India - Newbie: Questions About Dehli/Lucknow

Hi all:

This is my first post so hopefully, I'm in the right forum.

My friend is getting married in Lucknow on December 5-8. I really want to go and am tentatively planning December 3 - December 10. It will be my first trip to India and I see that I need a Visa. Is there anything else I should know?

I live in the DC area and found economy flights to Dehli for $1000 which is pretty good. However, I really want to try Business Class or First Class. Anyone know of any deals or give me an idea of how much these run? I've never flown anything other than economy. I am willing to fly out of NY or the West Coast since there are so many cheap flights (around $100-$200 round trip) if a better deal can be had for Business Class or First Class or if you guys think I have to fly a certain airline. Of course, then I have to stay in a hotel which adds up the cost but if the deal is That Good, well, I'm willing to do it.

Also, I know I have to book a flight from Dehli to Lucknow but I think that will be cheap and easy right? My concern right now is getting to Dehli.

Sorry for the long post but I have lots of questions!

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

Business for $3500-4000 would be reasonable I think. Search on kayak.com and you'll get the cheapest routes / fares. You'll have to stay in a hotel between Delhi and Lucknow anyway as most flights into India arrive at night and there won't be a connecting flight till the next morning. One exception is Lufthansa which has a daytime arrival flight from Munich that you can connect to from a Dulles - Frankfurt flight. Then take a late afternoon or evening flight (allow about 4 hours for immigration and customs, then getting from the international to the domestic airport which are in separate faciliites)

Okay, thanks for the info.

You might want to leave on Dec 3 and give yourself an extra day is case getting to Lucknow doesn't go as planned. Also, it's a long flight and you won't get much rest if you're in coach.

lol. Yeah, this is why I don't want to fly coach but Business may be out of my price range. I'm going to wait and look around for two more months since the sales for December haven't started yet. Thanks for the tip:-)