Recently, in order to take advantage of the Egypt Air Business class deal BOM-JFK, I flew Air India from DEL to BOM.
The 7pm departure from DEL was on an A321. It was a Monday evening and the check in lines were short. The agent at the counter seemed like he was making polite conversation, but soon I felt his questions were somewhat invasive, like him wanting to know my age or where I lived and what the purpose of my visit to BOM was. Later, at BOM, while checking in for my MS flight, I was to go through this same line of questioning again. There I asked if this was a new procedure and I was told that it was.
The DEL agent wanted me to confirm if I had my laptop or any item with a battery pack in my checked luggage. He asked me this several times, just in case I could think of something. It was only later that I remembered that I had a beard trimmer that held two AA batteries in the checked bag, but by then there wasn’t much I could do about it.
The flight wasn’t very full. I was able to switch my seat from a full row of three to a row further ahead with an empty middle seat. The FAs were courteous and professional. Before departure, the gentleman in the row ahead of me asked to be moved to J. While the FA was polite, I could see that it was hard for him to be firm— understandable given the recent events of a politician assaulting a crew member for being declined the exact same request— and he tried to defer the man to after finishing his safety announcement. When later asked again the FA told him that it won't be possible, again polite but almost regretful. Not sure what the passenger’s entitlement to be upgraded was, but the situation thankfully didn't escalate to the bizarre level it had, a few weeks ago!
The Captain was a young woman, whom I had the opportunity to thank at the end of the flight. She was very professional and articulate during her announcements. She mentioned that since the winds were favorable we could perhaps be 20 minutes early in arriving at BOM.
The flight was uneventful. There was no IFE, so a quick nap helped pass the time. There was a dinner service. The choice was between a chicken dish and vegetarian. I chose the vegetarian option— mixed vegetables, rice and rajma (kidney beans). I was able to finish the rajma and rice but didn't really care for the vegetables. A generally forgettable meal.
Upon reaching BOM airspace, the captain came back on and was regretful that we would have to circle BOM for a while and would probably arrive at our scheduled time instead of earlier, as she had expected at the beginning of the journey.
The landing in BOM was smooth. The walk to the baggage claim area was long, but I was quite taken with the artwork in the new Terminal 2. The baggage claim area was equally impressive. The luggage arrived well in time and very soon I was off to find out how to make my way to the international check-in area for my
MS flight.