Hi all-
I'll be transiting domestic-international, arriving at BOM from Pune at 6:25pm on Jet and then leaving on BA at 2:30am. I'm assuming (please correct me if I'm wrong) that it would be too risky timewise to try to go into Mumbai and get back for my flight, so I was thinking of taking a taxi to one of the fancy hotels near the international terminal and having a nice dinner, before trying to go through immigration and security and the like. Does that make sense as a plan, or is there somewhere better nearby to go to kill some time before my international flight? Any suggestions for which restaurant might be worth a visit?
FWIW, I'm not sure if they'll interline my bags-- my itinerary from my TA shows two different PNRs for those flights, but when I look up my BA PNR on the BA website, it does show the Jet flight so there's at least some chance they'll let me check everything in at Pune and not have to carry it about.
thanks for the help.

Getting into Mumbai should not be an issue - you can easily plan to venture out and reach back to T2 airport by 12am for your 2.30 departure. There are couple of good places in and around airport or in Andheri/Bandra which would be easy for you to reach back. Try China House at Grand Hyatt in Santacruz or Stella in The Leela near Int Airport! You may push 9W kids in PNQ to check you all the way through - although I doubt if they ll put in the effort with 2 different PNRs however worth a shot as I have got it done many times!

I don't think it is risky per se to go into the city---the traffic should not be an issue around 11-1130 PM when you'd need to head back. However, unless you have reasons to visit a specific destination, I also don't see much advantage to dining far away. Restaurants in 5* hotels would be just fine and save you considerable hassle.

I'm mostly just trying to figure out a good way to kill the time. I've never spent any time in Mumbai so I don't know anything about what may or may not be worth seeing with only a few hours.
Do any of the nearby 5* properties have Indian restaurants (any region) that are worth a visit?

It's been a while since I visited the Leela but that hotel is worth a visit. It is 10-15 minutes from the airport and has some great restaurants. Here is the link to the Leela website.

http://www.theleela.com/locations/mumbai

And if you want to get a feel of Mumbai evening life, then you could take a cab to the J W Marriott Juhu (30 - 45 minutes).

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel...t-mumbai-juhu/

JWM has some good restaurants overlooking the sea.

Thanks all for the advice. One more question-- I'm leaning towards killing time at one of the hotels near the international airport as suggested (rather than trying to go father afield). Is it better (time/cost/hassle) to take a cab directly from the domestic airport, or to take the bus from domestic to international, and then catch a cab from there?

Jet Airways EWR-BOM-MAA
 

Hi folks,

In a couple of days I'm flying from NYC to Chennai on Jet (EWR-MAA) with a transfer in Mumbai.

My international flight lands in mumbai at 11.30 PM and my connecting flight to chennai is at 3 AM. The onward leg is on the same ticket and through same airline. Haven't done a transfer in BOM in many years, so can anyone summarize what I should expect? Couple of things I want to check specifically:

1. Do i still need to carry a printout of ticket for security?
2. Do I need to clear customs and immigration in Mumbai? If so, seems like I should carry my check-in bags from international terminal to domestic?

Any general "watch outs" to make sure I'm prepared? Thanks so much!

1. Do i still need to carry a printout of ticket for security? - No, it has been ages that I have actually carried a print-out of tickets to be shown to CISF (security agency)/Check-in counters - Copy on Mobile Phone OR Airline/TA mail works perfectly fine (IN your case however you would have both of your BPs issued from EWR (EWR-BOM & BOM-MAA) so just show BP to enter T1B)

2. Do I need to clear customs and immigration in Mumbai? If so, seems like I should carry my check-in bags from international terminal to domestic? - Yes, although your luggage would be tagged all the way to MAA but you would have to physically collect it at BOM T2 (INT) and hand it over to the 9W counter just right across and proceed for catching the BUS for terminal transfer as your domestic MAA connection would be from T1B.

- I would recommend to keep a pace as it would be peak time with multiple long-haul flights for immigration etc and also loads for terminal transfers - Hand your luggage fast in T2 and get into T1B ASAP. Seek the help of 9W Kids around T2-INT, if any.

Thanks for your feedback!

Re 1.: you will already get the boarding pass(es) for the BOM-MAA flight in EWR ;)

I usually enter India from Delhi or Bangalore when I come for business trips to India. This year my trip was in January (just returned) so i decided to avoid Delhi and use Bombay as the hub even though my work was in Jaipur and Delhi would have been ideal. So here is my experience coming to Bombay after many years (over 5 at least).
I landed by Air France and had ordered the Hilton hotel cab. Was picked up and driven to the hotel which is like 10 minutes from the airport. Quick courteous check in. Hotel air-conditioning was poor and spent a warm night. Breakfast room was poorly managed due to understaffing. People were waiting for tables to be cleaned etc. In the afternoon I checked in for my flight to Jaipur. The domestic terminal for Jet was most underwhelming at Bombay. A huge packed area where people are packed like sardines waiting for catching a bus to the plane. No announcements, no food choices. I will give Bombay a pass until Jet Airways moves to the international terminal, which is slated very soon. On my return I took a cab to Orchid hotel for a dinner. Was a bit old fashioned and dimly lit south indian themed restaurant. Food was tasty, music too loud, but they lowered the volume on request. On my return, I had a carry on bag and a laptop bag. The guy at the Sky priority counter weighed my bag and since it was 2kgs above the 12 KG weight insisted on having it as checked baggage. I know in India for domestic flights they do weight the bags so they can earn more revenue for checked bags due to the measly 15 KG free allowance for checked bags But for international flight I have never had my carry on weighed in India, I have travelled Air France and KLM from Delhi and only the former from Bangalore. I noticed not all counters were asking weighing. I did talk with their supervisor but the guy said the rule is 12 KG So my question to you is:

1. Is this a Bombay related thing to weigh carry on bags? Does KLM weigh hand baggage in Bombay?
2. Does Air France ask carry on bags to be weighed in Delhi and/or Bangalore these days? I will be flying to India again on work in June/July. I want to avoid the experience I had this time by changing airline/port of entry to avoid having to check in my carry on bag that I never check in flying out from the US.

thanks guys.

My flight to NY from Mumbai is 11:10 PM so could you please advise if i can land (Still need to book flight from Ahmedabad) domestic terminal by 7:30PM and transfer to international terminal and clear all process to board the plane?

Not quite sure if the time gap of 3 hours and 20 minutes is sufficient. How much may be the safe time gap? 4 hours or 5 hours?

Thanks for your help.

You'll be fine. Just be prepared to elbow your way. If you are on 9W, with AI, its no issue since they are in the same Terminal 2 now.

If you are not changing terminals, i.e. you are flying either Vistara or AI, then 3.30 hrs is enough time. (BTW 9W still flies from T1B).
If you are changing terminals, then I would not wager an international flight on the on-time performance of a domestic flight. A 5 hr gap is better.

Things went right as expected. Now, I'm preparing for the opposite journey-- from MAA to EWR through BOM. This time I have a 8 hour layover in BOM so wondering if Jet will check my bags all the way to EWR or will I have to lug them around in Mumbai? I'm hoping for the former so I can take a quick trip to the city to meet friends. Would appreciate any tips here! Thanks.