smilinganddialing

I fear some of the FTers above have some outdated information on travel within India.

Some general things to keep in mind:

1. Avoid Kingfisher - the airline is owned by India's Richard Branson (Vijay Mallaya) and he refuses to infuse more capital. Their flights are constantly delayed or canceled. No Indian businessperson will fly them.

2. Avoid anything but IndiGo - every Indian businessperson flies IndiGo. They are a classy LCC with polite, pleasant, non-dinosaur staff. I'm not sure why anyone would buy food on a LCC or mainline - the last time I ordered a wrap on UA it tasted like plastic. IndiGo is almost always on time - the rumor is that the owners (or "promoters" as they are called in India) are in bed with the aviation ministry and pay bribes to make sure their jets get clearance first after ATC delays.

3. Be prepared for Indian domestic travel - almost no flights unless you are going from T3 in DEL will have jet bridges so be prepared to line up and take a bus to your plane (but CDG, IST, and AUH - major connecting airports do this for international too since the jet bridge concept seems not to have made it to most of the world yet).

4. I've flown Air India/Indian, Jet, and IndiGo. Indian and Jet consistently have excellent food on domestic routes but I prefer IndiGo for the reliability and simple pricing models (most Indian domestic flights are refundable after paying a small cancellation fee). India is much smaller than the US and therefore I just don't find the mile earning opportunities to be worth it on Jet - just stick with IndiGo.

5. Use Priority Pass for lounges in India - Indian domestic lounges in DEL, BOM, and BLR are excellent with wonderful food (usually one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian option, full bar, and lots of snack/beverage options) but please note that IndiGo's terminal in BOM has no lounges that are part of Priority Pass but it sounds like you are only flying international out of BOM so you should be fine.

abbydancer - LH has a Senator Lounge in T3 (Level 3, Lounge Area B) after Passport Control (you do this after you check-in your luggage). All the lounges for international departures are in Lounge Area A or B. Paying business class passengers on LH get Senator Lounge access - I'm not sure about DEL - EWR passengers on UA as I do not plan to spend that many hours stuck on a US carrier without a break from the usually surly FAs who have the "seniority" to fly such flights.

You can ALSO access the Plaza Premium Lounge on Level 4 in T3 - I've used this lounge and the international lounges at DEL have multiple hot food options available all day - mostly Indian but some Western options too. If you don't like the food, there is a food court on Level 4 with McDonald's, Dominos, etc.