Background:

My company wanted me to travel to London for a presentation at an extremely short notice (less than 48 hrs) and the first thing tht came to my mind was "Jet Airways 777-300ER"!!!   .. This would be my first time traveling on an 9W international sector (in fact the first time on an intnl sector of an Indian airline).

So immediately called up our trusted travel agent and asked him to book tickets on 9W, even though BA flies direct out of BLR. The onward journey was waitlisted, but my agent assured me tht it would get confirmed. The itinerary:

2 9W 448 U 13JUL 5 BLRBOM HL1 1805 1940 13JUL E 9W/LLSTD(waitlist
3 9W 120 U 15JUL 7 BOMLHR HL1 0125 0645 15JUL E 9W/LLSTD(waitlist
4 9W 119 H 22JUL 7 LHRBOM HK1 0930 2300 22JUL E 9W/LLSTDM
5 9W 411 U 23JUL 1 BOMBLR HK1 0640 0815 23JUL E 9W/LLSTDM

On the return leg, the 3 AM ATR flight of 9W from BOM to BLR was full, so I had to wait a further 3 hrs for the 0640 flight. Not a problem!!

I travelled to BOM a day in advance and caught up with some frens. Hence was not able to do a thru check in. If thru checked in, then 9W ground staff collect your bag at the domestic arrival section and they xfr it to the international terminal. You dont have to lug it around. The same is also offered for pax thru checked in on NW, KL, LX (and a few other) flights also. Neat stuff.

As for me, I took a rick from our guest house in Santa Cruz (W) and reached the International Terminal in abt 30 mins. I initially went to the left most entrance, whr the security told me tht the 9W entrance is the one in the middle (strange considering that the check in counter is closer to the left entrance!!)

BOM International Departure Terminal


Anyways got in through the middle entrance, had my baggage x-rayed and headed str8 for the check in. As I had reached the airport well in advance there was not much of a line there. Only the DL and NW check in counters were crowded.

During check in, I requested for a seat in the last row which I knew would be in the 2-3-2 config. The agent asked me if I had flown in this a/c b4 and became chatty. She informed me tht the a/c wud be VT-JEB (Another interesting incident - @ BLR , I had checked in thru SMS a new facility introduced by 9W and the check in agent asked me how it worked, coz a lot of people were enquiring abt it and she was not sure!!)

Managed to get 60C, aisle seat and proceeded for immigration.Looked out through the windows and noticed tht the 9W baby was not yet @ the gate. Headed str8 for the Oberoi lounge, which was choc-a-bloc with pax. Only BA had an exclusive section which was near empty. Managed to find a seat and spent sm time calling up frens and chatting up with my neighbour, who happened to be on the same flight. He was Welsh and told me tht, he preferred 9W to BA while travelling to India!!

Soon they announced boarding and we headed to the gate.

The Departure Board - Notice OS wrongly marked with EY logo


Queue at the security check at gate.


By the time I cleared security, most of the pax had boarded and the waiting lounge was empty. So headed str8 for a/c

15 JUL 07
Sector: BOM - LHR
Flight: 9W 120
A/C : B 777-300 ER
Reg: VT-JEB
Load : 95%
STD : 0125
ATD: 0150
STA : 0645
ATA :0650

At the gate was recieved by a beautiful smiling 9W F/A. The new uniforms actually look good. The yellow cape, is eye-catching. But during flight, the yellow cape is off and the F/As are in a black body hugging top n trousers. Functional yes, but its difficult to distinguish them from the crowd.

Video taken while boarding


One of the F/As at the end of the video, informed me that some people might object to the video being taken adn she herself did not wish to be filmed!! That was strange becoz every other F/A seemed fine with it!!

Headed for my seat in the last row and here it is - 60C


The row in front had 3 seats and tht gave me, two PTV screens and two sets of everything!!

Extra Seat pocket for me!!


The extra PTV for me


The rear galley


The PTV remote, which was hardly used as they had touch screen facility


The qwerty key pad


Awesome space to stretch you legs (More pics of leg space n cabin in my return journey, which was a day flight)


Cup holder


Tray Half folded


Full tray


In seat lighting, which was neat!!



A welcome drink and warm towel was handed to everyone which consisted of the standard 9W fresh lime. The safety demo was done manually and when i inquired with a F/A , she told me tht thy are yet to receive the new DVD for the 777.

The warm towel- smaller in size thn the domestic flights



The manual safety demo (and the F/A asking me to which off my mobile which was on flight mode neways!!). You can


As they say, old habit die hard!! During the safety demo, the F/A from all the years of flying domestic flights in India, started out with -"As per of GOI rules Consumption of Alcohol is not permit... beg your pardon!!!" That was hilarious!!

After we taxi-ed to the end of the runway, we had an extremely shaky take off roll, which kinda surprised me!! Is this normal for 777?

Soon we were at cruising on our way to LHR. Immediately after reaching cruising altitude, the crew distributed the menu cards and comfort packs.

The Menu in Economy Class


The Comfort Pack - Pair of socks, eye-shades, tooth brush n paste


The menu consisted of a snack in the nite and breakfast in the morning. Snacks consisted of chicken/veg rolls with dessert and drinks service. Not much, but at around 3 in the night was OK.

Snacks


The in flight IFE - Jet Screen is excellent, in some respects better than even SQ.

It has a selection of 30 Hollywood movies, more than 60 Bollywood movies, short features both Hindi and English, regional language fare in Punjabi, Gujarati n Tamil. A juke box section with an amazing colelction of Hindi, English, Punjabi, Gujju n Tamil songs . Games and a video tourist guide. Plus the usual flight map

The JetWings interntaional edition, JetScreen movie guide and the JetBoutique in flight shopping brochure


Did not watch much on the my onward flight as i needed sm sleep. Got up abt 1.5 hrs away from London, smwhr over Europe.

A small queue had formed near the rear lavs. Went to the loo and was surprised to find the amount of glass fittings. They have been placed well to give a sense of space. Pretty good.

Inside the rear lav


Moisturizer and Eau de Cologne in the loo, along with a can of air freshner


Breakfast was being served by the time I was back @ my seat..


Breakfast consisted of Fruits Plate, Fluffy Omlet, Chicken Sausage, Baked Potatoes, Strawberry flavoured yoghurt and Croissant along with a drinks service. The breakfast was excellent except for the croissant which turned out to be too brittle and cold!!

View from the window as we fly over UK


Soon we were all set for landing. The crew came over to ensure seat belts were on and seat back upright and the usual stuff. The landing in LHR was smooth. We taxi-ed a long way b4 we reached our gate in T3.

The overhead bins have a mirror in them which will let u know if smthing has been left behind..


Old vestiges of the erstwhile logo


Was chatting with a F/A who told me tht they would have a 24 hr layover in London after which they wud be flying back.
I kept pointing out to various details of the a/c and the 9W logo n uniforms n all,n she ended up asking me if I used to work for 9W!!  

Some cabin shots while deplaning

The rear economy class


Mid Section


Forward Economy Class


Club Premiere/ Business Class- the herringbone design


Club Premiere Seats


At this point the F/As up ahead offered to take my pics and even invited me to taste the First Class!!  

Me in the Premiere Seat


With the Club premiere in the background


In first class - Royal Style!!  


The first class is simply awesome... this is the true "Palace in the Sky"!!

The beautiful 9W F/As (faces blurred on request) - the lady on the left was on my flight from BOM to BLR too.


Thanked them for the photo opp and I was on my way to the immigration. Unfortunately due to the layout of the gate in LHR, I cud not get a clear pic of the a/c

What I cud manage




Overall the aircraft scores very high. Its spacious, unlike the 777 tht I have flown earlier in SQ and OS. The seats are very comfortable, the IFE world class and almost SQ-like service!! The food in this sector was not tht great, but the return trip, which was a day flight, more than made up for it!! Will post the LHR-BOM TR soon..

Hope you enjoy this one.