Trip Reports - whirlwind tour of India - LYS-CDG-BOM-DEL-MAA-BLR-BOM-CDG-LYS AF & 9W

I had to do a press and marketing tour of India over a 8 day period. I started at LYS and flew up to CDG on the AF evening flight. I checked in at LYS and was given both boarding passes. The CDG-BOM was in the usual envelope but I didn't look at it. I was tired and I just wanted to get to CDG and get some sleep at the Hyatt. Besides I had a recent confirmation email from AF that the flight time was 10:30am. That was a mistake. It turns out the flight time had changed for the CDG-BOM leg and they didn't tell me. So after a nice sleep at the CDG Hyatt (Diamond upgrade to the RC), I went to the airport at 9am and found that my flight had closed. The time had changed from 10:30 to 9:10.

I really panicked as I had a huge event waiting for me in BOM the next day. I ran to the board to look for another flight to BOM and fortunalely DL had one leaving at 11am. I went to AF to have them switch me, but they wouldn't and they told me my return was cancelled. I paid over €1000 for the ticket! I then went to the DL ticket counter and asked for a one-way ticket to BOM on the 11am. They said only biz was available. I took it for $2000 and went to check in. They had already closed check-in, but they let me slide since it was a biz ticket and I was Sky Team Elite-Plus (AF Rouge). Also they said they would move my bags that I checked in at LYS to the DL flight. Good! The Skyteam alliance works.

It turns out that the AF database for flight info is wrong. In fact it is still wrong and the new paper timetable they just printed is wrong. So I will be looking for some money back from AF. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368330 for more details.

Anyhow, I had a nice flight to BOM on DL. The seats were old, but the food and service were OK. It was a daytime flight so I stayed up the whole way. However on arrival I heard my name announced by the gate agent. Uh-oh. I guessed they didn't get my bags on and I was right. In fact several people had their bags stuck at CDG. They did the paper work and said it would be on tomorrows flight.

Later I was met by the Sheraton driver and we made our way to the Maratha Sheraton. It was quite late by this time so I just went up to my nice large room and crashed. The next day was non-stop work. We ended up with meetings at the Taj Lands End. What a nice hotel! I should have stayed there as the traffic to and from the Sheraton was horrible! The newspaper said that Mumbai ranked number one in India for density. 27,000 people per square kilometer! Not enough taxis either as we had to take autocycles most of the time.

I went to bed around midnight and at 3:30 am the hotel woke me up to say I had to go to the airport to shepherd my bags through customs. I was upset by this since Delta had me sign a release form so they could bring the bags through customs. I think this was a Sheraton mistake, but I'm not sure. I just went to the airport like a zombie and did what I was told. But then some customs guy said I had to pay $500 in import duties. We argued for a while over this and his price went down. But he was firm on 5000 rupees. So I made a donation to his retirement fund and off I went, back to sleep. A day later the Sheraton driver took me to the domestic airport. The transfers were complimentary for Platinum members BTW.

At the airport, I boarded Jet Airways (9W) to DEL. It was a nice new 737 and I got a seat in the first row of economy. I was quite surprised when I received a bottle of water and a cold towel before takeoff! Service was fantastic. It was a short flight, but we had a nice meal, veg or non-veg with plenty of very good juices. At arrival I was met by a complimentary limo to the Grand Intercontinental. But my stay there was not so grand. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=365945 for more on this hotel.

I found a great jewelry shop nearby called Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri on Janpath near Connaught. It was packed with wealthy locals buying up gold left and right. It was a very well run operation and I got a good price.

Later I went to the domestic airport and stopped at the 9W ticket counter. I bought tickets for MAA, then BNL, then BOM. Biz class was only a few dollars more so I went for it. 9W has a great lounge at DEL. Free food and drinks! It is basically a restaurant, but biz class and elites eat free. They have wifi too, but you have to buy a scratch card from Tata Indicom to use it.

The flight was very good up front in my usual 1A. Plenty of great food. In the baggage area at MAA there were 3 fine-suited gentlemen with Sheraton tags on. Somehow they recognized me as a Sheraton customer and came up to me to ask me if was staying at their hotel. I honestly don't know how they knew? They quickly brought a car around and off I went. The hotel is excellent and I had a bunch of free snacks and drinks waiting in my room along with a bottle of India wine, circa 2004. ;)

That's it for now. I'll post more from the next town or when I get a chance.

The Air France CDG-BOM flight operated with a 945am departure on 27 October only (I know this 'cos the early departure caused me to misconnect that day), but has been operating at 1030am all other days.

Regarding luggage delivery, Indian regulations require that you personally clear your mishandled bags through customs or use the services of a customs broker to do it for you. In the latter case, there can be considerable delays (2-3 weeks is not unheard of when bribes are not paid) so often it is worth rousing yourself at 3am to go fetch them personally at the airport.

The customs officer was simply welcoming you with the usual shakedown that all "gora" (white-skin) passengers are subjected to. He smelled cash and figured you would rather pay than argue (he was right). If you ever have this problem again in Mumbai, drop me a line and I'll be glad to come to the airport with you to cuss at him in chaste Hindi/Marathi and save you the "duty". In fact, if you are going to be in Mumbai at all feel free to drop me a line and we can meet up for drinks/dinner. I always enjoy giving FTers a tour of my hometown from a local perspective! :)

woaw, not the easiest trip. I hope you get your money back - you should!

Nice report... and to 747-437B I'm going to hold you to that offer ok?


AZJ

More updates...

For one of the best shopping experiences you will ever find, try Amethyst in Chennai. It is in an old "palace" in a tree-lined neighborhood. You have loads of cool Indian-designer silk or cotton clothes which are very unique. The same for jewelry and other nick-nacks. Then after your shopping, they have an indoor-outdoor cafe WITH HOOKAHS! We smoked a bowl of double-apple along with some homemande peach ice tea. All this sitting outside on a beautiful day with perfect weather, under a tree that reminded me of a banyan.

Another nice shop is Natalya down the street from the Park Sheraton. The next day I went to MAA and hit 9W again for BLR. The lounge was the same restaurant style as DEL, but more open and bright. I had breakfast this time and it was OK. Upon arrival we fought tough traffic for the Park hotel. Next to the Park is the Taj Residence and the Oberoi. But my meetings were at the Park so that was my choice. I had cancelled my reservation for the Windsor Sheraton when I saw how far away it was. The Park is a very neat boutique hotel. Either they copied the W or the W copied them. The two chains are nearly identical save for the lighter tones in the design here. Maybe Starwood should buy the Park chain and get several W's in India? Check out www.theparkhotels.com. I got a Club room which is quite nice. That's it for now....

For a moment you had me there with the HOOKAHS... ;)

After enjoying Bangalore, The Garden City (much in the same way New Jersey is the Garden State), I went to the airport. The Park gave me a free transfer which was nice. The driver took a shortcut to avoid the heavy traffic on Mahatma Ghandi road, but we got slowed down by the cows quite a bit. Anyhow, I made it to the airport and went up the the same type of Restaurant as MAA and DEL. Later on the flight we had another great meal in business class.

I was met at BOM by our illustrious B747-437B. We toured Mumbai and Bandra and enjoyed a nice dinner with plenty of fascinating talk about travel and the aviation industry. Great way to kill a 6+ hour layover!

Later at BOM I checked in for my AF flight home. I got my BP for CDG-LYS also and a lounge pass. I went down to the gate area and intended to hit one of the duty free shops. But I was intercepted by what I will call a tout working for the VIP lounge. He insisted on taking my bags and guiding me to the VIP lounge. I guess he saw my FP Rouge tag. I said "no thanks I can handle it", but he never let up and I was tired so I let him carry my bag. Later as he was bragging about how he was going to let me in the 1st class lounge (yeah right) he mentioned that it would be a good idea to give him a Diwali (local holiday) gift. I didn't. Next time I will just ignore these touts.

In the lounge I tried a glass of Indian red wine. Not very good. After a while I got tired of the lounge and wandered over to the gate. I went through security which was the same as the domestic airports. Everyone, and I mean everyone gets patted down. But women are patted down behind a privacy screen by another woman. I learned not to bother taking my phone out of my pocket since I'm going to get patted down anyway.

I arrived just at the right time as there were about 40 people standing in the boarding queue, but none of them were in the Elite, Biz, First queue. So I walked right up and I was first on board. Great I thought. I get my overhead bin space. About 20 minutes later they finished boarding and I looked around the plane. Those 40 people I saw in the queue were it. On an A340! This was the most empty plane I have seen since the fall of 2001. With so few people we actually pushed back 25 minutes early which was nice. Unfortunately the middle seats in coach have a fixed armrest so you can't really stretch out unless you bend your legs over the middle arm rest. Which I did and I managed an hour or two of painful sleep. Otherwise I watched movies and read. We arrived quite early and I took my time walking from 2A to 2F.

At the AF lounge in 2F I asked for a shower and got one right away. Nice biz class amenties in this shower, but the water turns off every 5 seconds so you have to keep pushing the button. Otherwise it was fine and very welcome. Later in the lounge I saw on the board that my flight to LYS was delayed. C'est Air France. C'est normal. I saw a sign that they had Orange WiFi available. So I turned on my PC, but I couldn't connect. I ran some tests and I could see that both Orange and ADP were running interfering WiFi access points on the same channel! French efficiency at its best.

Eventually I went upstairs to board the flight to LYS. Every time I have taken this morning flight it has been packed. I wish AF would run a larger plane or more planes. But that might compete with the TGV which would upset some politicians I guess. Since the flight was delayed, we lost our gate and had to take a very long ride out to our plane. We arrived at LYS over an hour late and I found out that I switched 35 degree BOM for 0 degree LYS. And me with just a slim sports coat. I went to Avis to find my cheap compact reservation was upgraded to a nice Mercedes. So my trip ended on a good note for now. Next I talk to AF about a refund.

Great report! I, too, would love to meet our esteemed moderator in his hometown. As it were, I thought he was in Toronto!