BenA

Hi folks-

Delta, along with all other international airlines, has moved to the new Mumbai international airport as of 14 February 2014. The new airport is impressive, if not quite finished and refined (finding an ATM was tough, for example, until we spotted it amid some construction debris next to the Cool Cab stand on the ground floor Travel Services concourse).

Unfortunately, Delta hasn't updated its Sky Club lounge page with details about the new airport - the lounges appear to me to be ones from the old incarnation of the terminal. In general, there is a real dearth of detailed advice about the new facility so far.

Has anyone on FT departed from the new airport yet? If so, was there a Delta contract lounge, and did it have functional showers?

jkatzen

We were disappointed to still be using the old airport terminal when we went through in January.

In the old terminal, Delta used a contract lounge, though a few airlines (British Airways, for one) had dedicated lounges.

According to the Times of India, the new airport has no dedicated lounges, but instead a contract lounge for all airlines. The article says it's for first-class and business-class passengers, but I'm not sure if ST EP will work on a coach ticket for entry prior to that benefit's retirement in a few months.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/30181774.cms

sharktums

We flew out of the new international terminal in Mumbai on the 17th. It is not done or ready. As SkyTeam Elite Plus we were told at check in that there was no lounge for us (traveling on award tickets in Y).

Arriving was very nice and great, but departures were really not ready. Between the lines for security, immigration, and the lack of amenities near the gates it was sad. They were also having major tech issues and flights were not coming up on gate information screens resulting in some minor delays.

This was our first time flying into/out of Mumbai though and it certainly was much nicer and civilized than we were led to believe.

Makecry

The lounges aren't ready yet. So there is an interim lounge which will be open till the bussiness class and first class lounges are ready which most probably will be in "spring" but i am sure it will be delayed as usual

knit-in

Priority Pass lists The Clipper Lounge across Gate 85 for PP members. Is that the interim lounge you mentioned? Delta used the Clipper Lounge in the old terminal as well, if I remember correctly.

NewToBlue

Just used the "interim" lounge in the new airport at Mumbai last weekend. I was flying AF, but used my DL / Skyteam Elite+ credentials to get access to the lounge.

Follow signs for "Lounge" post security and immigration. I was there at dinner time - pretty good spread of hot dinner / sandwiches. Also complimentary bar with a bartender.

NewToBlue

Clipper lounge is at gate 85 and "interim" lounge is at Gate 86 if i remember right. The interim lounge looked better and bigger than the clipper lounge, from what I could see.

BenA

I can confirm the Clipper lounge is the one I was sent to by Delta on this trip - it does appear to be open now. It definitely doesn't appear interim, although it's just a big cavernous room with harsh lighting and dense seating. On the positive side, it appears to be operated by Oberoi Aviation Services - I was staying at the Oberoi Mumbai hotel while in town, which I would highly recommend, and the same standard of service and catering appeared to be carried forward through the corporate family to the lounge.

A few cautions about this airport:

- The security procedures are absolute nonsense. Make sure you have a printout of your itinerary before arriving - or at least a confirmation e-mail on your phone - or you won't be allowed in the door to even get to a kiosk. This is easy to do when checking in for your outbound on Delta kiosks - just hit the "print receipt" button in the bottom right.

- You must check in at the ticketing agent so they can stamp your boarding pass; you can't just use a kiosk, despite them being there.

- When the ticketing agent hands you one of the cheap paper Delta tags to place on your carryon, don't just roll your eyes and ignore them. The security screeners will reject you unless they can stamp a paper tag with a rubber stamp containing the current date; this tag is then checked at the gate. (Yes, you can remove the tag using the elastic. Yes, this makes no sense. )

- The airport is chock full of mosquitos - denser by far than any area we visited in South Mumbai. Apply a DEET based insect repellent before entering the airport, since I saw nowhere to obtain one post-security. It's really, really bad; the airport had armies of employees roaming around with tennis racquet-shaped mosquito zappers doing what they could, but it wasn't anywhere close to sufficient. Kind of comical seeing a guy pop up out of nowhere at passport control and gleefully zap a mosquito, though.

Someone should have explained how mosquito zappers work to the employees tasked with using them, though - I saw several folks helpfully rubbing them over anything electronic they could find, since it made the zapping sound indicating it was working whenever it was close to electronics :P

This was my first trip, so I have nothing to compare this against with the previous airport, but my guess is it's simply endemic to the area (since I remember seeing mosquitoes on previous JFK-AMS flights operated by inbound aircraft from BOM in the past)...

- The boarding procedure was a mess, too; where is one of those departure airport surveys when you actually need one? Just be prepared for a mad scrum to get onboard.

- I didn't see any shower facilities in the Clipper Lounge, and the Priority Pass information (which states the correct location in the new terminal - Level 3, Gate 85) also indicates no showers. Maybe they were somewhere hidden, but I'm not sure where they would have been if so.

- Along those same lines, the restroom facilities in the lounge were very limited - the men's room only had a single stall - and your lounge invitation was collected upon entry preventing you from leaving and returning easily. I'd recommend visiting one of the restrooms in the main terminal before entering the lounge.

hl7497

Well, it is October 2017, and the Delta app indicates that there is a Delta Sky Club in the new International Terminal 2 "Next to gate 86". I did a fair amount of walking around this part of the terminal (gates 85A-D are one level below, accessed by taking an elevator down from the main terminal level). No such Sky Club exists after my lengthy search. I stopped by the nearby GVK Lounge in T2, and they knew nothing about a Delta Sky Club. Access to this GVK Lounge is provided to First Class and Business customers only. With Priority Pass, access to the Loyalty Lounge (just up the escalator from the interconnecting flight screening area) can be found by turning left into the hallway for the Pranaam Lounge, but taking the elevator off to the left down to the 3rd level.

ajeleonard

The app brings up both Sky Clubs and partner lounges whereas the website makes a clear distinction between Sky Clubs and partner lounges. The app is referencing the GVK lounge.

Wimsta

I'll give a look tomorrow. Decided to get some miles/MQDs out of the trip, AMD-BOM-KTM... 17 hours in BOM. If the lounge does me well I won't have to get a room. Otherwise I'll give the Narita (SP?) a look, though I could happily avoid the $171 room.

I'll see if I can find any more current info in the meantime...

NYC08

I have been there three weeks ago and just saw the GVK lounge that I was using. They let you in 4 hours before the flight.

Wimsta

I just discovered that 4 hour rule. So I've booked a night in the airport hotel, I'm debating whether or not I'll get up early to enjoy any lounge time.

The Jet Airways experience has been completely miserable, maybe I'll vent later...

One tip: if you are going to stay in Niranta it is about 2,000 rupees cheaper walking up to the counter than booking online.