Hi, all. I'm asking for your thoughts on a five/six day domestic intinerary in India (previous threads have been very helpful) and then a couple of airport specific questions.

Some failure to plan on my part resulted in me having to arrive in Chennai instead of Mumbai for an upcoming vacation. I'm planning to spend five or six days in country before heading to JNB from BOM. My originally intinerary had me in Mumbai for the full time (perhaps with a quick trip to Goa), but the MAA arrival puts things in a new perspective. Air-gorilla.com tells me that less than $300 would get me a ticket out of MAA to DEL, and then from a DEL a few days later to BOM. I'm not married to spending time in any particular place, and would welcome any thoughts on smart apportionment between the two. I'm on my own, and have never been. I do, however, have scads of friends of friends in Delhi who are willing to show me around there.

My MAA arrival is just after midnight. I presume it will be 1:30 or so by the time I clear customs and immigration. From what I've read and heard, Chennai is fine enough, but not a particularly interesting destination. So I was planning to book a flight out to Delhi first thing the following morning. Anyone have any thoughts on the advisability of just hanging out in the terminal? I'm not much a fan of that, but in light of the time change (I'm coming from IAD), it seems less effort than going out, finding a room for the day, and then coming back for a flight to DEL.

Fastforward to my BOM depature - any thoughts on how much time one should allow for getting through security and whatnot for int'l depatures? It's an evening departure (10pm) and I'm using South African Airways.

Many thanks in advance.

hey just to let you know Delhi intl airport is horrible and thinkin of spending the night there is scary rather since it is so badly organsed it is safe but not very "spend the night in the terminal" friendly if you know what i mean and i think if your departure from mumbai by SA is 10 pm then you should be at the airport by 7pm it is an advantage for you that the flight has such an early departure as most of the inlt flights have late night depatures personly i feel it should take u maximum an hour to finish with imigration and evrything but if you want a good seat and want to be early in the line try getting there by 6 3pm it will do you good....

regards
saurabh monga,
mumbai,
india

Chennai airport is a much easier and friendlier place to navigate than BOM or DEL. Just turn left after exiting the int'l section and walk over to the domestic side.
If you decide to wait the 4 to 5 hours in the domestic side of the aiport for the numerous early morning departures to DEL, do not be concerned about safety. The only thing I would be worried about is whether all the seats in the terminal will have been taken up by passengers inbound on the flights from SE Asia/Middle East and waiting for their early morning connections !!
If you do not get a seat on the earliest flights to DEL, i would suggest looking for a good rate at the Trident Hilton.

I just transited MAA yesterday after having arrived on BA from LHR at 1:00 AM and departed for COK at 6:30 AM. I was first off the BA flight and exited Customs and Immigration in about 10 minutes. Long lines formed at immigration after me. The walk from international to domestic is all of about 1-2 minutes.

Have some insect repellant with you as there are mosquitos in the waiting areas even though the area is airconditioned. There was plenty of seating available. There was free WiFi connection available on one of the two public hot spots I found. The free connection helped me while away the time and catch up on old FT threads.

At the domestic terminal there are two waiting areas; the first one is immediately to the right after you enter the domestic terminal and that is where you wait until the check in process starts at around 4:00 AM. Then take you luggage for X-ray screening in the second waiting area which is to the left after you enter the building. There are no restaurants open in the wee hours of the morning so be sure to have some bottled drinking water with you. The security personnel will not allow you into the checkin area until around 4:00 AM when the various checkin counters open.

If you don't get a convenient flight to DEL you can check into the Trident Hilton which is just a mile down the road and they will provide a free airport pickup.

Exactly what I needed. Thanks, all.

Airports in India do not have proper transit hotels, as the airports do not carry much international transit traffic. Most transit needs are for connections between domestic and intnl flts.

The greenfield airports coming up (BLR, HYD), etc. are being planned to support transit traveler needs as well as have plenty of hotel availability right next to the airport. Let us see how it works out.