AI 12 flight departs from BOM Domestic or Intl?
 

First:
My first question is that the flight AI12 (https://book.airindia.in/itd/itd/lan...M-AMD-20121122) departs from INTL or Domestic BOM? If it is INTL, my rest of the questions apply. If it is domestic, I probably cannot make my connection even if everything's on time.

Second:
I need some advice if my connection time is too short. I understand that if I miss my flight or do not choose to take this flight, I would anyways have to take the 5:30 AM flights.

I'm arriving in AF J in BOM at 11:50 PM. So if I take flight AI12 at 1:45, would I have to clear immigration, get bags, customs, recheck the bag or I can do a through check-in at ATL all the way through AMD and do immigration/ customs there?

If I need to do all formalities in BOM, is it logically possible to make this connection?

Thanks for any help!

AI 12 leaves from the international terminal.

Whether your bags get checked through to AMD depends on Air France/Delta's policies at ATL. If you provide the ticket number and show a confirmation, it should be possible for the bags to be checked through. However, this is at the discretion of the agent, assuming that company policies permit interlines on separate tickets. If the bags are checked through, you could do immigration/customs at AMD. You would receive your boarding passes (and present your baggage tags) to the Air India transfer desk at BOM.

If Air France refuses to check your bags through to AMD, then you will have to go through immigration, customs, etc. at BOM. The walk from the baggage claim to departures is fairly short. However, checkin closes exactly 45 minutes before departure, and you can't count on exceptions.

Whether you will make it depends on the length of immigration lines, and whether your flights are on time. If lines are really long, you can try going to the AI transfer desk and beg to be escorted through to catch your next flight. You may or may not be successful depending on how apathetic the staff are feeling at the time.

I'd say that if you can get AI 12, it's definitely your best choice - you don't have to deal with the horrible terminal change at BOM, nor will you have to sit outside the terminal until 3 hours before departure. However, 2 hours is cutting it very close, especially on seperate tickets.

I don't think this will fly. Since you are on two separate tickets and will have to deplane, you will have to go into the terminal to complete immigration, collect your bags and recheck.

as others have suggested, you are cutting it too fine....if i had to clear immigration & pick up my bags in bom then i would not connect unless i had 3 hours atleast....

You will land at 2350. These days there are not much delays arriving into Bombay at that time and you should be on time if not before. Air France usually parks at an aero bridge so If you manage to get in front to deboard, in 10 min you should be at immigration.

These days I have noticed at Bombay immigration, there is a notice put up by Bombay immigration that invade you have a short connection and the lines are too long, you can request immigration authorities for expedited immigration. At that time one thing for sure is that the lines are going to be long since all the international arrivals happen at that time, but if you use this facility it should be nice. However, what help this actually provides I do not know. Time is 0015.

Now baggage claim, I don't know how good air France is with bags but lets give it 20 min and by 0035 you have your bags. then comes the green channel baggage screening o customs. Lines can be long and there is no priority offered here (atleast written). However, I remember landing from the. Delta flight in march this year at 0015 and there were hardly any lines. Ten min more here and time is 0045.

You have fifteen min more to get I the air India counter which should be doable. However, where it is (the transfer one) I am not sure. I woul do a web check in, just to save some time for the air India flight. Maybe you could show the boarding pass to air France and they check your bags all the way through .

Bottom line, there is no margin. If air France is landing before Time these days then it's extra bonus. Air India 012 departs on time every time I have operated it, so don't count on air India being delayed. 5 - 10 min at the max due terminal congestion but nothing more.

I would do this connection, will be fun. And if it doesn't work out AI 986 from the same terminal at 0515 is always an option.

Thanks everyone for the great inputs! Based on my past multiple experiences (4 with DL/ AF) - DL agent in ATL has always had me through check-in to AMD but in the end it had no effect since my domestic flight had always been from domestic terminal (9W) so i had to haul the luggage there and check in there.

So if the policies remain the same, i should be able to through check-in, even though I've always found my bags come on the belt (no direct transfer).

In all cases of my family traveling on DL/ AF, the flights have been on or ahead of schedule, so i hope that remains the same.

In case of immigration, the leftmost 2 counters are for direct access to BE/ First passengers and either people do not know or there are few BE passengers, so the counters have almost always no line. So I'll be quick to deplane and get to the BE immigration line.

For customs - a $20 bill works wonders. Not that I'm smuggling anything, but i have my SLR bag with a bunch of lenses, work laptop, personal laptop/ tablet, personal phone/ work phone, etc which i carry in and carry out - but it falls above the stupid 25k limit. To avoid hassle, i prefer to pay them upfront rather than at end. (they specifically target solo men traveling).

So lets say i choose the 1:45 flight. If i miss the 45 min cut off how much would i have to pay to get on the 5:30 flight? The 1k change fee + diff in last minute fare? In that case it would be cheaper for me to buy the E fare for both flights.

shahadil - since you have flown AI12, where is this flight coming from? Is it an international route or it originates from BOM after a night stop?

You already know quite a bit about this then.
Here are stats for this flight On time performance of AI 12. Average delay of 9 minutes with a standard deviation of 16 minutes.
It seems that it operates between BOM-AMD and is not a continuation from another destination.

You don't have to and shouldn't bribe a customs officer. There is a process for any items you are going to re-export when you leave. There shouldn't be any issue if you follow the rules. regardless of your intent, you are smuggling.

It is not the custom officers who are a problem. The police constables who're on the other side of the scanner are specifically looking to get some money - they themselves are reluctant to turn you to custom officer and want the money instead. I know the process can be followed here - but I've been through once and would prefer to pay the money to constable than do that again.

Here is how it worked:
1. I put the bags in scanner and go to the other side to retrieve.
2. There is no one even watching the x-ray monitor, but 2 constables chatting on the other side of scanner looking for a prey.
3. As soon as a solo male goes by, 'ek minute sir, yahan side main aaiye'.
4. 'Aapke paas iPad hai? Power wala camera hai? I said yes, for my personal use and will take it back.
5. They pretend to discuss among them of what to do - basically waiting for an offer from me to offer something.
6. They tell me 'Wahan sahab ke paas jaana hoga' in a submissive tone that why not give us some money.
7. I said Ok, lets go. The custom officer was slow as hell in handling 2 people before me. It was my turn after 30-35 minutes.
8. Now the roulette starts - He says you have to pay customs duty for the value above 25K. I keep copy of the custom regulations with me to shove it in them when they play such games.
9. So I said these things ar for my personal effects, I'll take it back and here is my return ticket. You can note them down and verify when I go back.
10. He asks for bills/ invoices of the electronics. Again they are used and camera gear being 3-4 years old. So I don't keep invoices.
11. After much going to/from with the custom policies, he finally said Ok you can go! He didn't event note what I am carrying, nothing.

So in all, more than an hour wasted standing there loosing mental patience after a 20 hour journey.

Would you rather pay $20 and 'smuggle' or go through all this? It is not that the airport staff/ customs do not know what is going on there. They are getting the cut from what the constables are collecting.

I believe in changing the system and stopping corruption - but not after a 22 hour journey coming back to homeland at midnight to go through all this. Plus the nightmare of catching the shuttle in changing the terminals and then wait outside for 3 hours to check-in for morning flight.

How long ago was this?
I have been through similar experiences in the late 90's. However, I have not had / seen anything like the above after around 2005 - I have been doing this trip through Mumbai customs 4~5 times a year every year since around 2005. Let alone stop me, I have had the customs guy/police guy there just ask me to skip the X-Ray line and just walk out many times (yes, single male with 2 laptops, iPad, multiple iPhones/blackberry's etc. and even some electronic prototypes etc.) - most recently 3 weeks ago.

There are other members of the FT community here who I am sure do this much more often than I do - wonder if their experiences have been similar to yours and maybe I have just been lucky? :confused:

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Dec 2011 was latest. I saw the same thing you mentioned - but for families only and they let them pass the scanner, etc. Even they behave very well with non-Indians so that's good that they don't put a bad impression of India on their first step. May be I've just been unlucky, but I've learned to pay money from my friends who've had similar experiences.

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My experience as lone traveller, not single, has been similar to yours. Never had to bribe anyone. I have been travelling to India for 35 years.

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Maybe they can sense who is going to be a "good" victim. Not a penny paid as duty, nor bribe. I have no connections either.

Yeah, they definitely spot the victim and I'm always one of them :). But that is not only in India, even the sales guys approach me for no reason and I cannot be rude to people.

Anyways, I never get frustrated by Indian way of working because I've been through most of those stuff back in my days there and know what needs to be done to get to next step.


Final question if someone can answer: How does AI work when you cannot make it on time. If the fare class allows changes (for fees), will they charge me the change fee + the fare difference to accommodate me on next available flight OR will they accommodate me for free on next flight?

Since the AI flight leaves from the same terminal, there should (in theory anyway) be direct transfer. Check with the Air India transfer desk, before immigration/customs. Assuming you don't have to go through and re-check your bags, immigration and customs can be done at AMD. However, if you have to pick up your bags, it will happen in BOM.

This is not an easy question to answer, since agents often make up the policy on the spot. I've had the fee waived because I was connecting from "valued partner" Lufthansa (doubt I'll be getting that treatment any more :p), I've been charged fare difference + change fee, and I've been charged just change fee on 3 separate missed flights.