tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-593205397934414252024-03-18T18:20:17.280-07:00The Airline BlogIndia based blog dedicated to air travel, airline news, cheap tickets, tips and more.Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.comBlogger506125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-69942513756049136482024-02-20T17:39:00.000-08:002024-02-20T17:39:21.504-08:00Manta Air BLR-DDD for 50k INR return<p>Earlier I was wondering if the proposed <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2024/01/manta-air-flight-blr-to-dhaalu-atol.html" target="_blank">BLR- DDD Manta air service would start or not</a>. Now the good news is the service has started.</p><p>Dhaalu atol is a small island in center of Maldives, below Male, but above <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2018/10/is-it-worth-visiting-gan-island-maldives.html" target="_blank">GAN island</a>. Dhaalu atol has few resort islands around it, whose customers so far had to fly in to Male and then take Manta air flight to DDD. Now they have a direct flight option.</p><p>But the sad part of the news is this 3 hour one way ATR flight from Bengaluru to Dhaalu atol in Maldives is more expensive than a ticket to Europe from India. The asking price almost touches 600 USD or 50000 INR. Budget tourists will shy away from this, only rich customers will be able to afford.</p><p>570 USD or 50k INR is cheaper than earlier option of flying to Male and then flying to DDD- that used to cost 60k INR. </p><p>The service operates 3 times a week. The small ATR only allows 5 kg cabin bag, but you are allowed 22 kg checked bag. You will have to plan accordingly. For another 25 USD more one way, you can check in 35 kg bag (no increase in cabin bag allowance in Sapphire flex. There is no business class in ATR.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKdSB05dYkZ-uve4SZ9wcQtAABzRA6Ao5RH7ys6QkhxzRI8suujLKT_dFFZSIH2n55U24jUcNbTDhHvI35FDKQICc7ner0CnCkAKs_YV8pJXrEL_zWv4Mbvu__Medob8R7REjP8ujPOMLzAWGtKc_JdJUEIkRTb34gfQRw70YGWeQ4jx3AdBWdIJ9cA/s1463/manta%20air%20blr%20ddd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1463" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpKdSB05dYkZ-uve4SZ9wcQtAABzRA6Ao5RH7ys6QkhxzRI8suujLKT_dFFZSIH2n55U24jUcNbTDhHvI35FDKQICc7ner0CnCkAKs_YV8pJXrEL_zWv4Mbvu__Medob8R7REjP8ujPOMLzAWGtKc_JdJUEIkRTb34gfQRw70YGWeQ4jx3AdBWdIJ9cA/w400-h220/manta%20air%20blr%20ddd.png" width="400" /></a></div>Saddest part is Manta Air has kept the price uniform for whole year. Even if I am willing to book 9 months in advance there is no reduction in price. Airlines usually keep the price cheaper for 6-9-12 month advance booking and start increasing the price once seats fill up. Manta Air doesn't seem to have such plans. Flying next week or next year, same price. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Malta air BLR-ADD ( an island in Maldives) costs 50000₹ return in an ATR for 3 hours one way... that is Europe ticket price.. would you fly? <a href="https://t.co/knDrJMgyuo">pic.twitter.com/knDrJMgyuo</a></p>— Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi) <a href="https://twitter.com/enidhi/status/1759930335771676919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
What do you think? Would you fly? I was willing to book if it was around 20k. At 50k I will wait and watch...<div><p style="background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">https://mantaair.mv/book is the website to book</p></div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Dhaalu Atoll, Maldives2.8468502 72.946056599999991-25.463383636178847 37.789806599999991 31.157084036178844 108.10230659999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-12289133522757501912024-02-19T07:57:00.000-08:002024-02-19T08:13:21.505-08:00Kochi to Bali 16k return on AirAsia sale<p>Kochi to Bali return ticket is available for 16k on AirAsia sale, without checked bag (another 10k extra if checked bag is needed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgx5puRUzUJImdrh2FVy4gBW12cqk-KQM2T9hnlE_sZrnFozIUPwg7ybMHdOHypkAACr48sSC8iu4vGLAmbKgP3peGGzhjbPaxhAoRjcFURkTwWWO7i-P5Xq1IskxtSlCM0yvR2yYZ8_UCUMZbf9J9KXTmJWaZ9Wu3H_VBX61NAt2l1XzXM3PEu7AGw/s979/COK%20bali.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="979" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgx5puRUzUJImdrh2FVy4gBW12cqk-KQM2T9hnlE_sZrnFozIUPwg7ybMHdOHypkAACr48sSC8iu4vGLAmbKgP3peGGzhjbPaxhAoRjcFURkTwWWO7i-P5Xq1IskxtSlCM0yvR2yYZ8_UCUMZbf9J9KXTmJWaZ9Wu3H_VBX61NAt2l1XzXM3PEu7AGw/w400-h313/COK%20bali.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>This is the only decent deal I could find in their ongoing sale. COK-DMK return also costs 16k, same as Bali one stop flight.<br /></p><p>Chennai Melbourne is costing 35k return</p><p>Kochi Manila is 24k return <br /></p><p>Current AirAsia sale is nowhere close to what it was pre-covid. I have flown 8k return to Brunei, 16k return to Japan, 22k return to NZ, 20k return to Australia and so on. Hope to find such fares again soon.</p><p>Air Asia has also made it very hard to spot cheaper fares - not showing fares of adjacent dates unless we manually click on each of the dates...<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3uFpEWS8qqFcb_7Y-jIhxJ66gex4WCLF3q9K39azsq0nrWJyyAhi2fqJCznqe4voGRUp2X7ZFOE_NEAUhd_NZ1HmJqNM31c8hF7Bf6bxfOrzA2ECIBD-kfcdD4OVC8fnm4E1OD3x0eTN6IzeYOjV3fF9WM-gmbzOnJOVQ3vN8dxeKzxTc2wy050o-xA/s1348/airasia%20making%20it%20hard.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="1348" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3uFpEWS8qqFcb_7Y-jIhxJ66gex4WCLF3q9K39azsq0nrWJyyAhi2fqJCznqe4voGRUp2X7ZFOE_NEAUhd_NZ1HmJqNM31c8hF7Bf6bxfOrzA2ECIBD-kfcdD4OVC8fnm4E1OD3x0eTN6IzeYOjV3fF9WM-gmbzOnJOVQ3vN8dxeKzxTc2wy050o-xA/s320/airasia%20making%20it%20hard.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Bali, Indonesia-8.4095178 115.188916-36.719751636178842 80.032666 19.900716036178846 150.345166tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-12356255585534423202024-02-17T22:43:00.000-08:002024-02-17T22:43:44.824-08:00RyanAir's unique feature to save time n money<p>RyanAir is Europe's low cost airline. Ryanair tickets to various destinations cost less that what it costs you to reach airport from city center in bus or train. During my recent trip I noticed one unique feature in Ryanair's Boeing 737 Aircrafts</p><p>Ryanair aircrafts carry a built in ladder that is folded and stored under the front door. Once aircraft reaches its destination bay, the ladder is expanded and passengers can start getting off the plane, not having to wait for any ground service.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTSVUTPjNP2NA0ltboE6ZLIPMUOE2391YAJum1OECv2pT_tcjxhLzQLLsA21wO-8QJ_wyzYcIQ_y94pJr9FykXh5EdDk3aKzLfadw7SpIIVMh289JBHT5dQWNyeyuFI7Gx_bkNLLXWHcEh_55SeF3FJN-CI92R6BmgY7sncoffYnxks3y7VWziPp2AtA/s800/ryanair%20front%20ladder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTSVUTPjNP2NA0ltboE6ZLIPMUOE2391YAJum1OECv2pT_tcjxhLzQLLsA21wO-8QJ_wyzYcIQ_y94pJr9FykXh5EdDk3aKzLfadw7SpIIVMh289JBHT5dQWNyeyuFI7Gx_bkNLLXWHcEh_55SeF3FJN-CI92R6BmgY7sncoffYnxks3y7VWziPp2AtA/s320/ryanair%20front%20ladder.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>I wasn't prepared to shoot a video of this, so missed recording video. Took a photo after stairs are expanded and setup.<div><br /></div><div><b>This feature helps in 2 ways</b></div><div>- saves time- no need to wait for an airport ladder or aerobridge-passengers can start getting off the plane and walk to terminal or board a bus</div><div>- Saves money- no need to pay ground service for a ladder or aerobridge</div><div><br /></div><div>RyanAir aircraft has this only for front doors. Rear door they use regular ground service ladder. My guess is Boeing design didn't have enough space for this ladder under rear door.</div><div><br /></div><div>Have you seen any other airline adapting this strategy? No one I am aware of.</div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Tirana International Airport, Ruga Nene Tereza, Rinas 1504, Albania41.4191482 19.713291113.108914363821157 -15.4429589 69.729382036178848 54.8695411tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-61948060716729963072024-02-16T22:58:00.000-08:002024-02-16T23:00:22.415-08:00Aegean airlines experience: Athens-Santorini<p>I flew Aegean airways for the first time. Once from Athens to Santorini and return. Return was operated by Olympic Air. Aegean is name of the sea near Greece and Aegean airlines connects Athens to various parts of Europe. Aegean is almost 30 years old airline company, with some 70 aircrafts and over a billion euros in annual revenue.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgInjK92_omokXJ0G1xE2EPadBaGSEky4tZ-SPrFzHMWAsze8QGHMHRenMKIAGGDROyZl8z47Aj2-EPZS_2jR1I5Vk7ouVO4e-J-NdC0C7s1QzNy3QQGEOa9kqY7NMPV9H0vrJ0Mq6T5GTCPDVNlfq8Qyqvx-8TFUIKs2Zp9Vr93oixmMqog5Q9aO-How/s800/aegean%20aircraft.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgInjK92_omokXJ0G1xE2EPadBaGSEky4tZ-SPrFzHMWAsze8QGHMHRenMKIAGGDROyZl8z47Aj2-EPZS_2jR1I5Vk7ouVO4e-J-NdC0C7s1QzNy3QQGEOa9kqY7NMPV9H0vrJ0Mq6T5GTCPDVNlfq8Qyqvx-8TFUIKs2Zp9Vr93oixmMqog5Q9aO-How/w400-h300/aegean%20aircraft.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Ticket booking experience:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I had some issue booking using my India debit card. So I had to take help of a cousin in Europe</li><li>Athns-Santorini return cost me around 90 Euros- bit steep for off season. Ryanair flies similar distance for 20-30 Euros one way. But Ryanair has stopped flights to Santorini. Aegean was the cheapest option for my dates.</li></ul><p></p><p>The onward journey:</p><p>Unlike Ryanair, Aegean doesn't inform in board pass what time gates open and when gate will close. For flight scheduled to depart 9.05 PM, it said boarding 8.35. They actually started boarding by 8.45, there were very few passengers so in about 10 minutes we were done boarding (had to take bus from Athens terminal- they didn't use aerobridge) and flight left almost on time.</p><p>I was flying in from Malta and had some 90 minutes gap. Thankfully RyanAir flight from Malta landed 15-20 minutes ahead of time, so I had adequate time to connect. Ryanair dropped us at Gate C instead of B, so I had to walk a lot and clear security one more time,</p><p>Web Check in opens 2 days in advance unlike 1 day in other airlines. But I was not allowed to change seat without paying. Got aisle seats allocated for both the flights.</p><p>Aegean airline is supposed to be full service airline. Was expecting some food but got only water bottle in first flight. During the return flight got a snacks back (2 cookies) and water.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXJFvh4uw0KSFUwXZI79E-xx_id4S-RuGPza6BXOZjvhCRYUzdz0TuEsutsYOFImE4TIVNR9uRkQw3UHxhNFr6uwpp05tSgvPRFnwjrWlKk2P8G94OxzThpwjKrig6oztqgjDwjPIfhCRKB6wXb2GqN7hUEPjKiRa8oDFEwiQAMETX72g_YwGWd3BHw/s800/olympic%20air%20tail.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXJFvh4uw0KSFUwXZI79E-xx_id4S-RuGPza6BXOZjvhCRYUzdz0TuEsutsYOFImE4TIVNR9uRkQw3UHxhNFr6uwpp05tSgvPRFnwjrWlKk2P8G94OxzThpwjKrig6oztqgjDwjPIfhCRKB6wXb2GqN7hUEPjKiRa8oDFEwiQAMETX72g_YwGWd3BHw/s320/olympic%20air%20tail.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhauz-L4umEhDP93cu-tmCbr9vSZu4D5TN8xb6_euslvASPOXLjYXO9z1HLXzYNq0YgDnJeIG2MhmE5xOdSbeXxqMmmpn1_YgQ5QzLH4E8z72TNo58OwuljPd9yqfQT75SaX1hfRsx49eJNb41YW54mwsl99tTW5wwlh9MT8fLOTsTSf3jY4OzpnUNMHw/s800/olympic%20air%20snacks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhauz-L4umEhDP93cu-tmCbr9vSZu4D5TN8xb6_euslvASPOXLjYXO9z1HLXzYNq0YgDnJeIG2MhmE5xOdSbeXxqMmmpn1_YgQ5QzLH4E8z72TNo58OwuljPd9yqfQT75SaX1hfRsx49eJNb41YW54mwsl99tTW5wwlh9MT8fLOTsTSf3jY4OzpnUNMHw/s320/olympic%20air%20snacks.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPCh3riSySq5QHp2HAuV3Mxog7wtwALcMl9zIof8Ebz81yS0mrVj5ZR1wPH7aPBlB9u-ashWt4EDJAf0bja_EaCpNvQcZG5NZaB_Z1ACCnCraAV4o8UWUva1MBu8R2MtNm4JU-NuvEn-qsrUcF2swhX3FCkGhSHiorfeBbh2iJkK5i-vTwXUxWybaTQ/s800/olympic%20air%20ATR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPCh3riSySq5QHp2HAuV3Mxog7wtwALcMl9zIof8Ebz81yS0mrVj5ZR1wPH7aPBlB9u-ashWt4EDJAf0bja_EaCpNvQcZG5NZaB_Z1ACCnCraAV4o8UWUva1MBu8R2MtNm4JU-NuvEn-qsrUcF2swhX3FCkGhSHiorfeBbh2iJkK5i-vTwXUxWybaTQ/w400-h300/olympic%20air%20ATR.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>Both flights were on time</p><p>Baggage allowance- Cabin bag was free. No constraints like EasyJet or Ryanair. Checked bag costs more.</p><p>Santorini has very few flights off season</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUmFZh0SePJ6YFyqTXqvH0JxlYH6JPUTu1jMDOsVtOXXloe6g23RmehsbkX3Qht492x-bOWrPbtWGFMHiaxmaHl5lVUS8rSP4f_tBqQIyw1y9jTqVZnRVBuUWamUZo_GSeFD9BrQotfaqUg09UgsWYqs7QQNhEvVBO74P7-bPFEzaqavfOXsM0tJ8YA/s800/flight%20from%20santorini%20airport.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUmFZh0SePJ6YFyqTXqvH0JxlYH6JPUTu1jMDOsVtOXXloe6g23RmehsbkX3Qht492x-bOWrPbtWGFMHiaxmaHl5lVUS8rSP4f_tBqQIyw1y9jTqVZnRVBuUWamUZo_GSeFD9BrQotfaqUg09UgsWYqs7QQNhEvVBO74P7-bPFEzaqavfOXsM0tJ8YA/w400-h300/flight%20from%20santorini%20airport.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXcS4X3JC4iC97ZWAF3yDa-5nH7jcc90IYm9lpiQpZgc7ysNZV0xI-QhMSEjQvUHghvIOgpJJGFd0le81o0ObnPsfhEOHMKjbF8AAgKn4VxTaIaHq5FGCDAObCbPfw_u0vwqzmRY-y7zATw7DKobut9Ppe8gJAnKleQNGd10KN7zcbooqxXRpRXLXvA/s800/aegen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXcS4X3JC4iC97ZWAF3yDa-5nH7jcc90IYm9lpiQpZgc7ysNZV0xI-QhMSEjQvUHghvIOgpJJGFd0le81o0ObnPsfhEOHMKjbF8AAgKn4VxTaIaHq5FGCDAObCbPfw_u0vwqzmRY-y7zATw7DKobut9Ppe8gJAnKleQNGd10KN7zcbooqxXRpRXLXvA/w400-h300/aegen.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>Overall the experience was fine. No complaints, no issues. Better food and seat selection option would have been nice.</p><p>Santorini airport has limited taxies and no public transport after 5 PM so I walked to my hotel 4 kms from airport. <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2024/02/night-walking-santorini-airport-from.html" target="_blank">It was a different experience</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2024/02/visiting-santorini-greece-planning-guide.html" target="_blank">Santorini trip planning guide is detailed here.</a></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos" (ATH), Attiki Odos, Spata 190 04, Greece37.9361751 23.94799029.6259412638211543 -11.2082598 66.246408936178852 59.1042402tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-61229031887836320292024-02-16T22:18:00.000-08:002024-02-16T22:22:43.495-08:00Cheap ticket to Egypt from Calicut<p> Etihad seems to have some nice deal to Egypt from Kozhikode (Calicut) airport in South India</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WrxTnxZ-kFeQxPeu1LDguGuU3gJ7zsJJuU-sc2gIs5c5Z_NCU8K9ue2ZbdKQZBvyahkAwiLHyPtSWyABsWsgRodnfCh4mnjF7JzvrSnqPmDfqaSCQnokpSQVGl7xZAOKwMgqwI9ANmmESbyl7peXZS8kWjsAExn0VjPeh4MD08wCFvLOn75gQvp6Xg/s862/egypt.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="862" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WrxTnxZ-kFeQxPeu1LDguGuU3gJ7zsJJuU-sc2gIs5c5Z_NCU8K9ue2ZbdKQZBvyahkAwiLHyPtSWyABsWsgRodnfCh4mnjF7JzvrSnqPmDfqaSCQnokpSQVGl7xZAOKwMgqwI9ANmmESbyl7peXZS8kWjsAExn0VjPeh4MD08wCFvLOn75gQvp6Xg/w400-h259/egypt.png" width="400" /></a></div>26k is a decent deal to Africa- it includes food and checked bag as well, unlike low cost airlines (Air Arabia, <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2018/05/dubai-trip-with-flydubai-my-experience.html" target="_blank">FlyDubai</a>, Flynas etc)<div><br /></div><div>You may also qualify for Abu Dhabhi stop over option where you can stay for 2 days and explore bit of UAE</div><div><br /></div><div>Tickets between 20-30k INR are available for several date combinations for March & April- you may plan as per your interest and convenience.<br /><p>Etihad is reducing price only closer to travel date. If I check for June or July 2024, their price is 40-50k return. Closer to travel date they are dropping to under 30k, probably because flight is going empty on several days.</p><p>Who is planning a visit to Mummy!</p></div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Egypt26.820553 30.802498-1.4896808361788452 -4.353752 55.130786836178842 65.958748tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-963779614424039402024-02-13T17:13:00.000-08:002024-02-13T17:13:05.736-08:00Athens airport in pictures & details<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sharing several photos of Athens International airport that I clicked during recent trip</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6a7c0776-7fff-d932-5e71-f4c764d8b901"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">#1 Athens airport view from top & ATH ATC tower</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cmEfVJKwCf45ugWu35QiYefByOE3SfLZ7rByo30eJWCSQxHGaHbJpAu3VeXu0hEhX08LZD8cxPGLEC__Cgp0j46AuG-IjEpMUdTOv7KRqdeuNVC9XdIL81cN8xtCl7_ExDC5s2V5xfYiAwGaYLm4fkQr-oblMVfW6l3ZuF6s6cBGUefgk5nfnT9awA/s800/athens%20airport%20strip%20from%20top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cmEfVJKwCf45ugWu35QiYefByOE3SfLZ7rByo30eJWCSQxHGaHbJpAu3VeXu0hEhX08LZD8cxPGLEC__Cgp0j46AuG-IjEpMUdTOv7KRqdeuNVC9XdIL81cN8xtCl7_ExDC5s2V5xfYiAwGaYLm4fkQr-oblMVfW6l3ZuF6s6cBGUefgk5nfnT9awA/s320/athens%20airport%20strip%20from%20top.jpg" width="240" /></a></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZUpPqVNlTDDxf9rkecNy5kwZ-05mhAnLYPadddpDO6-JgUELC17TDXtq2WNTWAnaX2HPsZpu6CBYaWR7jKGxN-T7BN_nGXkrPUhNCWRqQ0ixw4W5Eh670X9Df-VBuPxi4vyQwTzjm8mxdVdddG-LGBnj_6nxkNqR821PuQPGPDPUhp-Pq6WJbVKvWA/s800/athens%20ATC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZUpPqVNlTDDxf9rkecNy5kwZ-05mhAnLYPadddpDO6-JgUELC17TDXtq2WNTWAnaX2HPsZpu6CBYaWR7jKGxN-T7BN_nGXkrPUhNCWRqQ0ixw4W5Eh670X9Df-VBuPxi4vyQwTzjm8mxdVdddG-LGBnj_6nxkNqR821PuQPGPDPUhp-Pq6WJbVKvWA/s320/athens%20ATC.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Taxi stand at Athens airport as seen from top</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2fQiJ5rciS8v-QrciEs5FkqrezPqJrxP4olBwEBlm1FHAvn3gyMtqAnWSN71KxIChrCdNYi1PW1ryja3duN88X5-LcS8Yqp8kJKObf-ctz7B_j5lLsk7UBY1Aw_PO4X2PhHNiSGiuU3RIJJEz_eeA_hhgAh9T-cZal7haz54KZNhmGnn34d0oMwCxMQ/s800/athens%20airport%20taxi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2fQiJ5rciS8v-QrciEs5FkqrezPqJrxP4olBwEBlm1FHAvn3gyMtqAnWSN71KxIChrCdNYi1PW1ryja3duN88X5-LcS8Yqp8kJKObf-ctz7B_j5lLsk7UBY1Aw_PO4X2PhHNiSGiuU3RIJJEz_eeA_hhgAh9T-cZal7haz54KZNhmGnn34d0oMwCxMQ/s320/athens%20airport%20taxi.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Athens airport signage/logo</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFRAlme8h456d-y64VQRY10xayoYQjKhlRkhGMVH6W6lof-yEdy0itWmO3XDCLySgykowBrrRPhsDWZJ31AmDdvdht51pIzt5NOG3-hupbqByWoBBGDj52pFM6QygJwWho8J-2KpJO6qyAo5LioDS0Sy8IP6wiiToZon_NqlwRiIwUFiWMv4bTWzETNw/s800/athens%20airport%20logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFRAlme8h456d-y64VQRY10xayoYQjKhlRkhGMVH6W6lof-yEdy0itWmO3XDCLySgykowBrrRPhsDWZJ31AmDdvdht51pIzt5NOG3-hupbqByWoBBGDj52pFM6QygJwWho8J-2KpJO6qyAo5LioDS0Sy8IP6wiiToZon_NqlwRiIwUFiWMv4bTWzETNw/w400-h300/athens%20airport%20logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDIxmVCH-BKJzi1dO7_UmyjyLeuSVNbaZ3ahIzW87-QJuBfOaTXgjDz52HQpcOxw9G0MEIwpAe96JhQAZBD-_BQa8BN25LiAi7M_0aeujisZ2hsYn4f7mI1Pw_4jdAgz1ZBk3oAs87YXaOUu3PxVSe11aBo-nfaF85phU7qn3Ands-uPcrHQ-uUeZgQ/s800/athens%20airport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDIxmVCH-BKJzi1dO7_UmyjyLeuSVNbaZ3ahIzW87-QJuBfOaTXgjDz52HQpcOxw9G0MEIwpAe96JhQAZBD-_BQa8BN25LiAi7M_0aeujisZ2hsYn4f7mI1Pw_4jdAgz1ZBk3oAs87YXaOUu3PxVSe11aBo-nfaF85phU7qn3Ands-uPcrHQ-uUeZgQ/w400-h300/athens%20airport.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mountains near Athens airport- looks like Mount Ararat in Turkey but not sure</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqM3qTtO8BkPk6wJixFCMjDKIhPezHbVZO2xnmkcM4A2xXlebkE_ZC2AvBvjMnBOxgu4Jo1KcFS-UP3cjYLV9hQFwuH5RLKAx5ncsjCdhjZeQrA40Yw_N28Kz0t7x6T0DT-MxRrEYfkbPCbHcwZJRAyWzJf9Xvm7fYoxOqoYOvBcoRDeXq7GHAicfGgQ/s800/mountain%20near%20athens%20airport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqM3qTtO8BkPk6wJixFCMjDKIhPezHbVZO2xnmkcM4A2xXlebkE_ZC2AvBvjMnBOxgu4Jo1KcFS-UP3cjYLV9hQFwuH5RLKAx5ncsjCdhjZeQrA40Yw_N28Kz0t7x6T0DT-MxRrEYfkbPCbHcwZJRAyWzJf9Xvm7fYoxOqoYOvBcoRDeXq7GHAicfGgQ/s320/mountain%20near%20athens%20airport.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Athens Airport has 3 sets of gates. Gate A is used for all non European destinations- USA, Asia etc</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gate B is used for Schengen destinations</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gate C is used for European non Schengen destinations that need passport control.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I got to fly in or out of all 3 gates in my last trip- Gate A to arrive and return to Kuwait, Gate B to fly to Santorini, Gate C to depart to Tirana and while returning from <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2024/02/visiting-malta-things-to-know.html" target="_blank">Malta</a>.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you’re arriving from Schengen and have a connecting flight to Schengen, most likely you will be let in via Gate B and you can go to your next gate without security check. But my flight to Malta landed near Gate C and I had to walk a lot to gate B and clear security check as well- this was probably because the Ryanair Aircraft that brought us from Malta to Athens is destined to head to some non Schengen destination in Europe.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Athens airport is connected to Athens city via train system. Trains operate once every 30 minutes and a one way ticket costs 9 Euros. You can also buy 3 day, 20 Euro ticket package that allows trip to city from airport and return to airport as well as unlimited use of public transport inside the city during these 3 days- very convenient for short term visitors, as you pay only 2 euro more compared to buying 2 one way tickets to and from airport and can travel as much as you need within Athens city to visit attractions.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Veg food: Gate B had a food counter that would sell meals as per our selection- I selected a unit of rice and one unit of peas, potato and beans- cost me 11 Euros.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Drinking water station, workstations, phone charging locations are available inside Athens airport.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Athens can be a good gateway to Europe from Asia, the Middle east and Africa. </span></p></span>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Athens International Airport "Eleftherios Venizelos" (ATH), Attiki Odos, Spata 190 04, Greece37.9361751 23.94799029.6259412638211543 -11.2082598 66.246408936178852 59.1042402tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-35074444178623601602024-02-08T10:16:00.000-08:002024-02-13T16:50:47.851-08:00First trip with Kuwait Airways: Experience, review<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Kuwait Air is a lesser known airline from the Middle east. Everyone knows about Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways but not much about their neighbor Kuwait Airways. Kuwait Airways also operates a full service airline from their base Kuwait International Airport to destinations around the world, but their fleet size and destination coverage is much limited compared to Emirates, Etihad or Qatar. Kuwait airways also operates narrowbody aircrafts mostly and has very few wide body planes.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1wyhogyuPfAm73l5s1c2b43h8IrQ_T7Qa66vXBXBFxgm-U_3y_qbFSmnZmc-feFzpxxouaBv-7IEaecsBFm1Q0CQpiA9X_cq_1OsQkkgz-3JAMIiIA6lmLn95S4W3yOb3NYQQgnGAi2Pnxjw4MfjL3Z8KL7UsmnOqq2KeBZOiqi2G5ydbIxYs_7uZQ/s800/Kuwait%20airways%20a320.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1wyhogyuPfAm73l5s1c2b43h8IrQ_T7Qa66vXBXBFxgm-U_3y_qbFSmnZmc-feFzpxxouaBv-7IEaecsBFm1Q0CQpiA9X_cq_1OsQkkgz-3JAMIiIA6lmLn95S4W3yOb3NYQQgnGAi2Pnxjw4MfjL3Z8KL7UsmnOqq2KeBZOiqi2G5ydbIxYs_7uZQ/w400-h300/Kuwait%20airways%20a320.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-683e758a-7fff-6d22-25d5-0718233e94e0"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I wouldn’t have booked on Kuwait Airways had they not offered super cheap fares. Last year November I first spotted their Mumbai-Athens return ticket for 24k INR, for travel in December. This is the cheapest ticket to Europe I had ever seen (excluding <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2018/05/wow-air-india-launch-uscanada-for-27k.html" target="_blank">WOW Air</a> which ceased operations). I had seen other options like Mumbai -Abu Dhabi + Abu-Dhabi - Europe on <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/03/first-flight-with-wizzair-experience.html" target="_blank">Wizzair</a> costing around 22-25k, but this plan needed UAE visa, self transfer, Wizzair tickets do not include food or checked bag, so not very convenient. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">24k return ticket on a full service airline with food, bag included was a steal deal. But I avoided December- too much snow/cold everywhere and X’mas season everything will be expensive. When I spotted the deal again for Jan end, I couldn't resist, booked instantly. I already had a multi entry <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2023/01/2023-schengen-visa-process-experience.html" target="_blank">schengen visa</a> so it was a good opportunity to make the most of it before it expires.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Made a 2 week plan- Mumbai-Athens return via Kuwait for 23700 (booked on Easemytrip with some bank discount) and then made local plans within Europe to visit Albania, Romania, Italy, Malta and Santorini island, Greece. Will write about these destinations separately on enidhi.net</span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbYOlmI8s440qExPnmhQ5FlqB0OoMGlVdvy5CvRKgAC9SayrZbLM0JISc9Vj6tuyM70gGMraeIZNyZK0foh-E6xqfF-ZLTlU-RWd308UWyZcT1k_tjT_mYijuUBI4ANdmy-QnLBo0TRsK1NDGOgpxNDe-k9ek3fEsh9Op5pQSVmruayEIni7LiZJpZzQ/s800/kuwait%20airways%20inside.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbYOlmI8s440qExPnmhQ5FlqB0OoMGlVdvy5CvRKgAC9SayrZbLM0JISc9Vj6tuyM70gGMraeIZNyZK0foh-E6xqfF-ZLTlU-RWd308UWyZcT1k_tjT_mYijuUBI4ANdmy-QnLBo0TRsK1NDGOgpxNDe-k9ek3fEsh9Op5pQSVmruayEIni7LiZJpZzQ/w400-h300/kuwait%20airways%20inside.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One main risk I had was short 1 hour transit time at Kuwait airport between Mumbai-Kuwait & Kuwait-Athens flight. If I miss this flight my plan would be ruined, as Kuwait Airlines do not fly to Athens everyday- next flight will be one stop via Italy, spoiling 2 days of vacation plans. Thankfully this short connection time didn’t cause any issue. I have <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2024/01/kuwait-airport-1-hour-transit-time.html" target="_blank">written a separate post about this explaining how short connections work in Kuwait airport</a>.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Ticket Booking process: </b>It is hard to book on Kuwait airline website directly as they don’t seem to support Indian credit cards/net banking. However I could book easily on Easemytrip, where I got some ICICI bank discount as well, taking the effective price to under 24k INR. Booking process was smooth.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Web Check-in process:</b> Web check-in opens 24 hours prior. We can select seats for free- about half the seats in the rear half of the airplane are kept for free selection. Seats in front, exit row etc are chargeable.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There was a bid for an upgrade option- at least 250 USD onwards for each leg, for a chance to get upgraded to business class. 250 USD is what I paid for entire trip, so no way I am going to spend that much for one leg upgrade.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Unfortunately Kuwait air doesn’t ask for meals preference. NOR there is any provision to provide other airline frequent flier numbers. It is Kuwait airways loyalty program or nothing. Kuwait Airlines is not part of star-alliance or any other networks. (I could give Singapore airline frequent flyer number to <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/korean-air-experience-domestic.html" target="_blank">Korean Air</a>, as I wouldn't fly much in Korean Air)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I signed up for their Oasis club and got some 3200 points for the trip. Still need 25000 points for the next tire (another 8 to 9 trips at least, not likely to happen in the next 3 years before the points expire). They don’t send any physical card like Qatar airways.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>On time performance: </b>Almost all the 4 flights I had operated on time. The first one- Mumbai-Kuwait had some 20-30 minute delay, rest all were on time.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Aircraft:</b> All 4 flights were narrowbody A320s, but Kuwait air A320s do have proper entertainment on board, aircrafts felt modern. They have some 8 business class seats as well.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLZb8n54w2NIPqdDHMtFdLROHQdstk9r1viOh0LIbB6vbScVoPnUeC5u3Ps1vjG7_y1NRX6z5TyrIZhsqFEhj_8CB4E9a-tIkH_-be7xyb_HzCR5PseRJDUY8DKzACX91jR87WMBhtYnK1QNOXFgsXSW3zGysh9l7O4BCc23q0y3vLfPAOMggKguaLg/s800/kuwait%20airways%20power%20socket.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLZb8n54w2NIPqdDHMtFdLROHQdstk9r1viOh0LIbB6vbScVoPnUeC5u3Ps1vjG7_y1NRX6z5TyrIZhsqFEhj_8CB4E9a-tIkH_-be7xyb_HzCR5PseRJDUY8DKzACX91jR87WMBhtYnK1QNOXFgsXSW3zGysh9l7O4BCc23q0y3vLfPAOMggKguaLg/s320/kuwait%20airways%20power%20socket.jpg" width="240" /></a></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0NSqJIzl7GSgbUuuu6Pd_Lav0i5pHVVE6_9Y0m532Ku2KjungTFHJdlmes1lCxj1Z3e5Weww9LDNnNnsvIyLVQ2Jkk-p47VTKovZ58PLwjcoldgS3k-zqBUj0nGTlILOlM714K4-tcKRhS-LhkfugwgEYTylppVaPMK3oygPlGXbQQnt-vFRVbuH0Q/s800/kuwait%20airways%20empty%20seats.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0NSqJIzl7GSgbUuuu6Pd_Lav0i5pHVVE6_9Y0m532Ku2KjungTFHJdlmes1lCxj1Z3e5Weww9LDNnNnsvIyLVQ2Jkk-p47VTKovZ58PLwjcoldgS3k-zqBUj0nGTlILOlM714K4-tcKRhS-LhkfugwgEYTylppVaPMK3oygPlGXbQQnt-vFRVbuH0Q/s320/kuwait%20airways%20empty%20seats.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Full power sockets for each seat is great. You can even charge your laptop and work.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Kuwait Airways does have a widebody aircraft, which they use to flying to JFK</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Entertainment: </b>Had a decent list of movies- in Jan I could see some Hindi movies, in Feb I didn’t see them. Wanted to finish watching Azar but couldn’t. No recent movies, all several year old ones.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Map & Navigation info is excellent.</span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGarUTBYP1TChd9rX8aQozM7Gy-w90jYg5E4Nr3APrkbjEw9Q9hV_Y3h2jU-BP32q722VMgXhU3AnO0KEU8QfcZRbyrruiRNROFGvlo1SfhekmWxLcUs1dd5T5d-heJ8OrK14MBBEzDOuwa0_Lpe2OHGvjkdSD4OwsTtPlDMLkxJZyZS1pXUtMMrPQUQ/s800/kuwait%20airways%20inflight%20navigation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGarUTBYP1TChd9rX8aQozM7Gy-w90jYg5E4Nr3APrkbjEw9Q9hV_Y3h2jU-BP32q722VMgXhU3AnO0KEU8QfcZRbyrruiRNROFGvlo1SfhekmWxLcUs1dd5T5d-heJ8OrK14MBBEzDOuwa0_Lpe2OHGvjkdSD4OwsTtPlDMLkxJZyZS1pXUtMMrPQUQ/w400-h300/kuwait%20airways%20inflight%20navigation.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Amenity Kit:</b> Kuwait airways does not give any amenity kit (eye cover, toothbrush etc). Pillows are kept on each seat, bed sheet provided on request, ear phones on request (regular 35mm jack fits into the monitor, so we can use our own earphones, not having to depend on airline provided ones)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Food:</b> Meals were great. At par with all other full service airlines I had experienced- SQ, EK, Lufthansa, Swiss Air etc. No complaints on food.</span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFW39XfG2pMfIb-M3NnjXEc0VKdOO5W-Bj3LkvrqaQN_fDozYxiWyjqb_6PG3h-zwHQhHCudt4C6E5gkD2M444ByLstMbNehXxo80VI3yUCj-kmFLf0_ZeWKzt3_GoS8lpJF2SLbuTx1FM_5TPS0RBcod0Dx0lqop-200DmedIjR7WFuKYNXF-2D8hXw/s800/kuwaut%20airways%20meals.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFW39XfG2pMfIb-M3NnjXEc0VKdOO5W-Bj3LkvrqaQN_fDozYxiWyjqb_6PG3h-zwHQhHCudt4C6E5gkD2M444ByLstMbNehXxo80VI3yUCj-kmFLf0_ZeWKzt3_GoS8lpJF2SLbuTx1FM_5TPS0RBcod0Dx0lqop-200DmedIjR7WFuKYNXF-2D8hXw/s320/kuwaut%20airways%20meals.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEEQlImeNsqLjW-9lmYV9bVdjhP_7OCKw2ssNA-10uHwfBiE87yTm9ZI7ZL4TAWuMEksTRgqNsv4X9EqhiGxa0Wao2uD-Z8A5boKJX2KZ8OG7vthE9mcW2-pg6vBq4a-3RcUuIS7I64riYe41WsvuDaDyI6PmKJO6hJRCg0Of7Qvu6i9AHaPh1qv76w/s800/kw%20night%20view%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEEQlImeNsqLjW-9lmYV9bVdjhP_7OCKw2ssNA-10uHwfBiE87yTm9ZI7ZL4TAWuMEksTRgqNsv4X9EqhiGxa0Wao2uD-Z8A5boKJX2KZ8OG7vthE9mcW2-pg6vBq4a-3RcUuIS7I64riYe41WsvuDaDyI6PmKJO6hJRCg0Of7Qvu6i9AHaPh1qv76w/s320/kw%20night%20view%202.jpg" width="240" /></a><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Except that on my last leg- Kuwait to Mumbai- I was told veg meals are not available. I was in the middle of the plane (row 21) and they had run out of veg already- which meant many more passengers behind me who are vegetarians are also inconvenienced. Like I said earlier, if only the airline had captured meals preference during booking or web check in they could have planned to load the right quantity of meals of each type. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Would have given 10/10 had they not missed my last meal.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not sure if Kuwait Air loads fresh food again in Mumbai or they carry food for both legs from Kuwait itself. If it is later, even Mumbai- Kuwait passengers in returning flight would be denied veg food.</span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Eyhkc5LaTyT5j3I-vuFAKL2NnIsOhfIsA1fOBUQ34Z4LI_Zl-Iu-NV4vZqKN30tPKW4HRiasYflQlyCCA1hLmIQK07du1rm-YDEXAlh-JXfUPL3Woc3EOS6PSGR0vZZndpx_6U94hrO4x2yMrvaRmCCbuhoZPKeenwZ3Xlkt8jKC_fic5qtsNSXMiQ/s800/kuwait%20airways%20dark%20mode.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Eyhkc5LaTyT5j3I-vuFAKL2NnIsOhfIsA1fOBUQ34Z4LI_Zl-Iu-NV4vZqKN30tPKW4HRiasYflQlyCCA1hLmIQK07du1rm-YDEXAlh-JXfUPL3Woc3EOS6PSGR0vZZndpx_6U94hrO4x2yMrvaRmCCbuhoZPKeenwZ3Xlkt8jKC_fic5qtsNSXMiQ/w400-h300/kuwait%20airways%20dark%20mode.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Load: </b>Mumbai-Kuwait flight and Kuwait-Athens flight were pretty full. But on the return- Athens-Kuwait was pretty empty, Kuwait-Mumbai flight also had several empty seats. Probably this is the reason I got a super cheap ticket-24k return for these dates.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Starboard side middle exit rows were empty during Athens-Kuwait flight and I was sitting one row behind. Waited to see if crew would ask for some volunteers to move to exit row- but no such thing. The emergency row was empty during the flight.</p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Transit Airport:</b> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Kuwait Airport is pretty small and easy to navigate around. Though the ticket said arrival is Terminal 1 and connecting flight is terminal 2, all are in the same building and walking distance away. (Singapore you’ve to take a train between terminals).</span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not too many shops in Kuwait- there is a McDonalds that sells veg burger meal for around 2 KWD (600 INR)</span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Drinking water and bottle filler is available</span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No good area to sleep, few lounges are available if you can afford them or qualify</span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Seats have a charging port, so good to work/charge your device.</span></li></ul><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Summary of Kuwait Airways</b></span></p><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="230"></col><col width="294"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Good things</b></span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Room for improvements</b></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Good aircrafts</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-On time performance</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Cheap fares (selective dates & destinations)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Great food</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Small n easy transit airport</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Great staff</span></p></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Capture meals preference in advance to stock right type of meals</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Limited destinations and flights compared to others</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-No/limited widebody experience</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Support other airline loyalty programs</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Can include Kuwait transit stay experience like what Etihad does</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-80b72888-7fff-5e8f-74dd-6a5cd5e9597a"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Overall my Kuwait airways experience was great. If I get a good deal I will definitely fly them again. </span></span></span></div></span>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com2Kuwait International Airport, Ghazali St, Kuwait29.2404414 47.97104580.93020756382115621 12.814795799999999 57.550675236178847 83.1272958tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-76011135236844418942024-02-05T21:05:00.000-08:002024-02-16T17:31:00.842-08:00Crazy night Walking experience Santorini airport from Fira!<p>When I arrive an airport, I prefer taking public transport to town and from there walk to my hostel. This has worked all fine during most of my trips as most airports in Europe, America, Asia, Australia have public transport option to city center.</p><p>However, my experience at Santorini airport in Greece was a lot different. A bit odd but it worked.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpanOPVXuirH_qmN7yqH9snAM05Gfjl5d4KEhE1m07WNBiUnFODxASUgVK0MI7IlHwPwKV8YmxVJEllr38OO7np5GnBt8coje7p7j873d0ZUxijCg8wxNb9F2Nv1LgzblAfg2sJRkPrHDdplCOyH_wgFfvouuyljanblLF2_HV8ypeBCmEYYlW7mxLA/s800/santorini%20airports.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpanOPVXuirH_qmN7yqH9snAM05Gfjl5d4KEhE1m07WNBiUnFODxASUgVK0MI7IlHwPwKV8YmxVJEllr38OO7np5GnBt8coje7p7j873d0ZUxijCg8wxNb9F2Nv1LgzblAfg2sJRkPrHDdplCOyH_wgFfvouuyljanblLF2_HV8ypeBCmEYYlW7mxLA/w400-h300/santorini%20airports.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I had booked a hotel some 4 kms from Santorini airport. Unfortunately my arrival flight was late night (10 PM) and departure flight was early morning - 6.40 AM. This meant I had to plan my travel from and to airport at night hours.</p><p><b>Santorini public transport buses operate only during day time.</b> First bus from city to airport leaves by around 7.30 AM from Fira, city buses do not operate after 5 PM, so any arrival after 5 PM or any departure before 9 AM in Santorini you can not depend on buses.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUmFZh0SePJ6YFyqTXqvH0JxlYH6JPUTu1jMDOsVtOXXloe6g23RmehsbkX3Qht492x-bOWrPbtWGFMHiaxmaHl5lVUS8rSP4f_tBqQIyw1y9jTqVZnRVBuUWamUZo_GSeFD9BrQotfaqUg09UgsWYqs7QQNhEvVBO74P7-bPFEzaqavfOXsM0tJ8YA/s800/flight%20from%20santorini%20airport.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUmFZh0SePJ6YFyqTXqvH0JxlYH6JPUTu1jMDOsVtOXXloe6g23RmehsbkX3Qht492x-bOWrPbtWGFMHiaxmaHl5lVUS8rSP4f_tBqQIyw1y9jTqVZnRVBuUWamUZo_GSeFD9BrQotfaqUg09UgsWYqs7QQNhEvVBO74P7-bPFEzaqavfOXsM0tJ8YA/s320/flight%20from%20santorini%20airport.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><p><b>Next option is to book a taxi.</b> But Santorini island has very limited number of taxies. Airport has just 5-6 taxis waiting at any time. In a flight with 100 people, at least 20-25 would need taxi but they won't get it airport, unless they pre-book.</p><p>Other option is to work with your hotel to arrange private transport. My hotel proposed the same, but at a price tag of 25 Euros for 4 kms, I found this pricing on a much higher side. 25 Euro I can better spend elsewhere-</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>At least 1, sometimes 2 Ryanair tickets to various destinations cost under 25 Euros</li><li>Can enjoy a really nice meal</li><li>2-3night hostel stay can be had for 25 euro</li></ul><p>4 Kms is not too much, my fitness is good, I don't have heavy bags, so I decided that I will save 25 Euro and I can simply walk to my hotel from airport.</p><p>The taxi path to hotel showed 4.2 kms.</p><p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy5m1yrk8W5tJ-xiLE77CteyE_fsxw348NsQB3CN0jk_poCJPod02PubDvXeq8FTSYRqtlwOxCuCm9TOhmZhypjwZBcMiqu2V3pLpqcg7cpRRqpivCwdUm-vL8zEpKX5TfJXLcQNUKSKC7qSV9G8Sp7M-T-ExbZ90-VFUu23EsW15yZAMQNziMrqu9A/s958/taxi%20route%20santorini%20airport%20to%20hotel.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="958" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy5m1yrk8W5tJ-xiLE77CteyE_fsxw348NsQB3CN0jk_poCJPod02PubDvXeq8FTSYRqtlwOxCuCm9TOhmZhypjwZBcMiqu2V3pLpqcg7cpRRqpivCwdUm-vL8zEpKX5TfJXLcQNUKSKC7qSV9G8Sp7M-T-ExbZ90-VFUu23EsW15yZAMQNziMrqu9A/w400-h174/taxi%20route%20santorini%20airport%20to%20hotel.png" width="400" /></a></p><p>I should have simply stuck to this path, but I decided to check the walking path, which was 100 meters shorter, so I decided to take it.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Tr0DzHhVwYfe0cV8gkKj7UIEn4WwIFQL6ZsBvnTuHnIqrUHP38NLvJqW3ny-AdFzuvrVOL1yyY6-N_Q19HynfkK4nZFhDghAAzkywFZa_sxha-cntCG3581rvzMCNnYU5VqidvA4npHIReE4oWWdTplttzyKet_1FozF3kkce_OJw5co7TkpVkolPQ/s945/santorini%20airport%20to%20hotel%20walking%20path.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="945" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Tr0DzHhVwYfe0cV8gkKj7UIEn4WwIFQL6ZsBvnTuHnIqrUHP38NLvJqW3ny-AdFzuvrVOL1yyY6-N_Q19HynfkK4nZFhDghAAzkywFZa_sxha-cntCG3581rvzMCNnYU5VqidvA4npHIReE4oWWdTplttzyKet_1FozF3kkce_OJw5co7TkpVkolPQ/w400-h183/santorini%20airport%20to%20hotel%20walking%20path.png" width="400" /></a></div>Now as I started walking at night alone, I reached an open field with no clear walking track visible. As I started following the map, I entered a path full of pebbles, rocks. Apparently it is a stream that has dried up. I guided myself with mobile flash light, walked on the riverbed for about 2 kms till I could get on a proper road.<div><br /><div>Below is how the path looks on google earth view. Looks like a walk way but it is path of a stream</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6MqBpUWUC1jQ8s_-7srws7_JLaogR9JyYVhe0Cx2Lt8tAme9-yFI799_mvJQpkAKzYYGpPuNdbzhIsHJbw1L90Yx6s008UoE2LBR0-jUkbZIlpBtKZtEW3egib36dLWpC8MeiV1wRFuoYJwlCdwBasZifCmM5ysoBBrXlvKaH5XR3zJb0Dgr7hfpVw/s1277/santorini%20walk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="1277" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6MqBpUWUC1jQ8s_-7srws7_JLaogR9JyYVhe0Cx2Lt8tAme9-yFI799_mvJQpkAKzYYGpPuNdbzhIsHJbw1L90Yx6s008UoE2LBR0-jUkbZIlpBtKZtEW3egib36dLWpC8MeiV1wRFuoYJwlCdwBasZifCmM5ysoBBrXlvKaH5XR3zJb0Dgr7hfpVw/w400-h198/santorini%20walk.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><p></p><p>I do not blame anyone- not google maps, not Santorini city. I had my options, I chose to walk. There was some difficulty but I did reach my destination and saved 50 Euros taxi money. </p><p>Watch this <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C283bbjC5V7/?igsh=eDFydTR0dHBscWIw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reel </a><br /></p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C283bbjC5V7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C283bbjC5V7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0px;"></div> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px;"><div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12.5px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 14px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px); width: 12.5px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style="border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); border-top: 2px solid transparent; height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C283bbjC5V7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>Thankfully riverbed was dry in Feb. If it was rainy season I would have had to swim to my hotel I guess! Also if you have a trolley bag this path is impossible. Kids or elderly people also can't walk here, at night. <br /></p><p>So lessons learnt for reaching hotel to/from Santorini airport:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If possible, avoid landing or departing late night or early morning. Select a day flight to Santorini</li><li>If you can afford, take a taxi or book private transfer.</li><li>If you chose to walk, select a hotel not too far from airport</li><li>If car path is similar to walking path, chose the car path and walk comfortably by the road side<br /></li></ul><p>Stay tuned for more from my recent Europe trip.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2024/02/visiting-santorini-greece-planning-guide.html" target="_blank">Santorini trip planning guide</a> * <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2024/02/santorini-old-harbor-pictures-details.html" target="_blank">Santorini Old harbor </a>* </p></div></div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Santorini Airport (JTR), Thira 847 00, Greece36.4003185 25.47764768.0900846638211519 -9.6786023999999991 64.710552336178836 60.6338976tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-79858893547149452752024-01-23T18:03:00.000-08:002024-02-08T10:23:41.719-08:00Kuwait Airport 1 hour transit time experience<p>When I saw an ultra cheap ticket to Europe (Mumbai Athens return for 24k INR, almost half the normal price) I almost immediately decided to book. But my biggest worry on this ticket was 1 hour transit time in Kuwait, including a terminal change.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1wyhogyuPfAm73l5s1c2b43h8IrQ_T7Qa66vXBXBFxgm-U_3y_qbFSmnZmc-feFzpxxouaBv-7IEaecsBFm1Q0CQpiA9X_cq_1OsQkkgz-3JAMIiIA6lmLn95S4W3yOb3NYQQgnGAi2Pnxjw4MfjL3Z8KL7UsmnOqq2KeBZOiqi2G5ydbIxYs_7uZQ/s800/Kuwait%20airways%20a320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk1wyhogyuPfAm73l5s1c2b43h8IrQ_T7Qa66vXBXBFxgm-U_3y_qbFSmnZmc-feFzpxxouaBv-7IEaecsBFm1Q0CQpiA9X_cq_1OsQkkgz-3JAMIiIA6lmLn95S4W3yOb3NYQQgnGAi2Pnxjw4MfjL3Z8KL7UsmnOqq2KeBZOiqi2G5ydbIxYs_7uZQ/w400-h300/Kuwait%20airways%20a320.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>I was scheduled to arrive at Terminal 2 from Mumbai by 9.20 AM and next flight is from Terminal 4 at 10.30 AM, giving me just 70 minutes aircraft to aircraft.</p><p>If I am to miss my connection, next flight to Athens was only next day, that too one stop via Italy. I would loose almost 2 days of holiday because of this.</p><p>I decided to take the gamble and book the ticket. Below were my initial risk assessment </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I won't have checked in bag, so one less task for the airline <br /></li><li>Kuwait Airport Terminal 2 and terminal 4 are not too far. It is possible to rush</li><li>Airlines sometime delay a flight if there're lots of connecting passengers from a previous flight which gets delayed. If I am the only person flying in from Mumbai connecting to Athens they may not hold an entire aircraft for me, but say if there're 20-30 passengers who have a short transit, it is more sensible for airline to delay the flight by 30-60 minutes than bear the cost of providing hotel to 20-30 people, putting them on next flight (which might be full as well)<br /></li><li>Many other people had booked similar tickets with 1 hour transit time. Many have made it through, few had to miss their connection, were given a hotel by airline or put on next flight.</li><li>Because I am saving significantly on the flight, the risk is worth taking- worst case I may lose a day & some money, can explore Kuwait city using transit visa.<br /></li></ul><p>I decided to press forward in optimism.</p><p>The Mumbai Kuwait flight showed 91% on time performance. It is a narrow body aircraft with about 150 passengers, so will be quicker to board and take off compared to wide body planes with 300+ seats. So there was fair hope of reaching on time</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExeQE3gfl2-lvdY8pjM8WHBK6dQwv0ZzmwCae2fD3mqUYB8xMiEHnDUikgulkKoK5lz_wH6TbTBYrL6b_sxeTDnuYxIbZ5yz-VAI88pGv5UABtCQYctiS5JGnK7tQVpNvfEAuiU-ntE-j11hrlloMEE1_6u3z0zcGPwMiWu1WpwgxSvbSohNt_EmCpQ/s1156/Ontime%20performance%20kuwait%20airways.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1156" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiExeQE3gfl2-lvdY8pjM8WHBK6dQwv0ZzmwCae2fD3mqUYB8xMiEHnDUikgulkKoK5lz_wH6TbTBYrL6b_sxeTDnuYxIbZ5yz-VAI88pGv5UABtCQYctiS5JGnK7tQVpNvfEAuiU-ntE-j11hrlloMEE1_6u3z0zcGPwMiWu1WpwgxSvbSohNt_EmCpQ/w400-h243/Ontime%20performance%20kuwait%20airways.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>I will NOT have any checked bag, so I can rush and might be able to make it. Could not check the on time performance of my connecting flight KU 175 on flightstats.com. If connecting flight is delayed a bit I am safe.</p><p>Below is how my experience went</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Online check-in I could only get row 19, nothing further unless I opt to pay</li><li>At the airport requested check in counter staff for a further front row. Got a seat in row 12</li><li>Inbound flight arrived few minutes earlier than schedule-one risk eliminated</li><li>We boarded on time, but our departure delayed-instead of scheduled 7.15 take off,we took off only by 7.45. Congestion at Mumbai airport is blamed. This removed 30 minutes from 70 min transit time I had, adding to risk</li><li>We touched down in Kuwait at around 9.30, almost on time, reached gate by 9.40 but they took more than 10-15 minutes to open the door after aircraft reached the gate. </li><li>As I got out of the aircraft I was expecting some Kuwait air ground staff would be holding my name and will guide me to next gate- but there were NO ONE. I was on my own.</li><li>I didn't have a clue how to go to another terminal and to my gate. But as there was only 1 way to proceed I walked fast, reached transfer desk. </li><li>There I had to clear security- Luckily no rush but they did all the random test on my - ion scanning for drugs, full body pat down, checking all bags etc. Took about 5 mins. 9.35 AM boarding for Athens was supposed to start and 10.10 was gate closure time. It was now 10 AM.</li><li>As I cleared security I had to figure out where in Gate D8. Asked a staff, they told me to go up. Luckily though it is a terminal change everything is in same building, so not much walking (In Singapore you'll have to take trains between terminals, Mumbai Delhi- go out of airport and take a bus- needs lots of time)</li><li>As I reached my gate noticed that boarding for Athens has not started yet. So I could relax and sit. Boarding started 5 minutes later, but take off was delayed by about 45-50 minutes compared to original time. My guess is they chose to delay the flight due to connecting passengers and their bags</li><li>Rest of the journey went smooth. Kuwait airways experience will share in a separate post.</li><li>Reached Athens and the trip is ON<br /></li></ul><p>So my advise is, take a chance with Kuwait airways 1 hour transit if the fares are pretty cheap. It is a gamble with great rewards if all goes well, but some reasonable risk of loss of time and money if you miss the connection. Go mentally prepared to miss the connection and with a plan B.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2024/02/kuwait-airways-experience-review.html" target="_blank">Kuwait Airways detailed review here</a></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com4Kuwait29.31166 47.4817661.0014261638211543 12.325516 57.621893836178842 82.638016tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-7529934370588080192024-01-19T06:09:00.000-08:002024-01-19T06:09:22.365-08:00Flyarystan stopping India services?<p>Looks like <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/04/new-airline-fly-arystan-oneway-4500-inr.html" target="_blank">FlyArystan</a>, Air Astana's low cost subsidiary that operates flight between Delhi to Almaty for as low as 7000 INR return, is not keen on continuing India flights</p><p>Their official website no longer accepting bookings from April 2024. Fly Arystan had Mumbai-Almaty service which also is no longer offered. They were flying to CIT (Shymkent) last year but stopped that and replaced with flight to Almaty, now even that seems to be discontinued.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SNgfct9WheSq8jyrNXmWoqnREqlYyF5W2JTlOySTF8ab6cwtYO9flZSwL2okIzny1YvmmY-FjlXonTQjwHe412_fyd8cwa6WXEq4wad9ftWm65lRP-qf8uvhO0YFVrgLhgoIiVGpoWzPSXcOgHZmvBv118WufqsjGq0Uz8IxuRHx9uo58vRoNuaUqw/s1757/flyarystan%20india%20flights.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1757" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5SNgfct9WheSq8jyrNXmWoqnREqlYyF5W2JTlOySTF8ab6cwtYO9flZSwL2okIzny1YvmmY-FjlXonTQjwHe412_fyd8cwa6WXEq4wad9ftWm65lRP-qf8uvhO0YFVrgLhgoIiVGpoWzPSXcOgHZmvBv118WufqsjGq0Uz8IxuRHx9uo58vRoNuaUqw/w640-h200/flyarystan%20india%20flights.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>I have one ticket with them in March. Hopefully that flight will operate as per schedule.</p><p>Almaty and central Asia destinations had gained popularity among Indians off late, as flight to Europe and South East Asia got very expensive. Not sure why Flyarystan decided to discontinue India operations- maybe they couldn't sell as many tickets as they were hoping or they want the aircraft for some other destination they feel more profitable.</p><p>Hopefully they will resume India flights soon. Let us wait and see<br /></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-37526454653023587222024-01-18T21:28:00.000-08:002024-01-19T00:11:31.344-08:00Chennai Sydney return for 30k-Scoot<p>In 2016, 2018 I had flown Chennai-Gold Coast, Chennai Melbourne for around 20-22k. Finding such low fares was difficult post covid.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfvEHdYgfS2A4kmBEPzV-Q8rBgz1IeVW8oIiaH1596xSlRd-RHPwUTzx2mI5KFZPvak8nbmKC71JgS_cA1XlwNBtue1IrRClJe8CE9kGK7ZXilcj7ioU8dNjWIKIvCqYItFRDjRv-WA/s1600/scoot+plane+bali.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfvEHdYgfS2A4kmBEPzV-Q8rBgz1IeVW8oIiaH1596xSlRd-RHPwUTzx2mI5KFZPvak8nbmKC71JgS_cA1XlwNBtue1IrRClJe8CE9kGK7ZXilcj7ioU8dNjWIKIvCqYItFRDjRv-WA/w400-h300/scoot+plane+bali.jpg" width="400" /></a> <br /></p><p>Now I see Chennai-Sydney return for 30k on Scoot. If you had plans for Australia this is a good deal. Available for several dates in September, October 2024. Chennai Srinagar, Chennai-Sikkim are likely to cost much more than 30k, so a trip to Australia is a good idea.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBXVjI_PLfI6ftGQi7fPNi_ltls28L3_i1l-GmJrL-u7teaYOMsL6OwezwyucfwdEVn71YVQIOkQCq3nkYrP6v9MQW-ceq-H14loIwIHKTNlF4XIlyp9lZgsE5N6F5_O3gWXo6K09RjR4qUy_zYwFfpSu4InEZmO7U5jpJuxDRu6yDp4OHuEM2XtTCww/s936/chennai%20sydney.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="936" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBXVjI_PLfI6ftGQi7fPNi_ltls28L3_i1l-GmJrL-u7teaYOMsL6OwezwyucfwdEVn71YVQIOkQCq3nkYrP6v9MQW-ceq-H14loIwIHKTNlF4XIlyp9lZgsE5N6F5_O3gWXo6K09RjR4qUy_zYwFfpSu4InEZmO7U5jpJuxDRu6yDp4OHuEM2XtTCww/w400-h220/chennai%20sydney.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Scoot is a low cost carrier and above price doesn't include checked bags or meals- so that will be an additional expense. Air Asia was Scoot's closest competitor- but now doesn't look like Air Asia X is operating between KUL and SYD, leaving Scoot as next best option for us.<br /><p>More about <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2016/05/scoot-airline-cheap-flights-to-singapore-australia.html" target="_blank">Scoot here</a><br /></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-14853866767388041332024-01-17T17:34:00.000-08:002024-01-17T17:34:16.295-08:004 Ways to predict probability of your flight delay<p>Delays are common in service industry, particularly travel. Aviation services have dependency on 100s of parameters- weather, aircraft, crew, regulations, airport issues, passenger issues and so on. Often some of these fail and cause disruption in services affecting our travel plans. When we book tickets months in advance it is almost impossible to be sure that our flight will operate on time, but below are some of the ways through which we can assess the probability of delay and the associated risks.</p><p><b>1. Flight stats on time performance tracker</b></p><p>Flight tracking websites like <a href="https://www.flightstats.com/" target="_blank">fligtstats</a> tell us on time performance of a given flight, based on historic data. No flight will be 100% on time. I think anything above 90% is great, 80-90% is OK if the risk of minor delay is manageable to you (like you don't have a connecting flight or an important meeting etc)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqOq1RH8vb0_MqziGg6V7CgWZE3cxEpq3uOmmZDlpbzjT4TB8bKVPYqzb476kdyEzqmEp2J_NnoYYPUI7V1e4jJItWQD7aKwiWewMTnJLekHA44AXjSGj1NnvZjeiCr0KePfkyBYM_nY3tRZOY5XYsyr_5h0JiFtk_ENFL52wKwqNntdLAXpX6xbmsg/s856/6e%20ontime%20performance.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="856" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqOq1RH8vb0_MqziGg6V7CgWZE3cxEpq3uOmmZDlpbzjT4TB8bKVPYqzb476kdyEzqmEp2J_NnoYYPUI7V1e4jJItWQD7aKwiWewMTnJLekHA44AXjSGj1NnvZjeiCr0KePfkyBYM_nY3tRZOY5XYsyr_5h0JiFtk_ENFL52wKwqNntdLAXpX6xbmsg/s320/6e%20ontime%20performance.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>2. Ixigo indicator</b></p><p>Some ticket booking sites like <a href="https://www.ixigo.com/" target="_blank">Ixigo </a>give a hint about possible delays. This is also based on historic data and too much delay can be considered as a red flag</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBlUu5RpXOq8U-Zf_jVHApicJxOPSMA3HNOJ7RbyAtKQ1z7gLsd6y13t8KVt6t_9po8MkzP7o780Ol84gYieTJK5jipslxqbC12lWpXk36oar4-mkg9XFKuXoJEPlOq2tA8S8fvRUqC6gQq2drsIt0xwmf22ATqzrevQ30Nj_i_Uh69O3inRh1ITOaQ/s1172/ixigo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="1172" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBlUu5RpXOq8U-Zf_jVHApicJxOPSMA3HNOJ7RbyAtKQ1z7gLsd6y13t8KVt6t_9po8MkzP7o780Ol84gYieTJK5jipslxqbC12lWpXk36oar4-mkg9XFKuXoJEPlOq2tA8S8fvRUqC6gQq2drsIt0xwmf22ATqzrevQ30Nj_i_Uh69O3inRh1ITOaQ/w640-h224/ixigo.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><b>3. Typical factors that cause delay</b></p><p>There are factors that affect all airlines and may cause delay. This is more of a generic knowledge and will help you be mentally prepared and have a plan B in case you're affected</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Winter season-</b> snow, fog often causes delay. So early morning flights to or from cold destinations during winter have higher risk of delay. Study news about your origin and destination for same time previous year to understand what all happened. Chances are similar delays may happen this year as well.</li><li><b>Airport maintenance, runway closure</b>- keep an eye on news and you will get some idea</li><li><b>Special events</b>- Events like <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2015/02/aero-india-looting-general-visitors.html" target="_blank">Aero India</a>, VVIP visit etc will cause some disruption to normal flights</li><li><b>Delay accumulated during the day</b>- Evening flights have a higher chance of delay as small delays that occur throughout the day add up and evening flight may get delayed longer</li><li><b>Airline specific issues-</b> airline having financial trouble, pilot shortage, aircraft issues etc are more likely to face operational delays</li></ul><p></p><p><b>4. Incoming flight data</b></p><p>If you know from where the aircraft for your flight is flying in from, you can predict delays better. If the inbound aircraft has NOT taken off on time, the return or next flight, which is yours, is guaranteed to be delayed. This previous flight info is not easy to find</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Air India shows this info on their app. Image taken from <a href="https://twitter.com/RonitBaugh/status/1747433547277988293" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">twitter</a>. If the incoming aircraft is delayed by 4 hours and airline is showing only 1 hour delay for your flight, you can suspect it will be delayed further.</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jEiORhFpROBn2cxV2DclzYPLQIiMDpfDratjpPa9PYzJbHqof7qrh0MeM_l7wSwaqQZbkEL5EkrMJL6vqNaSQSZGMjQhJ-mgcV4zLfTzoT0TRQpBCX_0wjSnhI3s2kxxhslElVV2VIpninoo4-15CHrKXzm3enPNFjQ3bCiSzQf33ft6eFXtmWI9og/s1624/air%20india%20inbound%20flight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jEiORhFpROBn2cxV2DclzYPLQIiMDpfDratjpPa9PYzJbHqof7qrh0MeM_l7wSwaqQZbkEL5EkrMJL6vqNaSQSZGMjQhJ-mgcV4zLfTzoT0TRQpBCX_0wjSnhI3s2kxxhslElVV2VIpninoo4-15CHrKXzm3enPNFjQ3bCiSzQf33ft6eFXtmWI9og/w296-h640/air%20india%20inbound%20flight.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Sometimes you can predict through guess- like you've booked Andaman-BLR flight, you can check if the aircraft is arriving from BLR. If not, check for flights to your origin city (Port Blair in this example) from major cities- Delhi, CCU, BLR etc and if you see a flight of same airline arriving 30-45 mins before your departure time, most likely that is the aircraft that will be used. </li><li>This approach may not work in big airports like Mumbai/Delhi- airlines will have dozens of flights coming in to Delhi/Mumbai- hard to guess which one will be yours</li></ul><p></p><p>Managing delays</p><p>There is nothing much we can do if our flight is delayed.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Airlines will NOT give spot refund and buying another ticket in a different airline is usually pretty expensive with no guarantee that the other flight will operate on time</li><li>There are some compensation rules but airlines know how to circumvent this and avoid paying anything</li><li>Best way is to anticipate delay and have a plan B. </li><li>If the month you're traveling is prone to weather based delays see if you can travel a month later or keep lots of buffer for delays (like instead of taking early morning flight for same day meeting, fly in previous evening). </li><li>Avoid booking flights with very short connection time like 1-2 hour.</li><li>If flying long distance keep a buffer of a day or two. Like don't plan to arrive in Paris Day 01 evening and have a non refundable Disneyland ticket next day morning. Keep next day free for local exploration- even if you land a day late, loss should be minimum.</li><li>If the airline has very poor on time performance, better pay a few hundred more and book in different airline</li><li>Carry some food and extra cloths in cabin bag, just in case there are major delays</li><li>For destinations that can be reached via overnight train, train may be cheaper and better option than flight. (anything around 500 kms)</li><li>No point fighting with ground staff. They are pretty helpless when a flight is delayed or cancelled. No amount of shouting will get you any priority over 180 other passengers affected. Be calm, explore alternate options and see how best you can manage the situation.</li></ul><p></p><p>Good luck.</p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-78685619811657560892024-01-11T22:46:00.000-08:002024-01-11T22:48:58.250-08:00Manta air flight BLR to Dhaalu Atol- will it happen?<p>Maldive's Manta Air had advertised opening direct flight between Bengaluru and Dhaalu Atol. Now with latest India-Maldives row, this looks doubtful. Let us wait and watch.<br /></p><p>Dhaalu Atol is one of the islands in middle of Maldives. So far reaching Dhaalu meant flying to Male airport and boarding another 55 min flight paying 300+ USD extra (total round trip from India could easily cost 50-60k INR.</p><p>Now a direct flight will reduce cost and time. There are few resorts around Dhaalu so guests of these resorts will have cheaper and faster access now.<br /></p><p>I've flown to Male and had another trip to <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2018/10/is-it-worth-visiting-gan-island-maldives.html" target="_blank">GAN island</a> at the south of Maldives. Will look forward to plan a trip to Dhaalu Atol this year.</p><p>The original press statement from Manta Air is here- flight launch was slated for Jan 2024. But they had not mentioned from what date the flights would commence. Their website also doesn't have BLR as an airport yet. With the current India-Maldives issue I think they will delay the plan. Have to keep checking their site once a while to see if BLR is getting shown as an option to book. Let me see.</p><p>As of now Malta air website can't even be accessed in India. Not sure if it is temporary glitch or website is deliberately blocked for access from India due to recent issues. You can try your luck https://mantaair.mv/book</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gPZlVwExeQBpelS00HiKQV8yDw7a0T7kNk-TThjcvvNY1-8pVF9UoIJ5k8WrWrz04PdJdsrHD1KGqsEFF7OlWodkDK2RYYyVs0qX7RG3TF0NsGle6nzRVNIzB6NemiIJIf5rfOcR-HFiQ8TTZw0Zu0FABoh0Qh5H3exlkJ0yzECu5O1x4PpqUIQWUA/s1192/malta%20air.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1192" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gPZlVwExeQBpelS00HiKQV8yDw7a0T7kNk-TThjcvvNY1-8pVF9UoIJ5k8WrWrz04PdJdsrHD1KGqsEFF7OlWodkDK2RYYyVs0qX7RG3TF0NsGle6nzRVNIzB6NemiIJIf5rfOcR-HFiQ8TTZw0Zu0FABoh0Qh5H3exlkJ0yzECu5O1x4PpqUIQWUA/s320/malta%20air.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Malta Air only has ATRs and no A320s. I guess it can still fly BLR to DDD without any issue in 2-3 hours, although a bit slower. <br /></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Dhaalu Atoll, Maldives2.8468502 72.946056599999991-25.463383636178847 37.789806599999991 31.157084036178844 108.10230659999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-60969089640664336912023-12-27T22:07:00.000-08:002023-12-28T02:23:41.124-08:00My 2023 Air Travel Summary<p>2023 was a good year for travel compared to earlier few years where travel was limited due to covid.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruSj2yWFmFCWRXxtp9seO6fDouJJTHc8LKVZm009j8B0jj-C_6GW9cOVxPTYkdVdNSIoZbwOxa3p45QlKMYyUjOgDBKu7W97KWXKxbjymy4uWBmD0hLQMzd4XPALGMK438YlUveee58VysAcNRbicH3yo7htetB3pjo5he5hRZSc-0g7qSlfjXIze0g/s1606/shrinidhi%202023%20flights.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1606" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruSj2yWFmFCWRXxtp9seO6fDouJJTHc8LKVZm009j8B0jj-C_6GW9cOVxPTYkdVdNSIoZbwOxa3p45QlKMYyUjOgDBKu7W97KWXKxbjymy4uWBmD0hLQMzd4XPALGMK438YlUveee58VysAcNRbicH3yo7htetB3pjo5he5hRZSc-0g7qSlfjXIze0g/w400-h224/shrinidhi%202023%20flights.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>This year wasn't my best but still good. Below are the numbers</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Number of flights taken: 23 (14 international, 9 domestic)<br /></li><li>No of airlines flown: 11<br /></li><li>New airlines tried: <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/09/akasa-air-first-impressions.html" target="_blank">Akasa</a>, Swiss Air, <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/korean-air-experience-domestic.html" target="_blank">Korean Air</a>, Wizz Air<br /></li><li>New countries flown: South Korea, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, Hungary</li><li>Class: all economy (no premium economy, no business)</li><li>Months without any flights: Jan, April, June, July, December</li><li>Best Aircraft experience: SQ A380</li><li>Longest was Mumbai- Frankfurt while shortest was Busan -Jeju</li><li>Continents: Only Asia and Europe.</li><li>Total flying distance: 1.2x around the world.<br /></li></ul><p><b>New experiences:</b></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>European airlines EasyJet and Ryanair adding even more cost cutting measures</li><li>Watching on TV if our checked bag has cleared security in <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/unique-procedure-in-korean-airports.html" target="_blank">Korean airports</a></li><li>Changi airport experience after a decade, including <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/the-jewel-changi-sound-light-show.html" target="_blank">Jewel</a></li></ul><p>More details about 2023 flights here:</p><p>https://my.flightradar24.com/enidhi/2023 <br /></p><p>How was your year 2023 from air travel perspective? Expect a separate post on my main blog www.enidhi.net for overall travel summary for 2023.<br /></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-76499181994094753282023-11-27T03:20:00.000-08:002023-12-04T06:18:56.176-08:00 Busan airport to city using public transport<p>Here is how to plan your travel to Busan city from Busan airport. While you can take a taxi to Busan city center for about 25000 KRW for a sedan, 40000 KRW for a van, a much cheaper option is to use monorail and metro networks.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqVQLCz6avEd6EKl0ZUdjfCuZZgXXo-4QHiNC_xOJsWJhqk3nod7nP06rzkeTh_dMitBql6R0OGdZbJgCA0GXmtehXNr6AlfQZ4GRnpLt9dJEm8AvdokEe-I-TuW1Y7nYFutw0w65QHOLjWlGVoveKBolBYAUJvxYKuO48ie1MYl1F5FAZ56WlyLcZQ/s800/20231023_191224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqVQLCz6avEd6EKl0ZUdjfCuZZgXXo-4QHiNC_xOJsWJhqk3nod7nP06rzkeTh_dMitBql6R0OGdZbJgCA0GXmtehXNr6AlfQZ4GRnpLt9dJEm8AvdokEe-I-TuW1Y7nYFutw0w65QHOLjWlGVoveKBolBYAUJvxYKuO48ie1MYl1F5FAZ56WlyLcZQ/w400-h300/20231023_191224.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>But using public transport will have its conveniences- if you have a large checked in bag, trying to get them through entry gates, escalators, steps etc will be cumbersome, particularly during peak hours. Better take a taxi if you prefer convenience.<br /><br />Otherwise you can get into mono rail right opposite the airport. Then follow google maps to decide where to exit and change to the metro network, depending on where your hotel is. You will need a T-Money card, which you can buy inside the airport or at the convenience store below the monorail station. Good thing is Google map shows public transport options in SOuth Korea, though it is said Google map won’t work in South Korea (it can’t show taxi or walking options)<br /><br />I got a local sim card from lG for 38000 KRW and my sim card pack would double up as a T Money card- had to walk into a 7 Eleven store and top it up with 20000 KRW.<br /><br />I feel it will be cheaper and better to fly to Busan instead of Seoul while planning your Korea trip. Tickets to Busan are a bit cheaper, Busan is less crowded than Seoul. <br /></p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Gimhae International Airport (PUS) (PUS), 108 Gonghangjinip-ro, Gangseo-gu, Busan, South Korea35.1728688 128.94717836.8626349638211579 93.79092829999999 63.483102636178849 164.1034283tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-7689638736215012142023-11-25T18:19:00.000-08:002023-11-25T18:19:25.042-08:00Unique procedure in Korean Airports<p>South Korean Airports have a unique procedure not experienced in other airports around the world.</p><p>Airports around the world, we check in our bag and move to security area. In South Korea, we need to wait for a few minutes while our checked in bag goes through security check. I was asked to wait and keep monitoring the screen above till my bag is visible in the TV.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkzpzO95DzgjqaE04MlTBvwSXzzT1R0Qsog5Pho_m4StAN54b4YG1APdd0v6aJlkR0NeJdSE0-35o_S-6Fywah2dPdiiG1oqHobNo7EtkKvOwp8q7yJ_TeBw2CqcldxhjG1QxZ89ueBjwHc1GmoHDg8R2xzq-LFUA3G1ZST8oFuRiBJXGZBkA9_ypTw/s800/bag%20moving%20in%20airport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkzpzO95DzgjqaE04MlTBvwSXzzT1R0Qsog5Pho_m4StAN54b4YG1APdd0v6aJlkR0NeJdSE0-35o_S-6Fywah2dPdiiG1oqHobNo7EtkKvOwp8q7yJ_TeBw2CqcldxhjG1QxZ89ueBjwHc1GmoHDg8R2xzq-LFUA3G1ZST8oFuRiBJXGZBkA9_ypTw/s320/bag%20moving%20in%20airport.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>At first I didn't even know what to look for. I was looking at the display board below which was showing flight numbers and was wondering how to figure out my bag number in this board. Then an airline staff said my bag is clear and then I realized the TV above shows checked bags moving across.</p><p>Busan airport had the TV but Jeju and Seoul airports didn't. We just had to wait. International departure also follows same rule.</p><p>In a way it is good. If your bag had some items not allowed you can take it out right there, than having to be called to baggage area from your gate delaying boarding later.</p><p>Similar: <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/korean-air-experience-domestic.html" target="_blank">Koreanair experience</a> * <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/airlines-in-south-korea.html" target="_blank">Airlines in South Korea</a> * </p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-60549358633905519352023-11-25T18:10:00.000-08:002023-11-25T18:10:58.165-08:00The Jewel, Changi Sound & light show<p> The Jewel is Changi Airport's latest attraction. [<a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/changi-airport-2023-updates.html" target="_blank">Check here for other updates</a>] The Jewel is a 24x7 waterfall from the roof.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS13QHFoG7KWuDY5S2ceemqCykY59yZrLN2OojCm8rOkRqUtfzbNEwVqDQk81r_Si1uPiMXiVQUfj-tRJoBAHEnCgYJYrvJ75uQO7ipYmv7JKDDXJckIAdYpBn99GrIwPwaFrF2ZJsEq7jC_KRI2hJYGWTXmJ5f9CAOUvlbxzbgYB39IbsN3YJUCPSkg/s800/jewel%20purple.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS13QHFoG7KWuDY5S2ceemqCykY59yZrLN2OojCm8rOkRqUtfzbNEwVqDQk81r_Si1uPiMXiVQUfj-tRJoBAHEnCgYJYrvJ75uQO7ipYmv7JKDDXJckIAdYpBn99GrIwPwaFrF2ZJsEq7jC_KRI2hJYGWTXmJ5f9CAOUvlbxzbgYB39IbsN3YJUCPSkg/s320/jewel%20purple.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPrXIAB3dLSSSMqOwSTW2KL-o00Ge4VvciBYHHF-El4U1VywfZSKfbSKN_WyDcu13PzT0UmmJ4SukEFc8wLVRMJzfEVmvSSKwJvKIfQ5wFGl83MN_P3ML6G4N0EYcT7mcJ462rs2V2kx6fcLzz3fQjEJoQHg7SxQzsvGhltfLjJP5ci_yQc3QA-NX-A/s800/jewel%20changi%20wide.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPrXIAB3dLSSSMqOwSTW2KL-o00Ge4VvciBYHHF-El4U1VywfZSKfbSKN_WyDcu13PzT0UmmJ4SukEFc8wLVRMJzfEVmvSSKwJvKIfQ5wFGl83MN_P3ML6G4N0EYcT7mcJ462rs2V2kx6fcLzz3fQjEJoQHg7SxQzsvGhltfLjJP5ci_yQc3QA-NX-A/s320/jewel%20changi%20wide.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtg2rTkeD2UkDgiNDro2NqTGESo31SKcCkQt10rI2PqL_KVtHSJj-obp1aNnIeYANVQahquxH18rahNpnYsL7U50wxJmLKkeIcI5Lb0cGPyOUi1V1JLXNY_Lp7cO6-A2Fo510yjOSlD_U92VtBPN-IYyIbKhOYJQjdIsOeGejdTJUIG646lSmNcRhYg/s800/jewel%20green.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtg2rTkeD2UkDgiNDro2NqTGESo31SKcCkQt10rI2PqL_KVtHSJj-obp1aNnIeYANVQahquxH18rahNpnYsL7U50wxJmLKkeIcI5Lb0cGPyOUi1V1JLXNY_Lp7cO6-A2Fo510yjOSlD_U92VtBPN-IYyIbKhOYJQjdIsOeGejdTJUIG646lSmNcRhYg/s320/jewel%20green.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>However, we can't visit the Jewel from transit area. We need to go out of airport, for which you will need Singapore Visa or be eligible for<a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2023/10/singapore-vftf-process-indians.html" target="_blank"> VFTF</a>.<div><br /><div>If you can't go out of Changi airport due to time shortage or not eligible for immigration clearance, then your best option is to get into mono rail that connects T2 to T3 and watch the Jewel from the moving train.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYVG63yyQXyVJdaPk4DwNav7CKvtXp665QVPVY5NJ8L4ju2b_J4ZGIXffZTDAHTTIv-NmRN1ORoATxn04qSo3lZZMTRl28Yokdymf_Z-uKo5etOCfMQ4nt2GyrORqAqjY-gkqblkRM8aB7FXwPWeEM7Il0KVXXEjuSh8-jd7ulti9Not4HyDuWZLnQQ/s800/jewel%20from%20monorail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYVG63yyQXyVJdaPk4DwNav7CKvtXp665QVPVY5NJ8L4ju2b_J4ZGIXffZTDAHTTIv-NmRN1ORoATxn04qSo3lZZMTRl28Yokdymf_Z-uKo5etOCfMQ4nt2GyrORqAqjY-gkqblkRM8aB7FXwPWeEM7Il0KVXXEjuSh8-jd7ulti9Not4HyDuWZLnQQ/s320/jewel%20from%20monorail.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e6E5mhhdyDYLdgT89I6G4TcMk2FuvRYcMM3RDm13lInZxDuHFVikTnvAag9ry-JGkmtTdYwSQNx0DGX5jr7dKvY14gYr2rlVqSzRrbCoKfAUoxgAhRFTj6-hIiTVEGIX43FYhTR6gX89EmhKlyavP60f0tBD1dsuN9r2E5HuFY2jY6FjjVZi7FKB-g/s800/jewel%20closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4e6E5mhhdyDYLdgT89I6G4TcMk2FuvRYcMM3RDm13lInZxDuHFVikTnvAag9ry-JGkmtTdYwSQNx0DGX5jr7dKvY14gYr2rlVqSzRrbCoKfAUoxgAhRFTj6-hIiTVEGIX43FYhTR6gX89EmhKlyavP60f0tBD1dsuN9r2E5HuFY2jY6FjjVZi7FKB-g/s320/jewel%20closeup.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What I didn't knew was that there will be a sound and light show everyday at 8 PM at the Jewel. Watch the full 5 min show video below or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK6Jh5Tol30" target="_blank">Watch on youtube</a></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iK6Jh5Tol30?si=lg8M-7bL7p5SvUos" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Singapore1.3544924 103.9886015-26.955741436178844 68.8323515 29.664726236178847 139.14485150000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-58865968544904208992023-11-15T04:48:00.000-08:002023-11-28T18:59:18.968-08:00Extremely cheap tickets to Europe-25k<p><b>Update</b>: Check total amount payable on EaseMytrip and other travel sites- some bank offers may reduce total price a 1000-1500 INR cheaper than airline website.</p><p>Kuwait Airways has 25k return ticket to Athens from Mumbai for new year period. Available for several dates in Jan and Feb 2024 as well.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9P779GRCjaYkquw5VP7P6A7jRj4D52WUumrjNRfb5QCDyCwFhfxbMXRcYh7yXRCUilMH14qTxwJVPgZpnXC4BBAvxd-iCbRgYRo1R1R9Mpm2G7NQBTR9eSYNsrjnbb5eBcEFo1p_FyIPPt99h7SQkVpOsMEZYjZjgNzuVCM6UdLro9YP9pFQOaIn6g/s927/athens%20ticket.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="927" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9P779GRCjaYkquw5VP7P6A7jRj4D52WUumrjNRfb5QCDyCwFhfxbMXRcYh7yXRCUilMH14qTxwJVPgZpnXC4BBAvxd-iCbRgYRo1R1R9Mpm2G7NQBTR9eSYNsrjnbb5eBcEFo1p_FyIPPt99h7SQkVpOsMEZYjZjgNzuVCM6UdLro9YP9pFQOaIn6g/w640-h370/athens%20ticket.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Checked bag and food is included, which is a great deal. Kuwait Air operates A320 on these routes, so you will miss widebody experience, but when you are saying 15-20k compared to next best option, it is not a big deal.<br /></p><p>If you have visa and if you have free time during year end, this is a killer deal. Earlier I used to see 25k return for 2 stop flights or on <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/03/first-flight-with-wizzair-experience.html" target="_blank">WizzAir</a> via AUH. Now on select dates Kuwait Airways has super low fares, probably due to low occupancy and the route passes over the Israel warzone.</p><p>December also will be pretty cold in Europe with many attractions closed. So plan well. Jan & Feb are a bit better.<br /></p><p>But expect everything else to be expensive in Europe due to year end rush-hotels etc</p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Athens, Greece37.9838096 23.72753889.6735757638211552 -11.428711199999999 66.294043436178839 58.883788800000005tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-79858106755198084302023-11-03T21:03:00.000-07:002023-11-25T18:11:41.141-08:00Changi airport- 2023 updates<p> I visited Changi after about 7-8 years. This post shares my findings</p><p>#1 Jewel is a new attraction in Changi. To see it up close you have to go out of transit area or watch it from T2 to T3 skytrain. Read a <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/the-jewel-changi-sound-light-show.html" target="_blank">more detailed post on Changi Jewel</a> here</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yxry5Q_DIuFbqa-sF2ZvZ9kbxTEB34qZiCxz6Gz5ivo9eLVaQz-B6W34cLvTIZXXs4CTZKuei0gscMWehU1NZBULGYpkBo4ymUirlwB_hL5LwXZhBDyWfFvwKGeqNXmSrei6ColOBh8iy99FKUqqb9FPcBwlMIWCbBTtZjUad5Uz1WEA3sBolwtkWw/s800/the%20jewel%20changi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yxry5Q_DIuFbqa-sF2ZvZ9kbxTEB34qZiCxz6Gz5ivo9eLVaQz-B6W34cLvTIZXXs4CTZKuei0gscMWehU1NZBULGYpkBo4ymUirlwB_hL5LwXZhBDyWfFvwKGeqNXmSrei6ColOBh8iy99FKUqqb9FPcBwlMIWCbBTtZjUad5Uz1WEA3sBolwtkWw/s320/the%20jewel%20changi.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>#2 Terminal 4 is now operational</p><p>#3 Free city tour now needs you to have visa eligibility</p><p>Earlier all transit passengers could take free city tour operated by Changi. Now the rules have changed. You should have Singapore visa or qualify for VFTF to use city tour.</p><p>City tour counter is available towards end of T3</p><p>#4 Transit hotel in Changi now costs about 22000 INR onwards per room (450 SGD). Cheaper options like just lounge access, sleeping pod, shower etc are available. </p><p>#5 Tiger Air is no more. The low cost airline has been merged with Scoot</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw74eyirq68cRLJQ3bKJxdW6XQiyiH0W_CGeO4VNua8kvGG2hhVtzuRBN7e9RX7F2elPp1uI9rSqOBixAuxaWwUoVkkE-th-BrGMfPzpcu9ozL-GybdphgZbyk45OE6AsJllNK73ETs9vx3T8kNJpcuvB4KP2UDNmWpXPyZZ43N0qSOJPa-6lsx6Oh7w/s800/orchid%20garden%20changi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw74eyirq68cRLJQ3bKJxdW6XQiyiH0W_CGeO4VNua8kvGG2hhVtzuRBN7e9RX7F2elPp1uI9rSqOBixAuxaWwUoVkkE-th-BrGMfPzpcu9ozL-GybdphgZbyk45OE6AsJllNK73ETs9vx3T8kNJpcuvB4KP2UDNmWpXPyZZ43N0qSOJPa-6lsx6Oh7w/s320/orchid%20garden%20changi.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjz87ZzR2Yy7N5wS7noFnJz6uSgpGnHluO_UI1P7Zzi1Oc3YUrqgVtSTCyJtC1omAB0Tm_a1HQmAv1aRcjN5FnPrRFYKRYUTc190548VzXD3VoHqB8i9L5kWmngQQ3VnfrTNBABn1p_piAMxRcotN6XHVrFT51gfmwauh6yjMhcXG6_eHSLnczFjX8pw/s800/orchids%20changi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjz87ZzR2Yy7N5wS7noFnJz6uSgpGnHluO_UI1P7Zzi1Oc3YUrqgVtSTCyJtC1omAB0Tm_a1HQmAv1aRcjN5FnPrRFYKRYUTc190548VzXD3VoHqB8i9L5kWmngQQ3VnfrTNBABn1p_piAMxRcotN6XHVrFT51gfmwauh6yjMhcXG6_eHSLnczFjX8pw/s320/orchids%20changi.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><p>#6 Cycle rental: Cycle rental is now available for transit passengers</p><p>Similar: <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2016/02/exploring-worlds-finest-airport-changi.html" target="_blank">Changi challenge</a> * <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2016/01/best-place-to-stay-inside-changi-airport.html" target="_blank">Best place to stay inside Changi </a> * <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2012/07/unique-facilities-at-changi-airport.html" target="_blank">Unique facilities at Changi </a>* </p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Singapore1.3544924 103.9886015-26.955741436178844 68.8323515 29.664726236178847 139.14485150000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-26674221624422236532023-11-03T20:50:00.007-07:002023-11-03T20:52:38.026-07:00Airlines in South Korea<p> This post just shares photos of deferent airlines that operate in South Korea.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitViuHDKGN0O8600d2p4CTflCmbLwQfSRdRd0yeBEQ16vYHtvi0DmliubJGyZMfuFj86PZJTb0U2ofY38OfEJqZTcDD7Mkly6RjFlnXzNZFEqqpYVvOXLwNDfuE5HTLwX-4HiX4qUybfUwbXaZCjfk3ZKcn9jY_b-CyAa6RWT_TYI4PfooWN-c147Yxg/s5120/planes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2880" data-original-width="5120" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitViuHDKGN0O8600d2p4CTflCmbLwQfSRdRd0yeBEQ16vYHtvi0DmliubJGyZMfuFj86PZJTb0U2ofY38OfEJqZTcDD7Mkly6RjFlnXzNZFEqqpYVvOXLwNDfuE5HTLwX-4HiX4qUybfUwbXaZCjfk3ZKcn9jY_b-CyAa6RWT_TYI4PfooWN-c147Yxg/w400-h225/planes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><b>#1 Korean Air: </b>National airline of South Korea- flew with them on 3 domestic flights. <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/11/korean-air-experience-domestic.html" target="_blank">Detailed post here</a></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnSeX0DZuOHnS08c9xU8WGlyKR9_QN6pHIqszDJX0rGO_F8e4aouSSlrB6Zppcl5_H3bD5_BU0iZZkf1OtKR0MIkJHpqW7m16OYvicg4qlSbjfnMP0hIvG4seEMvbj3N1f1_ccBGD4M7LIL16Ldf9mnD-GuhMPk9h435JfDdkjo8qEWlWjFtvR8QA4g/s800/korean%20air%20plane.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnSeX0DZuOHnS08c9xU8WGlyKR9_QN6pHIqszDJX0rGO_F8e4aouSSlrB6Zppcl5_H3bD5_BU0iZZkf1OtKR0MIkJHpqW7m16OYvicg4qlSbjfnMP0hIvG4seEMvbj3N1f1_ccBGD4M7LIL16Ldf9mnD-GuhMPk9h435JfDdkjo8qEWlWjFtvR8QA4g/w400-h300/korean%20air%20plane.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><b>#2 Asiana Airlines</b></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qSmGgp2vV3LztdelkuK8wGr3mR40jzVjKFWIz8MW3urQn26ViJD2k53jWEot4RVwWgDNXNe_o1gU4K227u4ZxrnGE1StKBzlqP-CpoV3N41yRF7O-yj0Sf05ZHGLxoDJLqsq_aDQunIMqTkwvhzwjKyaySDdWx0sZieLRoXyRQwNmlXnZ4JayRiTDw/s800/asiana%20airlines.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qSmGgp2vV3LztdelkuK8wGr3mR40jzVjKFWIz8MW3urQn26ViJD2k53jWEot4RVwWgDNXNe_o1gU4K227u4ZxrnGE1StKBzlqP-CpoV3N41yRF7O-yj0Sf05ZHGLxoDJLqsq_aDQunIMqTkwvhzwjKyaySDdWx0sZieLRoXyRQwNmlXnZ4JayRiTDw/w400-h300/asiana%20airlines.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNoCmuBcXWzyzzQsusvfdf019rlUPQgQan9FI7dW2Zejc_ZFL_xupzVnAhBif0Py691Clf3vvmF85qjnOOlsMEVvbdnCUNhYc2kpI-Vy9dG3sygmuJJ4DZ0vimx9LLTdq86jtz9H_ixc5CCG7vZ5SNo7Ko3XRcg997Prj4w7qseZ5kB_QvEoeZ01ntw/s800/asiana%20airlines%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtNoCmuBcXWzyzzQsusvfdf019rlUPQgQan9FI7dW2Zejc_ZFL_xupzVnAhBif0Py691Clf3vvmF85qjnOOlsMEVvbdnCUNhYc2kpI-Vy9dG3sygmuJJ4DZ0vimx9LLTdq86jtz9H_ixc5CCG7vZ5SNo7Ko3XRcg997Prj4w7qseZ5kB_QvEoeZ01ntw/w400-h300/asiana%20airlines%20(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><b>#3 Jeju Air: </b>Budget airline based in Jeju international airport and flying to various cities mainland South Korea. Their fares are bit cheaper than Korean air/rivals, but as Checked in Bag costs extra we didn't try this airline</p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggXc9JGn0_2PaBw-fHph1FiCyQFHs6taEEssEOvCtIWdehaK7gfnodnKj3KEku7KpngCwF0KIt21RNCJaa0qW-Zj370iWvnrBnAMko5Zs2g7PyRVTcVIg_6KxX607XclA38qt5GfRCRZfcQ0wC29xhbjJvArA6xowvWpT2g7fAHID3sksb2cG8nB3_Zg/s800/jeju%20air%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggXc9JGn0_2PaBw-fHph1FiCyQFHs6taEEssEOvCtIWdehaK7gfnodnKj3KEku7KpngCwF0KIt21RNCJaa0qW-Zj370iWvnrBnAMko5Zs2g7PyRVTcVIg_6KxX607XclA38qt5GfRCRZfcQ0wC29xhbjJvArA6xowvWpT2g7fAHID3sksb2cG8nB3_Zg/w400-h300/jeju%20air%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rfuurl9MVZsMKUe3vHqfRhsltQULtSIpO9uuraF74XLlt1hK8FgRLvYYeuHCGg8mJtEl4tx6UFeJjg2G413AF13C3qHbsOofpqvVazfu9KnQ1xqVOgWQN9m7p1SdKc59DPS7kZd8sb5NgElJeTDZZHoQe57mNhIADPyRHuaTt00B4Wix4WzNcEFBdg/s800/jeju%20air%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rfuurl9MVZsMKUe3vHqfRhsltQULtSIpO9uuraF74XLlt1hK8FgRLvYYeuHCGg8mJtEl4tx6UFeJjg2G413AF13C3qHbsOofpqvVazfu9KnQ1xqVOgWQN9m7p1SdKc59DPS7kZd8sb5NgElJeTDZZHoQe57mNhIADPyRHuaTt00B4Wix4WzNcEFBdg/s320/jeju%20air%202.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p><b>#4 Jin air</b></p><p>Jin Air is South Korea's second largest low cost carrier, operating both domestic and internatonal routes</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFG2BsDn9be4c1KUfiw5eHScBG4EobxJA1Bs8iDEHuPtWwCgwwl11fGTv-mnTOhmrXFQ8F5tdO4QgbTY6Dsmt8DDC4Qc__eGz60aizSQi8bBU11qhiBFd4ALhj-YvNpUa6kOjS0ad1pY4eIbrPopLXhR-rOpdOFv6zp_kZWqrjh21vu5LPBbSfStlcpg/s800/jin%20air.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFG2BsDn9be4c1KUfiw5eHScBG4EobxJA1Bs8iDEHuPtWwCgwwl11fGTv-mnTOhmrXFQ8F5tdO4QgbTY6Dsmt8DDC4Qc__eGz60aizSQi8bBU11qhiBFd4ALhj-YvNpUa6kOjS0ad1pY4eIbrPopLXhR-rOpdOFv6zp_kZWqrjh21vu5LPBbSfStlcpg/w400-h300/jin%20air.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><b>#5 t way</b></p><p>T way is a low cost airline in South Korea, said to be 3rd largest</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjXzHZEHjE-Gv5hu5a8xiS7FUpb-WWeoKRjYtTDovwUuBsC069WtHkeRKg_1RhJhy2gL4Q5IAEGVcyscCXqhkQgXLjVSXok4PAH-dhb9Tt9vD-HZDY9qO5J-tA2G8Vgz9Muybvq8EKOY3ch0vVETd7isfjnjbl_3SOYWVfKLwXg5y28_a5nzvzp0mqUw/s800/tway.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjXzHZEHjE-Gv5hu5a8xiS7FUpb-WWeoKRjYtTDovwUuBsC069WtHkeRKg_1RhJhy2gL4Q5IAEGVcyscCXqhkQgXLjVSXok4PAH-dhb9Tt9vD-HZDY9qO5J-tA2G8Vgz9Muybvq8EKOY3ch0vVETd7isfjnjbl_3SOYWVfKLwXg5y28_a5nzvzp0mqUw/w400-h300/tway.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><b>#6 Eastar</b></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpusjwA6bujOVs3AIuWq7EVFfGgMzoJNnYFn0m5EE_zTzqm85VnBsflYukgN-Rf2qbu-xkByY6f00SbECE2jCTunIWFRkhEh9j25JWb5mDmsglL3D1mVlDsqfG1bOxYpiIcqpu7IBMcKsN3TjghQ1x2QRgSmogJ_iAVtQIGPNpihmy58aiji70AwdoQ/s800/eastar%20jet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLpusjwA6bujOVs3AIuWq7EVFfGgMzoJNnYFn0m5EE_zTzqm85VnBsflYukgN-Rf2qbu-xkByY6f00SbECE2jCTunIWFRkhEh9j25JWb5mDmsglL3D1mVlDsqfG1bOxYpiIcqpu7IBMcKsN3TjghQ1x2QRgSmogJ_iAVtQIGPNpihmy58aiji70AwdoQ/s320/eastar%20jet.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhFDsjPsiEkFVMPpt4194sIlsZyHeSiEHAWIZOwGNHlXodYuv6f5l1shWYtOUU8URuas9q8P4B_qXL81Dgs61Bl2_cMvJ93tqzHOHAT8Xjlwl4szLZgdKZ6faZ0-s8samhFguazqPSJh7AgpVsKqL2iUjE4yyl0Uy_ZphWb1S3qjw6AHZfff4FC2kgA/s800/jin%20air%20fins.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhFDsjPsiEkFVMPpt4194sIlsZyHeSiEHAWIZOwGNHlXodYuv6f5l1shWYtOUU8URuas9q8P4B_qXL81Dgs61Bl2_cMvJ93tqzHOHAT8Xjlwl4szLZgdKZ6faZ0-s8samhFguazqPSJh7AgpVsKqL2iUjE4yyl0Uy_ZphWb1S3qjw6AHZfff4FC2kgA/s320/jin%20air%20fins.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><p><b>#7 Air Busan</b></p><p>Unfortunately didn't see any of their planes. Saw one military plane</p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwhj-Z2Qf_iHowaibQqv4G0NEZGZLNOJpdD39780_AqLfDYaa7pE2pE0KVJj40yGpR5xVZyp12E2do-CXfr1eVznIId8p-YorcMjHPBZv0NXMZ_5yzwyDmXCtOKOz3_RBV9atp4-HpmfJCdct_ntcaZdz7xTiMkTQ1PuffDn6kkYBNQVQFemxYKwtlAA/s800/military%20plane.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwhj-Z2Qf_iHowaibQqv4G0NEZGZLNOJpdD39780_AqLfDYaa7pE2pE0KVJj40yGpR5xVZyp12E2do-CXfr1eVznIId8p-YorcMjHPBZv0NXMZ_5yzwyDmXCtOKOz3_RBV9atp4-HpmfJCdct_ntcaZdz7xTiMkTQ1PuffDn6kkYBNQVQFemxYKwtlAA/w400-h300/military%20plane.jpg" width="400" /></a>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Seoul, South Korea37.5518911 126.99179379.2416572638211534 91.8355437 65.862124936178844 162.14804370000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-52592692631790256682023-11-02T14:21:00.003-07:002023-11-02T15:51:37.291-07:00Air India domestic Experience (Nov 2023)<p>I flew air india after about 2.5 years. Last flight was just before covid- <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2020/03/air-india-to-muscat-maharaja-international-experience.html" target="_blank">Chennai to Muscat</a> and back in Feb/March 2020. So many things changed after that- Air India got acquired by Tata Group and they have started revamping the airline. I was curious to try the air India now but none of my plans fitted with Air India schedule and pricing.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3SHp6i8PtbLAUqOYEgOoqqSpzSgI62O1SRvJvidgrllI-gqgXQB-ZXcq7BPSzDDnyb0krcXu4x52RHc73Lx37-kIoxeEeMdFi6kvmufbMqK46lvtchVXMGRFKzBtLUYyL1Yy-2QuPhQ/s1600/maharaja+international.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3SHp6i8PtbLAUqOYEgOoqqSpzSgI62O1SRvJvidgrllI-gqgXQB-ZXcq7BPSzDDnyb0krcXu4x52RHc73Lx37-kIoxeEeMdFi6kvmufbMqK46lvtchVXMGRFKzBtLUYyL1Yy-2QuPhQ/w400-h300/maharaja+international.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>Recently while returning from South Korea, I saw a 4300 INR flight from Mumbai to Mangaluru on Air India. My original plan was to stay for sometime in Mumbai and take a train to Udupi but the 4300 INR flight ticket was tempting</p><p>I save about 1500 on hotel, + 500 odd bucks on auto/taxi from airport to hotel hotel to railway station, another few hundreds on food plus cost of 1 full day spent in travel between Mumbai and Udupi</p><p>The 4300 INR air India ticket looked tempting- I don’t have to change terminal- just go from arrival to departure- no taxi spend, flight was just 5 hours away, so I can sleep in airport for a few hours and go to departure-no hotel spend plus 90 min flight vs 16 hours in train- made a decision to buy flight ticket</p><p>Wanted to buy on Air India official website but they ask 300 INR extra convenience fee, so booked on Easymytrip.</p><p>Same flight is selling for 7500 INR for December.</p><p>Did web check in immediately- Air India is also into seat selling now- a random middle seat was free while other seats cost 200-350 INR each. I decided not to pay extra, did a web check-in with a free seat and went to the counter to drop my bag. Thankfully the staff at the check in counter was kind enough to allocate 1A or a first row seat with extra leg room for me.</p><p>I was hoping to have some nice meal Air India was famous for. But mine was an early morning flight and just 1 hour 15 mins long, so they only served a paneer roll. Not even tea/coffee. I felt tea/coffee could have been served along with their snacks.</p><p>Flight was delayed by an hour citing bad weather at Mangaluru. Eventually took off at around 6.45 and landed by 8 AM. Flight was fine without any issues. Got several notifications on gate change, time change and other things via sms, email etc</p><p>Staff have a new uniform now, which looks like neither proper saree they used tower earlier, nor a skirt- some kind of hybrid.</p><p>Air India is also changing its logo. The plane I flew had an older logo.</p><p>Air India is killing AirAsia India brand. Saw an Air Asia plane with the Air Asia logo removed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2fP3oA3JuCSa6c6aQ83XWz8KKi0GMffaXmWK2rluhsGMCpqbrhTkv-DrVl3jnX6507bhTk4gh_ssHnHQFByV4FIwbREbY1DgHq3tKzGQsC9LOfvpZidx6cQtT-H-s05eVJwfSkImtjMGOQkzqdtPvMlY5YDyZYqmmwuecE_Tn-Cl7qieYNV2ZBVoTg/s800/airasia%20india%20repainted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2fP3oA3JuCSa6c6aQ83XWz8KKi0GMffaXmWK2rluhsGMCpqbrhTkv-DrVl3jnX6507bhTk4gh_ssHnHQFByV4FIwbREbY1DgHq3tKzGQsC9LOfvpZidx6cQtT-H-s05eVJwfSkImtjMGOQkzqdtPvMlY5YDyZYqmmwuecE_Tn-Cl7qieYNV2ZBVoTg/w400-h300/airasia%20india%20repainted.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Air India is launching Mumbai-Sydney direct flights for 55000 INR return from December 2023. They also launched a sale for <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/10/india-usa-return-55k-air-india.html" target="_blank">USA return flights for a similar price</a>. Looking forward to see how the airline revamps under Tata Group.</p><p>Overall fine experience. Wishing Air India all the success.</p><p>Similar: <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2014/08/air-india-experience-2014.html" target="_blank">Air India experience in 2014</a> * <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2013/02/air-india-maharaja-experience.html" target="_blank">Air India experience 2013</a> * </p>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Mangaluru International Airport, Bajpe Main Rd, Kenjar HC, Mangaluru, Karnataka 574142, India12.9504715 74.8721236-15.612729954596956 39.715873599999995 41.513672954596956 110.0283736tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-75325004843251405242023-11-02T00:43:00.006-07:002023-11-02T15:54:14.008-07:00 Korean Air experience (domestic)<p>Korean Air is South Korea’s national airline. The airline is about 54 years old and has a fleet of 164 aircrafts connecting South Korean capital Seoul to cities around the world. <br /><br />Last month I took 3 flights with Korean Air domestic- Busan to Jeju, Jeju to Seoul and Seoul to Busan. This post shares my experience</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZf7WtqX_vTpyr4BuOO9Z_fM9QTk2eRBtfU5jFgSqoH0zF_WZiT_AcCYY5ytBDA6EgkJRf5OdEMxK2auP_aG0lAaTbCj90siPZ3iJz9rCYbCmDSg5m8r3-2g6EvZ0Ub755KBsOXrpdW2XfTMg1IXhHuwMuBfBgzQJt2hLwXUYmwYTutx08TTdC6S9O_A/s800/korean%20air%20tail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZf7WtqX_vTpyr4BuOO9Z_fM9QTk2eRBtfU5jFgSqoH0zF_WZiT_AcCYY5ytBDA6EgkJRf5OdEMxK2auP_aG0lAaTbCj90siPZ3iJz9rCYbCmDSg5m8r3-2g6EvZ0Ub755KBsOXrpdW2XfTMg1IXhHuwMuBfBgzQJt2hLwXUYmwYTutx08TTdC6S9O_A/w300-h400/korean%20air%20tail.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p><b>Why did I choose Korean Air?</b><br />When I was looking for an option to fly to Jeju from Busan, Korean Air was not the cheapest. Jeju air was the cheapest- but Jeju air is a budget airline, and will charge extra for checked bags. Korean Air fare included checked bags and food (only juice was given, more later), hence despite being a bit expensive we chose Korean air to avoid the hassle of paying extra for everything.<br /><br />Korean Air is a skyteam partner along with Air France, KLM. But in India they seem to be flying only to Delhi. Delhi ICN direct flight costs 60000 INR return, while it costs under 40000 on Singapore airline one stop flight via Changi. So it wasn’t an economical option for us. I had visited a Korean air stall in a travel mart event in Mumbai a few years ago and wanted to fly them whenever possible. At least now I’ve flown their domestic flights, if not international.<br /><br /><b>Ticket purchase experience:</b><br />Was able to book South Korea domestic flights from India without any issues- paid via debit card. They have 4-5 different types of fares, and went for the cheapest option available.<br /><br />I was able to select a seat for no extra cost at the time of purchase, which is good.<br /><br />I couldn’t give my SQ Krisflyer account for loyalty points. Had to give the Emirates loyalty program number. Got some 470 miles after spending about 12000 INR on Korean Air. But not sure how to use it- have no plans to fly Emirates as of now. <br /><br /><b>Web check-in experience:</b><br />Korean air web check in opens 24 hours before the flight. Could complete the process within minutes without any issues.<br /><br /><b>How were the aircrafts?</b><br />Flew B737 on 2 legs and A220-300 on Seoul-Busan leg. Aircrafts were fine- no issues. A220 experience was unique- 2 columns in one side, 3 on the other.<br /><br /><b>Airport baggage drop experience: </b><br />For 7 AM flight from Jeju to Seoul, check in counters would open only by 6 AM<br />After checking in our bags, we need to wait for a few minutes while the airline does a security check of our bags. If good, we can proceed.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBAobosnsNLXxiPFW0xe_yk7TEX5xvLOaJHAS49iz4O-jf8o5JsLDgAAYfd94X0h_RRX5qyBjdO41nYnLKhOPPVbmIrWvGim9ceNn-kCUj6JhnWPm-5vitDe6Gdkf5St2re0W2x6G8hy9Yi25qntQ9V865PFrC4s95EXgcvhLARI0CQdWMLZKE9EkzGg/s800/korean%20air%20plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBAobosnsNLXxiPFW0xe_yk7TEX5xvLOaJHAS49iz4O-jf8o5JsLDgAAYfd94X0h_RRX5qyBjdO41nYnLKhOPPVbmIrWvGim9ceNn-kCUj6JhnWPm-5vitDe6Gdkf5St2re0W2x6G8hy9Yi25qntQ9V865PFrC4s95EXgcvhLARI0CQdWMLZKE9EkzGg/w400-h300/korean%20air%20plane.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Boarding pass is a wafer thin piece of paper<br /><br /><b>Inflight experience</b><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Those sitting in the back of the plane will board first.</li><li>Korean Air does have some 8 business class seats on its 737s, no premium economy.</li><li>They keep half a kg worth of inflight magazine and shopping list on 40-50 min domestic flights- no passenger cares about them- they could skip this and save fuel on carrying 100 kg extra material on each flights.</li><li>To reaffirm that they are a full service airline, a glass of juice was served on our Korean Air domestic flights. Orange, apple or tomato juices were the options. No snacks, not even for purchase. Some sandwiches would have been nice.</li></ul><p>Ground staff waving us off was a nice experience.</p><p>All the flights were on time, bags came to belt fairly quickly and I don't have any complaint as such.<br /></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cy7R8RYrOVW/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cy7R8RYrOVW/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 0; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0px;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px;"><svg height="50px" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 60 60" width="50px" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g fill-rule="evenodd" fill="none" stroke-width="1" stroke="none"><g fill="#000000" transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0px;"></div> <div style="align-items: center; display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px;"><div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12.5px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 14px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px); width: 12.5px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style="border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); border-top: 2px solid transparent; height: 0px; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg); width: 0px;"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="border-right: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); transform: translateY(16px); width: 0px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; transform: translateY(-4px); width: 16px;"></div> <div style="border-left: 8px solid transparent; border-top: 8px solid rgb(244, 244, 244); height: 0px; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px); width: 0px;"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cy7R8RYrOVW/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Busan, South Korea35.2100142 129.06887026.8997803638211579 93.912620199999992 63.520248036178849 164.2251202tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-40397535693127786452023-10-03T18:27:00.005-07:002023-10-03T18:27:55.709-07:00India USA Return 55k Air India<p> Air India has announced a sale, promising India to USA return fare starting 43k INR. I spent some time on Air India official website to figure out which all cities and dates have 43k return fare. The lowest I could find was 55k return BLR to SFO for October 2023. If you try more origin, destination, date combinations you may get lucky and find even cheaper fares.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmJjg7DISELuVHPMW6Vc6F1AkOTnMcAqjo9uwtPAe1iAbAMKYrZRpr50Aj-y7GPsC56_gosUbNYdg-30KS_Xz0E1LFFpLk-vRNy9nfcprnNvm1SaAAgF9M-A7nlerKmiIc-okDCBR28IC1kpfDMlraEAS2HHwwvVhyphenhyphenlaWVV5E8-lNs9sqJKLIdoy-ww/s1329/air%20india%20sale.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="1329" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmJjg7DISELuVHPMW6Vc6F1AkOTnMcAqjo9uwtPAe1iAbAMKYrZRpr50Aj-y7GPsC56_gosUbNYdg-30KS_Xz0E1LFFpLk-vRNy9nfcprnNvm1SaAAgF9M-A7nlerKmiIc-okDCBR28IC1kpfDMlraEAS2HHwwvVhyphenhyphenlaWVV5E8-lNs9sqJKLIdoy-ww/w640-h210/air%20india%20sale.png" width="640" /></a></div>Looks like Air India planes are going empty, thus a sudden sale to fill up seats. 55k return is the lowest I have seen post covid (I had flown for 48k INR return on <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2019/05/qatar-airways-mumbai-miami-return-for.html" target="_blank">Qatar Airways</a> in 2019 between MAA and IAD). Post covid everything got expensive and flights to USA, Canada cost almost a lakh these days under normal conditions. Thus 55k return is a good deal if you already have US visa and can make a quick trip between October and December<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRy_S01oVBFO-4h1cGsz8SXkSbTQQztCvguX8Ns7fghzqY9kWSmxH0K2ADQ1re2pLF71shnGAmxO6-s2adurAOwQIOk7OynCI3hAhyvEPxtztnUOCZYQldrHNRW0M-bShrSAK8UIWvGu7fHWjXfSU6p76W8gQMhwODHHDaBMVNdXAwOyMRycHPireBEw/s1600/air%20india%20india%20usa%20sale%20offer.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="1600" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRy_S01oVBFO-4h1cGsz8SXkSbTQQztCvguX8Ns7fghzqY9kWSmxH0K2ADQ1re2pLF71shnGAmxO6-s2adurAOwQIOk7OynCI3hAhyvEPxtztnUOCZYQldrHNRW0M-bShrSAK8UIWvGu7fHWjXfSU6p76W8gQMhwODHHDaBMVNdXAwOyMRycHPireBEw/w640-h166/air%20india%20india%20usa%20sale%20offer.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuRzbyDOr5fhb3koLIPZYnx_zfIQznDB_HWLR4iG7PM1-kRiUjuQh-sqkfxsSuwuW5E-rhXNAzJwFQwZa2AZMm3J5-0LExHA4EifXZFVKLgj0H5TaDAwr8t-qqMQdzavfb61BqUmooNOxH1unz3Atx8qG-q2lMEmDLyo8EoxpspMX-eHfgAkP2jZT_w/s1235/air%20india%20sale%20us%20return.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="1235" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuRzbyDOr5fhb3koLIPZYnx_zfIQznDB_HWLR4iG7PM1-kRiUjuQh-sqkfxsSuwuW5E-rhXNAzJwFQwZa2AZMm3J5-0LExHA4EifXZFVKLgj0H5TaDAwr8t-qqMQdzavfb61BqUmooNOxH1unz3Atx8qG-q2lMEmDLyo8EoxpspMX-eHfgAkP2jZT_w/w640-h134/air%20india%20sale%20us%20return.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>I have not flown Air India Ultra long haul flights. It is a hit or miss- even years after Tata took over, we still see periodic complaints about deficiency in services. The longest I have flown Air India is between <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2019/08/air-india-experience-after-long-time.html" target="_blank">Chennai and Muscat</a>. If they had a cheap deal to USA/Canada/Europe for mid 2024 I would have booked, but their sale is till Mid December only. Air India has good food, generous baggage allowance and a direct flight saving transit time, which is a plus.<div><br /></div><div>Also read: <a href="https://www.enidhi.net/2019/04/dream-trip-to-usa-how-inr-48250-ticket-became-3lakhs-trip.html" target="_blank">US Trip on budget<br /></a><div><br /></div><div>Good luck.</div></div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, CA 94128, USA37.6191671 -122.38161089.308933263821153 -157.5378608 65.929400936178837 -87.2253608tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-52717183633843526082023-09-29T00:51:00.007-07:002023-10-03T12:36:49.261-07:00FlyArystan Booking ExperienceI had written about the new low cost airline from central asia-<a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/04/new-airline-fly-arystan-oneway-4500-inr.html" target="_blank"> Fly Arystan earlier</a>. They had announced one way flight between Delhi and Shymkent (CIT) for about 5000 INR. But the return ticket was around 10-12k, making round trip expensive at around 15-17k INR, so I had not booked any ticket.<br /><br />A friend, Amar Singh Solanki who runs Lily travels, had booked their ticket and had a successful trip to central Asia, which added to my confidence that I too can try this airline-Fly arystan. Fly Arystan seems to be a subsidiary of Air Asthana.<br /><br />Recently I noticed that they are no longer selling DEL-CIT ticket. Instead they are selling Delhi to Almaty ticket for low price- managed to spot a return ticket for about 83 USD on their website for several dates in November/Dec 2023 as well as Feb/March 2024.<br /><br />This time I decided to book. But to my surprise their payment page was failing. I couldn’t make a payment so the process came to a halt.<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Anyone managed to book a ticket on <a href="https://twitter.com/FlyArystan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FlyArystan</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/9ddLIxbWPC">pic.twitter.com/9ddLIxbWPC</a></p>— Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi) <a href="https://twitter.com/enidhi/status/1704488950654754913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />I wrote a mail to their support team, giving my intended ticket details and asking for a payment link (That is how it worked with Lufthansa-Swiss Air last year for me)<br /><br />Later Amar Singh Solanki told me I can book via Cleartrip. On Cleartrip the total amount payable was some 500 INR more, but at least I could pay, book and get a confirmed ticket.<br /><br />After 5 days the support team replied, asking me to check with my bank, while the issue is on their side- there was no option to select bank or card or anything- payment page itself was not opening. Anyway I had booked ticket through cleartrip so didn’t brother to respond.<br /><br />Now that ticket is booked, I need to prepare for my trip- got another 6 months- have to see how to manage with 5 kg cabin bag limitation. Wish me luck.<br /><br />Flyarystan website seems to be managed by Kiwi- I tried to sign up so that I can get cheap deals but now I have ended up signing up for Kiwi and will have to deal with them spam mails now.<br />Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Almaty, Kazakhstan43.2379761 76.882861814.927742263821152 41.7266118 71.548209936178836 112.0391118tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59320539793441425.post-75298936176871433422023-09-23T21:13:00.007-07:002023-09-24T00:23:14.568-07:00Akasa Air First Impressions<p>I had my first flight with Akasa air this month. That is pretty late- Akasa air was inaugurated several months ago but I didn't have a chance earlier. They don't fly to Mangaluru and I couldn't force fit a flight n spend money just for the sake of it.</p><p>As I was checking prices for Lucknow, when I saw a 3500 Rs one way ticket I decided to plan a trip. At that time GoFirst had cheapest tickets- like 2200 INR but better sense prevailed and I decided NOT to go with GoFirst. Indigo also had a flight, similar time, similar price, decided to try Akasa.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D9QOjoqsIOh4WOhHV7VcspkS14c4rG2ux-JNg5Ea4DQOKbKg1SuzQ5K3MlredLT3VeSm6sxy23qe5SYpEn61nU8B0aEdPXEkhoO_GqSduX-8JYTz_pkKFVaf2LfIWtOuKMZ3fD9RQJa4lj-vh1-7IFBsRCfPwVIkTSic6OO2Ey3emmCMtSg_MUqb7Q/s800/akasa%20air%20inside.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D9QOjoqsIOh4WOhHV7VcspkS14c4rG2ux-JNg5Ea4DQOKbKg1SuzQ5K3MlredLT3VeSm6sxy23qe5SYpEn61nU8B0aEdPXEkhoO_GqSduX-8JYTz_pkKFVaf2LfIWtOuKMZ3fD9RQJa4lj-vh1-7IFBsRCfPwVIkTSic6OO2Ey3emmCMtSg_MUqb7Q/w400-h300/akasa%20air%20inside.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p><b>Ticket booking experience:</b></p><p>My original preference was to book directly on Akasa Air website, but they were charging 350 INR extra as convenience fee, so I had to eventually book on Easemytrip to save some 700 INR round trip.</p><p>While I got BLR-Lucknow for 3500, return from <a href="https://www.airlineblog.in/2023/09/varanasi-city-to-airport-cheapest.html" target="_blank">Varanasi to BLR</a> cost me 6500. Other option was to travel back to Lucknow and take cheaper flight but that would cost time and money to reach Lucknow, so decided to spend.</p><p>After booking Akasa Air kept spamming me regularly, advertising their 10% discount in base fare, convenience fee less booking on app and other things. I summarily ignored them and blocked them on WhatsApp for irritating me.</p><p><b>Web Check-in</b></p><p>Can be done 48 hours before. Akasa air gives an option to auto assign seat or pay for seat selection. I opted for auto assign seat- this experience was better than Indigo. I got email and SMS that my web check in is done, seat allocation will be done 6 hours prior. I got prompt SMS and email with my boarding pass.</p><p>This web check in experience was much better compared to Indigo- Indigo doesn't send any acknowledgement if you don't pay for seats and seat allocation will be done just 3 hours prior. We will have no proof that we've done web check in. When I tweeted this Indigo social media support called and acknowledged the same.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7Kb1RLnDQffMGQK0SqaNBgWle_5qqN9__U-G0Uwn66-l77q7wLObpHXwspUHeHGbsjPzWRzQ5ATcSQqLEauN9LaKhdn-bSHRQUUDH1Vw6dyg_wwf0WN610xmsfPgUOj2A2MVgH1OrKhlpkIERBKwVioReA8rIWJvPk4FWQPF8SKeYtQ4saV23vStxQ/s800/akasa%20air.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7Kb1RLnDQffMGQK0SqaNBgWle_5qqN9__U-G0Uwn66-l77q7wLObpHXwspUHeHGbsjPzWRzQ5ATcSQqLEauN9LaKhdn-bSHRQUUDH1Vw6dyg_wwf0WN610xmsfPgUOj2A2MVgH1OrKhlpkIERBKwVioReA8rIWJvPk4FWQPF8SKeYtQ4saV23vStxQ/w400-h300/akasa%20air.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>I was auto assigned middle seat on both occasions, but at airport check in counter I could request for a seat change without paying extra. Got exit row seats both time. Row 16 had reclining seats but row 15 don't have reclining seats. Indigo wouldn't give exit row seat to anyone unless they pay. Also their flights are almost always full, so chance of changing a seat- particularly window or aisle last minute-is very low.</p><p><b>Flight Experience:</b></p><p>Akasa air gate opening time is full 1 hour prior to departure time- I don't know why they open the gate so soon. I can understand for first flight of the day, but for other flights opening gate even before inbound flight lands makes no sense.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaPapPDfseg05GMQgKx3XQ4J7NcdCe5PhT_p-HXvladkmYkjhkUBAUXIRYuO0-PZfpZOgC-SjKzMibV3BMsuV8mriO4BPiGb8_ZVblcgBjzoE9bd94ObgwGQDuD4JVh8Cha9YqZEPmXuJyIhmqQzEbtIRmpfSzb5LRfr8cEoOOP6ofVR3-2tqlNA5RQ/s800/boarding%201%20hour%20prior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaPapPDfseg05GMQgKx3XQ4J7NcdCe5PhT_p-HXvladkmYkjhkUBAUXIRYuO0-PZfpZOgC-SjKzMibV3BMsuV8mriO4BPiGb8_ZVblcgBjzoE9bd94ObgwGQDuD4JVh8Cha9YqZEPmXuJyIhmqQzEbtIRmpfSzb5LRfr8cEoOOP6ofVR3-2tqlNA5RQ/s320/boarding%201%20hour%20prior.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>BLR Lucknow was first flight of the day and operated 10-15 mins earlier than scheduled. Service was good. This aircraft didn't have any USB charging ports but the return flight had one. Most of Akasa Air's planes are new, compared to rivals who have 10-15 year older aircrafts-Akasa seat back had a placeholder for mobile phones- easy to keep your phone there and watch video while USB port ensures you won't run out of charge.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6CrF5YkU8LNUrnuZi4hDAzycn9kfAqGDaobqeiaIYq10cpmuDwnGZhfLvet4RHN4O4OIi5aebpUuNBGhV0_7UzcUWc0pPXBXCeaxEMOCSu4bpKLjZ4vBz3g4dVsi4TfwUYj7iNs8bDybXOcDoNyu5cLbyzFQV10aK8e_F_4aE1tUOF0dkY8w90c_7w/s800/seat%20back%20is%20nice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB6CrF5YkU8LNUrnuZi4hDAzycn9kfAqGDaobqeiaIYq10cpmuDwnGZhfLvet4RHN4O4OIi5aebpUuNBGhV0_7UzcUWc0pPXBXCeaxEMOCSu4bpKLjZ4vBz3g4dVsi4TfwUYj7iNs8bDybXOcDoNyu5cLbyzFQV10aK8e_F_4aE1tUOF0dkY8w90c_7w/s320/seat%20back%20is%20nice.jpg" width="320" /></a></p><p>Varanasi-BLR flight was an evening one, had about 20-30 minutes delay. Both the flights were fairly loaded.</p><p>Due to sudden resignation of 43+ pilots, Akasa had to cancel over 700 flights in September. I felt lucky both my flights operated without issues.</p><p><b>Onboard purchases</b></p><p>I ordered Upma for my return journey- costs 250 INR (includes a drink). The taste was fine but quantity is just one third of the box. Got one Kombucha as well. (if purchased individually onboard Upma costs 200 INR and Kombucha 150)</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9bjNjbHP0wEc5yNoDvLt4_RbiHJEVpq8ablCPXdCqwjiez6TzWSnHk7aAwdA9DDKrMkmpkBNgL6GMmSnt6Sw6m-X-pd3ZzBjc3Wo4Bf-bRMNKUoukjJlrYAfwdwXo3wDEE3dGvUYFLglBIBIrzxX2X0vfE5gdUdxYJs0vUbiPzzAh4iKo-_PvGU2qA/s800/upma%20quantity.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9bjNjbHP0wEc5yNoDvLt4_RbiHJEVpq8ablCPXdCqwjiez6TzWSnHk7aAwdA9DDKrMkmpkBNgL6GMmSnt6Sw6m-X-pd3ZzBjc3Wo4Bf-bRMNKUoukjJlrYAfwdwXo3wDEE3dGvUYFLglBIBIrzxX2X0vfE5gdUdxYJs0vUbiPzzAh4iKo-_PvGU2qA/w400-h300/upma%20quantity.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><p>Kombucha is Akasa signature mango drink- I thought it is pure mango juice, but it is not. It has some gas in it and didn't have essence of Mango. Felt like Mango flavored sprite. Won't buy again.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMKKcP5f-IKHMZodloeem_fX1BpYTnusoUN8PXmLJBBvu8OlWYALp5li4mueNxSlXjt4hqaf9ghXjbz5vlYp_ShkpgLsNqLgLWrBlqIQVvXxzdBGumPyeZeZa4jdjY2bKy9x-k0q8wYdLj8QRjHF-sVRxwfoB2KHXmuk_nZ-jw3DJZ8cIG8buyWQ6Mw/s800/kombucha.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZMKKcP5f-IKHMZodloeem_fX1BpYTnusoUN8PXmLJBBvu8OlWYALp5li4mueNxSlXjt4hqaf9ghXjbz5vlYp_ShkpgLsNqLgLWrBlqIQVvXxzdBGumPyeZeZa4jdjY2bKy9x-k0q8wYdLj8QRjHF-sVRxwfoB2KHXmuk_nZ-jw3DJZ8cIG8buyWQ6Mw/s320/kombucha.jpg" width="240" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERNXGE0b0rBRwBxelHIPSDr7-geOWlsrItDqZRZC_9-SYHavjmqq9J8yyCWOfeP96Ozrb8vADzNuaQicMlBXqvFZGZAitphpMjUWXOYezkEmbhpVnSWUt-YSnRIvP9o2Kxm9fLBM--M_g6uZoDP8uWvddJ-1eeeFxaG4m5lyfFvUYC8OqcCv3xDcffA/s800/menu%20charges.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERNXGE0b0rBRwBxelHIPSDr7-geOWlsrItDqZRZC_9-SYHavjmqq9J8yyCWOfeP96Ozrb8vADzNuaQicMlBXqvFZGZAitphpMjUWXOYezkEmbhpVnSWUt-YSnRIvP9o2Kxm9fLBM--M_g6uZoDP8uWvddJ-1eeeFxaG4m5lyfFvUYC8OqcCv3xDcffA/s320/menu%20charges.jpg" width="240" /></a><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAEl8IjahdxNxhNS9UvwNmTU1yEHIwpHxJ4u0PVk6pWCcbpqZsouXmzuLv7hV2Mp9PKdQliGleLhAiuamUEorFrqlOtCl0tygJKa6byAFKLi8K31iymGjiuOrh7T-wAPwCkpmMTt1-gjHL6tBrNtgXCiF3bCu8O-chyPSAEpjxX_vlIKWdc1Ags40qAw/s800/exit%20row%20space.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAEl8IjahdxNxhNS9UvwNmTU1yEHIwpHxJ4u0PVk6pWCcbpqZsouXmzuLv7hV2Mp9PKdQliGleLhAiuamUEorFrqlOtCl0tygJKa6byAFKLi8K31iymGjiuOrh7T-wAPwCkpmMTt1-gjHL6tBrNtgXCiF3bCu8O-chyPSAEpjxX_vlIKWdc1Ags40qAw/s320/exit%20row%20space.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimbVFGmOPgP8VjbmSSiAz6XKraPfbeZuncZKpk5RKgJEfoZGf0CFvsP9QuT1q02SMB8wUCLZ3nzuPxJyXb-8OSQ-Muf0VDXH49hjtPoZZT-wG0II_ftegvHCFW4MimfZx_DbI73rBpbIojmV7ZPGJwP0nuKdBQQBTPFq2AakgIkGSFhOgh47fzdwDZnw/s800/menu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimbVFGmOPgP8VjbmSSiAz6XKraPfbeZuncZKpk5RKgJEfoZGf0CFvsP9QuT1q02SMB8wUCLZ3nzuPxJyXb-8OSQ-Muf0VDXH49hjtPoZZT-wG0II_ftegvHCFW4MimfZx_DbI73rBpbIojmV7ZPGJwP0nuKdBQQBTPFq2AakgIkGSFhOgh47fzdwDZnw/s320/menu.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Akasa Air Summary<div><b>Good things</b></div><div>- Newer planes with USB charging</div><div>- Better web check-in process compared to Indigo</div><div>- Good inflight food menu for purchase</div><div>- Both my flights were fine with no issues</div><div>- International flights soon</div><div>- Very responsive social media team</div><div>- Free seat change at airport counter</div><div><br /></div><div><b>To be improved</b></div><div>- Boarding 1 hour in advance feels too much</div><div>- Airline needs to come out of pilot shortage issue</div><div>- Yet to reach many airports like Mangaluru</div><div><br /></div><div>Hope they resolve their pilot issue. With Go Air gone, Akasa will have to compete with two giants- Indigo that has huge market share and Tata Group looking to consolidate Air India, Vistara, Air Asia and Air India Express. The founder Rakesh Junjunwala is no more and former Jet Airways head Vinay Dube is leading Akasa. Will look forward to flying more with Akasa.<p></p></div>Shrinidhi Handehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00875443161762278339noreply@blogger.com0Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (LKO), Amausi, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226009, India26.7654605 80.885358599999989-1.5447733361788458 45.729108599999989 55.075694336178842 116.04160859999999