LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Completed three flights on Vistara a couple weeks ago, one international leg CDG-DEL and two domestic sectors.

CDG-DEL

To answer my own question I posted in another thread, Vistara gets access to the Air France business class lounge. Not mentioned anywhere on Vistara’s website though.

The seats on the 789 - same as SQ’s regional 787s - probably the most uncomfortable biz class seat out there? The hard wrap-around shell at shoulder level is very restrictive.

We had bulkhead seats so the footwell was long and wide.

Crew were great, friendly and responsive. The food was fine. With a 2200 departure the meal was pretty much served on the one tray.

Of note was the two cocktails on offer… a pina colada and a cosmopolitan. The pina colada was delicious! Not too sweet.

My main gripe - and this is fairly serious - is Vistara’s policy to keep the boarding music playing until the seat-belt sign goes off after takeoff. And the music turns on again when the seat-belt sign goes on for landing.

The music was so loud you couldn’t hear the IFE through the noise cancelling headphones. This is a major safety issue as you wouldn’t have been able to hear emergency commands from the crew in a sudden emergency. (Fine if they were able to use the tannoy, but that’s not always possible depending on the nature of the emergency.)

Nor could I, or the crew, hear the functioning of the aircraft during these critical phases of flight. Crew are supposed to be in silent review for takeoff and landing, listening for any abnormal sounds or flight behaviour. This would have been impossible over the noise.

The domestic flights of course had the same policy, but the volume was ‘background only’.

Even if there was a problem with this particular 787, the right course of action would be to get the captain’s approval to vary the policy and not play the music.

We connected at DEL for a domestic sector. The transit/transfer security line was long, with no priority for premium classes.

The Encalm Lounge was a complete joke… a line of 30-40 people waiting to get in via PP or CC. As a Vistara premium passenger you skip the queue, but once inside there was no where to sit. People were standing in front of the buffet to eat

On board the service was excellent. The seats have plenty of legroom on the a320, even at the bulkhead (there’s a cutout for your feet). Cold towels were offered but you can request a hot one!

Choice of two mains, and a limited range of soft drinks. Coffee is by Starbucks, but it was really really weak.

I know Vistara is getting subsumed into Air India, so the lounge at CDG may change, as might the meals and service.

All up the flight was about 8/10. Points lost for the seat and volume of the music during takeoff and landing, But a point gained for the pina coladas!

Keyser

I remember the music but don't recall it being loud. Maybe there was a problem on that day but it certainly should be looked at.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

Just remembered to add… on checking-in for my domestic flight on Vistara, almost every passenger was being asked to sign the baggage waiver… UK had no liability for any damage.m

Having read elsewhere not to accept this, I refused. It took a good while to get clearance for the bag to go.

Every other passenger was signing it, almost certainly not knowing what they were signing away!

Acid

I found the Dreamliner J seats quite good - better than the EY Business Studio.
Here is my review for DEL-LHR https://flight-report.com/en/report/...el-london-lhr/

I connected to United LHR-EWR right after this and any minor complaint I had against UK went away. UA has a good hard product but everything else was poor