MilesDependent
Mar 15, 03, 9:58 am
“This itinerary seems impractical. Such routings should not be encouraged, also there is not enough time to disembark and embark with a new boarding pass.”
So said the fares department of the Jet Airways Head Office in Mumbai upon reviewing our itinerary.
A trip report from MD (me) and a travel agent mate (Luke), on a recent ‘airpass abuse’ visit to India. Luke wrote the first part and I wrote from Day 0 onwards.
BACKGROUND
That little quote more or less sums up our itinerary planned around an Indian airpass offered by Jet Airways (9W). 9W have 3 airpass options – a 7 day regional pass (Western, Northern, Southern or Eastern) @ USD300.00, a 15day whole network pass @ USD500.00 and a 21day whole network pass @ USD750.00.
You can do unlimited flights (this being the main attraction) as long as you go in circle direction. Backtracking is allowed for connecting purposes only, and transits are less than 24hrs (which meant we could base ourselves in Bombay and ‘commute’ each day).
The pass we based the journey on was the 7-day Western region pass, basing ourselves in Bombay. Numerous routes/flights were looked at (due to ambiguous fare rulings), with the final version being approved just 2 days before leaving. It is reasonably difficult to continue flying for the whole day, as many destinations on the western pass only operated early am, or late afternoon, leaving the middle of the day free. A hotel near the airport is must. May we not recommend the Leela Kempinski (refer below).
Jet Airways commenced operations during May 1993 using 4 x B733 aircraft, with the objective of providing high quality and reliable air travel within India. Interestingly, Ansett Australia provided initial training and conversion of pilots and engineers at Melbourne. Another interesting note, Emirates were initially planning on taking an equity interest in 9W, but this never eventuated.
The Jet Airways fleet now comprises of 8 x B737-400s, 12 x B737-700s, 13 x B737-800s and 8 x ATR72-500s, making a total of 41 aircraft. The average age of the aircraft is 3 years (One of the a/c we travelled on – B73G VT-JGB was just 10 days old!). B737-900s are due for delivery later this year. All aircraft travelled on were clean and comfortable. The B737s has a reasonably large J class zone (~24 seats), with fixed seating and cabin divider.
All the tech and cabin crew were Indian nationals. There are a total of 600 cabin crew with the majority based in BOM. Crew are also based in DEL & MAA. One of the flight attendants commented that lots were leaving to go to EK/QR/MH and that they were a tad short. Extra Cabin crew were put on the flights that were fuller, while the flights with fewer pax operated with minimum crew numbers.
DAY 0
Luke arrived into BOM on MH around 10pm, and I followed in on SQ at about 11pm. I will (time permitting) post a reply to this message with a few comments regarding my SQ flights. If we ask Luke nicely he may even post a few lines about his experiences with MH.
We based ourselves at the Grand Maratha Sheraton which is about 1km from the international terminal and 5kn from the domestic terminal. Although Mumbai has 2 airports (domestic and international) they share common runways).
The hotel itself was excellent. The bedroom is a little on the small side, but it has all the amenities one would expect from a Starwood property. For some bizarre reason, the first floor of the property is 11. We had a room on the 12th floor, which was actually the 2nd floor.
After meeting Luke at the Sheraton, we headed over to a bar at the Hyatt for a few Kingfisher beers. Kingfisher is the local brew, with which by the end of the trip, we were more than a little familiar http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
What follows is a day-by-day run down of events. We’ve gone into a fair bit of detail on the first day so you can get the feel for 9W and what it’s like to fly around India. We have gone into less detail for the 2nd to 4th days,
DAY 1
9W0347; BOM-BHJ; 1127/1238; FL270; B734; VT-JAS
9W0348; BHJ-BOM; 1310/1423; FL270; B734; VT-JAS
9W0355; BOM-RAJ; 1854/1953; FL310; B73G; VT-JGB
9W0355; RAJ-BOM; 2021/2110; B73G; VT-JGB
We started the day with a lavish buffet breakfast at the Sheraton that was included in our room rate. Being the first day, we were a little cautious, and so checked in for our flight to Bhuj around 2 hours early. Our connection time in Bhuj was only 35 minutes so we also asked for our boarding passes for the BHJ-BOM sector. Of course this raised more than a few bizarre looks from the check-in staff. “Uhh…. So you are returning on the same flight? Huh?”, was the consensus from the ground staff. Eventually they twigged at what we were up to, and the computer spat out our BHJ-BOM sectors. Excellent, that meant we would not have to check in at BHJ!
Next up was our introduction to security at Indian airports. The process is as follows:
1) X-ray of carry on
2) Body frisk
3) Then at boarding: secondary body frisk
4) Secondary x-ray of carry on
5) Hand search of bags
6) Identification of through-connected check-in luggage at aircraft stairs.
7) Check of boarding pass and bags to see if all necessary stamps are in place.
During this time the boarding pass and carry-on luggage tag are stamped on two different occasions.
It was easily the most thorough security either Luke or I had previously seen (except for my first trip to India in 2001 when there was pretty much the same procedure). Curiously, it is not possible to take any matches or cigarette lighters in carry-on luggage. As a smoker that proved very inconvenient.
On the topic of security, photography is prohibited at all India airports and from aircraft windows. So unfortunately, we were not able to take any photos on the trip. We could have risked it as I did on my previous Indian trip, but given our ‘suspect’ itinerary, we didn’t want to raise any further suspicion.
Back to the Bhuj flight. After round 1 of security, we went looking for the Diner Club lounge. This is an airline lounge which is available for Diners Club card holders when travelling on any flight in any class from Mumbai domestic airport. Unfortunately, the lounge was located before the security check point. Despite our best arguing and negotiation skills, we were unable to convince security to rescind our successful satisfaction of round 1 security, and let us back into the main terminal area. “Not possible” was the common theme from the security staff. With no shops around (except for a suspiciously dodgy stand selling “Maharaja Tea” for 5 rupees) I sat down and watched the ramp action at BOM for the next hour or so.
Boarding finally commenced around 35 minutes before departure, and we made our way through Round 2 security, and onto our first 9W plane, B734 VT-JAS.
I will go into more detail for this first flight to explain how 9W flights operate. You can safely assume that the next 18 flights followed the same procedure.
Once seated onboard the plane you are offered a sickly sweet lemon drink in a bottle, followed by some candies (of which I collected around 100).
Whether you like it or not, the meal selection on all flights (bar 1 breakfast flight with western food) was “curry, curry, curry or curry”. There is a non-veg option which yielded a tray of suspect curried chicken which to be added to the veg curry.
Our approach into Bhuj was one of the most hair-raising approaches I have had. We flew at 90 degrees to the runway, about 1 mile out, but the pilot turned onto finals too late. What followed were some “Kai-Tak” style turns at just a few hundred feet about the ground. Bhuj airport is actually a full-scale military airport (as we found out all too soon) and Luke and I suspected our pilot was ex-air force, and was reliving his F18 approaches.
BHJ was a very, very spooky place. It is located about 200 kilometres from the Pakistan border and there was nothing but desert all around. The city was flattened by an earthquake in 2001 and something like 10% of the town was killed. The airport doubles as an airforce base and is filled with camouflaged aircraft hangars and camouflaged buildings. Upon arriving at BHJ, the following announcement was made.
“Paging Mr MD and Mr Luke – Please report to ground staff”.
We walked down the stairs of the plane and were escorted to a suspect little building where we were asked a number of questions, most along the lines of “why are you flying to Bhuj and flying straight back”. It was a touch scary for a while, but after we explained ourselves, the airport security staff were very friendly, and just wanted to talk about cricket.
After a short wait in possibly India’s dingiest departure lounge (tough call that), we were back on board VT-JAS to BOM. The crew were extremely friendly and “welcomed us back on board”.
An uneventful flight, and another powerful curry, back to BOM, and then we sort transport to the Sheraton. Anyone who has travelled to India would know that negotiating a ride in a taxi or took-took (aka three wheeler) is no easy task. We met all sorts of crazy took-took drivers in our travels to and from the airport. Some demanded more money after we set out, others tried to double the fare upon arrival. We always looked out for our drivers by providing them with free hotel soap, the 9W lemon drink and even muesli bars. I think we even gave one driver a hotel breakfast pastry.
We became good friends with one particular took-took driver. At one point, we were riding in a different took-took when our ‘friend’ spotted us. He fired up his took-took and was madly trying to follow us. However, our current driver would have none of it, and was zigzagging all over the road, trying to cut him off.
Anyway, after the BHJ adventure we were back to the Sheraton for some beer and pizza. Tough life.
We headed to the airport around 5pm for our 7pm flight to Rajkot. This time we went straight to the Diners Lounge before heading through security. It took us a little while to find the lounge. Our first stop was a seedy “VIP” lounge from which we were promptly kicked out. Next stop was the Oberoi Lounge on the ground floor. We asked if our Diners Card would be sufficient consideration for entry, and were promptly told we needed an invitation from the Mumbai Oberoi Hotel. We were advised that Diners Card holders were hidden away in the Oberoi lounge on the first floor.
We finally tracked down the “correct” lounge, and it was certainly a luxurious oasis in a pretty dilapidated and crappy airport. Interestingly, it was a heck of a lot nicer than the previous 2 lounges from which we were evicted. There are free non-alcoholic drinks as well as basic snacks such as donuts (actually, the only snacks were donuts that were a tad stale and soggy, but nonetheless, provided our basic sustenance over the coming days). The lounge also offers a great view of the 9W ramp and all runways. You have to show your card to obtain a drink. There are unlimited drinks available, but you cannot get drinks for someone else. We asked the bar attendant for a coke and a sprite and he said we needed 2 cards. If we had asked for a coke, and then asked for a sprite, we would have only needed 1 card. But, because we had asked for them at the same time, we needed 2 cards. Grr. Welcome to India.
We were lucky enough to ride to Rajkot on B73G VT-JGB which was only 10 days old. There is actually a photo on airliners.net of this plane 12 days before, flying out of Seattle. This was by far the nicest a/c we flew on throughout the trip. It still had that “new plane” smell. The Rajkot Airport Manager met us personally at Rajkot. We chatted with him for a while, and like most people we met, he was very friendly.
DAY 2
9W0321; BOM-AMD; 0535/0639; FL290; B738; VT-JNC
9W0322; AMD-BOM; 0717/0815; FL290; B738; VT-JNC
9W0349; BOM-BDQ; 1107/1159; FL???; B738; VT-JNA
9W0350; BDQ-BOM; 1231/1329; FL???; B738; VT-JNA
9W0383; BOM-IDR; 1809/1926; FL330; B734; VT-JAR
9W0383; IDR-BOM; 2011/2118; FL350; B734; VT-JAR
This was our day of serious, hard-core flying. Up at 3:30am back to the hotel at 10pm. In between we visited Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Indore. To be honest, the 6 flights on this day blur together a little. So, I’ll just note a few points, and move along to Day 3.
The flight to Ahmedabad was completely full, and we didn’t really manage to develop any rapport with the FAs. After a breakfast curry, we landed at AMD, and waited on the tarmac while a Indian Airlines A320 taxied past about 10 meters away (awesome sight). We went through arrivals, Luke had his cigarette (again, maybe, just maybe, it was me), and we headed back to the departures area to await our flight to Mumbai.
We were back in Mumbai at around 8:15am, and decided to forgo our free breakfast at the Sheraton, and await the departure of flight to Vadodara in the Oberoi Lounge, where there was an abundance of soggy donuts. Delicious.
Vadodara is fantastic looking airport that is built like a castle or palace. However, inside, yielded a pretty sorry looking departure areas with nothing but some broken seats and a half-tiled floor. Never judge a book by its cover, especially in India.
Back to the Sheraton by lunch time, where we chilled in the “Residents Lounge” and watched the Pakistan vs India cricket match, with some beer and pizza to keep us company. We also had a nice long chat to the Lounge Resident (the staff at the Sheraton were just great). The Resident’s Lounge is on the first floor of the hotel (that is, the 11th floor by their numbering). It is a great spot to chill and have a few drinks, yet we did not see any other guests partake during our stay.
We were at the airport by 5pm for our 6pm departure to Indore. Unfortunately, Luke & I were a little distracted by the free donuts and BOM ramp action, and almost missed our flight. Ms Lounge attendant had forgotten to announce our flight. The flight up to Indore was fantastic, with only 27 passengers on board. The load on the return flight was also pretty light.
DAY 3
9W0111; BOM-NAG; 0714/0831; FL270; B734; VT-JAE
9W0112; NAG-BOM; 0859/1036; FL310; B734; VT-JAE
9W0101; BOM-PNQ; 1623/1703; FL095; B73G; VT-JNE
9W0102; PNQ-BOM; 1740/1805; FL095; B73G; VT-JNE
After the luxury of sleeping in until 5am, we headed straight to the airport, checked-in, and awaited the departure of our flight to Nagpur. The aircraft was B734 VT-JAE which is an ex-Malaysian aircraft, and the oldest plane in 9W’s fleet (by luck we managed to get 9W’s oldest and newest aircraft in our travels).
At Nagpur we had a long chat to the pilot. He was a British-Indian who also flies regularly for Easyjet in the UK to keep his licence current. He was also the check-captain on our flight to Bhuj a few days earlier. Nagpur is an aircraft spotters heaven, with a B707 in pretty good condition, and a stack of old Russian aircraft. The terminal itself, like Vadodara, is built in the form of a castle. Unlike Vadodara, it was quite pleasant (by Indian standards) inside.
The crew on this flight were fantastic, and they even gave us some biscuits from business class. The first one was chocolate, and the second was actually curry flavoured. I kid you not, curry flavoured biscuits. YUCK! Luke spent about half the flight chatting up one particular FA.
Mumbai has 2 runways, one main, and a secondary cross. During our time in BOM, the main runway was closed between 10am and 2pm due to ground works, and therefore only the secondary runway was available. The secondary runway was rather “pop-holish” for lack of a better word, and when landing on this runway, an announcement is made that “it may get a little rough due to poor surface condition”.
Back to the flight. Due to the closure of the main runway, ATC delayed our arrival into BOM, and we circled above the city for about 15-20 minutes. At one point while we were at around 7-8,000 feet, there was an Air India A310 1000 feet below, and around 50-100 meters to the right of us. We were flying in formation with the AI aircraft for a few minutes, and it was amazing to see another plane so close while up in the air. Even the captain pointed out the amazing sight.
A short transit (at the Sheraton), and we back at BOM for our flight to Pune. This was a very short hop (only 77 miles) and is probably used mostly by transit pax (ie, those flying DEL-BOM-PNQ etc.). Pune is apparently the “sex capital” of India, and even the airport gift shop reflected this fact, with a variety of pornographic and sexual paraphernalia available for sale. I was going to buy some flavoured Indian condoms as a souvenir, however, I suspected they were most likely “curry” flavoured (like most things in India), so decided to pass.
As we were back in Mumbai as a reasonable hour, we decided to have dinner at the Leela Kempinski, another 5 star hotel quite close to the Sheraton. From the moment we stepped foot into this hotel we were unimpressed. We received nothing but rude glares, and poor service from every member of staff we encountered. From the door man who refused to open the door for us, to the waitress who openly glared at my sneakers (excuse me for not wearing my Versace loafers). I am not sure what the deal is with that hotel, but I guarantee you I will never step foot in there again. The only highlight was seeing a stack of SQ girls waiting in the lobby for their airport transfer (ahh, gotta love those SQ girls).
DAY 4
9W0479; BOM-GOI; 0627/0726; FL290; B73G; VT-JNQ
9W0480; GOI-BOM; 0757/0900; FL280; B73G; VT-JNQ
9W3483; BOM-DIU; 1046/1148; FL160; ATR72; VT-JCH
9W3483; DIU-PBD; 1310/1352; FL150; ATR72; VT-JCH
9W3483; PBD-BOM; 1422/1546; FL170; ATR72; VT-JCH
First up was our flight to Goa onboard B73G VT-JNQ. This flight was completely full of European holiday-makers, and was the only flight where there more than a few westerners. Goa seemed a very scenic town, but a little touristy for my tastes. The flight back to BOM was equally full.
Next up was our ATR flight Mumbai – Diu - Porbandar, and back to Mumbai. We boarded the newest ATR in 9W’s fleet around 30 minutes before departure. The temperature on board must have been 35 degrees. The FA’s informed us that a problem with the ATR is that the air conditioning cannot be started until the engines are on, so it is always very hot when pax first board. 9W provide a complimentary hand fan in the seat pocket to try and combat this problem. Eventually were air-borne off BOM’s secondary and bumpy runway on our way to Diu. Our flight today was like a flying hospital. Directly behind us was a real old guy who was on oxygen for the entire flight. He also received numerous injections from the travelling nurse seated beside him. Behind him was another guy who looked like he was about to drop dead. And seated nearby him was a women who actually looked like she was dead. She blinked every now and again so I guess she was still alive.
There were 2 FAs onboard this flight. A man who was extremely friendly and very nice to us, and a woman who looked like she had been told the world was about to end. True, the ATR would not be a pleasant plane to work on as they are cramped and not particularly comfortable, but we were still quite unimpressed with the services of that particular flight attendant (to be fair she was the only rude FA we came across on our journey). Luke and I wondered if 9W punished bad FAs by making them do a few sectors on the ATR. Kind of like “You were 10 minutes late for work today, as punishment you must do mmm…… 10 sectors on the ATR”.
There was quite a strong cross-wind at Diu so our ATR had a few little bumps on our descent. Upon arrival, pax continuing to Porbandar were asked to stay on board. The engines were switched off at this point, and so the temperature began to rise in the cabin.
We went for a wonder around the ATR which killed about 15 seconds (it’s a very small plane), and then we started eaves dropping on a conversation between the pilot and FAs. Apparently visibility at Porbandar was below the minima of 3.6km (it was 2.5km) due to a dust storm, and we were to wait at Diu to see if it cleared. When the pilots saw me “listening” on their conversation they promptly glared at me and moved away a few feet. Haha. So, on board the hot and stuffy ATR we remained. After about 20 minutes it was becoming unbearable and one passenger took it upon himself to get all of us into more comfortable surroundings. The conversation kind of went like this:
Pax: “This heat is unbearable. I demand you do something about it now.
FA: “Sir, please wait a few minutes to see what can be done”.
Pax: (speaking in an amazingly calm but stern voice) “No. I will not wait 5 minutes. I will not even wait 1 minute. You will fetch the pilot and bring him to me this instant.
FA: “Uhhhh”
Pax: “No, you will fetch him this instant. No more excuses.
FA: (gets pilot)
Pilot: “Sir…”
Pax: “No, I demand you unload us this instant. We are not animals. This is a disgrace”.
Pilot: “Yes Sir”.
And, 10 seconds later an announcement was made asking us all to head to the transfer area. That passenger was the most amazing speakers I have ever heard. I have never witnessed someone so charismatic. You just couldn’t argue with him.
After we de-planed Luke was quite excited at the prospect of a cigarette, but it was not to be, as we were kept in the departure lounge of Diu and could not head outside.
After about an hour we were advised that the weather had cleared a little and we would make our way to Porbandar. Upon enquiring we found out that visibility was now 3.5km which was 100 meters below minima. Evidentially that was not a problem, and soon we were on our way. We cruised at 15,000 flight for this short sector. Prior to our descent into Porbandar the pilot warned it may get a little rough. At one point there was quite a bit of up/down chop and the pilot announced that we were about to land. During his announcement we hit a slightly bigger bump and at the same time an alarm went off in the cockpit (probably just the autopilot disengage). The lady in front of us screamed out loud which we thought was quite funny http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
At Porbandar we were given the VIP treatment by the staff. We were brought into the manager’s office and offered tea and coffee while they prepared our boarding pass. Porbandar seemed a very interesting little town. Completely surrounded by desert, with loads of dingy little buildings. The arrival of our ATR is a major event in the town with people standing on roof-tops all around to get a glimpse. It is one place I would have liked to spend a little time.
All too soon we were back onboard the ATR, for our final 9W sector. Given it was the final flight, I indulged in one final curry. On the side of the dish was what I thought was a string-bean. Yummy. Unfortunately it turned out to be a green chilli, which nearly set my entire head on fire. Had I have swallowed that I think I would have needed some of that oxygen the pax had on the previous flight!
Anyway, so ends out little 9W journey.
In summary, we were extremely impressed with all staff we encountered on the ground and in the air. Jet Airways, really is the Singapore Airlines of India.
MD
[This message has been edited by MilesDependent (edited 03-15-2003).]
So said the fares department of the Jet Airways Head Office in Mumbai upon reviewing our itinerary.
A trip report from MD (me) and a travel agent mate (Luke), on a recent ‘airpass abuse’ visit to India. Luke wrote the first part and I wrote from Day 0 onwards.
BACKGROUND
That little quote more or less sums up our itinerary planned around an Indian airpass offered by Jet Airways (9W). 9W have 3 airpass options – a 7 day regional pass (Western, Northern, Southern or Eastern) @ USD300.00, a 15day whole network pass @ USD500.00 and a 21day whole network pass @ USD750.00.
You can do unlimited flights (this being the main attraction) as long as you go in circle direction. Backtracking is allowed for connecting purposes only, and transits are less than 24hrs (which meant we could base ourselves in Bombay and ‘commute’ each day).
The pass we based the journey on was the 7-day Western region pass, basing ourselves in Bombay. Numerous routes/flights were looked at (due to ambiguous fare rulings), with the final version being approved just 2 days before leaving. It is reasonably difficult to continue flying for the whole day, as many destinations on the western pass only operated early am, or late afternoon, leaving the middle of the day free. A hotel near the airport is must. May we not recommend the Leela Kempinski (refer below).
Jet Airways commenced operations during May 1993 using 4 x B733 aircraft, with the objective of providing high quality and reliable air travel within India. Interestingly, Ansett Australia provided initial training and conversion of pilots and engineers at Melbourne. Another interesting note, Emirates were initially planning on taking an equity interest in 9W, but this never eventuated.
The Jet Airways fleet now comprises of 8 x B737-400s, 12 x B737-700s, 13 x B737-800s and 8 x ATR72-500s, making a total of 41 aircraft. The average age of the aircraft is 3 years (One of the a/c we travelled on – B73G VT-JGB was just 10 days old!). B737-900s are due for delivery later this year. All aircraft travelled on were clean and comfortable. The B737s has a reasonably large J class zone (~24 seats), with fixed seating and cabin divider.
All the tech and cabin crew were Indian nationals. There are a total of 600 cabin crew with the majority based in BOM. Crew are also based in DEL & MAA. One of the flight attendants commented that lots were leaving to go to EK/QR/MH and that they were a tad short. Extra Cabin crew were put on the flights that were fuller, while the flights with fewer pax operated with minimum crew numbers.
DAY 0
Luke arrived into BOM on MH around 10pm, and I followed in on SQ at about 11pm. I will (time permitting) post a reply to this message with a few comments regarding my SQ flights. If we ask Luke nicely he may even post a few lines about his experiences with MH.
We based ourselves at the Grand Maratha Sheraton which is about 1km from the international terminal and 5kn from the domestic terminal. Although Mumbai has 2 airports (domestic and international) they share common runways).
The hotel itself was excellent. The bedroom is a little on the small side, but it has all the amenities one would expect from a Starwood property. For some bizarre reason, the first floor of the property is 11. We had a room on the 12th floor, which was actually the 2nd floor.
After meeting Luke at the Sheraton, we headed over to a bar at the Hyatt for a few Kingfisher beers. Kingfisher is the local brew, with which by the end of the trip, we were more than a little familiar http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
What follows is a day-by-day run down of events. We’ve gone into a fair bit of detail on the first day so you can get the feel for 9W and what it’s like to fly around India. We have gone into less detail for the 2nd to 4th days,
DAY 1
9W0347; BOM-BHJ; 1127/1238; FL270; B734; VT-JAS
9W0348; BHJ-BOM; 1310/1423; FL270; B734; VT-JAS
9W0355; BOM-RAJ; 1854/1953; FL310; B73G; VT-JGB
9W0355; RAJ-BOM; 2021/2110; B73G; VT-JGB
We started the day with a lavish buffet breakfast at the Sheraton that was included in our room rate. Being the first day, we were a little cautious, and so checked in for our flight to Bhuj around 2 hours early. Our connection time in Bhuj was only 35 minutes so we also asked for our boarding passes for the BHJ-BOM sector. Of course this raised more than a few bizarre looks from the check-in staff. “Uhh…. So you are returning on the same flight? Huh?”, was the consensus from the ground staff. Eventually they twigged at what we were up to, and the computer spat out our BHJ-BOM sectors. Excellent, that meant we would not have to check in at BHJ!
Next up was our introduction to security at Indian airports. The process is as follows:
1) X-ray of carry on
2) Body frisk
3) Then at boarding: secondary body frisk
4) Secondary x-ray of carry on
5) Hand search of bags
6) Identification of through-connected check-in luggage at aircraft stairs.
7) Check of boarding pass and bags to see if all necessary stamps are in place.
During this time the boarding pass and carry-on luggage tag are stamped on two different occasions.
It was easily the most thorough security either Luke or I had previously seen (except for my first trip to India in 2001 when there was pretty much the same procedure). Curiously, it is not possible to take any matches or cigarette lighters in carry-on luggage. As a smoker that proved very inconvenient.
On the topic of security, photography is prohibited at all India airports and from aircraft windows. So unfortunately, we were not able to take any photos on the trip. We could have risked it as I did on my previous Indian trip, but given our ‘suspect’ itinerary, we didn’t want to raise any further suspicion.
Back to the Bhuj flight. After round 1 of security, we went looking for the Diner Club lounge. This is an airline lounge which is available for Diners Club card holders when travelling on any flight in any class from Mumbai domestic airport. Unfortunately, the lounge was located before the security check point. Despite our best arguing and negotiation skills, we were unable to convince security to rescind our successful satisfaction of round 1 security, and let us back into the main terminal area. “Not possible” was the common theme from the security staff. With no shops around (except for a suspiciously dodgy stand selling “Maharaja Tea” for 5 rupees) I sat down and watched the ramp action at BOM for the next hour or so.
Boarding finally commenced around 35 minutes before departure, and we made our way through Round 2 security, and onto our first 9W plane, B734 VT-JAS.
I will go into more detail for this first flight to explain how 9W flights operate. You can safely assume that the next 18 flights followed the same procedure.
Once seated onboard the plane you are offered a sickly sweet lemon drink in a bottle, followed by some candies (of which I collected around 100).
Whether you like it or not, the meal selection on all flights (bar 1 breakfast flight with western food) was “curry, curry, curry or curry”. There is a non-veg option which yielded a tray of suspect curried chicken which to be added to the veg curry.
Our approach into Bhuj was one of the most hair-raising approaches I have had. We flew at 90 degrees to the runway, about 1 mile out, but the pilot turned onto finals too late. What followed were some “Kai-Tak” style turns at just a few hundred feet about the ground. Bhuj airport is actually a full-scale military airport (as we found out all too soon) and Luke and I suspected our pilot was ex-air force, and was reliving his F18 approaches.
BHJ was a very, very spooky place. It is located about 200 kilometres from the Pakistan border and there was nothing but desert all around. The city was flattened by an earthquake in 2001 and something like 10% of the town was killed. The airport doubles as an airforce base and is filled with camouflaged aircraft hangars and camouflaged buildings. Upon arriving at BHJ, the following announcement was made.
“Paging Mr MD and Mr Luke – Please report to ground staff”.
We walked down the stairs of the plane and were escorted to a suspect little building where we were asked a number of questions, most along the lines of “why are you flying to Bhuj and flying straight back”. It was a touch scary for a while, but after we explained ourselves, the airport security staff were very friendly, and just wanted to talk about cricket.
After a short wait in possibly India’s dingiest departure lounge (tough call that), we were back on board VT-JAS to BOM. The crew were extremely friendly and “welcomed us back on board”.
An uneventful flight, and another powerful curry, back to BOM, and then we sort transport to the Sheraton. Anyone who has travelled to India would know that negotiating a ride in a taxi or took-took (aka three wheeler) is no easy task. We met all sorts of crazy took-took drivers in our travels to and from the airport. Some demanded more money after we set out, others tried to double the fare upon arrival. We always looked out for our drivers by providing them with free hotel soap, the 9W lemon drink and even muesli bars. I think we even gave one driver a hotel breakfast pastry.
We became good friends with one particular took-took driver. At one point, we were riding in a different took-took when our ‘friend’ spotted us. He fired up his took-took and was madly trying to follow us. However, our current driver would have none of it, and was zigzagging all over the road, trying to cut him off.
Anyway, after the BHJ adventure we were back to the Sheraton for some beer and pizza. Tough life.
We headed to the airport around 5pm for our 7pm flight to Rajkot. This time we went straight to the Diners Lounge before heading through security. It took us a little while to find the lounge. Our first stop was a seedy “VIP” lounge from which we were promptly kicked out. Next stop was the Oberoi Lounge on the ground floor. We asked if our Diners Card would be sufficient consideration for entry, and were promptly told we needed an invitation from the Mumbai Oberoi Hotel. We were advised that Diners Card holders were hidden away in the Oberoi lounge on the first floor.
We finally tracked down the “correct” lounge, and it was certainly a luxurious oasis in a pretty dilapidated and crappy airport. Interestingly, it was a heck of a lot nicer than the previous 2 lounges from which we were evicted. There are free non-alcoholic drinks as well as basic snacks such as donuts (actually, the only snacks were donuts that were a tad stale and soggy, but nonetheless, provided our basic sustenance over the coming days). The lounge also offers a great view of the 9W ramp and all runways. You have to show your card to obtain a drink. There are unlimited drinks available, but you cannot get drinks for someone else. We asked the bar attendant for a coke and a sprite and he said we needed 2 cards. If we had asked for a coke, and then asked for a sprite, we would have only needed 1 card. But, because we had asked for them at the same time, we needed 2 cards. Grr. Welcome to India.
We were lucky enough to ride to Rajkot on B73G VT-JGB which was only 10 days old. There is actually a photo on airliners.net of this plane 12 days before, flying out of Seattle. This was by far the nicest a/c we flew on throughout the trip. It still had that “new plane” smell. The Rajkot Airport Manager met us personally at Rajkot. We chatted with him for a while, and like most people we met, he was very friendly.
DAY 2
9W0321; BOM-AMD; 0535/0639; FL290; B738; VT-JNC
9W0322; AMD-BOM; 0717/0815; FL290; B738; VT-JNC
9W0349; BOM-BDQ; 1107/1159; FL???; B738; VT-JNA
9W0350; BDQ-BOM; 1231/1329; FL???; B738; VT-JNA
9W0383; BOM-IDR; 1809/1926; FL330; B734; VT-JAR
9W0383; IDR-BOM; 2011/2118; FL350; B734; VT-JAR
This was our day of serious, hard-core flying. Up at 3:30am back to the hotel at 10pm. In between we visited Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Indore. To be honest, the 6 flights on this day blur together a little. So, I’ll just note a few points, and move along to Day 3.
The flight to Ahmedabad was completely full, and we didn’t really manage to develop any rapport with the FAs. After a breakfast curry, we landed at AMD, and waited on the tarmac while a Indian Airlines A320 taxied past about 10 meters away (awesome sight). We went through arrivals, Luke had his cigarette (again, maybe, just maybe, it was me), and we headed back to the departures area to await our flight to Mumbai.
We were back in Mumbai at around 8:15am, and decided to forgo our free breakfast at the Sheraton, and await the departure of flight to Vadodara in the Oberoi Lounge, where there was an abundance of soggy donuts. Delicious.
Vadodara is fantastic looking airport that is built like a castle or palace. However, inside, yielded a pretty sorry looking departure areas with nothing but some broken seats and a half-tiled floor. Never judge a book by its cover, especially in India.
Back to the Sheraton by lunch time, where we chilled in the “Residents Lounge” and watched the Pakistan vs India cricket match, with some beer and pizza to keep us company. We also had a nice long chat to the Lounge Resident (the staff at the Sheraton were just great). The Resident’s Lounge is on the first floor of the hotel (that is, the 11th floor by their numbering). It is a great spot to chill and have a few drinks, yet we did not see any other guests partake during our stay.
We were at the airport by 5pm for our 6pm departure to Indore. Unfortunately, Luke & I were a little distracted by the free donuts and BOM ramp action, and almost missed our flight. Ms Lounge attendant had forgotten to announce our flight. The flight up to Indore was fantastic, with only 27 passengers on board. The load on the return flight was also pretty light.
DAY 3
9W0111; BOM-NAG; 0714/0831; FL270; B734; VT-JAE
9W0112; NAG-BOM; 0859/1036; FL310; B734; VT-JAE
9W0101; BOM-PNQ; 1623/1703; FL095; B73G; VT-JNE
9W0102; PNQ-BOM; 1740/1805; FL095; B73G; VT-JNE
After the luxury of sleeping in until 5am, we headed straight to the airport, checked-in, and awaited the departure of our flight to Nagpur. The aircraft was B734 VT-JAE which is an ex-Malaysian aircraft, and the oldest plane in 9W’s fleet (by luck we managed to get 9W’s oldest and newest aircraft in our travels).
At Nagpur we had a long chat to the pilot. He was a British-Indian who also flies regularly for Easyjet in the UK to keep his licence current. He was also the check-captain on our flight to Bhuj a few days earlier. Nagpur is an aircraft spotters heaven, with a B707 in pretty good condition, and a stack of old Russian aircraft. The terminal itself, like Vadodara, is built in the form of a castle. Unlike Vadodara, it was quite pleasant (by Indian standards) inside.
The crew on this flight were fantastic, and they even gave us some biscuits from business class. The first one was chocolate, and the second was actually curry flavoured. I kid you not, curry flavoured biscuits. YUCK! Luke spent about half the flight chatting up one particular FA.
Mumbai has 2 runways, one main, and a secondary cross. During our time in BOM, the main runway was closed between 10am and 2pm due to ground works, and therefore only the secondary runway was available. The secondary runway was rather “pop-holish” for lack of a better word, and when landing on this runway, an announcement is made that “it may get a little rough due to poor surface condition”.
Back to the flight. Due to the closure of the main runway, ATC delayed our arrival into BOM, and we circled above the city for about 15-20 minutes. At one point while we were at around 7-8,000 feet, there was an Air India A310 1000 feet below, and around 50-100 meters to the right of us. We were flying in formation with the AI aircraft for a few minutes, and it was amazing to see another plane so close while up in the air. Even the captain pointed out the amazing sight.
A short transit (at the Sheraton), and we back at BOM for our flight to Pune. This was a very short hop (only 77 miles) and is probably used mostly by transit pax (ie, those flying DEL-BOM-PNQ etc.). Pune is apparently the “sex capital” of India, and even the airport gift shop reflected this fact, with a variety of pornographic and sexual paraphernalia available for sale. I was going to buy some flavoured Indian condoms as a souvenir, however, I suspected they were most likely “curry” flavoured (like most things in India), so decided to pass.
As we were back in Mumbai as a reasonable hour, we decided to have dinner at the Leela Kempinski, another 5 star hotel quite close to the Sheraton. From the moment we stepped foot into this hotel we were unimpressed. We received nothing but rude glares, and poor service from every member of staff we encountered. From the door man who refused to open the door for us, to the waitress who openly glared at my sneakers (excuse me for not wearing my Versace loafers). I am not sure what the deal is with that hotel, but I guarantee you I will never step foot in there again. The only highlight was seeing a stack of SQ girls waiting in the lobby for their airport transfer (ahh, gotta love those SQ girls).
DAY 4
9W0479; BOM-GOI; 0627/0726; FL290; B73G; VT-JNQ
9W0480; GOI-BOM; 0757/0900; FL280; B73G; VT-JNQ
9W3483; BOM-DIU; 1046/1148; FL160; ATR72; VT-JCH
9W3483; DIU-PBD; 1310/1352; FL150; ATR72; VT-JCH
9W3483; PBD-BOM; 1422/1546; FL170; ATR72; VT-JCH
First up was our flight to Goa onboard B73G VT-JNQ. This flight was completely full of European holiday-makers, and was the only flight where there more than a few westerners. Goa seemed a very scenic town, but a little touristy for my tastes. The flight back to BOM was equally full.
Next up was our ATR flight Mumbai – Diu - Porbandar, and back to Mumbai. We boarded the newest ATR in 9W’s fleet around 30 minutes before departure. The temperature on board must have been 35 degrees. The FA’s informed us that a problem with the ATR is that the air conditioning cannot be started until the engines are on, so it is always very hot when pax first board. 9W provide a complimentary hand fan in the seat pocket to try and combat this problem. Eventually were air-borne off BOM’s secondary and bumpy runway on our way to Diu. Our flight today was like a flying hospital. Directly behind us was a real old guy who was on oxygen for the entire flight. He also received numerous injections from the travelling nurse seated beside him. Behind him was another guy who looked like he was about to drop dead. And seated nearby him was a women who actually looked like she was dead. She blinked every now and again so I guess she was still alive.
There were 2 FAs onboard this flight. A man who was extremely friendly and very nice to us, and a woman who looked like she had been told the world was about to end. True, the ATR would not be a pleasant plane to work on as they are cramped and not particularly comfortable, but we were still quite unimpressed with the services of that particular flight attendant (to be fair she was the only rude FA we came across on our journey). Luke and I wondered if 9W punished bad FAs by making them do a few sectors on the ATR. Kind of like “You were 10 minutes late for work today, as punishment you must do mmm…… 10 sectors on the ATR”.
There was quite a strong cross-wind at Diu so our ATR had a few little bumps on our descent. Upon arrival, pax continuing to Porbandar were asked to stay on board. The engines were switched off at this point, and so the temperature began to rise in the cabin.
We went for a wonder around the ATR which killed about 15 seconds (it’s a very small plane), and then we started eaves dropping on a conversation between the pilot and FAs. Apparently visibility at Porbandar was below the minima of 3.6km (it was 2.5km) due to a dust storm, and we were to wait at Diu to see if it cleared. When the pilots saw me “listening” on their conversation they promptly glared at me and moved away a few feet. Haha. So, on board the hot and stuffy ATR we remained. After about 20 minutes it was becoming unbearable and one passenger took it upon himself to get all of us into more comfortable surroundings. The conversation kind of went like this:
Pax: “This heat is unbearable. I demand you do something about it now.
FA: “Sir, please wait a few minutes to see what can be done”.
Pax: (speaking in an amazingly calm but stern voice) “No. I will not wait 5 minutes. I will not even wait 1 minute. You will fetch the pilot and bring him to me this instant.
FA: “Uhhhh”
Pax: “No, you will fetch him this instant. No more excuses.
FA: (gets pilot)
Pilot: “Sir…”
Pax: “No, I demand you unload us this instant. We are not animals. This is a disgrace”.
Pilot: “Yes Sir”.
And, 10 seconds later an announcement was made asking us all to head to the transfer area. That passenger was the most amazing speakers I have ever heard. I have never witnessed someone so charismatic. You just couldn’t argue with him.
After we de-planed Luke was quite excited at the prospect of a cigarette, but it was not to be, as we were kept in the departure lounge of Diu and could not head outside.
After about an hour we were advised that the weather had cleared a little and we would make our way to Porbandar. Upon enquiring we found out that visibility was now 3.5km which was 100 meters below minima. Evidentially that was not a problem, and soon we were on our way. We cruised at 15,000 flight for this short sector. Prior to our descent into Porbandar the pilot warned it may get a little rough. At one point there was quite a bit of up/down chop and the pilot announced that we were about to land. During his announcement we hit a slightly bigger bump and at the same time an alarm went off in the cockpit (probably just the autopilot disengage). The lady in front of us screamed out loud which we thought was quite funny http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
At Porbandar we were given the VIP treatment by the staff. We were brought into the manager’s office and offered tea and coffee while they prepared our boarding pass. Porbandar seemed a very interesting little town. Completely surrounded by desert, with loads of dingy little buildings. The arrival of our ATR is a major event in the town with people standing on roof-tops all around to get a glimpse. It is one place I would have liked to spend a little time.
All too soon we were back onboard the ATR, for our final 9W sector. Given it was the final flight, I indulged in one final curry. On the side of the dish was what I thought was a string-bean. Yummy. Unfortunately it turned out to be a green chilli, which nearly set my entire head on fire. Had I have swallowed that I think I would have needed some of that oxygen the pax had on the previous flight!
Anyway, so ends out little 9W journey.
In summary, we were extremely impressed with all staff we encountered on the ground and in the air. Jet Airways, really is the Singapore Airlines of India.
MD
[This message has been edited by MilesDependent (edited 03-15-2003).]