From US (IAD) to Goa
 

I was thinking of visiting a friend who has a place in Goa (India) in January. He told me that the best way is to take a charter from London. (He lives in the UK.) He warned that flying into Bombay and changing to a domestic airport is a nightmare.

I have a preference for flying *A (preferably UA metal) and US. Any suggestions about how to get there? Flying charter sounds miserable and hate the idea of not getting any miles for such a long journey.

the charter is the cheapest route.

the Bombay connection is not too bad - remember you need to change terminals to the domestic terminal. try to have your Bom- Goa flight on a private not state owned airline.You could also probably make a switch at New Delhi,Madras or Bangalore.
Jet Airways in Indoia is pretty good and very professional by Indian standards. Indian Airlines can be a mess.

To maximize you miles fly on a UA partner - Emirates has several flights to the subcontinent and is a very comfortable airline. Delta can get you to BOM or Delhi.
Or just book the transatlantic leg on UA then swich to a charter or cheaper carrier.

I wouldnt even consider flyer charter from UK to Goa the main charter airlines that fly that route are Brittania<BY> Air 2000<AMM> Monarch<MON> and MyTravel<MYT>

The seat pitch is normally 28" although they are now begining to offer E+ with 32" leg room, luggage allowance limited to 15KG or 20KG depending on airline, they do not have interline baggage facilities, you have to pay extra for meals and drinks and they predominantly fly from Gatwick or Manchester
and will have a refuel stop in middle east normally bahrain or sharja

I would fly aeroflot <on western aircraft> before considering charter on a long haul flight!

Now i didnt wanna put you off just wanted u to know what ur getting into!!!!

Thanks.

Yeah, that's what I feared about charter. I could not physically fit in such a seat.

Not sure about the comfort on Emirates since they appear to have 3-4-3 on a 777! How do they squeeze in that extra seat?

I priced Business on Emirates DUS-BOM R/T at Euro 1700, which is not too bad compared to the ridiculous transatlantic C class fares.

I can of course fly Lufthansa non-stop FRA-BOM too.

I'm a regular flyer to Bombay. As others have said, there are frequent flights from the domestic terminal to Goa and Jet Airways is by far the best choice of carrier.However, note that flights from Europe get into Bombay between 10:30 PM and 1:30 AM and the first flight to Goa isn't until around 6 AM. You might want to spend the night at the Leela Hotel which is right by the airport and is a pretty good hotel.

The best connections are via Paris, Frankfurt and London Emirates doesn't (IMHO) make sense because you have to make an extra connection in what is already an uncomfortably long trip.

NW will take you to Amsterdam with a 3 hr layover and a change of aircraft to Mumbai then onwards to Goa with jet Airways.

Arrrive in Mumbai at 23.30 and leave for Goa at 07.30

Nigel

Just got back from India a week ago - Mumbai airport will take time to clear, so if you leave on the early morning flight to Goa you will not get more than a couple of hours of sleep at best. The Sheraton by the airport is great and offers a free shuttle to and from the terminals - the web site lists higher rates for rooms with the shuttle but they take you regardless.

Whatever you end up doing, take an extra dose of patience and enjoy Goa.

I inquired about LH here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum32/HTML/002187.html

Basically I am looking at two options now:

IAD-FRA-BOM on LH (I think it is a 17 hour journey total) arrive at 01:30 AM in BOM, which sucks. $1400 + 70k miles and fly C class FRA-BOM.

The other option is IAD-FRA/DUS-DXB-BOM (or other Indian gateway) on EK (Emirates). $2100 total with C class on Emirates.

One issue is the layover in DXB. This, however, does give me the option of avoiding BOM. How much better is it to use a different Indian gateway?

I.e. Madras, Cochin or Hyderabad, although Jet Airways only flies non-stop from BOM and Bangalore to Goa. Arrgghh...... Maybe there are other acceptable Indian airlines.......?