Vistara Business Class PNQ-DEL
Check-in, Lounge and Boarding:
Reached PNQ around 2 hours before departure. Pune airport is a small airport which hosts Civil + Air Force activities jointly and the security reflects this. No photos of tarmac, runways or aircrafts are allowed here.
Vistara had 2 check-in counters open for economy and 1 for business and their Club Vistara Platinum/Gold members.
I asked for seat 1A which was blocked till then, and got it with a smile.
Vistara uses color coded boarding passes, with purple for economy, deep blue for premium economy and golden (a-la SQ First) for business class. I was also issued a handwritten lounge invitation to the airport’s only lounge, the Port Lounge.
My check-in bag was tagged with Priority Boarding pass and another golden hand bag tag was handed out.
I went through security which was deserted at this hour and was in the lounge by 11:30 p.m.
The lounge is upstairs, which you access through an elevator or an escalator. It is basically one small room, partitioned from the rest of the terminal. It has small sofas and a seating capacity of 25 or so. It is also a part of Priority Pass network, so can get plenty crowded.
The food options include packaged finger sandwiches, small cookies, and tea/coffee.
Canned juices are also offered.
The inbound aircraft was on time and soon boarding was announced, starting with Business class, top tier elites, and premium economy, then economy rows back to front. The order was strictly followed with later groups being held back.
Flight:
Air Vistara UK 998
PNQ-DEL
Departure: 01:10 p.m.
Arrival: 03:25 p.m.
Airbus A320-200 (VT-TTG)
Seat 1A
Once onboard and settled, I was offered a pre-departure drink of cold pressed pineapple juice or canned orange juice or water. Indian domestic flights are not allowed to serve alcohol. (Note my classy neighbour
)
As this aircraft was only a year old, the cabin felt very new and was definitely spotless.
The seat was very good, wrapped in leather and with a generous seat pitch. It had a footrest, however I failed to extend it, despite pushing the button that was presumably the correct one. Not very intuitive.
A small pillow was already placed at my seat.
I was also handed out a cold unscented towel of a good size.
After this, menus were handed out by the Lead FA who promised to take our orders after take-off.
Safety demos were manually performed at this point.
Vistara does not have IFE of any sort in any class. There was
some news of wireless streaming, but as far as I know that system is only installed in one aircraft in Vistara’s fleet as of now. I had also read that they used to hand out Samsung tablets in the business class with pre-loaded content; but I did not get to sample either of these things.
We pushed back 6 mins before our departure time and taxied to the start of Runway 10, where we were immediately cleared for take-off.
There was some chop after take-off, which smoothened out in about 15 minutes.
As soon as the seatbelt sign went off, the FAs closed the curtains between business & premium economy and took our orders.
The menu read as follows:
I couldn’t decide between the Chicken Biryani and the Massaman Curry, so asked the sweet FA to make a choice for me. She went back to the galley and informed me after a minute that the Biryani looked delicious and that she'd urge me to choose it. Alright alright, you don’t have to twist my arm over a few extra calories!
I also selected a Blue Curacao mocktail to go with my meal. The mocktails they offer are not listed on the menu, so unless you are ‘in the know’, you probably wouldn’t get to sample the range.
At this point, we were overflying Mumbai and soon reached our cruising altitude of 37000 feet.
My table was set up with white tablecloth and I was served my salad and my main on a single tray.
The presentation of the food was very good for a single tray, featuring accompaniments such as Raita, Pickles and individual salt and pepper shakers.
The salad with chickpeas, burrata, olives, beans and lettuce was good and fresh.
The main course was exceptional. The rice grains weren’t too sticky, which is what I look for in a biryani. It was very nicely flavoured and the meat was tender and falling off without a knife. The tomato stew which came with it was thick and rich and was a perfect match.
Some breads were offered out of a bread basket, which I declined.
My drink and water were served in Vistara branded glasses.
After clearing the plates, I was asked which dessert I would like and I picked the Coconut Parfait; which soon arrived. It was very light, spongy and not too sweet. The cherry filling provided a tanginess that complimented it nicely.
After this, I was offered tea or coffee. Vistara serves Starbucks coffee in business as well as premium economy class, which I selected. It arrived in a Starbucks branded cup too! Full marks to the airline for its branding.
I should reserve some special mention for the crew on this flight who were exemplary. Always smiling, always asking if you needed anything else. They were a credit to the airline.
As an example, the passenger next to me asked his lunch to be served to him an hour after departure. They happily agreed and put his selection aside. Then, an hour on the dot, they woke him up and presented him with this meal. Dine-on-demand on a 2 hours domestic flight! Also, the FA working business class would go and clean the lavatory after every use to keep it squeaky clean during the flight. Over and Beyond!
All too soon, the captain announced descent into Delhi, which meant looking at haze outside.
We were cleared straight in for arrival on Runway 29 and touched down smoothly, arriving in a hot 42 Degree Celsius Delhi 20 mins before time.
The priority baggage tags worked well and I was off with my bag 6 mins before scheduled arrival time.