What did she do to you to deserve this? :)

She insisted that was the flight I book her on. Initially I thought she asked for that flight as she is traveling with friends. After booking the ticket I found out it was because of the rate & she didn't want me spending too much.

Either way, she is now booked & I'll know in 3 weeks how the flight was.

EY

I asked around & turns out a friend & his wife flew this route & back last week. They were very happy with the product & said that if the price remained similar then they would only be flying Gulf Air for the foreseeable future.

They said the quality of the plane, seats, service, food, etc was all top notch. They are used to flying EK so coming from them this actually means the flights were good.

I have an upcoming trip to the US in November & am now seriously considering trying Gulf Air for the trip.

Any pointers on the earliest you can enter the terminal for a international flight. Have a EY departure from Hyderabad at 9:20 PM. Arrival on the domestic flight is at 12 PM (that the latest flight from Pune - PNQ Airport closed for Civilian ops from 9 am to 12 pm, next flight is very close to international departure).

Trying to see if I should hang around in the airport or get a Day use room near by. Also not sure of the options on the public area of the airport. the only nearby hotel is Novotel & a Enclam Transit hotel.

Any ideas to spend 4 -5 hrs - will have a check in bag.

Just dropping in with some chai-time savings news for anyone booking flights soon spotted that Woohoo is offering 8.5% off on Air India vouchers right now.

If you’re planning trips within India or heading abroad on Air India, grabbing the vouchers first could be a neat way to save upfront instead of waiting for points or promos later. Thought it might be useful for fellow flyers here who like stretching their travel budgets a little further.

In theory they are not allowed to let you enter before T-4h so I would go for the day room. No airport is that nice. We spent 2 hours waiting for checkin to open in BLR last March and the 'wow cool new airport' vibe wore off after sitting around for 30 min.

Agreed. Also I assume the public area during the Afternoon is going to be hot (30C). Encalm has a 6 hrs package at about INR 5K. So that seems to the best bet.

787-8: always ex-AI
787-9: always ex-UK
777 (any variant): always ex-AI
A321neo: always ex-UK (though AI has taken delivery of some A321neos, I'm not sure where they are and what their config is, I believe some have gone to AIX in an all Y config)
A321ceo: always ex-AI
A320neo: almost all A320neos have received new interiors to be in line with ex-UK configuration, so not much difference in between either of them
A320ceo: always ex-AI (but very rare)
A319: always ex-AI

In addition, if the aircraft registration starts with VT-T--, it is an ex-UK aircraft.

When Vistara merged last November, all ex-Vistara operated flights had a AI 2xxx flight number. This largely holds right now except for one AI flight ex FRA which is operated by a B788. The A320 flights with 2xxx flight numbers will be operated by ex Vistara aircraft or recently refurbished aircraft.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/indi...tarting-2.html

This is great information. Thank you so much.

How would I go about checking aircraft registration?

My flight is on a A320NEO and the flight number is AI 9xx. Does that mean it won't be an ex Vistara or recently refurbished aircraft?

AI aircraft allocation usually takes places about 48 hours before departure, though very much subject to change. When that happens you can use any any commonly available online source (Flightradar24 etc) to see which aircraft reg is assigned for your flight. You can also see this on the Air India app.


The vast majority of the A320neo fleet is standardised across the board, there is no longer any meaningful difference other than the livery.

Air India’s refitted A320neos (as well as all the ex-UK neos) have 2 rows of J, 4 rows of PE and the rest is Y. They also have lesser leg room in Y than the old AI legacy neos. The legacy AI A320neos had 3 rows of J and the rest was Y.

In my experience, any of these aircraft can be assigned to any flight number, there’s no consistency here as to whether the aircraft will be ex-AI or ex-UK. Flight numbers do not determine the provenance of the aircraft.

The only real noticeable downgrade are the pre 2019 ex-UK A320neos that have the same seating layout but do not have a charging port/universal plug in the J seats.

Thank you again. My flight has 2 rows of J, 4 of PE and the rest Y.