adamrs

Has anyone recent experience of checking in at BLR for British Airways BA118 to London when travelling Club World? Three hours seems very early to have to be at airport (4.20am) given the early flight time of 7.20am. Would two hours (5.20am) be enough? We will be staying at the airport hotel so only minutes walking distance from the terminal. Is there a Fast Track queue at BLR?

Keyser

2 hours will be more than enough.

adamrs

Thanks, Keyser. Have you actually done this recently? I read somewhere there wasn't a separate fast track for business class at Bengaluru airport?

oliver2002

You are overthinking this... the only other international flight in the morning from BLR T2 is an Indigo A320 to DXB at 7.50am. The next one is to MCT at 10am. I seriously doubt you will encounter major delays at security/immigration

Keyser

Not with BA but I have flown internationally out of BLR about a year ago. 2 hours will be more than enough.

williamvdh

We have an international transit at BLR airport with Lufthansa -> Sri Lankan on the way from Munich to Colombo and Sri Lankan -> Lufthansa on the way back from Colombo to Munich. All flights are on one ticket/PNR and in business class.

I have some questions regarding this because the information on the internet is sparse.

1: Will LH and UL interline, and trough-check luggage? If so, can we stay in the international part of the airport (and therefore won't need a visa)? Do we need to go to a transfer desk?

2: Does Sri Lankan have a (contract) lounge in BLR, if so, which one? If not, is Priority Pass accepted in the 080 international lounge? (because the PP website only mentions a domestic lounge in T2)

3: The Lufthansa website says the following about the 080 lounge: *** Access to the lounge only 3 hours prior to the scheduled departure of the flight. Entry permitted only with invitation card, which is provided at the Lufthansa check-in. *** How do we get this invitation card when we are transiting? At the transfer desk? Our connection time is 6 hours, will we really only be permitted 3 hours before the flight, or is there an exception (like normally) for transit passengers?

4: I did read something about a business class part of the 080 lounge, will we have access to this with our Sri Lankan and/or Lufthansa flights?

oliver2002

Yes they interline, no need for a visa, you will be taken care of by LH ground personal when you deplane and taken to the international transfer desk to be verified by UL and then go thru transit security into the CMB gate area

The UL agent at the transfer desk will give you a lounge pass, you should be able to access the business class section of the lounge (most Indian contract lounges have different service levels for PP/credit card visitors and airline elite/C/F pax)

malgudi

Watch out for wheel chair attendants pretending to be porters and suggesting it would cost 10x the regular porter fare (INR 6000 vs 510) to help offload your bags from the belt and load into your car/Uber.

This happened to me yesterday. I knew this guy was out to scam me (as I was aware of the official rate), so I pretended to play along until we were at the luggage belt at which point I reported him to an airport official (that's when I knew he was a wheel chair attendant). Turns out this has been happening a lot lately!

sbryans605

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience of connecting internationally within BLR?

UL0173 - CMB to BLR (arrives 02:20)
VS317 - BLR to LHR (departs 04:35)

Transit time - 2 hours 15 minutes

We do have checked-in baggage, and unfortunately both bookings on separate tickets

Thanks,

PiperAtGatesofDawn

VS and UL aren't interline partners are they? It's massively risky.

galaticos

super tight and definitely not advisable if no thru check.. while new T2 has a large bank of immigration desks and line moves efficiently - this time has quite a few EU/ME arrivals - would take minimum 35-45 mins after disembark (assuming your luggage is one of the early ones on the belt) to get your luggage.. 10-15 mins to exit arrivals and head upstairs and enter.. leaves just over an hour to check-in.. not sure about VS but other airlines (QR/BA/AF/EK etc) close check-in at 60mins to departure.. I'd change the flight to the earlier UL flight to be safe..

Beltway2A

Had a very good experience with the 080 Transit Hotel during a T2 arrival and T1 departure. Took the shuttle to T1 but was unable to enter with the confirmation alone due to timing. Made a quick WhatsApp call to hotel staff and was escorted into the terminal (bags go through security) and up to the hotel.

The room is basic but has everything you need for a transit. I booked for 6 hours and had time for a nap and a shower.