Vistara is still a relatively young airline has a fleet of 14 A320’s having received its first A320neo a couple of weeks ago. By the middle of 2018, they will be 20 A320’s (13 ceo and 7 neo) and they’re based out of DEL. I’d flown them a few times in the past - but all were in Economy other than a surprise upgrade to Premium Economy on a BBI-DEL flight but lost my chosen window and got a middle. Vistara has always tried to differentiate with its catering - in Economy passengers get a nicely done ‘Meal box’ - the main meal is similar on Premium Economy and Economy although sometimes PE has a ‘third’ choice - in India it is usually ‘Veg’ or ‘Non Veg’ (ie: Paneer or Chicken for the most part). Just that Premium Eco gets food on a tray.
I had just acquired a OnePlus 5 phone so used that for the pictures and videos that you can see. Excellent device 16/20MP dual cameras 8GB DDR RAM and 128GB storage all for Rs 35,000 ($525), half of a similarly specced iPhone 7 Plus in India.
Air India's is a large 787 operator as the bank of afternoon departures all over the world get ready
The view from the smoking room of the largely Jet side of things!
UK993
28.06.2017
DEL-BOM
Scheduled: 1250-1455
Actual: 1302 - 1445
Seat: 5A
VT-TTK
Checked-in using the Vistara App on my iPhone, had the ‘e-pass’ on Apple Wallet which got me into the terminal. While India has removed the required to get your hand luggage security stamped, you still need to get your BP stamped so I went to the kiosk, scanned my digital boarding card and picked up a thermal paper one. I had selected 5A because I had noticed the middle seat was empty, and I guessed it would not be allotted.
Security was relatively smooth at 1130 in the morning, I picked up a Cold Brew at Starbucks, had a smoke at the smoking area with a view, and proceeded to my gate which was 39A one of the widebody gates with dual-jetways that can service two narrowbody planes. I did a bunch of calls before boarding was called on-time and because PE has a dedicated queue, I was quickly inside and once boarding was completed the seat beside me remained empty. Score. Pre-boarding service was a cold towel (PE only), quite refreshing and appreciated in the hot and humid climate of Delhi in end-June. PE passengers also received a bookmark sized menu card. Also, Vistara uses a crew of four - one each in Business and Premium Economy and two for the rear cabin where the ‘meal box’ concept really does speed things up.
PE legroom
Seatback contents
Menu card
We pushed back on-time and made our way to the threshold of Runway 11 and after holding for a couple of Jet Airways arrivals were off the ground a third of the way down the very long 11-29. Departures on 11 usually take a sharp turn right immediately after takeoff and fly over the Delhi’s satellite city (but almost a metropolis in its own right) of Gurugram (Gurgaon). After a few bumps on the way to cruise, par for the course during the monsoons, we got to 36,000 feet. Soon after the bumps were over, service began with a round of fruit juices, but I’m avoiding juices so I passed on and I noticed many people did the same.
Take-Off from DEL runway 11 http://youtu.be/3C2WR_D2HEk
VT-AXX of Air India Express wearing a new tail design for AIX
But I was looking forward to the meal. Earlier this month on a late-evening departure from BLR to DEL right at dinner time, we were served a measly snack by Jet Airways and on the outbound breakfast flight on AI we were served shitty sandwiches. But Vistara were promoting their Mughlai Biryanis in their communications, so I hoped the meal would be better.
And the Chicken Biryani indeed was very good, while the rice was slightly on the dry side, both the salan and the chicken were excellent. The traditional ‘sewai’ (vermicelli) was however much too sweet for me, but since India has a long-history of having a bad obsession with sweets (and diabetes) most of my fellow travellers seemed to be relishing theirs. We were also served an aerated beverage - from large bottles, so no luck getting ‘the whole can’. After clearing up, Vistara offers the ‘India Estate Blend’ coffee made in a French Press, again only in Biz and PE.
Lunch, should we open it...
Yes, we should. And the mains were good!
A bit later though, I asked for another coffee - yes, I know I have a problem, this has been ‘substitution’ after I drastically reduced my smoking. Not an excuse, but anyway. Evidently Vistara has a coffee machine in the forward galley because the stewardess brought me an Americano. I whiled away time by watching downloaded Netflix shows on my phone as Vistara hasn’t wasted money on seat-back TV’s. I however would be good for seat manufacturers making an area for mobile phones on the seat-backs. Qantas has these cut-outs on their domestic A330’s for their iPad Mini’s they give out.
Moar Coffee!
Descent was bumpy again, as the full force of the monsoons was about to hit Mumbai that evening (and boy, did it RAIN) but again, par for the course in India. Bombay’s runway 27, the main runway has been properly grooved for drainage and braking after a couple of runway excursions and the famous flood of 2005. Vistara uses gates 87A/B at BOM, a long taxi to them, but you are literally spit out into the luggage reclaim area. I like BOM new T2 but I’ve suffered interminable bus rides and walks after arrival on AI and 9W ands always when I need to get out quickly. But today, a day I had time, I was out of the plane and in my pre-arranged taxi by my host in ten minutes.
landing on a rainy afternoon at BOM - http://youtu.be/voOg7ZrS_w8
Approaching BOM
The private jet ramp at BOM
UK902
29.06.2017
Scheduled: 1545-1805
Actual: 1631-1811
Seat: 6F
VT-TTM
I had to leave my lunch a bit early as I had requested that I be flown out by an earlier flight, instead of the 7PM flight. The only earlier flight was a 3.45PM departure, even though that meant I had to leave the Worli area around 1.45PM keeping at least an hour at hand for potential chaos on the Western ‘Express’ Highway. That said, I made it to T2 nice and easy by 1.20PM. Again the same routine, scanned my phone and got a thermal paper boarding card. I had chosen 6F this time - firstly because the middle seat 6E was empty on the seat map and secondly because I would face east and thus avoid the bright late afternoon summer sun.
Now, some of you love Mumbai’s T2. It is indeed a pretty airport. However, like any major airport, it is first a mall with overpriced food. But then there is the art. While it is pretty, I mean the blossoming flower light fixtures themselves are stunning, I would like to see the airport developers put through a proper audit of their finances given that this remains part-owned by the government. There are things that make Mumbai airport prettier than functional - the moving walkways for example - illogical.
That said, loads of free computer terminals, charging ports - not enough smoking rooms and fewer visible loos than Delhi. Delhi’s T3 is however designed for far heavier load, this terminal couldn’t handle such a load nor will it ever with Mumbai’s single-runway operations unlike Delhi’s three (not quite parallel) runways.
But most gates at this very tall terminal - as the developers lacked horizonal space, Mumbai’s T2 is among the taller terminals I’ve been to - like Munich it has different floors for international (non-Schengen at MUC) and Domestic (Schengen at MUC) operations. Other than a few international flights over the years where I’ve flown out of BOM (I once flew an SQ 744 to BOM on the discontinued SIN-BOM-MAN service with full fifth freedom rights) it is always DEL for me. And I’ve never flown international out of the new terminal at BOM but one day I will. But pretty airport nonetheless.
What is the point of this?
Some of the art on display during the walk down the Vistara 'wing' of the terminal
These lights are really cool but overkill IMO for an airport
Vistara uses Gate 87, which is a bit of a walk and I refrained from spending any money at the scale model shop I got to within minutes. The incoming flight - this is the return leg of flight 993 I took was late, indeed, the 2.30PM Vistara departure to DEL hadn’t pushed back when I arrived at the gate, which I didn’t know because I was surprised to see TTN at the gate instead of the scheduled TTM. Oh well.
The 1430 departure eventually pushed back at 1510 and while I waited for the incoming flight a whole bunch of 9W passengers to HYD descended on this gate as they had a gate change and delayed flight. There was just one Jet Airways gate agent and she was getting hell from the delayed passengers as the flight was delayed till 1815. The Vistara gate agents also kept on being questioned by the Jet passengers about their flight.
Eventually UK993 arrived at the gate from DEL at 1540, no hope of an on-time departure despite Vistara’s longish (50-60 minute) turnaround times. But boarding began after 20 minutes and like all delayed flights - even if it is just 30 minutes - everyone was impatient, although I found myself at the head of the queue. Vistara has separate queues for Biz, PE, forward Eco and Rear Eco and at BOM at least they were very strict about boarding protocol. Again, the middle seat was empty and we took off from a wet BOM not so much later.
VT-TTM pulls in as today's UK993
taking-off over the IndiGo/SpiceJet side of things
Crossing the coast, the tide is really high nowadays - coupled with the monsoons Mumbai always has the risk of flooding over these days
Menu Card for this flight
Take-Off from BOM runway 27, nice views of the northern suburbs http://youtu.be/GYLTKb4RV7c
I’ll skip flight details, but let’s get to the food. This was an early evening flight so there was no meal but a hot snack of chicken and kulcha (an Indian bead); and the portion was just right and the food was tasty again. The Strawberry mousse was a bit meh though. Since everyone demanded coffee and because I was in the last row of PE, I only got served coffee just before we started our descent - the poor stewardess had to brew coffee three times.
Nice snack, appropriate for the time of day
Great clouds during cruise at a lowish 33000 feet
Premium Economy on a two hour domestic flight seems like a bit much, but hey three-inches of extra legroom make up for it. A standard Economy return ticket for these days would have cost around Rs 15,000 ($225) but this cost Rs 18,000 ($280) - worth it I guess. You could buy the exit row seats with similar legroom for Rs 1,000 each way if you want the legroom without the service but no guarantee you’ll get them. The going flight had 18/24 load in PE and return was 22/24, so not too bad for Vistara here.
My last TR - the one with bad food (to BLR on a A320neo)
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