Aurangabad
IC 887: Indian Airlines (A319) [PNR: RH54MR]
New Delhi (DEL) - Mumbai (BOM) - Aurangabad (IXU)
[01:00 pm - 02:55 pm; 03:55 pm - 04:40 pm]

I had wanted to take the following connection again:

Set out Nov 16 (Fri) from Aurangabad [AWB]
for Nanded [NED] at 05:30 pm - 06:00 pm
7687 Marathwada Express, AC Chair Car Coach Cxx Seat xx [PNR ]
to reach Nanded [NED] Nov 16 (Fri) at 10:08 pm - 10:10 pm

However, luck was not on my side. The flight had come in two
hours late, and it was around 07:30 pm, by the time I had come
out of the Chikkalthana airport in Aurangabad. The road route
would take me via Jalna, and perhaps we took the route via
Parbhani as well. I was too tired, and sleep-deprived to remember
anything clearly. It was a torturous trip, and I landed up at
the hotel at 03:30 am, with my work starting in a few hours.

My return trip was quite dramatic. The planned itinerary was as follows:

Set out for Aurangabad around 12 noon
IC 888: Indian Airlines (A319) [PNR: RH54MR]
Aurangabad (IXU) - Mumbai (BOM) - New Delhi (DEL)
[05:20 pm - 06:05 pm; 07:00 pm - 08:55 pm]

On the road trip - in bright daylight this time, the driver
committed some route planning errors, and when I reached the
Chikkalthana airport in Aurangabad, the plane (CD, the `Optical
Storage' plane VT-SCD, again) was taxiing to its parking
position. At that time, Indian Airlines had not been too strict
about the 45 minutes requirement, else I would have been
completely stranded in Aurangabad. Or worse still,
I might have had to do the road trip both ways, once again!

On my next trip in Jan'10, I decided to try the route from
Hyderabad instead, this being some 255km, as opposed to a
slightly smaller distance, from Aurangabad. This road was
excellent in the stretch close to Hyderabad, but as it went
towards Nanded, it got almost equally bad.
My itinerary was as follows:

Set out 09 Jan (Sat) for Hyderabad from New Delhi
IC 942: Air India (A321) [Seat: 10F; PNR: RIP7ZS]
New Delhi (DEL) - Hyderabad (HYD)
[09:50 am - 12:00 pm]

Set out 11 Jan (Mon) for New Delhi from Hyderabad
IC 941: Air India (A321) [Seat: ; PNR: RIP7ZS]
Hyderabad (HYD) - New Delhi (DEL)
[04:15 pm - 06:35 pm]

I was quite relieved when Go Air had started its thrice-weekly
Nanded services, connecting Delhi and Mumbai with Nanded, via Nagpur.
2. DEL-NAG-NDC, NDC-BOM-DEL on G8
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10169.html
My itinerary had been the following:

Set out 12 Oct (Tue) for Nanded from New Delhi
G8 212: Go Air (A320) [Seat: ; PNR: USYZM1]
New Delhi (DEL) - Nagpur (NAG) - Nanded (NDC)
[06:00 am - 07:30 am; 07:55 am - 08:40 am]

Set out 14 Oct (Thu) for New Delhi from Nanded
G8 212: Go Air (A320) [Seat: ; PNR: UQA4X3]
Nanded (NDC) - Mumbai (BOM) - New Delhi (DEL)
[09:05 am - 09:50 am; 10:40 am - 12:45 pm]

I had a possible trip to Nanded again in Aug-Sep'10, for which I
had made some detailed notes, and planning. The planning was not
just with regard to the routing, and the carriers involved, I
also had to take care of the dates, and my leaves.
While I eminently admire the French with regard to leaves,
sometimes I have to engage in `Dutch Defence' when things get a
bit too tight. Let me leave it here, before the puns get too runny.

Set out xx xxx (Tue) for Nanded from New Delhi
G8 212: Go Air (A320) [Seat: ; PNR: ]
New Delhi (DEL) - Nagpur (NAG) - Nanded (NDC)
[05:35 am - 07:05 am; 07:30 am - 08:25 am]

Go Air: (both ways) [Tue, Thu, Sun]

Set out xx xx (Thu) for New Delhi from Nanded
G8 212: Go Air (A320) [Seat: ; PNR: ]
Nanded (NDC) - Mumbai (BOM) - New Delhi (DEL)
[08:50 am - 09:50 am; 10:30 am - 12:40 pm]
G8 302: Go Air (A320) [Seat: ; PNR: ]
Nanded (NDC) - Nagpur (NAG) - New Delhi (DEL)
[09:05 pm - 10:05 pm; 10:35 pm - 11:55 pm]

Other way: Kingfisher, via Mumbai [1=Mon, 7=Sun]
BOM-NDC: IT 4145 {01 Aug - 28 Oct} Mon, Wed, Fri
[10:00 am - 11:20 am]
{30 Oct - 23 Jan} Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
[11:45 am - 01:05 pm]
NDC-BOM: IT 4146 {01 Aug - 28 Oct} Mon, Wed, Fri
[11:45 am - 01:00 pm]
{30 Oct - 23 Jan} Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
[01:40 pm - 03:05 pm]

Options:
1. Sun [GoAir] 28Aug, 04Sep, 11Sep
2. Tue [GoAir]
3. Tue, Wed [GoAir, Kingfisher] 30Aug, 31Aug(Id), 13-14Sep
4. Thu, Fri [GoAir, Kingfisher]
5. Sun, Mon [GoAir, Kingfisher]
6. Mon, Tue [Kingfisher, GoAir] 22Aug(Janmashtami)-23Aug
7. Wed, Thu [Kingfisher, GoAir]

At the end, this would come to nought, as the trip did not
materialise, actually...for material reasons. Lack of funds.

53.3 Fast Forward to 2013...15 Mar (Fri)

On 15 Mar 2013 (Fri), I had just managed to gobble up a bit of
food as lunch, before the cab driver came in at the right time.
I set out for the airport at around 1pm. Which plane would be my
ride for the day? As usual, I asked my friends Ameya, and Mr.
All-Stare MacLean. Both are known for their wizardly knowledge of
plane routing, and Mr. MacLean often gives me further details
about the particular aircraft which would do the route. Much to my
surprise, I could not get a definitive answer from either of them.
Ameya said that it could be the plane coming in from Bangkok
earlier. Mr. MacLean explained to me in great detail, that my ride
for the day could be almost anything, since this was the
first of the afternoon bank of Air India narrow-body flights to set
out from Delhi, and they could put any A321 on the route. There
was a lull between the noon-time arrivals, and the afternoon bank.
Now, since I have lost all my notes about this trip to the bit
bucket, I do not remember this quite well, but I think it was the
`Engines' plane, PW. VT-PPW would take me to the Chikkalthana airport,
Aurangabad, from where I would be picked up in a car, which would
go onward to Nanded via the Jalna route.

Set out 15 Mar (Fri) for Aurangabad from New Delhi
AI 441: Air India (A321) [Seat: 09A; PNR: YTTVX]
IGIA T3, New Delhi - Chikkalthana Airport, Aurangabad
New Delhi (DEL) - Aurangabad (IXU)
[03:00 pm - 04:35 pm]

As we waited on the threshold of the new runway 29, I looked up
in delight to see an Air India B77L coming in to land.

I have no notes about who the captain was on our flight, who the
chief member of the cabin crew was, and most disappointingly,
what the snack was. The main box possibly had a vegetable patty
and three pieces of skewered chicken served with a mint-and
coriander chutney, but I am afraid I do not remember this very well.

53.4 Remembering Ameya Joshi at Chikkalthana!

Before coming to its parking position, our plane paused a bit,
allowing me to take a picture of the new terminal building at the
Chikkalthana airport in Aurangabad.
I remembered what member Ameya had told me about this airport.
This was the very airport that had fuelled his interest in
aviation as a little child.
I was very happy to be back at this airport, after nearly 6 years.

The new terminal building is very impressive. It is a
glass-and-steel structure, like many other `modern' terminal
buildings, and the Airports Authority of India has maintained
this new bulding quite well. At the land-side part of the
arrivals section, there is a lovely mural on the wall with
stand-out bas relief sculptures, and nice lighting. This has
Ajanta/Ajintha paintings, with Ellora/Verul stone carvings as well:

53.5 Hitting the Road...

The flight had come in right on time, and I may have made the
train connection as well, but I did not dare to take a chance, lest
I remain stranded in Aurangabad, all alone. Unfortunately, I do
not remember that much about the drive as well, except for the
fact that we made it in just under five hours flat, something
that I have heard about as an ideal-case time, but something I
have always exceeded by more than 50%. It had well got dark on
the way, and there was some wonderful flash photography in the
sky that night, as there was a sudden heavy shower accompanied with a
an electrifying show, as I watched Nature's display from the
comfort and safety of the car interiors. I caught up with a
quick dinner after reaching Nanded, and absolutely drained out,
hit the bed at Hotel Ramakrishna, in the middle of the city.
In an unprecedented move, I had come in with only a small
laptop backpack with me, which would even go into the tiny cabin
bin of an ATR-42, since I was quite unsure of the capacity of a
Q4's bin. It had everything: a change of clothes, my laptop and
some reading material, and of course, my large Analog SLR, thanks
to which I can atleast present some pictures related to the
journey. The backpack looked a bit like my belly, bursting at its seams,
but when the Analog SLR was taken out,
it could easily fit into the bin of a tiny ATR-42.
I wish I could say the same about my belly as well.
I had initially thought of travelling light, in order to make the
dash from the airport to the railway station at Aurangabad,
at the speed of light.
As the reader would have checked out above, that did not fit into
the final scheme of things owing to the uncertainty associated
with the tight connection. The light bag would help in another
circumstance: in case the Nanded-Mumbai flight got delayed, I
would be able to make the dash from the CSI Airport T1-B to T1-A
very quickly. In the end, I would not even need to do that.
I would end up spending a good amount of time at the Mumbai airport.

53.6 The Next Day Cometh (NDC, abbreviated)

The next day was understandably hectic. After I was done with my
official work, my hosts dropped me off at the small but
impressive Waghala airport in Nanded. I was excited and looking
forward to my first flight with SpiceJet after a long time, my
first Q4 flight, as well as a Chettinadu sandwich on board!
Chettinadu?
I had been dreaming and drooling about the buy-on-board (`BoB')
food on SpiceJet, where the menus had been changed drastically
after the Marans had taken control of the airline.
My brother and father had praised the food on board, both in
terms of the quality, as well as the decent quantity.
I was rather disappointed to know that the most filling item
available would be a sandwich. I looked at the choices.
I hoped it would be the Chettinadu one, from among the choices
given in the on-line menu.
On-line menu?
Yes, the BoB was available for pre-booking.
I like this option for three specific purposes.
First, the cost of the food was included in the ticket itself,
and hence could be reimbursed on an official trip, saving the
hassles of asking for a receipt, and then putting that in for
reimbursement. Second, there would not be any problem of change -
something I have seen on almost any airline with a BoB offering,
be it in the US, or in India. Third, and most importantly, I
would have the delight of having `pre-reserved' something of my
choice, leading to a greater probability of the item being loaded
on board, rather than risk an in-flight purchase attempt, with
the item not having been loaded, or having finished out before
the cart came to my seat. The reader well-versed with my point of
view would readily agree with me, especially on the last point.

53.7 The Q4 at last!

The check-in happened without much ado in the small but
well-maintained airport. th same went for the security check.
The plane came in, right on time.
I counted a good number of people in the terminal building,
with the numbers building up,
as time went by. By the time we had boarded the aircraft, I noticed
that there was not a single seat empty.
All 78 seats had been taken.
The plane looked very clean.
In what I would later discover to be quite standard on SpiceJet,
the belts had been drawn across, and crossed on every seat.

The itinerary for this leg of the journey would be as follows:

Set out 16 Mar (Sat) for Mumbai from Nanded
SG 2432: SpiceJet (Q400) [Seat: 06A; PNR: SFVQDQ]
Shri Guru Gobind Singh-ji Airport, Waghala, Nanded - CSIA T1B, Mumbai
Nanded (NDC) - Mumbai (BOM)
[02:30 pm - 03:50 pm]

Here is a picture of the clean black faux leather seats:

Here is a picture of a seat back.
The leg room was sufficient for this short flight: it was a bit
better than the ATRs in operation in India.

A snap of the upper panels:

Here is a picture of the well-lit cabin in natural light,
with the bins appearing slightly larger than they actually are.

I clicked the following picture of the take-off from Nanded.

The new terminal building looks nice from the air, too.

A picture of the arid region with green spots, visible under the engine,
right after take-off:

The dry river Godavari: The Bridge on the River...?[/b]

At the time of my trip, SpiceJet had the `SpiceMax' offer. In
this offer, one could pre-book a meal, reserve a seat of his/her
choice, and be able to check in on-line, and perhaps avail of a
speedy boarding too, I forget what it was, now.
All this was for Rs.500/- extra.
I had chosen seat 06A to be close to the engine, to hear the hum.
I should have perhaps chosen a seat a bit behind, to see the
MLG (Main Landing Gear) struts go up on take-off, and come down,
and touch the ground, on touch-down, like Mr. All-Stare MacLean
had, on his Dehradun to Delhi flight. I had a better opportunity,
since this was a flight in broad daylight.
The reader should not be much surprised to hear of my lop-sided
priorities, and preferences.
This was a one-off chance for me, since I usually do
not get many regular chances to try out other airlines (though I
have managed to do so in the recent past - I guess I have been
lucky in this regard). SpiceJet would later withdraw its SpiceMax
offer, and would only offer a chance to sit on a pre-defined seat
in the first few rows on their Q4s. The Rs.500/- offer was a
complete rip-off on short trips, since this was not at meal
times, on their bigger planes, the B738s and the B739s.
The Rs.500/- would have been worth it for pre-booking a complete
Rs.300/- meal, not a sandwich (which otherwise costs some Rs.150/- if
ordered [i]a la carte) and a drink, which was the only option
available on their Q4s. To add insult to injury, Nanded was not a
station that permitted an on-line check-in.
The city was not even listed in the on-line check-in menu.
My name was called out by the cabin crew, as I had anxiously
waited for the cart to approach me, armed as I was with the
ticket printout in my hand, which said that I pre-booked a
sandwich and a drink.

Now, would it have been worth it?
I was given a sandwich packed in an impressive package, which did
not give a hint about the contents of the packing. An apple drink
was offered along with it, which I welcomed, since most apple
drinks were non-sweetened, and the Tropicana brand patronised by
SpiceJet did not have any added sugar in it.
Much to my delight, it was the very Chettinadu Chicken sandwich I
was hoping for! The catering had been done at Mumbai, since
nothing was loaded on to the plane at Nanded - I mean, the special
cargo of the edible variety. The bread was extremely fresh, and
the slightly mildly-spiced Chettinadu filling, incredibly wonderful.
This more than made up for my Rs.500/- disappointment.
I was on cloud nine.
Member Varun had earlier told me not to expect too much, since their
sandwiches he had experienced, were nothing too special.
I was lucky on this occassion!
I would not be as lucky some seen months later, as perhaps
related to the troubles within the airline, the BoB included
stale and expired food items, and some not on the menu.
The plane interiors would not be that new or that well-maintained.

I also overheard a slight finicky passenger asking deep questions
on what was available in the BoB menu. He was looking for
something really filling. A member of the cabin crew finally
announced that they had an extra crew meal - a complete meal,
a full meal, which she could get for the passenger.
I was gutted.
I had pre-booked something in the hope of getting a good chance
of getting the goodies (which I got, indeed), and here was a
person who had just walked up the plane steps, and demanded a
meal, and was getting it, and getting away with it.
My Rs.500/-.

Here is the part with `SpiceJet' written on the engine, looking behind:

Is this Matheran?

53.8 The Mumbai Stop-over: The Long and Short of it

The captain made a smooth landing on the main runway 27 at
Mumbai, as we taxied to a remote gate.
This was on 16 Mar'13...in front of me was the sight of
Dream)liners parked at Mumbai.

A picture of the Mumbai CSIA control tower coming up:

The `EPiC' plane VT-EPC was parked at a remote stand in front of
Temrinal 1-B, not too far from where we parked, eventually.

After almost an era, I had entered terminal 1-B in Mumbai. It is
a bit cramped, but very well-maintained, much like the other
terminals. I did not have to wait for any bag to come out, as I
had just the little backpack with me. I hurried past a horde of
taxi drivers offering to take me to various places, including
Terminal 1-A.

It was 04:05 pm, and I was on the Air India 9pm flight back to
Delhi. I had announced to my host that I had managed to snag an
extremely attractive fare on the Mumbai-Delhi flight, which was
just upwards of Rs.3000/-, which would not hurt his institution's
pockets very deeply. It had pleased me, too, as a `safe' flight
option, which would also work even in case of a late NDC-BOM
flight. Now, everything had happened well on time, and I was here
at the airport, some five hours before my flight.
Would I be put on an earlier Air India flight back to Delhi?
I went to a very senior lady at the first available check-in
counter. The lady with a sullen face announced that the 5pm
flight was completely booked out, so there was no chance.
She had a look at my ticket.
She directed me to the customer service counter land-side, where I
could pay the fare difference, and be permitted to board an
earlier flight, if there was space on it.
That wasn't exaclty what I had wanted to hear, but I guess, there
are some privileges one isn't exactly entitled to, when one books
an el cheapo ticket. I perched myself on my usual spot
beisde the food court, and sat down to work on my laptop, with my
camera powered-up right beside me, to catch some interesting movements.

Winglets, or Sharklets: which one do you like better?

Here is a picture of CP, the `Secure copy' plane, VT-SCP.

I was excited to see a British Airways Global Cargo B748F up and close:

This was soon followed by another cargo B747, this time, a UPS B744F.

The Golden Falcon came in, in the setting sun: a Gulf Air A321.

The next interesting plane to come in was an AI B77L.

India's `national carrier' was followed ironically by India's
de facto carrier, an Emirates B77W.

It got dark soon, and I turned off my camera.
I waited for my flight, which would get me into my home close to
midnight that day. My Rs.3k+ el cheapo ticket showed the
following itinerary:

Set out 16 Mar (Sat) for New Delhi from Mumnbai
AI 605: Air India (A321) [Seat: 10F; PNR: J647Y]
CSIA T1A, Mumbai - IGIA T3, New Delhi
Mumbai (BOM) - New Delhi (DEL)
[09:00 pm - 11:00 pm]

53.9 An Abrupt Disrupt

At this point, I will seek the reader's pardon once more, for a
very abrupt ending. I do not have any notes about who the Captain
was, who was the chief of the cabin crew, and again, most
importantly, what was in the dinner that had made its way deep
down my insides. I was dog-tired anyway, and hit the bed soon.
---
Links to my 53 trip reports:
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/

ameya · Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:48 am Post subject:

Thanks for the TR !

Sir ! Mar'13 - 7 months to cover up before the year ends to ensure there is no spillover in the next year !

Thank you so much for mentioning about me while you talk of IXU - Chikhaltana Airport

Because you were referring about the rotation I tried checking what it is like currently, thanks to FR24

18th -BOM-DEL-ATQ-DEL-IXU-BOM-DEL-BOM
601/461/111/441/441/888/317

17th - DEL BKK DEL IXU BOM DEL ATQ DEL
332/333/441/441/888/16/115

16th Same as 17th

- Wish AI would have allowed you on an earlier flight on FOC basis !

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:17 pm Post subject:

This is a brilliant TR, sir!
Thanks for sharing!
I think the opening 'pun' for this TR's topic was the first time I understood it before reading your explanation. And yeah I was right. That just shows your brilliance in getting us readers' attention in your TRs!
Yes, this one was very different indeed - the lack of food descriptions Sad

However, that was more than made up for with the fantastic introduction, with the train options, car, timing, etc. That was very interesting!
And thank you for the pictures of the interior of the Q400 - strangely, I haven't seen one of SG, up until now.

Looking forward to more, sir!

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

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

Ameya and Jishnu - thanks a lot for your kind words. Had it not been for your constant egging me on, I would not have got myself out of my laziness, and keyed in anything. More os, when it involves trying to key in something for the second time, with this always playing on my mind that I do not have enough material to put in, with most of the hard work having gone down the...bit bucket. Ameya Sir, thanks for your wizardly help in identifying rotations. It is my head that undergoes rotations when I think of such issues. Jishnu Sir - first, a big thanks for getting your Papa on board! Second, yes - I'll try to clear what Ameya Sir refers to as the 7 month backlog, yes, it is considerable, and more so, when a lot of it will need re-writing.
Cheers, Sumantra.

shivendrashukla · Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:36 am Post subject:

Great TR as usual Sir. Last year i was sitting at the same spot and did the same spotting in BOM as you did Smile

. 3K ticket was an amazing bargain btw Sir.
Cheers
Shivendra

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

sabya99 · Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 4:07 pm Post subject:

New BOM ATC tower looks impressive. I heard it is tallest in the country. The paintings of Ajanta caves in airport terminal is an impressive work of art. Very Happy

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Sabya99

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