India Air Travel

Most international flights arrive in Delhi or Mumbai. There are also international airports in Chennai, Calcutta, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirappalli, and Goa. Some airlines allow travelers to fly into one airport and out from another.

Airfare to India
It is usually best to purchase your ticket through a travel agency, as the discounts will usually be greater than if you purchase a ticket directly from the airlines. Airlines may quote a price double the price offered by a travel agency. Sometimes, the least expensive tickets must be booked months in advance.

If you are taking a connecting flight, it is usually best to purchase the ticket for the connecting flight when purchasing the ticket to India. For example, if you are flying Houston-New York–India, the Houston–New York ticket should be purchased along with the New York–India ticket. Sometimes, such tickets are half price, or even free.

The airfare from New York to India costs between $950 and $1500, depending on the airline, the time of the year, and how long the ticket is valid. You can be quoted double these prices. The price of a flight to India has for the most part remained the same for the last ten years.
To find the least expensive airline ticket to India, pick up the travel section in the Sunday newspaper. They will usually have ads for cheap tickets to India. If your local newspaper does not have any prices advertised, get a paper from the nearest major city. In this way, you can get an idea of what you should be paying. If you have a friend from India, there is a good chance he or she will know a good Indian travel agency from whom you can purchase a ticket. Travel agencies run by Indians usually have the best prices for tickets to India. They are also the most likely to cheat.

A good place to buy a cheap ticket is from a “Bucket Shop” travel agency. These are special agents who are given cheap tickets by the airlines so they can fill their planes. You have to look in your local newspaper to find such agencies. The best way to find a good travel agency is to get a recommendation from someone who has been dealing with them.

You should be careful to buy your ticket from a reputable ticket seller. A group of friends of mine once purchased tickets from someone who had by far the best price. When it came time to board the plane, however, they were told that their seats were not reserved because the person who had sold them the tickets had never paid the airlines. For the same reason, be careful of ads that offer prices too good to be true. After you purchase a ticket, it is a good idea to call the airlines to see if you are actually confirmed on the flight. Do not pay for your ticket until you have it in your hand.
If you are flying into Delhi and plan to fly from Delhi to Calcutta and back, it is usually cheaper and easier to arrange these tickets when you purchase your international ticket. Inquire from your travel agent when you purchase your ticket.
Seasonal Prices

Depending on the time of the year, flight prices change. During the Christmas holidays and during the summer (June to August) airfares are usually more expensive as more people travel to India at these times. Often flying on a weekend can increase the price of a ticket by $100.

Airlines
British Airways, Air India, and Thai Air all have direct flights from London. Aeroflot or one of the other former Soviet state airlines, usually have the cheapest tickets. I did not have a good experience with Aeroflot, and I know other people who have also had problems with them. I would not recommend them, but if cost is your most important consideration, they are not unbearable. One of the reasons their prices are so cheap is that their service is not good.

A major problem with taking an inexpensive airline may come if you want to change the date of your return flight. It may be almost impossible to get a flight out of India. It may be difficult to arrange a return flight even two months before you wish to depart. Because of the low price, such airlines are usually heavily booked. Also these airlines usually have a long stopover, sometimes 12 hours or more, at the Moscow airport or some other enjoyable place. You can also expect service on their flights to be bad. They might not even have drinking water on the plane.

The Middle East airlines are a little more expensive than former Soviet Bloc airlines, but they tend to be better. I have personally flown Gulf Air and found them to be good. Gulf Air costs about $1050 for a four-month ticket and $1280 for a one-year ticket (from New York). The problem with Gulf Air, as well as most of the other Middle-Eastern airlines, is that you must change planes in London if you are coming from America. There is also a stopover in the Gulf area, for a couple of hours before the plane arrives in Delhi.

From my experience, Air India is a good airline with the added advantage of having flights out of several cities. You can fly into Delhi and fly out of Mumbai. From New York, the flight stops only a few hours in London before flying direct to Delhi. Because Air India flies between the major cities in India, you may be able to add discount flights between these cities. If you are taking internal flight in India, even though Air India is normally more expensive than other airlines, all your flights together may be cheaper than a more economical airline. A friend of mine got an Air India ticket for $1250 that went from New York to Delhi with two connecting flights between Delhi to Calcutta and Calcutta to Mumbai. He then flew back to New York from Mumbai. To fly a Middle-Eastern airline would have cost $1050 plus $300 for the internal flights. So the total cost would have been $1350.

Return Flights
Even if you are not sure when you will want to return to your home country, it is still a good idea to book a date, because sometimes it can be difficult to get a flight back to America or Europe. This is especially true on discount airlines, or if a good airlines has a special discount, as more people take the cheaper flights. I have been told that I would not be able to book a flight out of Indira for at least three months. I have also experienced that it is possible to sometimes clear this problem through a travel agent. This is not true of all airline tickets, however. Best to book a return flight out of India as early as you can. It is not something to be left to the last minute, even on the best of airlines.

NOTE You are supposed to check in two or three hours before the flight for international travel. If you want a window or an aisle seat you usually should check in at least two hours before the flight departs.

Flight Reconfirmation
You must reconfirm your return flight at least 72 hours before your departure date. This can be done earlier. I have stayed in India for three months and reconfirmed my ticket back to America the day I arrived in India. If you do not reconfirm your return flight, your booking will usually be canceled, but not always.

I know of someone who tried to confirm his flight two days (48 hours) before it departed, only to be told he had been bumped off the flight and that he could not get another flight for two months. A few days after being told this and after returning to the office another time and being told the same thing he met me and I gave him some advice. As he is around six feet four inches, I told him to go back to the office and when they told him again that he could not get a flight, that he should stand up and act extremely angry and frustrated (not hard considering he was) and that he should speak in a very loud but controlled voice like he was losing it

He told me when he went back to the office and the person working there told him firmly that he could not get a flight out. He then stood up and started talking very loudly. Immediately the manager came up to him and asked him what his problem was and he calmly explained it to him, but refused to sit down, even after being repeatedly asked to. Within five minutes he had his flight out. This technique does not always work, as I have personally experienced, but is worth a try.

Type of Ticket
Most tickets to India are valid for four months. This means you have to use the ticket within four months or it is useless. You can also purchase a ticket valid for one year. If a four-month ticket costs $1000, a one-year ticket on the same airline will usually cost at least $1200, sometimes more. Some airlines such as Aeroflot have tickets valid for one year at the same price as their four-month tickets.

With some tickets, there is a fee of $50 to $100 to change the return date, while with other tickets, return dates can be changed without a charge. On some airlines, if you do not wish to fly on your scheduled departure date, you can simply not show up for the flight and the flight will be automatically canceled. Other airlines, however, insist that you inform them if you do not plan to take your scheduled flight. If you fail to do so, you will be charged a penalty of about $100. On some airlines, tickets with changeable return dates cost more. Therefore, when you purchase your ticket, inquire from your travel agent as to the rules concerning the ticket. 

Warning! You must reconfirm a return flight within 72 hours of departure.

Flying from the USA and Canada
Ticket prices are the most competitive in New York City. You can purchase a ticket for about $1,000 on Aeroflot or other former Eastern Bloc countries’ airlines. Tickets are usually under $1100 on some of the Middle East airlines. For a ticket on a good airline that flies direct (with one stop in Europe), such as Air India or British Airways, the price will be about $1250 to $1400. One-way tickets from New York City begin at $650. To depart from Washington or Miami is slightly more expensive, and from the mid-west the price can be $200 more. The price for a flight departing from the West Coast will be slightly more than a flight from New York City. Flights over the Pacific Ocean takes about the same amount of flying time as flights over the Atlantic.

It is possible to buy a ticket to London and then get a cheap ticket to India from there. If you have a lot of luggage, however, this not a good idea, because for US to India flights you are allowed 60 kg of check-in baggage and London to India flights allow only 20 kg. Travelers flying the western route can take a flight to Bangkok for around $760 roundtrip or Singapore for $850 roundtrip and then get another flight to India.     
You can check the Sunday travel section of the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times for advertisements for inexpensive flights to India or other places in the world.

Flights from Canada cost about the same as flights from the US. The Toronto Globe and the Vancouver Sun have ads for cheap flights to India.
You can usually get a free stop in Europe or Southeast Asia on the way to India. The only extra fee is the airport tax for the city that you are stopping at, which is usually paid when you purchase the ticket.

Am-Jet (800 414-4147), New York, NY. Hariworld Travel has offices in New York (212 997-3300) and Atlanta (404 233-5005). NOW Voyager (212 431-1616; fax 212 334-5243; email info@nowvoyager travel.com) has cheap tickets and books courier flights. Radha Travel (212-719-3244), Suite 903, 110 West 40th Street, by Sixth Avenue, New York, is one of the biggest sellers of tickets to India, and they usually have good prices. Fly Time (212 760-3737) in New York does cheap tickets to Southeast Asia.
Air Brokers International (800 883-3273) in San Francisco, offers cheap flights to India from the West Coast, often with a free stopover in Southeast Asia. Travel Avenue (800 333-3335; 312 876-1254) in Chicago. Airfare Busters has offices in Washington DC (202 776-0478), Houston (800 232-8783) and Boca Raton, Fl (561 994-9590). Krishna Travel (310 836-6185, 310 836-6180), 9633 Venice Blvd, Culver City, CA, is a reliable discount travel agent that has been recommended to me by several people.

London, England and Ireland
A direct flight from London to Delhi takes about nine hours. If you take a flight on a Middle-Eastern airline from London, the flight will take at least eleven hours (usually longer), because the flight will stopover in the Middle East before continuing on to India.

London is known to be one of the best places to purchase discount tickets to India. It is by far the cheapest place in Europe from which to fly. There are many bucket shops in London that deal with cheap tickets.

You can find cheap tickets by looking at the ads in the City Limits, Time Out, the Times, or TNT. You can also look at the travel section of the Times and Business Traveler.

Fares range from £350 to £700. You should be able to get a roundtrip ticket on a discount airline for less than £400.

Trailfinders (0171 938-3366), 48 Earls Court Rd, London, is a complete travel service. They mainly deal only with major airlines, so they will not be the most economical, but they are reliable. They can also give good discounts on good hotels and help arrange vaccinations. They have offices in Birmingham (0121 236-1234), 22 Priory Queens Way; Manchester (0161 839-6969), 58 Deansgate; Bristol (01117 929-9000), 48 Corn St; and in Dublin (1 677-7888), Dawson St.

STA (0171 937-9962), 74 Brompton Rd, London, 117 Euston Rd, London NW1, or 75 Deansgate, Manchester (0161 834-0668) is a good travel agency. SD Enterprises (0181 903-3411; fax 903-0392) 103 Wembley Park Dr, Wembley, Middlesex, is a good travel agency. Campus Travel (0171 730-8111), 52 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1 has branches all over England. Globe Air, 93 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1, and Flightfile, 49 Tottenham Court Rd, London W1, offer cheap flights to India. Travel Bug has an office in London (0171 437-6272), 125 Gloucester Rd, and Manchester (0161 721-4000), 597 Cheetham Hill Rd.
The least expensive airlines are usually the Middle-Eastern airlines and the former Soviet airlines. I would not recommend the Soviet airlines, but they are cheap. I have had good experiences with Middle-Eastern airlines, such as Gulf Air and Kuwait. The Air India office (0171-493-4050) in London is located at 17/18 New Bond Street.

From London the cheapest roundtrip flight you can get on a discount airline is about £340. A direct flight on a better airline will cost about £440. Air India, British Airways, and Thai Air fly direct to Delhi. British Airways and Air India fly direct to Mumbai daily, and Singapore Airlines flies twice a week. British Airways flies direct to both Chennai and Calcutta. There are no direct flights to India from cities in Britain other than London. If you are leaving from a city other than London, you do not have to fly to London to get to India. You can route your flight through another country, often more economically. If you want to stop in India on the way to Australia, a ticket will cost around £500 to £600.

Many travel agencies in England are registered with the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA). If you purchase a ticket from an ABTA travel agency and they go out of business, ABTA will refund or replace your ticket.

Europe
Plane tickets from continental Europe are usually much more expensive than flights departing from London. There are direct flights to Delhi and Mumbai from Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome, Paris, Moscow, Bucharest, and Zurich.

Australia and New Zealand
The high-season is December and January when flights are around Aus$1500 to Aus$2000. During other times of the year prices can be as low as Aus$1200. Prices are usually cheaper from Perth. Tickets are usually valid for four months and to make the ticket valid for year usually costs Aus$100 or more extra.

Consolidated Travel (03 9251 5055), 209 Swanston St, Melbourne; World Aviation International (03 9679 6860), 310 King St, Melbourne, book Air Lanka flights to India and Nepal.
Peregrine Travels (07 3854 1022) 132 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley, Bribane, has flights to India and Nepal and arranges treks in Nepal. In Melbourne, 258 Lonsdale St (03 663 8611); and in Ackland, New Zealand, 407 Great South Rd, Penrose (09 525 3074).
Top Deck Travel (02 9251 5430), 8th floor, 350 Kent St, Sydney and (09 377 4586), 4 Durham St East, Auckland, arranges package tours and sell airlines tickets.
STA Travel (02 212-1255), 732 Harris St, Ultimo, Sydney and (03 347-4711), 256 Flinders ST, Melbourne.
For cheap flights to India from Australia you can try Flight Centre, which has many offices in Australia (131 600, 9953 8122). 
World Expeditions (02 9264 3366), 3rd fl, 441 Kent St, Sydney and (03 9670-8400), 1st fl, 293 Little Bourke ST, Melbourne. 

Southeast Asia
You can get a cheap ticket between Singapore and Chennai for around $450 roundtrip.
From Bangkok there are cheap tickets to Calcutta and Kathmandu. From Bangkok you can fly to Kathmandu and then from there to Delhi. A flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu costs $250 one way; roundtrip is $450, stopping at Myanmar on the way. A ticket from Bangkok to Calcutta is $270 one way, and you can stop at Myanmar en route.

A flight to Yangon in Myanmar (Burma) from Calcutta costs $175.

There are flights between Kuala Lumpur or Penang in Malaysia to and from Chennai.
A ticket from Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) to Malé costs $75.

There are flights from Colombo in Sri Lanka to Chennai, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum, $75), and Tiruchirappalli. From Chennai to Colombo costs $100.

Nepal
Indian Airlines and Royal Nepal Airlines (RNAC) both fly between Nepal and India. Both airlines give a 25% discount to persons under 30. The Delhi to Kathmandu flight costs $150. There are flights to Kathmandu from Calcutta ($100), Varanasi ($75), and Mumbai ($300). To get a mountain view, sit on the left side while flying from Delhi or Varanasi to Kathmandu. Flights to and from Mumbai on Royal Nepal Airlines are US$220. 

Budget and Student Travel Agencies
Often youth fares are offered to people under 26. Also there are often student discounts. Some travels agencies that deal with youth and student fares are listed. Often their services can be used by anyone, especially in reference to getting a discounted flight.

Council Travel (800-2-COUNCIL (2226-8624); e-mail cts@ciee.org; http://www.ciee.org/travel/index.htm) offers low prices for students and youths, discounts on low-end accommodations, hostel cards, international student cards (ISIC), international teachers cards (ITIC), and budget tours. They have offices all over the US including New York (212 822-2700), Los Angeles (310 208-3551), Boston (617 266- 1926) and Chicago (312 951-0585). Their office in London (0171 287-3337), 28A Poland St (Oxford Circus). To find out other European cities while calling in Europe call (0171) 287-3337 or (0171) 437-7766 (from outside Europe).

Let’s Go Travel (800 553-8746; fax 617 496-7956; e-mail travel@hsa.net; http://hsa.net/travel), 17 Holyoke St, Cambridge, MA 02138. Does cheap airline tickets, ISIC, ITIC, hostel cards, tour books, travel gear, and rail passes. You can do everything by mail and can write for a catalogue.

Travel CUTS (416 979-2406; fax 979-8167; e-mail: mail@travelcuts), is the Canadian national student travel service. They offer discount airline flights, ISIC, ITIC, hostel cards, rail passes and have a free student travel magazine. They have over 30 offices all over Canada.
Unitravel (800 325-2222; fax 314 569-2503), 117 North Warson Rd, St Louis, MO, offers discount airline tickets.

Round the World Tickets
You can stop in India while making a round the world trip or as a stopover while going from Australia to the UK. Thai (flies to Delhi) and Singapore (flies to Mumbai) are good airlines for round the world tickets because they both fly to several cities in Southeast Asia.

Special Needs
If you want a vegetarian or other special meal on the plane, you should ask your travel agent to request this when you purchase your ticket. Since travel agents often forget to do this, it is a good idea to call the airlines yourself to confirm that they have reserved the special meal for you. At check-in, you should again remind them that you want a vegetarian meal. On some airlines you can request a fruit plate. If you have a specific request, such as no eggs included in your vegetarian plate, make this clear.

When you reconfirm your flight, you should always remind the airline of your special needs.

Children and Flying
Children between two and 12 travel for half to two-thirds full fare and also receive a baggage allowance. Children under two travel for 10% of full fare, or free on some airlines, as long as they do not occupy a seat. They are not given a baggage allowance. You can get a little bed for them, if you request one in advance. Strollers can usually be taken onto the plane as hand baggage.
Important TIP!  Before you travel, it is a good idea to photocopy your passport and ticket. Also, write down your ticket number, flight number, and other information and store it separately from your ticket and passport. If you lose either your ticket or passport, it will be much easier to obtain a replacement.

Departure Tax
When you leave India, you will be required to pay a Rs 500 departure tax just before you check in for your departing flight. The departure tax is Rs 250 if you are going to a neighboring SAARC country. This amount must be paid in rupees. If you purchase a ticket in India it is included in the ticket price.

Buying International Tickets in India
You can usually get the cheapest ticket to the US and Europe flying out of Delhi. There are several cheap travel agencies in Connaught Place and Paharganj. A one-way ticket to London from Delhi is £200 and a little bit more from Mumbai on Aeroflot. A ticket on a Middle-Eastern airline costs about $£30 more. A one-way flight to New York City costs about $600.

Many flights to Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia depart from Mumbai.

If you are flying to Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), or Bangladesh, it is usually much cheaper to fly from Calcutta.

Package Tours
There are many different package tour options. The typical tour goes to Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, a few cities in Rajasthan, Varanasi, often Khajuraho, and then goes to Kathmandu. A South India tour will usually go to Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, and maybe Hyderabad or Kochi.

There are special interest tours specializing in trekking, safaris, wildlife parks, beaches, or the Palace on Wheels train tour. Usually these tours work out more expensive than if you arranged them yourself, but if time and comfort are important to you, a tour can be the best way to go. A package beach holiday to Goa or Kovalam can actually work out cheaper.

Many travel agencies who specialize in selling tickets to India and Southeast Asia have package tour options. If you are going on your first trip to India and money is not that important, a package tour is a good introduction. A two-week tour may cost around $2,000 for two weeks, not including the airline ticket. The Palace on Wheels costs $2100 for a seven-day tour.

The fact that you have a tour guide with you most of the time helps to protect you from being cheated and from other problems. On the other hand, tour guides are often working with merchants, receiving a percentage of any sale (often 25% or more). This is not only true of the Indian guides, but of the foreign tour guides as well. An Indian friend who was learning to be a government tour guide in Varanasi was shocked when the foreign tour guide with whom he was with went to receive his commission at a shop to which he had brought his group.

Air Travel within India 
Indian Airlines flies to many cities within India as well as to some neighboring countries.
There are several other domestic airlines, such as NEPC, Jet, and Sahara. Jet is a good airline. There are also smaller, regional airlines, such as Jagson, UP Air, and Archana Airways.

Indian Airlines is one of the most inefficient airlines in the world. They may tell you that you are booked on a flight, but when you arrive at the airport, you will discover that you have not been booked. If you book any flight with them outside of India, you should reconfirm your flights when you arrive in India. You usually have to go into their office, as doing it over the phone can often be difficult (it is becoming easier). I have heard of people who called twenty times before they gave up.

The Indian Airlines web site is http://indian-airlines.nic.in. It has flight information, schedules and special deals.

The most reliable travel agencies are those that display the IATA organization logo. This means that they have been approved by this international organization after undergoing a scrutiny of their competence and financial reliability. These agencies have given financial guarantees to the airlines against default. A travel agency cannot receive commissions directly from an international airline until they are approved by IATA.

Foreigners must usually purchase their tickets with foreign currency or a credit card, or with rupees accompanied by an encashment certificate.
For Indian Airlines flights, you should purchase your ticket as far in advance as possible, as most flights are fully booked and have a long waiting list. If a flight is totally booked, put your name on the waiting list, as there is a good chance you will get on the flight, even if the list is long. If you do not have a confirmed seat, arrive at the airport as early as possible.

If you lose your Indian Airlines ticket, it is considered just like cash and they do not have to issue you a replacement. But I have heard of cases where replacements were issued for lost tickets.

Indian Airlines does not allow batteries, sharp objects, scissors or nail files in carry-on baggage.
Excel, Perfect Media, and Divan are three publications which list all Indian Airlines domestic flights and their fares, and the flights of the other domestic airlines.

You can often get a cheaper fare if you purchase tickets for your internal flights along with your international ticket.

Besides their international routes, Air India flies between a few major cities in India, such as Mumbai-Delhi, Calcutta-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, and Delhi-Calcutta. You can often obtain good fares for internal flights in India if you fly Air India to India and have them add on the internal flights to your international ticket. You may be able to add a flight from Delhi-Calcutta onto a London-Delhi flight for considerably less than a separate Delhi-Calcutta flight would cost.

Discover India Ticket
On an Indian Airlines Discover India ticket, you can go anywhere in India for 15 days for $500 or 21 days for $700. If you are under 30, you get a 25% discount. The ticket must be purchased either with US dollars or British pounds. You cannot go to the same airport twice, unless you are catching a connecting flight. The problem with this ticket is that even if the place you have chosen to visit has an airport, there will often be no direct flight. To go from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi, you might have to fly from Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai, then wait two days in Chennai to fly to Kochi.

You cannot fly back and forth across the country. You cannot fly from Bhubaneswar to Mumbai, then to Chennai, then to Delhi. You are supposed to fly the shortest route possible. If you are doing even a fair amount of flying and you don’t mind the limitations, this ticket is a good deal.

India Wonderfares
India Wonderfares cost $300 for unlimited travel for one week within the north, south, east, or west regions. All your flights within one week have to be within the same area. You cannot go to the same city twice, except for transfers or connections.

Youth Fare and Discounts
Persons between the ages of 12 and 30 receive a 25% discount on all Indian Airlines flights—both domestic and to Nepal. This is for persons who are not Indian citizens and for Indians who reside permanently outside of India. Children two to 12 receive a 50% discount, and children under two pay 10% of the adult fare. Indian nationals over 65 receive a 50% discount.

Indian Airlines Cancellation Rules
To cancel a flight, the ticket has to be returned to the booking office. Persons residing other than where the flight departs from may cancel their booking by letter or telegram, but not by phone. There is no cancellation charge if the ticket was purchased with foreign currency. If you purchase your ticket outside India, the refund will not be given in India.

If you do not report at the check-in counter at least thirty minutes before the flight is scheduled to depart, that is considered a “No Show.”  

Cancellation charges are:
48 hours or more before flight departure—Rs 20
Less than 48 hours and more than 24 hours—10% of basic fare
Less than 24 hours—25% of basic fare
Less than one hour or “No Shows”—100% of basic fare

Check-in
You should check in an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes before the flight. Many times the check-in counter closes thirty minutes before the flight departs. One time I missed a flight because I arrived twenty-nine minutes before the flight took off.

For security reasons, you are supposed to identify your bags after checking them in, just before you board the plane. If you do not identify them, they will not be put on the plane.

In you have a flight on Air India, you are expected to check in two hours before the flight. You should not confuse Air India, which departs from the international terminal, with Indian Airlines.

Reconfirmation of Flights
When there is a break of more than 72 hours between flights, passengers should reconfirm their onward and return reservations. If you do not confirm your flight within 72 hours of departure, your reservation may be canceled. This is true for both internal and international flights. You do not have to reconfirm your flight personally. You can have a travel agent or friend do it for you.
It can be a good idea to later check that your flight was actually confirmed, as many times in India, your confirmation is never recorded. This happened to me on Malaysia Airlines.

Can’t Get a Flight Out of India
If it seems hopeless, go to a good travel agency. Money talks. Many times the travel agent knows someone in the airline office who can help out. This is not true of Aeroflot.

Indian Airlines Offices
Agra
Hotel Clarks Shiraz, 54 Taj Rd (0562-360-948)
Ahmedabad
Airlines House, Lal Darwaja (079 550-306)
Amritsar
48 The Mall (0183 213-392)
Aurangabad
Dr Rajendra Prasad Marg (0240-483-392)
Bangalore
Housing Board Bldg, Kempegowda Rd (080-221-1914, 141)
Bhubaneswar
Unit 1, Raj Path, Bapuji Nagar (0674-530-533)
Calcutta
Airlines House, 39 Chittaranjan Ave (033-248-6012)
Chennai
19 Marshalls Rd, Egmore (044 855-5200)
Delhi
Malhotra Bldg, Connaught Place (011-462-0566)
Barakhamba Rd (011-331-3732)
Goa
Dempo Building, D Bandodkar Marg, Panaji (0832 224-067)
Hyderabad
Secretariat Rd (0842-329-9333)
Jaipur
Nehru Pl, Tonk Rd (0141-512-500)
Jodhpur
Airport Rd (0291 636-757)
Kathmandu, Nepal
26 Durbar Marg (009221-414-596)
Khajuraho
Khajuraho Hotel (07686-44035)
Kochi (Cochin)
Durbar Hall Rd, Ernakulam (0484 353-826)
Leh
Ibex Guest House (01982 52076)
Lucknow
Clarks Avadh, 5 Mahatma Gandhi Marg (0522-220-927)
Madurai
Pandyan House, 7A West Veli St (0452-741-234)
Mangalore
Hathill Rd, Lalbagh (0824 455-300)  
Mumbai
Army & Navy Bldg, MG Rd (022 202-3131)
Mysore
Hotel Mayura Hoysala, 2 Jhansi Lakshmi Bai Rd (0821-516-943)
Patna
South Gandhi Maidan (0612 222-554)
Port Blair
Tagore Marg (03192 33108)
Pune
39 Dr Ambedkar Rd (0212 632-140)
Rajkot
Angel Chamber, Station Rd (0281 234-122)
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)
Mascot Hill Bldg, Museum Rd (0471 438-837)
Tiruchirappalli
Railway Co-op Credit Society Bldg, Dindigul Rd (0431-462-233)
Tirupati
Hotel Vishnupriya, Ranigunta Rd (08574 25349)
Udaipur
LIC Bldg, outside Delhi Gate (0294 410-999)
Vadodara (Baroda)
University Rd, Fateh Ganj (0265 794-747)
Varanasi
Mint House Motel, Vadunath Marg, Cantonment (0542 343-746)
Visakhapatnam
Jeevan Prakash (0891 546-501)
Flight Information Numbers
Bangalore: 566-233, 564-433
Mumbai: 202-3262, 287-6363, 142,143
Calcutta: 263-390, 262-657
Delhi, Departures: 143, Arrivals: 142
Hyderabad: 844-422, 844-443
Chennai: 234-4433, 142
Thiruvananthapuram: 451-537

Flight Problems
If you experience ear pain while ascending or descending, you can relieve it by sucking a hard candy. Yawning, moving your chin from side to side, swallowing, and pinching your nose combined with gentle blowing can help. If you have a cold or hay-fever, the pain can be worst.
It is a good idea to bring warm clothes onto the plane as long flights can become quite cold.

Two Bags on Plane
I usually carry two bags onto the plane and have never had a problem. On flights to and from Europe, you are given only a 20-kg check-in baggage allowance. On flights from America, you can take two 32-kg (70 lb) bags. I have found that you can usually check in bags that are two or three kilos overweight for cheaper airlines and five or six kilos overweight on more expensive airlines without being questioned. This is not an absolute rule. Certain airlines will not allow you to be even a kilo overweight.

A solution to a potential overweight problem is to take your heavy items in one or two pieces of carry-on baggage. I have carried 30 kilos onto the plane in my carry-on baggage.

Excess Luggage
If you are flying to countries other than the USA, you are allowed only a 20-kg total weight for your check-in baggage. I know one person who was 30 kg overweight while flying from England to India, and the airlines wanted to charge him more for his extra baggage than he paid for his ticket.
If you are flying between India and the USA and you want to stop in Europe, you can often bring the US baggage allowance of 64 kg if your stopover is less than a week (sometimes longer). This is true if you fly the entire way with the same airlines and with many of the Middle-Eastern Airlines. You should arrange this in advance with the airlines. It is best to confirm baggage allowances before you purchase your ticket.

If your bags are overweight, many airlines allow you to send your luggage as excess baggage. This can be almost one-fifth the price of checking in the extra baggage when you are boarding the plane. On one airline the price was Rs 550 a kilo for checking in extra baggage and Rs 65 to send extra baggage by excess luggage. You must arrange this a few days before the flight. You are only supposed to send personal items as excess baggage, such as clothes and books. Your excess baggage may be thoroughly checked. The customs officials, both in India and abroad, are stricter about inspecting excess baggage than check-in bags.

Copyright ©2001 John Howley and Spiritual Guides