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In CAPITALS, a Tale of Two Cities, Jun'13

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

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:50 pm    Post subject: In CAPITALS, a Tale of Two Cities, Jun'13 Reply with quote

In CAPITALS, a Tale of Two Cities, Jun'13

http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13907.html

61.1 Introduction
What could be more ordinary than a short trip between two of
India's most prominent metros, Delhi and Mumbai?
India's Political Capital, and the Economic Capital.
This was for a meeting on Monday, 24 Jun 2013, for which I would
set out the previous day, and return by a night flight.
How would I have liked to plan for the trip?
I would have loved to take the AI 102/101 combination,
guaranteeing me a wide-body trip in both directions. There was a
dampener to my hopes this time. There would be one senior
colleague with me on the onward journey, and two, on the return.
These people are far from what the term `aviation enthusiast'
refers to. ``04:45 pm?'' said my companion for the onward journey,
``so early?''
``We'll get a nice dinner at our host's organisation,'' I tried gamely,
``I did that in January this year, and the dinner was excellent''
No, it did not work. My next best bet was to try for a dinner
flight, preferably on a flight operated by a 321/320/319 with
PTVs. He was game for the 7pm flight, albeit a bit grudgingly,
``we will reach our destination by 10:30 pm,'' which
emphasises the fact that he thought that it was a bit too early,
but then, he finally agreed to it. The 7pm flight was AI 624,
which was operated by a dual configuration A319 - I hoped it
would be one of the new ones with PTVs i.e., VT-SCG to SCX.
His choice of the return was equally disappointing.
``The 7pm flight again, Sir?'' I asked, hoping that he would
agree to this first dinner flight out of Mumbai. He had been
averse to my AI 102 proposal as being too early, how would he
react to the 09:45 pm AI 101 proposal? Fearing that a mushroom
cloud would emanate from his visage, I decided to be a bit
diplomatic, and suggested the 7pm flight. This was done by an
A321, the same plane which did the Delhi-Aurangabad flight.
No, it would be a bit tight - the meeting could go a bit long.
That dampened my enthusiasm further.
``Try the 8pm flight,'' he said.
Oh no, I thought. This would be out of Sahar - the International
terminal, or CSIA T2, which offered almost zero spotting
opportunities outside. If it had to be BOM T2, I would only go in
for a flight which had a wide-body operating it. I told him that
Sahar was a bit far, but he did not mind this little extra
distance. I wondered, would we get an all-Economy old A320, which
are generally kept in a spic-and-span condition by Air India?
AI 314 was the BOM-DEL-HKG-KIX flight, which was operated by a
narrow-body on the BOM-DEL segment, and then, by a B77L for the
flight to Hong Kong, and onwards, to Osaka Kansai - at the time
of my trip (23 June, 2013). I have travelled on this 8pm BOM-DEL
flight before, which had the lovely all-Economy old A320. The
flight information showed an A319, pointing to a slightly lean
season for this flight. Would this be an all-Economy A319,
or a newer one, perhaps one with PTVs?
I booked my ticket, but could not select my seat, possibly
because this was an international flight, and passengers on a
purely domestic segment of an international flight would possibly
not be entitled to the same. I wondered why, since all of us
would de-plane at Delhi, and domestic passengers would go one
way, and international ones, another. I can perhaps understand an
early-bird domestic passenger trying to snag a nice seat on an
international flight - as I had tried to, on my previous Mumbai trip:
`Chhatisgarh' and 36: Mumbai, Jan'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13333.html

AI 102 was the JFK-DEL-BOM flight, done on a single aircraft (a
B77W, circa Jan'13), and the system would possibly like to allow
passengers on the longer JFK-DEL and JFK-DEL-BOM legs to select their seats
in advance, as opposed to upstarts like me trying to pre-select
their seats on the last DEL-BOM leg. A web check-in had worked
then, however. I would try that, perhaps.

61.2 The Day of the Journey

I had taken along printouts of the tickets of my two senior
colleagues, since at least the one whom I was travelling with to
Mumbai, was well-known for being extremely busy, and hard-pressed
for time. ``Sumantra, you have taken a copy of my ticket also, right?''
has been a common refrain on many flights together. I was
completely shocked to see a web check-in printout in his hands,
as we went in towards the check-in zone. I too had one, so we
happily trudged in the direction of the security check, when we
found out that we needed baggage tags, which we had completely
forgotten about. Yes, in India, in spite of a news item
indicating the impending end of these items some time back, we
still persist with these tags, ostensibly for security reasons. We
went to a counter, and were handed Executive Class baggage tags -
a first for me. Not that it made any difference. I have even
boarded planes with `priority' baggage tags in place of the usual
ones, and in cases, that of rival airlines.

I was even more shocked when my companion told me that he had
also taken a printout of the boarding pass for the return trip.
What?
I had not been able to do the same.
I wondered why.
The booking engine had not even allowed me to select my seat for
this flight AI 314, which was an international connector.
Remember?
I switched on my laptop as we took our seats near our
pre-assigned gate 28B. I tried a web check-in, and lo and
behold, it worked! We had reached our gate well in advance, at
around 05:45 pm, for a 7pm flight. Two young ladies were already
there, applying last minute make-up touches, and chatting with
each other - they would be a part of the cabin crew team on our
flight. We were seated next to the gate, and we overheard some
disappointing news. The incoming plane was a bit late. The
announcement on the PA system said 07:30 pm, but the gentleman
there gave the time as 07:45 pm, a more realistic estimate. Soon
the PA system agreed with his estimate. The plane had come in
around 07:10 pm, but it would take a bit of time to prep it up
for the next flight. It was SCI, the `limit' plane, VT-SCI. The
SCI is the limit, of course, though there is no limit to my
weirdness in thinking of each plane as a personality, each with a
name, if there was none assigned, I assigned it one.

I had noticed some new panels on the Air India side of the
terminal on the arrivals level a few months back too, and some on
the departures part as well, but this was the first time I got to
take a few pictures of the same. This wall mural is quite
impressive!





The itinerary for my onward flight was as follows:

Set out 23 Jun (Sun) for Mumbai from New Delhi
AI 624: Air India (A319) [Seat: 05A; PNR: HZCR3]
IGIA T3, New Delhi - CSIA T1A, Mumbai
New Delhi (DEL) - Mumbai (BOM)
[07:00 pm - 09:05 pm]

Boarding was announced at 07:20 pm, and I trudged towards the plane.
We had a lady Captain once again!
My last two Air India flights had lady captains in command.
60. Singularly Sanguine Sangli. Jun'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13887.html
59. I Adore Indore: May-Jun'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13589.html
As we boarded the plane, the two cheerful young ladies welcomed
all on board, with Captain Anupama Kohli standing beside them,
talking to one of them. Ms. Tiwari was in charge of the cabin.
I had noticed a slightly empty check-in area, but this flight
would have heavy loads, easily above 80%. There were very few
seats vacant on this flight. Captain Kohli executed a very long
and powerful take-off from runway 11, and soon after taking off,
we turned right, and headed towards Mumbai.

61.3 The Dinner!

The dinner was nothing short of excellent.
It started with a nice Indian `green' salad, with a tomato slice,
a slice of lemon, on a bed of some very tasty cucumber slices.
The latter was not exactly done in an Indian way, since it came
with the skin on. Next, I attacked the bun and the butter
chiplet. The latter was a bit soft, and the regular reader knows
that I like the sinful fat spread to be rock hard. The bun was
good, though nothing really fantastic. In the darkness, I had
failed to catch the name of the caterer, and there was no card
announcing the same, in the zip-lock cutlery package, which also
had wrapped in tissue paper, a stirrer, three metal items - a
spoon, a knife, and a fork, milk powder, sugar, and salt and
pepper sachets (there was no toothpick, to pick on the offering,
if I may). The main course blew my senses away. The moment I
opened the foil, I was enveloped in the amazing smells of a very
aromatic Biriyani. Air India usually has three items in a dinner
main container, with the rice in the centre. In this case, there
were two. The Chicken Biriyani was one of the best I
have had at heights of FL29 and above - it was hot and moist,
with the spices having permeated each rice grain, and of course,
the marinated soft and succulent chicken pieces. This had a
sinful cream-and-tomato gravy to the side, which went very well
with the amazing Biriyani. I had saved a bit of the lemon slice
for the main course, and I was definitely not disappointed. I
took turns to have the Biriyani as it is, to have it with some
lemon drops sprinkled over it, and have it with the gravy accompaniment.
Each could give the other strong competition. It was a bit oily,
as compared to what I have usually found on Air India, but then,
it was simply excellent on the palette (and a bit bad on my
ever-growing belly).
The gravy had been done with lightly fried onions, which had been
pureed into the mixture, to lend it a slight characteristic
sweetness, and had been tossed about with some black cumin
(kalonjI, to the Delhi'ite). The fresh cream mixed about with the
condiments in a heavenly manner, it was sheer bliss.
The dessert could not have been better. It was a slightly dry
walnut and peanut brownie, in a bed of gooey chocolate sauce.
The brownie had been generously embellished with the two types of nuts.
One would ordinarily have expected roasted walnuts, but
I was pleased beyond words, to find some groundnut pieces in it as
well, each type of nut lending its distinctive flavour to
heighten the experience of the writer - another type of nut, by
the way, as the reader well knows. And how would I end the meal?
With a coffee, of course. Would I hazard a change of preference
to a tea? The tea bags looked inviting, but I desisted, and
resisted the pull of India's favourite beverage rage, and went in
for the coffee. It was definitely not a brewed coffee,
but was surprisingly nice!

There was some mild chop on the way, but Mumbai was not having
any rain at the time we landed, tough it was cloudy, and there
was a pleasant breeze blowing. It was 28 degrees Celcius as we
landed, and Captain Kohli made a textbook landing on the main
runway 27, which we hardly felt. I was sitting on the left (port)
side of the plane for a change - I usually sit on the right
(starboard), to see familiar sights of the places near to where I
lived for six years, and roamed about - the Vihar lake, the Powai
lake, Hiranandani gardens, and from this side, I saw the Airoli
crossing, the Ghatkopar bus station, the Ghatkopar railway
station, where I used to go to line up at the two ticket booking
counters a good two hours before sunrise, in the pre-IRCTC days -
it all brought back many sweet memories. As we landed, I noticed
an Air India tubby A310 being taken apart at the edge of the Air
India hangars, with an Aryan Cargo A310F freighter lying there,
waiting to be parted out. There was an Air India B744 outside the
hangar, and a B77W inside, among other sights. We got a bus gate,
and were bused to the terminal quickly. We had no luggage to collect,
and hurried to the Meru taxi counter to book a taxi.

61.4 An `Epic' Taxi Ride

The reader may be well familiar with my obsession with bad puns
on names, for one. And... familiarity breeds contempt.
I request the reader to hold on, and tolerate a little more of
the bad punning. The driver's name, as written on the booking
slip, was `Nishad'. We went outside, at the place where the lady
had informed us, the taxi would be waiting. We waited.
And waited.
Cars came, and went by.
My senior colleague was getting a bit restive.
I called the driver, but his phone was out of coverage area.
Nishad.
I recounted Valmiki's famous shloka (couplet), which led to the
epic, the Ramayana. His shoka (grief) had given rise to a shloka,
on seeing a hunter fire an arrow at a pair of birds.
`mA nishAd pratishthAm tvam agama: shashwatIh samA:'
Oh nishAda (hunter), you will not reach greatness any time soon...
I chuckled at the silly comparison my mind had led me to above,
as the driver finally made it at the promised location.
The duo made it to the destination in one piece/in peace.
We reached our destination and I hit the bed.
The next day would be a long and tiring one.
Amidst the excited roars all around - it was the final of the
Champions Trophy cricket tournament, that night (23-24 June,
2013), and I tried to sleep.

61.5 Multiple Starts to the Day

It was a bit like a car whose battery needs a recharge.
I was getting a disturbed sleep, but the periods of sleep were
very deep, and almost as I had been drugged.
I woke up four times in the early hours.
The first was when I thought the alarm was to ring.
It was a false alarm, literally so.
The second and third times were with the alarm, spaced
conveniently an hour apart. By Yours Truly, of course.
The fourth was with the tea.
I had requested for some bed-tea to be served at 06:00 am, a time
which is close to midnight for me, on a usual day.
The notice had clearly said that one could request for bed-tea to
be served between 06:00 am and 06:30 am.
Little did I know that effectively, it meant that bed-tea would
be served at any time between the two extremities in fact, it was
served at 06:35 am.
``chAhA?'' I asked the gentleman who had come in with the tea.
He looked at me quizzically, as if to say, `what else?'
I was to groggy to react well, so took the tea cup, and closed
the door. One sip from the cup, justified my above question.
Sure, it had been brewed well (or should I say, `boiled'), but I
should have asked for some ice cubes. It was slightly warm.
I did not, lest I raise a storm in a tea-cup.
Though I was tottering around sleepily, I did not spill it either
(ah, the reader would have got the weak pun I am aiming at...)
- there would be no crying over spilt milk.
I did not spill the beans, either.
This was the famous Bombay `cutting chAi', the typical half-cup
of strong sticky sweet tea, made with cow milk, which imparts a
distinctive taste to the concoction, but I really wished it were
hotter. I usually rely on hydraulic pressure to help me with my
morning duties notably, the download,
and a hot beverage seems to help me even better.
I would have to down large quantities of water now, to up the ante.

I fired the laptop on, connected my data card and went to my
organization's homepage er...the unofficial one, www.cricinfo.com.
India had pulled off a major heist and deservedly won the trophy.
The day started off brightly, with a nice breakfast. The meeting
in the morning went off peacefully, and concluded with a nice
lunch. The afternoon meeting had me sleeping through most of it,
and I must thank my senior colleague, for covering up for my
inadequacies. This went off without much ado, though what did
cause ado was me getting stuck in a lift. It was an OTIS lift,
which did not give an overweight warning when I entered it (no, I
am not that overweight - I am just 15kgs more than what I should
tip the scales at). No, I was not alone - I was the last to enter
the lift, and that was literally the last straw to break the
camel's back. We were rescued externally from the outside, and
jumped from the 2.5th floor to the ground, and trudged the
remaining 12 floors on foot, huffing and puffing loudly. No, the
overeating at lunch did not justify this sudden does of
over-exercise, but then, there is rarely any logical reason for my
over-eating.

16.6 To Sahar, in the Monsoons
By 04:00 pm, I got a message from Air India, reminding me that my
flight would depart from the International terminal (CSIA T2) at
Sahar, Andheri, and that I should reach by 06:00 pm since the
traffic at this time may be heavy. Another senior colleague had
joined us in the meeting, and we hoped for the meeting to end
at the right time, since the morning one had ended an ominous
hour late. We rushed out, checked out from the place where our
accommodation was organised, and soon saw our Meru cab arrive.
(I had booked one on the Internet, to arrive at 05:00 pm - it had
come in on the dot.) It had rained heavily in the day, and I had
the pleasure of watching the rain fall from inside the meeting
room. There was some light rain - more than a drizzle, actually,
as we made it past the Domestic airport at Santa Cruz (CSIA T1A)
at around 06:00 pm, and past a sea of construction, wet environs
everywhere, and up the circular ramp, past the Air India hangars,
made it to Gate B, and entered the place. The check-in happened
without much ado, after the customary customs form filling, we
cleared security in almost no time at all. We were assigned gate
14, an aerobridge. This is a terminal that I do not like much,
post-renovation, as there is hardly any view outside (the El Al
B762 was standing in front of the new construction), and there
were no power ports around. No, not even a single one. The
terminal has free Internet for a 24 hour connection, and I
patronised it till the boarding announcement came on. The Indigo
flight to Dubai had boarded just before us. The ANA B737
All-Business class jet was to leave some 10 minutes before us for
the same ultimate destination, Osaka Kansai, while our flight
would have intermediate stops at Delhi and Hong Kong. This plane
was incidentally right in front of us in the take-off sequence,
as Captain Singh pulled the plane up quickly.

Quickly? The plane was very lightly loaded, I estimated loads in
the region of around 50%. Captain Gagandeep Singh was in command,
with Ms. Alka in charge of the cabin. We took off from runway 27,
and turned around over the sea, as we turned in towards Delhi.
The itinerary for this leg of the journey was as follows:

Set out 24 Jan (Mon) for New Delhi from Mumbai
AI 314: Air India (A319) [Seat: 04A; PNR: HZCR3]
CSIA T2, Mumbai - IGIA T3, New Delhi
Mumbai (BOM) - New Delhi (DEL)
[08:00 pm - 10:00 pm]

16.7 It's Dinner Time!

The appetising smells from the Business class cabin had whetted
up my appetite even more. Dinner was served after we had crossed
Surat, where I remembered that a good friend lived.
`terI sUrat, merI Ankhein,' I thought, a bad pun on the name of
the old Hindi film, which would have meant my visage, and your
eyes, which I had twisted to indicate me eyeing your hometown, Surat.

The dinner was absolutely fabulous.
It started with a fresh bun, and a chiplet of rock-hard cold butter.
Just the way I like it.
The salad offering was a very pleasant surprise - it was a finely
chopped `green' Indian salad. I had initially thought that my
particular tray might have been a mis-adventure, or some
left-overs from another salad preparation for a larger mass of
passengers, but I was clearly mistaken. It had some rather fresh
chopped pieces of cucumber, tomato, capsicum and coriander, with
a lemon slice thoughtfully placed on top, and a crispy lettuce
leaf forming the base! I tore open the salt and pepper sachets,
emptied the latter, and a part of the former over the salad,
sprinkled most of the lemon over the offering, and mixed it well,
with the silver-ware supplied. Of course, the reader would
remember why I keep a bit of the lemon unused.
I decided to forget it for the moment.
One should always enjoy the moment, so say the wise.
I took a deep breath, and attacked the Aluminum tray with gusto.
It was nice that I had preserved the lemon slice.
The main course had a bed of fine yellow long-grained aromatic
Basmati rice (Ah, too many adjectives, but... I was completely
helpless in the face of all these delicious items being thrust in
front of me, for my consumption. Mine, and mine alone.) The aroma
had been heightened by the presence of two halves of cashew nut
kernels, which had been lightly tossed in oil, along with two
similarly-prepared long light brown raisins.
To the left was an interesting spinach preparation, which had
chopped spinach (not pureed) done lightly in oil, without any
spices whatsoever. This had a rather interesting taste, with the
spinach retaining its original favour to a large extent, thought
slightly offset by the light tossing around in oil. To the right
was some sinful cream chicken curry, or malAI chicken curry, if
you please, with pieces of very soft and succulent chicken tossed
around in a rich cream-based gravy, with just fried onions adding
to the flavour. The beverage service started, and I opted for the
coffee, as usual. No, I did not expect any surprises, but it was
not too bad for an instant coffee, it was also strong, and hot.
What? No dessert?
No, how could that happen?
I had reserved the last item for the end, in fact, after I had
partaken of the strong instant coffee, and enjoyed it, too.
The dessert took my senses by storm.
What was this? This was another of Air India's East-and-West
combination sweets. It had a surprisingly nice Banana-based
confectionery block on top, which gave way to a slightly gooey
variant of the same, with a slice of burfI (a dry condensed
milk-based compacted sweet) forming the lower base.
No, that was not it. The top had been liberally
sprinkled with shredded khoyA (a dry condensed milk-based sweet),
which had been shredded into inch-long wavy strips.
What a dessert it was! All my senses had deserted me for the
moments I took out small portions, rolled it around my mouth, and
slowly chewed the heavenly offering, and took it in. So much so
that a young lady member of the cabin crew went past me no, not
once, but twice, without explicitly looking at me, though I could
sense why she had made the trip past my seat quite clearly.
Did she have a slight smile on her lips as she went by, having
observed me in a perfect state of bliss?
I complement her for allowing me to enjoy the sweet just the way
I liked it, and when she came to clear my tray a good ten minutes
later, I thanked her warmly, apologising for the delay and her
having to make a third trip to my seat. She gave me a sweet
understanding smile, which sent my heart aflutter, with my
over-worked stomach also busy with its job.

Once again, I apologise for the relative lack of pictures in this
trip report. I had wanted to take the AI 102 DEL-BOM flight,
which left from the International part of IGI, T3. Safi, the
Afghan airline, often sends in a mix of planes into DEL:
sometimes an A320, sometimes a B752, and sometimes, a B762-ER.
I find the stubby B762-ER an interesting sight. The reader may
remember my last trip from this place, one to Mumbai, again,
where I had sighted the Safi B762-ER.
`Chhattisgarh' & 36, Chappan-bhog & 56:Mumbai,Jan'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13333.html
Yes, this is the picture in question.

As I entered the bathroom the other day, my eyes fell on the following:

There is an obvious reason why I do not notice such similarities.
Taking a bath is an entirely avoidable encumbrance,
which I believe to this day.

---
Links to my 61 trip reports:
https://sites.google.com/site/sumantratrip/
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ameya
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Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 3671
Location: Pune,Maharashtra

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad to see some TRs from you Sir! I am going to push you again to complete the backlog from Jun'13 till your recent ORD trip

We had discussed this 1900hours AI 319 to BOM in detail sometime back. This bird comes from IXU and goes to BOM, with the same crew doing BOM-IXU-DEL-BOM
Due to lack of A320/321 at this time, AI is constrained to have the smaller capacity at peak time

After reading about your baggage tags, I was thinking if airport branded baggage tag will be a better idea than airline branded
Probably more secure too ?

You continue to describe the aromatic food in a such a manner that the reader feels hungry instantly

Glad you got some good coffee on this flight. I am convinced coffee inflight is a lucky draw !

One reason for a remote bay at BOM could be due to the fact that this aircraft many a times goes further to AUH.

Which bird operated the return leg or did I miss it in the report ?

The SG bird next to SAFI was on the way to Kabul too ? If you remember based on when you took the picture ?

Thanks again !
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ameya wrote:
Glad to see some TRs from you Sir! I am going to push you again to complete the backlog from Jun'13 till your recent ORD trip
Thank you Sir, for all your pushes and nudges. Yes, I am trying to expedite clearing my backlog. Further, the next TR is a Pune one, wherein the highlight was meeting you, and enjoying your gift of savouries at home!
N NQ'd PNQ trip: An Enqueued PNQ trip, Jul'13. Coming soon.

ameya wrote:
We had discussed this 1900hours AI 319 to BOM in detail sometime back. This bird comes from IXU and goes to BOM, with the same crew doing BOM-IXU-DEL-BOM Due to lack of A320/321 at this time, AI is constrained to have the smaller capacity at peak time
Yes, Sir: I remember this nice discussion! However Sir, AI has on occassion deployed an A321 on this route as well. My Mar'13 Nanded trip
53. Nanded. And Dead Tired. Dizzy iN NDC. Mar'13
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13463.html
had one leg via the airport which started your passion in aviation, and one which you had written about extensively in one lovely but poignant TR. AI 441 was on an A321 then. This was the first flight out of DEL in the afternoon bank, and I remember both you, and a friend in Delhi commenting that working out the rotation for this bird was tough, given the arrivals bank, and the departure bank. One leg which is asymmetric in terms of the hardware deployed consistently, across time, has been the DEL-BHO and BHO-DEL segments. The AI 634 DEL-BHO is on an A319, which goes on to BOM. AI 633 on the other hand, does BOM-BHO-DEL, and is always on an A321: primarily because of an A319/A320 being unavailable at BOM at that time, and not for a larger number of passengers patronising this flight, though the loads I have seen haven't been too bad, either.

ameya wrote:
After reading about your baggage tags, I was thinking if airport branded baggage tag will be a better idea than airline branded
Probably more secure too ?
In the current scenario, the cash-strapped AAI and the cost-conscious 4 private airports would try their best to avoid any extra expenditure, and hive this off onto airlines. Whether we need to do away with these tags and stamps altogether is a different matter.

ameya wrote:
You continue to describe the aromatic food in a such a manner that the reader feels hungry instantly
So you can well imagine, what it is like, when I see such a tray in front of me Smile

ameya wrote:
Glad you got some good coffee on this flight. I am convinced coffee inflight is a lucky draw !
Sir, it is more of a miss than a hit on Air India at least, since the standard coffee seems to be Nescafe Classic, from all that I have seen, with only some notable exceptions. It is certainly very low in my personal list of favourites!

ameya wrote:
One reason for a remote bay at BOM could be due to the fact that this aircraft many a times goes further to AUH.
Interesting!

ameya wrote:
Which bird operated the return leg or did I miss it in the report ?
Sir, you caught me flat on this one. I do not seem to have noted it down. I wish I could take down notes as meticulously as you do. My chits and bits of paper tend to get lost, more so, when the TR backlog is as severe as mine!

ameya wrote:
The SG bird next to SAFI was on the way to Kabul too ? If you remember based on when you took the picture ?
This one, I remember Sir: it was the afternoon flight to the other big-K: Kathmandu.

Thanks Sir, for going through my musings in such level of detail: the level of detail in your writing, and your reading, is simply incredible!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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sri_bom
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great to see more TR's coming from you Sumantra thanks for posting in spite of your busy schedule.

The OLAY face fash was that kept in the Air India bathroom I am guessing someone must have forgotten right? as I don't think Air India offers OLAY products to passengers.

Sri_Bom
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice to see your TRs coming in quick - and its a great one as well! Very Happy

Loved the descriptions of the food...

About the B762..is it smallest wide body aircraft or will that go the A310?

Well deserved win for India for sure! I was oh so glad to see a few furious faces here in Colombo! Twisted Evil

Looking forward to more from you, sir!

Regards
Jish
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great TR Sumantra - AI on their trunk route - with good catering...
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Theairplaneguy4ever
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's good to have you and your trip reports back, sir.
I love them reading them, as does everyone else.

Quote:
Would this be an all-Economy A319,
or a newer one, perhaps one with PTVs?


Are there a lot of all-economy non-IFE A319s out of AI's fleet? It quite doesn't make sense sending one on a premium heavy route such as BOM-DEL, but I guess it's what Ameya sir says above-non-availability of aircraft.

Quote:
The dinner was nothing short of excellent.


And those descriptions are nothing short of excellent. As usual, I'm hungry just reading.

Thanks for the great TR sir!

Aditya

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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sri_bom wrote:
Great to see more TR's coming from you Sumantra thanks for posting in spite of your busy schedule.
Thanks a lot, Srinivas! I really treasure the little PM you sent, asking if all was well.

sri_bom wrote:
The OLAY face fash was that kept in the Air India bathroom I am guessing someone must have forgotten right? as I don't think Air India offers OLAY products to passengers.
Ha ha! That one was from The Wife's bathroom collection, Sir. It was just one of those days I was trying to sneak out of the bathroom without taking a bath, when a mental image of the Safi livery somehow matched with The Wife's Olay tube kept right there. Hence the connection Very Happy
PS: I had to take a bath that day.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jbalonso777 wrote:
About the B762..is it smallest wide body aircraft or will that go the A310?
Thank you Sir, for the kind words! The B762 and the A310 are about the same length, with the B762 a wee bit longer. However, the aircraft's stubby noise, as opposed to the Tubby's contoured one, gives it a weird look as compared to the A310 Tubby. AI chose the Tubby over the B767 variants primarily for the cavernous cargo capacity: there was a post on this forum pointing this out: the pallet sizes, and the capacity. The Tubbies served AI well, though most of them were in a bad state (from the inside) by the time they were phased out.
jbalonso777 wrote:
Looking forward to more from you, sir!
Thank you Sir, but after reading two more TR gems from you!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nimish wrote:
AI on their trunk route - with good catering...
Thanks, Nimish. Thanks to *A, now we look forward to see you earning UA miles on AI, and from our selfish point of view, to see nice TRs from you, as well!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Theairplaneguy4ever wrote:
Are there a lot of all-economy non-IFE A319s out of AI's fleet? It quite doesn't make sense sending one on a premium heavy route such as BOM-DEL, but I guess it's what Ameya sir says above-non-availability of aircraft.
Thanks for the kind words, Aditya Sir: my must-read TODO list of TRs includes one of yours as well. I'll get back to you soon on this one!
AI still has about 3 (4?) non-IFE A319s IIRC which are leased birds, and one which is not. I guess you have nailed the reason. AI puts the all-Y ones usually on non-premium low-yield routes, but there could be exceptions, as you point out: aircraft availability.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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Spiderguy252
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great read again, look forward to catching up sometime next week!
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 6:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Spiderguy252 wrote:
Great read again, look forward to catching up sometime next week!
Thank you Varun, I look forward to it too!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:19 pm    Post subject: Re: In CAPITALS, a Tale of Two Cities, Jun'13 Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
`Try the 8pm flight,'' he said.
Oh no, I thought. This would be out of Sahar - the International
terminal, or CSIA T2, which offered almost zero spotting
opportunities outside. If it had to be BOM T2, I would only go in
for a flight which had a wide-body operating it.

Hahahahahah I could sense the irritation.

You enjoyed the in-flight coffee .... wow times they are a changing Wink

Great TR. Once again you prove that TRs can be done brilliantly without pictures which is a rarity in my mind.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:54 pm    Post subject: Re: In CAPITALS, a Tale of Two Cities, Jun'13 Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:
...TRs can be done brilliantly without pictures which is a rarity in my mind.
Thanks a lot for the kind words, Sir. About the statement above, I guess I must say that I love TRs with brilliant pictures and nice description, such as yours!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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