Air India Lounges in New Delhi
 

Hi all
I am soon flying on Air India, international-international, in economy, and with a long layover of 6 hours.
Which lounge would you recommend,? I am willing to pay.
Btw is it possible to smoke in DEL Airport?
​​​​​Thank you

The entire lounge complex in DEL T3 is currently under reconstruction. The airport operator is offering the 'encalm' lounge: https://encalm.com/services/encalmlounge

Another option is the HIX in terminal hotel: https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airport-hotel

There is a smoking room in the international departures area. I think there's one near the food court area. There will be signs all around for sure.

The lounge situation in DEL is awful. If you're *G you get the completely uninspiring AI lounge. Encalm lounge is entry through credit cards & PP... I don't know if they have a paid entry. If you can't enter Encalm you still have plenty of relaxing areas, food courts etc. around the departures area. Although spending 6 hours there won't be fun.

The lounge situation in DEL is terrible at the moment. The AI lounge is available but is nothing to write home about. I would not want to spend 6 hours there.

There are a number of smoking zones at international departures. There are a couple near the departure gates & one near the food court. You will easily be able to locate them.

Anyone knows when the construction will be over? Flying in October so hoping it would clear by then.

Who knows. They have been absolutely mum about it. And have bungled the execution / switch over completely.. leaving Delhi without any kind of lounge for months and months. That's a 35-40 million pax per year airport (biggest airport in India) - bungling the execution so badly you'd think they are a Tier 4 city airport. .

man, that sucks, I was banking on lounges as i have closer to 5 hours of transfer wait time during my trip and making 4 of them on October itself.

Actually they have announced a date... by March 2024!!!! Why does it take them so long to build a lounge? Who knows!!!!

https://www.financialexpress.com/lif...t-ltd/2659715/

Looks like the Encalm lounge is now open. Does the domestic lounge have shower facilities? I have an upcoming Int to Dom connection at DEL and would love to take a shower during transit. Alternatively, is there an arrivals lounge that I can access? Don't mind paying. Last I had an Int-Dom connection, the Domestic Plaza Premium lounge had paid shower facilities, while the Amex lounge did not have any showers. The AI lounge had showers, but they apparently ran out of towels on that day.

Opened a few months ago. I would like to have said your departure terminal matters. But it doesn't. Encalm doesn't have showers.

I just got a response from them on Twitter:

Wow that is good to know. I have not seen them when I visited the domestic lounge before.

AI Lounge refurbishment at DEL
 

Hi, Does anyone know if this has been completed for the AI international lounge in T3, or are AI still using the contract lounge?

Still using the contract lounge.

Walked past the closed lounge a few weeks ago. There was not much activity & it didn't look like it would be ready to open anytime soon.