While going through pics taken this year, I came across an album containing snaps of my trip from TRV to SIN (and onwards to CGK) on MI. Didnt realize I had these and has not posted the TR yet  

So, before the year is past let me make amends!!

Introduction:

I had to travel to CGK on work and I was in the midst of my holidays at my home town TRV. So my friendly travel agent booked an itinerary on MI/SQ via SIN. This TR covers the leg between TRV and SIN and focuses on the new International Terminal that has opened up at TRV.

My father dropped me at the airport about two hours before departure time. Unlike other major international airports in India, TRV is not crowded before midnite.

Exterior View of the new terminal.


Garden in front of the terminal with the newly constructed bridge over


Entrance to the departure section


Not much crowded, although the scenario would be very different 2-3 hours from now.


The FIDS - As you can see the usual suspect of Middle East bound flights would start operating from 3AM onwards and the terminal would be a hive of activities.


MI and TR operate flights between TRV and SIN 3x p.w but strangely on the same 3 days of the week.

My itinerary and passport was checked by the security and I headed inside. Surprisingly the new terminal has not done away with check in baggage xray. Most new terminals in India now have inline baggage scanning that has gotten rid of the pre-check in baggage scan.

I headed to the MI counters (4 open) and had to wait for less than 10 mins before I was able to check in. I opted for an emergency exit row seat.

Given that only the parent SQ is part of *A, my TK *G status did not get me any benefit on this flight. However since I was connecting on an SQ flight from SIN to CGK I asked the agent for a priority tag on my baggage. She had to check with her manager, before she put in MI Priority tags on the baggage.

Check In Counters


Arrival Section on the other side


Book Store land side


Immigration and security are on the first floor. View of the terminal entry gates.


Another security check at the left and the baggage xray on the far right


The lady at immigration was a bit perplexed by the fact that I was travelling to Indonesia and the fact that I had no visa or approval letter. Probably at TRV she is not used to encountering Indians travelling like that   She had to confirm with an officer at the next booth to see if I was OK to travel   The whole conversation was in Malayalam (the native language of the South India state of Kerala, where TRV is located).

Security was a breeze and I was airside in no time.

Airside was a lot more spacious and bright than the old rat infested dump that was called as the International Terminal earlier


Limited Shopping Options


Pic taken from an overpriced Skyber-Cafe at one end


The Muthoot Plaza Lounge


Looking towards the cafe


Duty free and another lounge


More pics of the terminal


Vast seating area, more than required for TRV



Duty free ads targeted at pax headed to DXB.


Free courtesy phone facility


More views of the terminal


The inbound flight from SIN was on time. However it was difficult to take any decent pics at night.

9V-SLL operating SIN-TRV-SIN


FIDS Air Side


Gate 2 in use tonite for MI


Boarding was announced row wise.

Walking down the jet bridge


Empty gates next door - would soon be swarming with Mid East carriers


Was greeted at the door by cheerful female f/as.

MI Business Class


MI Economy Class


Seats on the newer MI birds with mastercard ads.


Ample Leg Space on the emergency exit row


Seatback


The flight itself was pretty eventful. My seatmate (the middle seat luckily was empty) turned out to be from the same company as me and was headed to MEL. Had a good time chatting with him. The load in Y was around 70%.

Dinner was served abt 30 mins into the flight - with 3 options - Indian Veg and Non-Veg, International Non-Veg


I chose the Indian Non-Veg which was excellent. The flight seemed to be catered from TRV.


Tea served after the trays were cleared


Lights being dimmed


The MI flight from TRV is one of the earliest to land in SIN and it is an odd sight to find the usually bustling SIN shopping arcade all shut down.



After a quick coffee and freshening up in the Golden Kris Lounge, I headed to my connection which was the first flight to CGK from SIN. The SQ flight from BLR does not give this connection and an early arrival into CGK means I can avoid the worst of Jakarta's early morning traffic.

SQ however misplaced my baggage and I received the bags only later in the day. Otherwise the trip was good, pretty uneventful flights.

The new TRV terminal is a huge improvement over the earlier cramped rat infested dump (which after some sprucing up is the current domestic terminal). It is spacious and should suffice for TRV traffic for the next few years.

MI service is satisfactory. Although not to the level of big brother SQ, they are perfectly acceptable for such long/medium haul routes. Too bad they are not part of the Star Alliance.