flying_pig:

Thank you for returning to this thread to share your experience. I am glad that some things went right, although I share your disappointment at not making the ZRH meeting. It is really too bad that your breakfast got delayed and you missed the UDR-DEL flight. As kalia960 says below, if you miss a flight, all bets are off anywhere in the world these days, not just India.

One lesson for all of us is to allow plenty of time to cushion delays/cancellations, especially before important appointments. And/Or be ready with a few judiciously chosen refundable back-up tickets. The mid-December to mid-Jan fog is a fact of DEL life, like snowstorms are in some other places, and we just have to accept that.

If you travel to India again, you should remember that Indian approach to time and punctuality isn't exactly burdened with Swiss precision. Perhaps that's why your colleague was late to breakfast, or the people in UDR casual about just how long the AMD drive would be. Learn to double- and tripple-check such estimates, allow for Indian temperament (announce you have to leave at 10:00 when it is 11:00, etc), and act more decisively yourself.

The silly need for a printout at the airport door is something we all know about, but I realize that you didn't have time to do anything about it. The hassle with credit cards is also common enough to have warranted its own thread here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/airli...s-portals.html . However, the inordinate delay while paying in person is unusual.