1/4MM@20

Has anyone done a same day (well technically next day as the flight leaves DEL just after midnight) turnaround MR at DEL?

I am considering this MR and just wondered if anyone has experience. Extending the stay in DEL is not an option.

Specifically looking for info on immigration - any problems entering for such a short time? Any other issues to think about?

Thanks!

brp

Without knowing the details, I'm thinking that there are better destinations in terms of logistics and cost-effectiveness, than DEL for a turnaround. After all, you're not staying, so the destination is irrevelant.

Cheers.

Dr. HFH

Yes, immigration might be a problem, and it's a pain to get Russian visas. I wonder if they have transit visas? You might also check the SQ board, as SQ has a flight IAH-DME-SIN. There are probably people there who have faced this problem.

vrbaba

Why does he need a Russian visa to enter India?

vrbaba

I think this is a much better option for you.

Link

benzguy80

there has been some discussion about immediate turn-around in DEL and whether or not a visa is then required:

What's the immigration set-up like in DEL? Turnaround possible?


I've read that DEL is short on comfortable lounges. There is no AC there. I talked to someone Monday who was on her way back DEL-ORD, she said there was construction in progress but no appreciable improvement so far.

HTH. I hope to do ORD-DEL in J someday, but not as a strict MR (not leaving airport). I'm interested in what you turn up.

FWAAA

Agree completely with brp.

Right now, AA has JFK-LAX-NRT-LAX-JFK on sale for about $575 all-in (yes, including all taxes). Almost 16k eqms. NO minimum stay (very unusual for AA Japan fare sales). Fares haven't been this low to NRT since October, 2001. No visa required. Excellent JAL and AA lounges at NRT. Given this tremendous sale to a much nicer airport and the lower cost per mile, why would anyone be considering a DEL turnaround?

And with no min stay at NRT (like 6 days or 3 days or even Saturday night), it's easy to plan a short trip to NRT and stay a day or two (without worrying about a min stay).

pg79

Well one reason I could see for doing the ORD-DEL route would be to be able to say you have travelled on American's longest route. DEL airport is undergoing a number of renovations and the new Domestic terminal(4) is opening up right now(March 2009). By April all domestic flights will be from terminal 4. After that by June the International terminal should also finish its renovation and hopefully then DEL will have a airport fit for a capital city. If you want to do the MR do it in June. BTW just playing around on ITA I had seen some DEL-SCL round trips via LHR and GRU for around 1000 dollars in June so you could use the ORD DEL trip as a positioning and do the trip to SCL from DEL

benzguy80

I agree that the JFK-NRT sale is really nice, but you have to get to NYC to enjoy it. I tried combining this with positioning flights only to see the price skyrocket.

OTOH I've observed AA.com allowing West-coast boomerangs for us midwesterners (eg. AUS-DFW-LAX-ORD-DEL and vv) at nearly same cost as normal routing, adding 4000+ miles. 21k+ EQM is nothing to sneeze at for a single trip, especially if it only takes 2 eVIP's to get out of steerage.

I'm not interested in flying that far myself for $1k and see nothing but the inside of an airport. I would however see doing this over an extended weekend making a quick site-seeing run to Agra and perhaps some of the national parks (Ranthambore and Corbett come to mind).

I'm told this is a route where you really benefit from being in F, that it is appreciably better than J considering the duration. Others hopefully will comment about F vs J for ORD-DEL (hint, hint).

cheers,
benzguy80

GUWonder

I've done hundreds of day trips to Delhi and never had an issue -- many of my stays have even been for under 4 hours and which involved exiting the airport, going to a nearby hotel for a meeting/shower/meal and returning to the airport.

As long as a person has a visa and the purpose and duration of the stay is within the rules of the applicable visa in your possession, they generally don't care although once in a while you'll get a funny look and they might ask why such a short trip when they marry the entry stamp with the exit stamp.

GUWonder

Immigration isn't really a pain at DEL as long as you have the appropriate entry visa and don't mind the waiting time in lines that may (or may not) be there to get through arrival and departure immigration control (depending on timing, passport or other affiliation, particular immigration line, etc).

A tourist visa to go grab a meal at the Radisson hotel by the airport (but requiring a cab or shuttle both ways) is sufficient enough to not have a problem with immigration to enter on a mileage run.

It's quite common for a segment of people -- especially for people of Indian origin -- to come to Delhi for a day or a couple of hours to grab wedding gifts and/or attire and head back home. Customs may or may not take an interest -- but they usually do not. Passport control generally won't make any more fuss than perhaps ask for a quick explanation and then let the passenger (with a visa) in or out on their way.

FWAAA

The NRT fare sale is valid from other origination points as well, like DFW, ORD and LAX (among others). Have you tried constructing DFW-ORD-LAX-NRT and back? That's more miles than the JFK-LAX-NRT.

luvtofly4me

You can go direct to NRT from DFW for about the same rate.

FWAAA

Uhh, yeah, I guess you could do that.

And if this were the Type A Really Important Businessman and thus My Time is So Valuable that I Need to Get There as Fast as Possible forum, then I'd agree with you. You could fly the nonstop for the same price. And earn many fewer miles in the process.

But this is the Mileage Run forum, where the entire goal is maximizing the miles, not minimizing the journey.

The trick is to add segments so as to add miles to the trip. If the MPM permitted it, an ideal routing would be DFW-MIA-JFK-LAX-NRT and back. That would add plenty of miles (lowering the cost per mile) and permit the mileage runner to visit three Flagship Lounges (if EXP).

I give your post a solid C- for failing to do your homework.

1/4MM@20

Many thanks for all the advice.

Reason for the DEL MR, rather than the NRT is a matter of routing. I am actually coming from Europe (and returning to a different country in Europe) and the DEL run is much more cost effective than the NRT run on that itinerary. Want to do this as one ticket so there are no issues using a single VIP all the way.

Will report back my experience if I decide to do this run....

Thanks!