sorry....can't seem to remember....i guess that happens when you are on a flight every other day....:p

Treat AI shorthaul international J as a premium economy product priced at premium economy rates and you can't go far wrong.

The NYC market needs a better non-stop service to India than what AI provides. (CO is not an option because going to Newark is really out of the question.) I have taken the AI service and think it's great, but surely 9W will do a better job.

I'd love for this service to start up (so long as upon arrival, one can proceed to clear customs and fly onwards to major Indian cities without having to spend the night in DEL or BOM) and look forward to accruing skypesos on Delta.

Wow. Your logic, quite frankly, is quite illogical.
How does asking "Does 9W have 5th Freedom rights from BRU?" amount to being wrong? I wasn't sure if it did. That's why I asked. As a matter of fact, I have come across people stating that it didn't.

You are right that 9W does, indeed have 5th freedom rights in BRU, but your understanding of 5th freedom is less than adequate. You are misinformed if you think that 9W has unlimited 5th freedom rights in any European city. Jet Airways. 5th freedom rights are limited to BRU and one other Euroepan city. Moreover, the number of frequencies is limited to 21 each way. With frequency limitation, BRU hub could hard be the basis of a long term expansion.

A flight that's being code shared does not need 5th freedom rights.

There may not be enough pax for nonstops to every city pair, but there are enough for some prominent city pairs.

I find it difficult to believe that people can't stop themselves from injecting their personal needs/wishful thinking. I understand every one, would like 9W top join their alliance. Jet Airways joining Star Alliance is no more than wishful thinking as long as AI is in the alliance.

That would work. It's neither necessary for 9W to fly non-stops from an Indian city to every EU city, nor can it do that as per limitations of India-Belgium bilateral agreement.

If you are saying that 9W it's own planes to 20 top U.S. destinations via BRU, it's a non sgtarter as 9W is limited to only 21 frequencies to BRU.

I suggest you get your facts in order. Jet Airways is allowed only 21 frequencies to/from EU airports covered under the India-Belgium bilateral agreement.

No, you don't get it. The best LH can do between India and the US is one stop. So can KLM and AF or any other airline. Success is not due to this model. An Indian airline has to do better than what a European airline is already offering. People who are happy with one stop service to the U.S> on LH need a reason to switch to 9W.

1
Agree so far
2
With the AI move to DEL this will grow in future
3
having a hub with 5-10 Indian cities and 10 US cities is a better thing to do than have a ULH route.
4
I would rather connect in BRU than in DEL, but I have not been through T3.
My last DEL experience was terrible '07 and I have not been back.
5
The west coast of the US is also not served by 9W system.
Having a SFO/LAX flight to BRU may be a better use of the system to increase loads to India from EU hub and may be a better use of the planes from TK.
6
You do NOT need to arrive at midnight.
If you time the departures later from the US around 8-9 PM and then the whole schedule goes later to arrive ~4 AM - makes for better early morning connections in India. My last AF flight to BLR I had to wait 6 hours in the terminal without an lounge.
However, this makes the take off from India early AM and the connections to those flights will then have to wait. e.g., secondary cities to MAA/BLR/BOM will arrive at night and will need to wait a lot longer to take off. The midnight departures are at least OK. You are so tired you go to sleep automatically even in Y.

Actually - I get it just fine... as someone who has switched from LH/BA to 9w and a former LH SEN (still fly BA often due to needing London and USA on the same trip)... What 9W offers that takes passengers away from LH?...

1) Flat beds in business with a full turn down service, sleeper suits etc (almost First class product at Biz pricing)
2) Personalized service at all major airports
3) Generous baggage allowance (All elites traveling transatlantic are allow 4 pcs x 23kgs - and they hardly ever make noise about overweight bags).
4) Excellent Indian food
5) Some of the best economy seats in the sky
6) AVOD on all flights (unlike LH which don't even have PTV's at the back).

and the list goes on...

Flew LH, CO and NZ long haul in the last few days and I must say LH and CO have nothing on 9W. NZ comes close as they offer the same seat but better food and service but then thats out as they don't fly to India.

How I missed the sleeper suits on all 3 flights!

I have learned to ask for them, but frankly shouldnt be necessary. Anyhow, service always good, just sometimes better than good. Only once offered to get bed made on 8 legs.

Service in paid J always worse than Y on other airlines - don't know why...maybe because I keep quiet about them missing me?? :rolleyes:

Same - so not that great of a record, imo.

Sorry, you don;t get it. Your personal preferences have nothing to do with preferences of others, especially those who do not travel in a premium cabin. People have different idea of comfort and different tolerance of what they consider inconvenience. Indian food, for example might not be a criterion for non-Indians. Indian food does nothing for non-Indians. It makes little difference when it comes to generating revenue from is 5th freedom rights in BRU.
I am not disputing your claim that 9W suits your needs and palate better.
You extrapolating from your personal preferences, when the reality is that your personal preferences mean nothing over all, unless you think that the airline depends exclusively on your business. :D
Elites rarely travel with 4 bags. The desi masses who travel to India with loads of stuff are not all elites. For them and many others, price is the biggest consideration. As far as Indian food is concerned, AI has pretty good Indian food too. Any advantage that 9W migh have over AI in terms of food is lost on price.
I understand, you want 9W to fit your needs, and join the alliance you belong to, but there is big market out there whose preferences are not necessarily the same as yours.

Well, I hereby award you the Prescient FlyerTalker of the Month award.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, what is the status of 9W's planned non-stops to the U.S.? I just had my first 9W experience (DOH-COK and back), and it was nice (although ground service in COK left something to be desired).

Any update? we are already towards the end of 2011

its not happening anytime soon....