abhilife2001

+1 to the above..
Note to OP.. If i were u, I would not worry so much for the seating unless u r travelling in a few days... I dont believe that many AI pax use seat reservations compared to other airlines..if u want an aisle or window seat and u want to book it immediately and thts important for u, then I believe the TA u brought the ticket from shd be able to help.. check with them..

The seat mapping u said works for 3-3-3-seating alignments I think..but when we have 2-2 seating, then IIRC the seats are AC DF which then doesnt follow the above logic..

Keyser

india is funny & annoying????

abhilife2001

I hope ur attitude changes before the trip starts...

India like many other countries is way way different than any other country and specially the west..U need to be flexible, to be receptive to the differences and you should want to see and understand the reasons for those differences ..Unless your r more tolerant to these things its just no use going anywhere..
And I say the same thing after many travels worldwide and other fter's would agree, we as Indians have a much more harrowing time even before we start planning the trip ( funny and annoying visa regulations from most western countries is one eg)..
U have a problem with AI online booking and thts understood, but so do most of us with some airline or the other (U can check the airline forums for this.. Eg.. I hv problems with LH/OS/LX charging me big money for taxes and fees even on award tickets, for reducing elite benefits blah blah) ...but IMHO we should not generalize saying that the xxx country is annoying and funny..

hobbes78

I mentioned "widebodies". For single-aisle seating the reference is 3-3 layout: ABC DEF and so for 2-2 layout it's naturally AC DF.

yulred

I don't think she meant to say it in an offensive or aggressive way, nor was she applying a negative generalization. As someone who has lived in India and travelled there lots, I can assure you that I often felt the same way as her. The last time round, I couldn't leave the country without filling out my forms in 'triplicate', a term I'd never heard before. Photocopying them would have been easier. Of course, I've also come to realise that the citizens of some countries are more sensitive to outsider criticism than others, so flyinglisa, you have been duly warned.

That said, most of the people are a delight - warm, welcoming and generous. You'll have a great time. But abhilife2001 is correct - you have to learn to go with the flow. India operates at its own pace. Don't fight it.

abhilife2001

This is OT but..
Sometimes even I was confused with this and once asked a lawyer.. he said they take duplicates / triplicates and not photocopy since xerox's can be modified and 1 copy can differ from the other but not a carbon copy duplicate/triplicate..

edit : Saad can maybe provide the correct reason for the triplicates

Keyser

actually that is the correct reason....they only want originals & not copies....

yulred

Sorry for dragging this off-topic, but it just goes to show that India lives by India's rules. You would think that they would realise the benefit of typing up that one form, printing out three copies, and getting you to apply an original signature to all three copies, but they do seem to enjoy making you write down your details on identical forms three times over. Twenty minutes to do a five minute job. And why are they always so interested in knowing your father's name? A very Indian quirk, I must say.

Which reminds me, flyinglisa, if you are relatively young and your passport is 3-4 years old, check if your signature has evolved, even slightly, over time. Practice it to make sure it looks exactly like it does in your passport. I knew a young western tourist whose signature changed ever so slightly between her 20th birthday and her 24th one. Despite presenting all kinds of evidence supporting her identity (drivers license, passport etc), they just wouldn't accept it on some forms. There is a certain rigidity to officialdom there that is seldom seen elsewhere.

Edit: Ah, Abhilife, I see you meant carbon copy triplicates. I wasn't even given that option. I literally had to fill out these forms (printed off a computer in MS word format!) and fill them in manually three times over. I refrained from adding my signature till all of the forms were filled in because I was worried that they might look slightly different - a problem that many of my non-Indian colleagues have had. I was in no mood to fill in a fourth.

Flyinglisa

Thank you all for amazing advice.
As usual, the FT community was a wealth of information and support.

I sincerely apologize for my "funny and annoying" comment.
It was incredibly insensitive of me.

I've been to India a few times already and dearly love the country.

I fear - as my insensitive post reflects - that I seem to have fallen victim to the typical Western way of expecting things to be done in a certain fashion.

Travel shows us that we all don't do things the same way - that's usually the very reason we travel...

I apologize again and I very much appreciate all of your responses.

dgxoxo

You will have a great trip - keep us posted on what you eventually choose to do and take tons of pics and do a trip report when you get back!

Keyser

you are right....i have never come across this anywhere else in the world....here in india all forms will either ask for your father's name or your husband's name if you are a married woman....

aniruddh77

Basically they need one more person's essential details to tag you with, for identification, police verification or other purposes. This is possibly also because the concept of having family names and surnames is not a consistent custom across the country, where a high % of people from many (esp. southern) states use patronymics.

Keyser

another reason could be that there is no record of birth in most villages across the country....since there is no birth certificate, you are generally identified with your father's name....

aniruddh77

Very true