Trip Reports

Category Archives for Trip Reports.

Review: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Economy

by Ajay 3 Comments

Introduction Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2 Jet Airways Economy Class Mumbai to Brussels British Airways Galleries Club Lounge, Brussels National Airport American Airlines Business Class Brussels to New York JFK and Five-Star Arrival American Airlines Premium Check-in and Flagship Lounge, New York JFK American Airlines Economy Class JFK to London LHR American Airlines Arrivals Lounge, London LHR Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, London American Airlines Flagship Check-in and Flagship Lounge, London Heathrow American Airlines Economy Class London to Chicago American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Chicago ORD American Airlines First Class from Chicago ORD to Dallas Fort Worth Hyatt Regency Hotel, DFW Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bellevue Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Los Angeles American Airlines First…

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Review: Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2

by Ajay 36 Comments

Introduction Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2 Jet Airways Economy Class Mumbai to Brussels British Airways Galleries Club Lounge, Brussels National Airport American Airlines Business Class Brussels to New York JFK and Five-Star Arrival American Airlines Premium Check-in and Flagship Lounge, New York JFK American Airlines Economy Class JFK to London LHR American Airlines Arrivals Lounge, London LHR Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, London American Airlines Flagship Check-in and Flagship Lounge, London Heathrow American Airlines Economy Class London to Chicago American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Chicago ORD American Airlines First Class from Chicago ORD to Dallas Fort Worth Hyatt Regency Hotel, DFW Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bellevue Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Los Angeles American Airlines First…

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Trip Report: Halfway around the world for the OWMD

by Ajay 2 Comments

Introduction Clipper Lounge, Mumbai CSI Airport Terminal 2 Jet Airways Economy Class Mumbai to Brussels British Airways Galleries Club Lounge, Brussels National Airport American Airlines Business Class Brussels to New York JFK and Five-Star Arrival American Airlines Premium Check-in and Flagship Lounge, New York JFK American Airlines Economy Class JFK to London LHR American Airlines Arrivals Lounge, London LHR Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, London American Airlines Flagship Check-in and Flagship Lounge, London Heathrow American Airlines Economy Class London to Chicago American Airlines Flagship Lounge at Chicago ORD American Airlines First Class from Chicago ORD to Dallas Fort Worth Hyatt Regency Hotel, DFW Hyatt Regency Hotel, Bellevue Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Los Angeles American Airlines First…

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Spending time at the British Airways HQ in Waterside, LHR

by Ajay Leave A Comment

After a lovely welcome by American Airlines, a little party in the Flagship Lounge at JFK, a shower at the American Airlines Arrivals Lounge in LHR, we were all set to go over to British Airways. We received an interesting email a few days ago from BA, which had a boarding pass in a PDF file. I got seat 2A, I am sure they looked me up from my handle on MilePoint and Flyertalk which is A2A! Some of us wanted to check out if we could check in at Terminal 5, LHR. Here is what they got But we sure did manage to check-in on the staff bus of British Airways and find our way to the Waterside HQ…

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A day at the American Airlines Arrival Lounge at London Heathrow

by Ajay Leave A Comment

The American Airlines flight AA 104 was uneventful at the back of the plane, with a largely empty cabin which accommodated a lot many passengers from the MegaDo bunch onto their own fully flat seats by occupying a whole row to themselves. All the action was in the First Class where there was a special dinner on-board for a chosen few flying F, with the new president of AAdvantage, Suzanne Robin. We were lucky to have arrived in LHR an hour early, with the tailwinds in favour (the same Atlantic ones which came in my way to arrive at JFK from Brussels after a fuel-stop). Here is a little bunch of pictures from the back of the plane: Yeah, it…

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The send off at American’s Flagship Lounge in New York JFK

by Ajay Leave A Comment

As soon as the Finnair presentation got over, there was a light reception, this one, at ‘ The Bridge’, where JFK based crew of American Airlines were invited to participate along with the attendees of the MegaDo’s Transatlantic trip in London. There was food, music and a lot of good chat. But then you already know all of that from the last time you heard from me. The interesting party was taking shape in the Flagship Lounge of American Airlines at JFK: This is where we managed to sample the food and the drinks offered by American Airlines at the Flagship Lounges. As someone who has only started to fly to the America’s often now, I can tell you these…

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Sir, British Airways is not a part of oneworld but we do welcome oneworld members…

by Ajay 11 Comments

I was at Mumbai Airport (BOM) earlier today, to take the first leg of my flight to New York. Middle of the night flights are quite my forte, but it turned out that this time my usual flight to Brussels 9W228 was taking off at 03:00 AM. The schedule to bring it to BRU late is the first time I knew of it, because I usually travel on this flight 3-4 times a year at least, and it has always been at about 01:00 to 01:30 AM. The silver lining this time seemed to be the fact that I was booked on an American Airlines codeshare (AA7836) because I was further continuing on an AA flight to JFK. Now, in…

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How to make a rough day rougher? Easy, delay a ultra long haul flight by about 3 hours…to start with

by Ajay 6 Comments

While I was still recovering from the bout of slamming doors and interconnecting rooms and disturbed sleep on my last night in Chicago, there is much more that was going to go wrong it seems than right. I arrived in time for my ORD-DEL flight AA292 which was boarding from gate K12 at O’Hare. I saw the plane arrive at the gate about an hour and forty minutes prior to departure (at about 2 PM for the 3:40 PM departure). Now I don’t know if it was the same plane that they use every day or rotate planes on the route. I’d assume everything was alright and I sat easy at the Admirals Club doing my final rounds of email…

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The next 5,000 miles!

by Ajay Leave A Comment

While I am always ready to wheel-up on an international flight, the next few weeks are getting ready to get on a domestic flight, something I haven’t done in 3 months now. For the upcoming festive season, I am heading over to Delhi to be with my family. Right after is the inaugural F1 Grand Prix of India, which I am looking forward to. The last time I was at the first race in any country was 2008 in Singapore, and it is always quite an experience to be at one. Flying Indigo this time, and it is the first time after January 2011 that I get to fly one of their A320s. I head back to Delhi again on…

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Review: Chennai Airport (MAA) and Airborne to Colombo(CMB) on 9W254 in Economy

by Ajay Leave A Comment

Introduction & Trip Index Considering Jet Airways was out to prove a point, they had put out their Guest Relations manager at Chennai on the job to make sure my transit at Chennai was smooth. I arrived at the Domestic Terminal of the Chennai Airport, and I had a porter waiting for me right outside the plane waiting to bring our handbags to the International Terminal. He insisted to carry my bag but I had to really request him and plead with him that I was okay carrying my own bag! He brought us to the Arrival area of the Chennai Airport, where I was coming after quite a few years. There was construction going around all over, and I…

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