Uber has been going around India and I have been keenly looking forward for their launch in Mumbai, the city I call home now. The good news is, they just went into Secret Uber phase today, which means they have launched a few cabs in Mumbai already. While I write this post from my first Uber Mumbai ride, which is an uneventful Toyota Innova, the fares seem very competitive at least at this stage (they may go up later). The base fare to start the trip is INR 100, and you pay INR 17 per kilometre and INR 2 per minute of the ride. This is cheaper than Ola Luxury for sure, which I previewed recently. At this moment, they…
Mumbai
Tag Archives for Mumbai.
Mumbai Terminal 2 date (re)set to February 12, 2014
Last week, I wrote about Mumbai’s international operations being switched over to the newly developed Terminal 2 from January 15, 2014. This was based on public domain information available at that point of time. The new status is that the airport terminal was inaugurated on Friday last, and I was not there, because I was busy in meetings. Anyhow, that is not important, but it is important to know that the airport operator has now reset the date for transition of international operations to the new terminal building to February 12,2014. Hence, it is business as usual for this month, and you should be able to take your first flight from the new terminal as of mid-month February 2014. Make…
Mumbai’s new Terminal 2 to go live on January 15, 2014
Mumbai is the one of the busiest airports in Asia, and lived with a constraint all along for zero space availability around the airport to be able to expand it. However, come January 15, there will be a new terminal 2 up and running, which is going to expand the capacity of the airport, to about 40 million passengers per annum, from the existing 32 million passengers capacity. Air India’s Newark-Mumbai flight will be the first to arrive at the new terminal. The airport, which will initially serve international flights, will become an integrated terminal serving domestic flights as well by the end of this year. The new terminal will have 188 check-in counters and 60 immigration counters for departing…
Review: Hotel Intercontinental Marine Drive, Mumbai
Last weekend was an overwhelming one, mostly for reasons that a strenuous travel schedule for this year was coming to an end, and it was the birthday of my partner and I’d decided to surprise her. I was just off a 9-hour flight less than 12 hours ago, and while I don’t get jetlagged, I was running on 2 hours of sleep. So, I thought checking into a hotel was going to be a better bet than staying home or going out, also to give vent to some of my own intentions, that I never get to stay in a hotel in Mumbai! Coming to the hotel, I missed the mark with catching the 7-day out rate, and got inside…
Shangri La no more in Mumbai
I’d heard about this piece of news last month and then it even turned up in the press, but I am still surprised that Shangri La, who was operating a property on top of the luxurious Palladium mall in Mumbai, has moved out of the management contract only 9 months after getting the property up and running. The website of the Shangri La hotel had this notice a few days ago: As of September 2013, Shangri-La hotels and Resorts will no longer manage Shangri-La Hotel Mumbai And as of this morning, the hotel was gone from the Shangri-La website. And last night, while driving by, I did notice that the hotel had renamed itself to the Palladium hotel. The hotel…
A sneak peek into the Diners Club space at the Mumbai Carnations Lounge
This past weekend, I happened to hop on to a flight from the A-gates of the Mumbai airport after a couple of months. And I was in the Carnations Lounge, which I have access to thanks to my Jet Airways status, as well as with the Priority Pass. I’ve seen this lounge shrinking over a period of time, first to accommodate the American Express Lounge which opened up for American Express Platinum members. And now, the Diners Club lounge which is open. Unlike the Amex Lounge, the Diners Club lounge is an open area and not a glass enclosure. It seems the food and drinks are going to be the same as for the regular access available to the lounge…
Going RTW: Flight EY205 (BOM-AUH), Etihad, Pearl Business
Introduction & Trip Index <Celebrations Lounge, Mumbai T2 Etihad F Lounge, Abu Dhabi T3> Boarding was pretty disorganised, and I’d begin to think this was a Mumbai Airport feature but there are airlines such as Etihad, and back in the day, Kingfisher which would enforce boarding sequence pretty well. So, the incoming flight was delayed, however, instead of going back into the lounge, I just waited in the boarding area. This was my first time being at Gate 1B, so I wasn’t in the know of what I was getting into later. Boarding started about 20 minutes later, and business class was called first, being the highest cabin on this A320.…
Going RTW: Celebrations Lounge, Mumbai Terminal 2
Introduction & Trip Index < Introduction EY205, BOM-AUH, Etihad Business Class> The flight timings for Etihad to fly out of Mumbai are at a very odd hour at 4:50 AM in the morning. Odd for me I mean. I usually prefer day time flights, or even with a night flight, a departure closer to midnight so that I can get on the plane and go off to sleep at the earliest. Etihad offers a limousine pickup and drop service for customers flying with them in Business & First Class. Since I was flying Business Class between Mumbai to Abu Dhabi and First Class there on to…
Go Air moves to Terminal 1A in Mumbai
Terminal 1A at Mumbai has been the centre of questions ever since they had to throw out Kingfisher Airlines because of the non-payment of dues. When they eventually made the bold move, there was an abnormality, where Terminal 1B was handling 4 airlines (Indigo, Jet/JetKonnect, SpiceJet and GoAir), while Terminal 1A just had Air India. Here is how terminal 1A looked like: However, GoAir has moved its operations from Terminal 1B to Terminal 1A with effect from July 1, 2013. The airline currently operates 360 movements per week from the city. An aisle of check-in counters at Terminal 1A is now be available for GoAir passengers. The airline has also move its ticketing office to the new premise. It seems…
Review: Flight AI 657 (DEL-BOM), Air India, Business
Introduction Check-in: ICICI/American Express Altitude Lounge Mumbai Terminal 1A Airborne: Flight AI 660 (BOM-DEL), Air India, Economy Class Check-in: ICICI/American Express Altitude Lounge Delhi Terminal 3 Airborne: Flight AI 657 (DEL-BOM), Air India, Executive Class Since it was only me and the television in the Altitude Lounge at Delhi, I got bored pretty quick and decided to hang out at the gate after my breakfast in the lounge. It was going to be a full flight it seemed from the numbers that were lining up at the gate. While I’ve done tonnes of early morning flights and I’ve begun to not like them much, I like the fact that planes are back at their base and hence there is less…
Review: Flight AI 660 (BOM-DEL), Air India, Economy
Introduction Check-in: ICICI/American Express Altitude Lounge Mumbai Terminal 1A Airborne: Flight AI 660 (BOM-DEL), Air India, Economy Class Check-in: ICICI/American Express Altitude Lounge Delhi Terminal 3 Airborne: Flight AI 657 (DEL-BOM), Air India, Executive Class After an enjoyable experience in the Altitude Lounge at Mumbai, it was time to board my first Air India domestic flight in months. I’d picked to fly an Airbus 321, because these are the newer planes for Air India on the domestic segments, and I guess they use these on the regional segments as well. I’d pre-blocked my seats for months, as the Air India web-booking system allows you to do so. I suspect this would change after the unbundling guidelines coming into effect, and…
