canalskater

I am flying on an Aeroplan J ticket from Melbourne-Delhi on Air India.
We arrive at 17:30 and depart on AC Delhi-YYZ at OO:10

How feasible is it to leave the airport and go see something in Delhi. I have travelled extensively in India many years ago and am not concerned about dealing with crowds etc. I am hoping to let my 18 year old get a glimpse of an Indian city.

Any suggestions?

Bonaventure

Feasible, but a terrible idea. You'd have about 2 hours in the city, if everything goes perfectly. If you take the express metro, a bit more.

If things don't go perfectly...

Sean Peever

Give yourself 2.5-3 hours from when you get to the front of the airport to when you board .

jc94

I would not leave the airport. The Delhi lounge was actually pretty good (relative to other lounges in Indian airports), quiet and comfy.

If you decide to leave, remember you need a paper copy of the ticket to get back into the airport. Electronic copies are no good. And it won't be a quick process, normally multiple sets of security all with pat downs on every pax.
Plus you have to deal with Indian traffic which is somewhat unreliable.

And my favorite at Delhi airport, getting to the gate and finding 300 Y pax ahead of you in a 300 person queue that takes 45 minutes to board.

hsandhar

Indo-Canadian here (based out of YYZ). A lot of my friends and families fly to DEL quite frequently (I usually have someone in my circle going to DEL twice a month). I'm flying AC71/AC72 in April myself.

Based on all the feedback I've received and all the conversations we've had, I would not recommend you leaving the airport. Even if you can escape the traffic, security hassles etc there just isn't a lot to do in Delhi for a few hours. Especially considering the time your flight is, you'd only be able to leave for the city late evening (not good for sight seeing anyways).

If you have a particular restaurant in mind, or a mall, then you'll find yourself continuously looking at your watch; not worth it. Even if you're planning to drive by Red Fort, India Gate, Parliament etc, as I mentioned before, its just not worth it at that time of the day. Okay, I take part of it back, India Gate looks awesome at night time, but thats pretty much it.

Save yourself the trouble, stay at the airport. You're flying J, so you won't have to pay for the lounge. Sit back, relax, take a shower, try some Indian food at the lounge, shop at the duty free, feel free to get me a bottle of Old Monk and enjoy the Dreamliner experience. DEL-YYZ flight has been quite good at getting back to Toronto on time (a lot earlier than expected at times actually, as early as 3:50ish).

TL;DR: Stay at the airport. It sounds messed up, but speaking as an Indo-Canadian, a late evening/night drive to the city while running against the clock won't be a good introduction to India for your 18 year old.

tcook052

As this is about the destination rather than the airline it's been relocated to the proper venue for such inquiries which is the India destination forum.

tcook052
Air Canada forum moderator

emcampbe

Since when?

I was based in BOM in 2013-2014, and never had an issue or even questioned when using PDF and/or email confirmations to get into several airports in India - both for domestic and international flights out of BOM & MAA and domestic flights at DEL, BLR and UDR.

moyeung

Departed Delhi on the 20 mar, all required at terminal entrance was passport and e mail confirmation. BTW, i dont think you can leave the airport without a visa.

Keyser

not a good idea....you will be leaving the airport during rush hour traffic & need to be back 2 hours before your next flight....you won't get any time to see anything....

Keyser

no you don't....i have not used a paper ticket at any airport in india for over 5 years now....the email confirmation on my phone is all i need....

GUWonder

It's enough time to go somewhere beyond the airport to dine for around 2 hours and then come back. But to do anything really touristy while in a car? You could be stuck in traffic for way too long to not stress it.

onlysuites

I agree with the rest not worth it for the time you have.

onlysuites

As others have mentioned they are ok now.