Flyinglisa

In the past I've flown to India from JFK in Business class on Delta or their partner airlines.

I'm now looking at flying coach and wondering which airline is preferable.

Should I take a US carrier or Indian?

Also - what are the thoughts on going nonstop? If I have to fly in economy, I can't figure out if I want to break it up with a connection in Europe or just get it over with...!

Thanks.

UA Fan

Avoid AI.

UA Fan

If you are looking for a non-stop try a carrier with good IFE, legroom.

Yoshi212

I have a friend who does Delhi direct on CO out of EWR. She likes it in BF but has never done it in Y. I've flown their 772-ER in Y and it was fine. At 6' tall and broad I fit fine in their aisle/window seats and find their food/service and IFE to be quite good. While I've never gone to India I have done a 14 hour flight and if you can sleep for half of it or more you're golden. Ask a doctor for some Ambien/XanaX or something and enjoy the time.

Keyser

any particular reason for this????once onboard their service is much better than what you would get with any american carrier....

Keyser

if you don't mind breaking up your journey then i would suggest taking jet airways....

sweetbread

[QUOTE]Avoid AI./QUOTE]

the answer why to avoid AI is as simple a possible - air india is still a goverment managed airline and so do they work, uncredible storys about deley's, worn planes and unfriendly staff in all departments - i agree they have some newer aircraft and the food is better than the catering on us carriers but thats it

i would highly recommend jetairways
they fly to new york via brussels, brandnew planes, very good service and IFE

or take emirates via dubai or at least continental when you prefer us airlines, CO provides the most comfortable standards in economy compared to other us airlines

Keyser

ai is a government owned airline but it is managed by the private sector....

i agree ai has a bad reputation but 90% of the people bad mouthing ai are people who have not traveled with them over the last few years....ai in the early part of the decade was facing a huge decline but they have pulled things back for themselves....i take a long haul flight with them a few times a year....while i can't speak for their economy class, their business product is fantastic....i would not compare it to jet & kingfisher but it is much better than most american carriers....

but if i have a choice of carriers then i would pick jet airways any day....

Flyinglisa

Thanks for all the info - I'll check out Jet Airways.
Though ironically, their site hasn't been working for me for a few days. Every search I do for flights times out and I get an error message....

UA Fan

bad experiences. Was so hoping this recession would finish them.

Keyser

well, they have survived the recession & have come out with a much better product since the private sector took over....

Yoshi212

for some reason I pictured in my head the Mortal Kombat character where the game would scream "FINISH HIM" when he was about to slay someone....but then again I'm a nerd that doesn't even play video games.

Keyser

hilarious....

dgxoxo

I recommend that AI nonstop. You can get 8 (or 9 or even 10 hours) of uninterrupted sleep, whereas if you break it up with a connection in Europe, you will arrive in europe any time between midnight and 4AM new york time and will be groggy. Second, the AI flight arrives in DEL at 5pm. If you are a single female traveling alone, I would rather take a taxi to a hotel around 630 or 7pm after clearing customs / immigration rather than at 3AM, which is when you would be doing it for incoming flights from Europe.

EK and Etihad may also be a nice option if you are thinking of breaking up your travel. Also, Aeroflot gets you into DEL at 6AM, which lets you start off the day with sightseeing

IaLTO

I would take non stop over connecting almost any day on this route. have done ewr-del non-stop many times (all on CO), love the convenience. You can literally plan your day, get solid sleep and get in at a reasonable hour... Most connecting flights would get you there late in the night (after 11), so spoils the night a bit by the time you get home/hotel.


From the nyc airports, only 2 non-stop options - AI from JFK or CO from EWR.

i generally would avoid AI, but i hear good things about this flight. New plane, better focus - less delays for this flights than others etc...

CO planes are older, service is bad (even in J, service is more akin to Y product on most non-US airlines), but a consistent product (except once, when they could not start either of the engines of the plane at DEL-EWR, true story). EWR is more convenient for me, so i end up taking this all the time. i would not pay much of a premium to fly the BF product if i was paying cash.

CO reaches DEL at ~8:30 pm, so if that is your destination it works fine (it also reaches before the night rush of international flights, so you clear immigration fast). AI reaches ~4:30, so you can still take a connecting flight if you had to. On the other hand, CO leaves at 8:45pm, so you can put in a whole days work before getting to the airport. AI leaves at 4:30pm...


On the whole, i would go with whichever is more convenient (airport and timing).

ialto