Hello,

I'm considering booking a family trip to India. We would be arriving on AF from CDG after midnight in either BOM or DEL. No other choice because I'm using SkyMiles.

Anyway, I'm looking for opinions as to which airport (BOM vs.DEL) would be best to connect in. Our eventual destination is COK and my current plans are to wait it out in the airport until the first flight out in the morning on IT or 9W. I would consider going to a hotel until the next day, but am currently planning to stay in the airport since I loathe trying to drag my family around any city in the middle of the night let alone one I've never visited before. But if a six hour layover in either airport would be unbearable, please feel free to try to talk me out of it.

Any opinions/suggestions/tips will be appreciated, thanks.

Between BOM and DEL, BOM is better as there is a early morning flight between BOM and COK. Another option to consider is CDG->BLR->COK, the advantage with BLR is it is a single airport so there is no transit between International and domestic airport as required in BOM and there is a early morning IT flight from BLR to COK.

Colts_01's suggestion is an excellent one. The international and domestic terminals at both BOM and DEL are quite far from each other (requiring a bus or taxi ride). A transfer can be a major drag to navigate even if you are not completely exhausted by several long-haul flights and a half-the-globe time change. It also sounds like you are a first-time visitor to India--given that, plus the fact that you'll be bringing the whole family, I'd try hard to keep this trip as simple as possible on your way in. BLR 's airport will be much easier to deal with.

If you change your mind and decide to spend a day/night in your gateway city before moving on to COK (which I would also recommend, just to give yourselves a chance to rest), then I'd suggest BOM as an entry point. There are a number of fine hotel choices within minutes of BOM (with DEL, you're basically stuck with the Radisson). The long flights into India and the sensory overload of arrival alone are pretty exhausting. Sitting around in the airport for another six hours waiting for your domestic flight could put all of you over the edge.

If you can find a good connection in MAA, I would consider that as well, as the international and domestic terminals are basically the same building, with a 5-10 minute walk between the two.

However, don't think AF flies to MAA any longer, but I can be corrected on this!

Yes, AF does not fly to MAA anymore.

I like the BLR suggestion upthread quite a bit.

BOM and DEL...you have to lug everything and everyone to the domestic airport. This is not fun, especially if you have never been there before.

BLR was my first choice. Unfortunately, AF recently cut the CDG-BLR flights to O4 and there are five of us. It probably would not be an enjoyable trip if I asked the Mrs. to sit in the back.

So right now, I guess BOM is the favorite. I haven't decided whether to overnight or not - once we are in "go" mode we generally like to continue moving until we get to our destination. My feeling is that if I have to haul everyone into a taxi, I'd rather go once to the domestic terminal, rather than twice (hotel and back.) But then, our last overseas trip was car to train to bus to plane to bus to plane to bus to train to taxi to hotel and that was not that bad at all.

I'll probably make a decision within the next week. Thanks for the input and please continue to post any other options/opinions.

I note that Jet Airways has a partnership (not codeshare) with Air France - if you're able to redeem your miles for a ticket on Jet Airways, why not elect to transfer somewhere in the Gulf, and so land directly in COK as your first point in India? This will also mean that (a) the transit timing is a bit earlier in the day and (b) if you pick Abu Dhabi or Kuwait, then at least you have some comfort on the degree of convenience that you'll have during transit.

+1 ^