AI 263 or 265? BLR to MLE
 

Does anyone have any experience on either AI 263 or 265? 263 looks like it stops and has an aircraft change in TRV but gets in before 265 which is nonstop. I want to minimize the chances of delays/cancellations (definitely can't get stuck in TRV) but it looks like 265 cuts it a little close to the connecting flight to the Park Hyatt MLE.

Your experience is greatly appreciated.

263 is a maa-blr-mle service on the old all economy 320's. considering they are more than 20 years old, they are doing a damn good job flying but occasionally they do go tech. and their occurence is slightly more than the airline average.

having said that 265 doesnt seem to be operating today or tomorrow. is it not a daily service?

there is no aircraft change on 263 and expect it to get you in within after 30 min of your arrival time as ground handling of air india in south is a little slow compared to delhi and bombay. however, if you do go tech, well then thats a complete different chapter.

how long can they be used????

Thanks for the info! So presumably you'd go with 263? The reason 265 appealed to me was because SpiceJet also operates TRV-MLE so if the connection on AI gets canceled, I have a backup with SpiceJet. I have expensive pre-paid reservations in the Maldives and I don't want to miss a night because of travel disruptions!

oops sorry. i just re-read my post. there is a mistake. 263 is a maa-blr-trv-mle service. maldivian also operates trv-mle multiple times a day so even that is a backup for you.

I flew AI263 BLR-MLE on 10 Aug and returned on AI264 MLE-BLR on 17 Aug.

Both directions had a stop in TRV, but no change of aircraft. At TRV, the BLR-TRV pax deplaned, security came onboard and had us point out our cabin bags to ensure nothing had been left behind by deplaned pax, followed by AI staff to verify our boarding passes. TRV-MLE pax boarded, and off we went. Arrived on time into MLE.

As was pointed out by SpeedFreak, yes, these are old all-economy A320 aircraft. On our return, we did have mechanical problems- APU was inop and we had no air conditioning while on the ground in MLE. Lav flush system inop, pax were given a bottle of water for flushing when entering the lav.

But the biggest issue:

After takeoff, we turned west then suddenly south, at which point the captain made an announcement that due to technical issues we were returning to MLE for immediate landing. Turned out they had smoke detector alarms from the cargo hold. Sat on the aircraft for about an hour while they made checks (with no air con and no water provided by cabin crew), determined that no smoke but a fault in the detection system. They finally determined that the only way to fly the aircraft would be to disable the system, but that would mean the cargo hold would have to remain completely empty, and thus all baggage could only fly in the cabin. Baggage that could not go in the cabin would have to remain till the next day's flight, and pax had the option to stay behind with the bags if they desired (AI would provide hotel). About 2-3 members of our dive group opted to stay behind in MLE, so we were able to give them all our prohibited items to bring back the following day.

So... we all deplaned, got our exit stamps cancelled, reclaimed our checked baggage, then had all bags re-scanned, removed all cabin-prohibited items (e.g., dive knives, large liquid bottles, etc.) from the bags. Then re-checked-in, got new BP's, then lugged our formerly-checked bags upstairs, re-exited Maldives immigration, had our large bags screened again for cabin access. At first, they would not allow us to go through immigration/security with all of our large bags, had to wait till the single AI employee talked with airport staff and told them that AI was allowing all these bags as cabin baggage, with "no weight or size restrictions." On board, I was amazed at the fact that some large suitcases actually fit in the overhead bins!

Flew to TRV, same process ensued as before for TRV pax, then continued on to BLR. Lugged all our baggage through immigration and customs (didn't need to wait for bags at the carousel, of course!). Arrived into BLR roughly 5 hours late.

The decision of taking all bags into the cabin was about the only solution that would allow the airplane to leave MLE with passengers, and I don't fault the flight and cabin crew for making the correct, safe decisions all the way through this experience.

HOWEVER--- Ground coordination in MLE was abysmal. Appears there is only one actual AI employee, the rest looked to be contract staff. Lots of confusing, contradicting information as to what was going on, what we're supposed to do, etc. While getting new BP's during the 2nd check-in, the agent (contract) commented how these problems (confusion, etc.) seem to occur only with AI, that other airlines were able to handle IRROPS situations much better.

So basically, if things are normal, it will be uneventful. But in the event of any type of IRROPS, all bets are off, especially considering the condition of the aircraft. I'd go with 263 so you have alternate TRV-MLE options if things go bad.

tender has been issued by air india to get 17 (or is it 19?) new aircraft on dry lease. tender closing date is 2nd september and deliveries are required starting from october as per tender conditions. tender looks most likely to be picking up go air aircraft as per specifications of the tender. they are to replace the old 320 and the 5 old 319 that are flying. 319 lease ends in march 2014 and the 320's would go as soon as the new ones come. dont think we will be seeing these old aircraft in summer 2014 schedule.

p.s. but then i have been hearing the 747's will be phased out for the last 5 years after that particular years haj. they never go.

Thanks everyone! I'm thinking I'll go with 263.

A320s can do pretty well, with a few niggles here and there, see the report above. However, when a certain number of cycles are done, the MRO people can't certify it to fly anymore, too many composite parts in there that can't be extended using cycle kits. Making it fly short hops like TRV-BLR is probably speeding up that process.

such planes are usually used on relatively long hauls (especially the gulf route) to minimize takeoffs and landings. i am surprised as to why they're used on such short runs.

They planned on using it on gulf routes 2-3 years back when they realised cycles needed to be extended. However, it is criminal to not have Ife on a 3 hour flight but to have it on a 1 hour flight. Also with operation into Dubai and Sharjah requiring GPS for hassle free operation which these a/c don't have and the fact that maintainence issues cropping up are better handled by aircraft based out of Delhi rather than an offline station like Calicut or Cochin made them change the routing for the aircraft.

Remember the ratty IC 732s in service to the C grade destinations (later Alliance Air)? Same concept ;)

Have been lucky (or unlucky) to have never travelled in them. Was too young.

Had the pleasure once to Port Blair. It was fun. We had a weird incident on approach... I think the PIC made a too sharp 90deg turn and we lost a bit of height too fast ;)

On AI263 BLR-TRV-MLE, where does one do the Indian outbound immigration formalities? Would this happen in BLR (which doesn't make sense given some people on the plane are domestic pax), or TRV (but one of the posts above says you stay on the plane itself).

Taking the flight tomorrow and curious.