Domestic Airline Options in India
 

Due to be heading out to New Delhi for a business trip in April; as it is unlikely that I will go back to India I want to make the most of the trip and do a couple of days of personal travelling in Mumbai (and maybe any other cities that is close and good to visit around the region).

Unfortunately from a BA TP earning POV, I will be flying VS UC on this occasion however I have One World Sapphire status through my BA Silver. What are my options in terms of domestic flying in India - it doesn’t seem that OW have much coverage in India right?

Any people with expertise on India?

Not sure if this is the best place to post either on reflection but hopefully someone can re-direct :)

From https://www.wheretocredit.com/british-airways
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airlines_of_India

Answer : Nil for India domestic with BAEC ff partner

Can always take a train !

Kingfisher Airlines actually was signed up to OW, prepared to join planned for February 8 years ago, but rather short before, OW put them on hold due to a rather shaky economical situation. Within a year, Kingfisher Airlines were gone.

AFAIK, no other Indian attempt for OW membership has been discussed. Although some OW members have flights to India, none have any domestic Indian extensions, so any intra-Indian OW flying credit is impossible.

If you have the time, MH have returning sales, including DEL-KUL-XXX r/t to very competitive prices. Check the MH website, top left banner is deals, click for Delhi and see what's possible

Not OW but I'm a big fan of Indigo for domestic flying in India - cheap, good modern aircraft, and very pleasant.

It's possible to earn Avios and Tier Points on Vistara internally in India provided it's on a BA codeshare. I've done a few trips USA-LHR-BOM-DEL-BOM and earned tier points on the latter sectors.

If you're desperate to get some miles and and are happy to go outside India, Sri Lanka is a great place to visit and you can travel on UL.

Would need to be a tag on flight and not booked separately.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistara

Yes, that's right. It has to be on a BA codeshare. You can't get a BA codeshare without tagging on a BA flight.

How does it compare against the full service airlines: Air India (Star Alliance) and Vistara? Is Indigo like easyJet in terms of their model or more like a JetBlue?

I tried to go from BOM to DEL on OW and my only option was BOM-DOH-DEL.

So, sadly, no. But domestic fares in India can be had at very competitive prices. Your bag may cost more than your seat. So you won't lose much in terms fo spend.

As mentioned upthread BOM-DEL via KUL on MH is available and earns 280 tier points in business class. The flights operated with the A330 is far more agreeable than the 737s on that route.

It's a classic LCC, quite similar to Air Asia, not a million miles from easyJet. There are various add ons you can buy, for example a snack or sandwich, which is very efficiently delivered. I flew Jet a couple of times and much preferred Indigo. I haven't tried Vistara but by all accounts it's pretty good.

About 4000, give or take.

Indigo is a no frills airline but it has to date been efficient and on time (fingers crossed for the end of March/April). The staff are reasonable to, a bit officious but I don’t speak any Indian language so I guess that’s understandable. Air India is a full service airline, as I understand it a bit tired but can be subject to delays the later in the day you fly. Vistara is supposed to be good but there hub is Delhi which can be good or had depending on where you want to fly to. I would go for Indigo unless scheduling better on another airline

As bisonrav says, IngiGo is a LCC service but very punctual and reliable. Seats are rock hard though, and it gets tough even in an emergency exit seat (extra charge) between DEL and BOM.

Vistara is an excellent carrier - clearly with very large input from SIA (SQ) - you could call it control from Singapore. Good seats, very well trained and pleasant crew. I usually take the premium economy option if possible, and you get a small snack and drinks as part of the service.

Air India is Air India - trying to be full service but it’s really not. I’m not sure I have anything positive to say about them (although I’ve never flown them longhaul, where I understand they are getting better).

SpiceJet is much like IndiGo but less reliable (in my experience) and a bit more budget. I try to avoid where possible, if IndiGo or Vistara are an option. For more remote cities, sometimes you may not have a choice.

Overall, unless you are on trunk routes between the big cities in India, you may not have a choice (or very limited choice) of carrier so that makes the decision easier. Sometimes the schedules can be a little nuts, and I have seen a few occasions where one flight has been “preponed” on the day and merged with an earlier one - which is not good if your schedule did not allow for the earlier flight. All in all, the joys of travelling within India :)