Planning and Booking
With schedules changing so often and close-in, combined with numerous restrictions, I did not even consider booking tickets for my mid-December trip (returning mid-January) until about 6 weeks prior. When I eventually looked, the prices were obscene - $2500+ RT for a trip that usually costs me between $1000 and $1600 RT even in peak times. I decided to look for two one-ways instead of a single roundtrip - this brought down the fare by a couple hundred, but it was still too high for my liking.
Then, I used Google Flights' feature which accepts an origin and produces a map of the world with the prices for all destination airports overlaid on it. Right away, I noticed that AUS-DEL was several hundred dollars cheaper than AUS-MAA and jumped on it, knowing that the cost of DEL-MAA would be negligible. While the cheapest option was a 45-hr world tour, I went for the next best option, a 28-hr AUS-DEN-YVR-DEL ticket on United, Trans States and Air Canada for $875.
For the return, I found a freak $735 DEL-HND-DFW-AUS ticket on Japan Airlines and American. I say freak because the next cheapest option was nearly $1100. I jumped on this immediately.
Finally, I booked a DEL-MAA ticket on Vistara for $36 and MAA-DEL on IndiGo for $94, making sure to leave enough time for the self-connections at DEL. The grand total for my roundtrip was $1740, which I was very happy with, given the circumstances.
United Airlines 644
Austin [AUS/KAUS] - Denver [DEN/KDEN]
December 13th, 2021
STD: 4:45 PM (CST)
ATD: 6:07 PM (CST)
STA: 6:05 PM (MT)
ATA: 6:55 PM (MT)
Actual flight time: 1 hour 48 minutes
N415UA, Airbus A320
Seat 37F, Economy Class
I got on the bus at 2:30 and reached the airport by 3:25. Check-in took about 10 minutes as an agent had to physically verify all my documents to enter India ("Air Suvidha" Indian govt undertaking/self-declaration, negative RT-PCR test, Indian visa). For India-bound pax, online check-in isn't allowed for this reason which was annoying for me as I wasn't checking any bags, and Air Canada would check all of these documents at the boarding gate in YVR anyway.
Security was busy but moved, and I was at gate 31 by 4:00. this gate was at the western edge of the concourse, which meant 4 gates packed in with each other and far from enough seats for everyone. This is a common issue I've noticed, usually at US airports, where the gates wrap around the end of the piers. The busy terminal was a positive sign though.
Today's ride was N415UA, a 27 y/o veteran A320.
I had played musical chairs with my seat all week leading up to the trip, and had successfully ensured that the only empty seat on the plane was next to me. I usually struggle with legroom so an extra seat next to me under which I can place my backpack gives me a couple of extra inches of legroom, plus an overall less-cramped feel.
The seat was a bog-standard US Y seat with average legroom (I'm 6' 1" and my knees were about an inch from the seat in front); unfortunately no PTVs or power of any sort.
AUS traffic:
Captain Robin came on the intercom and said that the aircraft had come in from EWR with a #1 engine reverser issue, and maintenance was going to run some tests on it, and determine if they would fix it at AUS or write it up and leave it for DEN maintenance as it was perfectly safe to fly with an inactive reverser. He said it would be about 40 minutes of delay. I had no bags and a 77-minute sterile connection in DEN so wasn't worried at this point.
20 minutes later, the captain said it would be 30 more minutes, and that we could deboard if we wanted to. While I appreciated his regular updates, I was beginning to get worried about my connection.
At 5:30, the 45-minute mark, the captain said it was still going to be longer but apologized profusely. 10 minutes later, he said that the tests were done, the reverser was working fine, and it would be another 20 minutes max to sort out some paperwork. Meanwhile, the flight attendants had passed out cards to contact customer support for rebookings but I couldn't get through to an agent so just decided to deal with it in Denver.
At 6 PM, we finally pushed back, 1 hr 15 minutes late. We took off from Runway 18R shortly after and climbed to our cruising altitude of 35000 feet. The captain said our estimated arrival time was 7:03 local. My connection was at 7:17.
While it was overcast in AUS, there was a beautiful sunset above the clouds. My phone's camera just doesn't do it justice.
There was the usual drink service, but I slept through it.
We landed at 7:00 but had to wait on the taxiway as our gate B24 was occupied.
We finally docked at 7:19, 2 minutes past my scheduled departure time. I put my head down and ran from B24 to B49.
This was my first time in Denver, by the way, and the terminal is beautiful inside. As a point of contrast, the regional wing, seen a couple of images above, looks from outside like a bunch of shipping containers stuck together.
I reached B49 at 7:26, a cool 7 minutes later, panting. The flight was still there and the gate agent said "we were waiting for you". An early new years' miracle, I thought to myself, as I boarded the E175.
Later on, I found that UA had sent me this email:
Kudos, UA! I know of at least one US airline that would have shut the door at 7:17 on the dot to maintain their D0 goals.
United Airlines dba United Express 5671 (operated by SkyWest Airlines)
Denver [DEN/KDEN] - Vancouver [YVR/CYVR]
December 13th, 2021
STD: 7:17 PM (MT)
ATD: 7:51 PM (MT)
STA: 9:40 PM (PST)
ATA: 9:35 PM (PST)
Actual flight time: 2 hours 44 minutes
N150SY, Embraer 175LR
Seat 19D, Economy Class
When I booked this flight, it was scheduled to be operated by Trans States, but ended up being operated by SkyWest instead. Regardless, I've always found the E175 to be much more comfortable in coach than the B737 and A320 families. Once again, I had an empty seat next to me which meant I had free aisle access as well. Legroom felt much better than on the A320 and the seats felt a hair wider too. Still no power outlets or USB charging though, which should be a standard offering in this day and age IMO.
We pushed back at 7:39 after a couple more tight connections made it onboard. All but a couple of seats were taken.
Sorry about the image quality, this is about as good as my phone can do in low light.
Cruising altitude was 34000 feet. Right after takeoff, we had some amazing views of the Rockies.
If you squint really hard, you'll see some snow caps.
The FAs rolled the drink cart around. I asked for a hot chocolate but they didn't have any onboard, so I had a black coffee. It came with a Biscoff.
I thought the snowflake patterns made of planes and Coke bottles were really cool.
We landed at 9:35 local and taxied to gate E85. Views on approach to Vancouver were stellar but I didn't even bother attempting any photos.
Ours was what seemed to be the last arrival of the day, at least to the E gates. The rest of the concourse was a ghost town. I made my way towards international transfers along with half-a-dozen of my co-passengers.
There was a quick passport, visa and boarding pass check performed by a single staff member, who remarked that there were 4 other pax doing the entire AUS-DEN-YVR-DEL route with me. I guess we all found the same cheap fare.
I made it to the D concourse and gate D52 for my flight, where all connecting pax had to get all their documents verified (passport, visa, Covid test, Air Suvidha, boarding passes). Judging by the length of the queue, there were at least 75 pax connecting in YVR. One family was even self connecting in DEL to Dhaka.
Concourse D was beautifully appointed, with some cool sculptures in the gate area.
Boarding started about an hour late due to "late arrival of the inbound aircraft", which I put in quotes as the inbound was a whopping 16 minutes late. As is the case on most NorAm to India flights, some 50 pax lined up to preboard for some reason or the other. The flight was full, save for 9 Y and 3 J seats.
Air Canada 44
Vancouver [YVR/CYVR] - Delhi [DEL/VIDP]
December 13th, 2021
STD: 11:50 PM (PST)
ATD: 1:18 AM (PST)
STA: 3:45 AM +2 days (IST)
ATA: 3:54 AM +2 days (IST)
Actual flight time: 13 hours 6 minutes
C-FPQB, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Seat 41A, Economy Class
Miraculously, I got an empty seat beside me on this segment as well. This alone made the flight more bearable, as I had flown on AC's B788 in 2019 with the seat beside me taken, and it was pretty unpleasant.
The seat was a standard 2021 coach seat with a PTV, power, USB charging, and about an inch and a half of room between my knees and the seat in front. AC Y on the Dreamliners is unfortunately in a 3-3-3 configuration. The PTV seemed new and was quick and responsive. A pillow and blanket were provided but no additional amenity kit (not that I expected one). Earphones were distributed.
A solid 75 minutes later, we pushed back and headed over to the deicing pads. Some 20 minutes after that, we took off from Runway 26L and climbed to our initial cruising altitude of 32000 feet. Flying time was to be much shorter than usual due to favorable winds.
An hour in, and dinner was served. There was no choice (other than meal or no meal) as they had run out of the (Western) chicken, so I got the Indian vegetarian. The FA told me that the veg:non ratio used to be 60:40 but was recently changed to 80:20 to err on the side of caution. Of course, this meant that the last 10 rows of coach would most likely never see a non-vegetarian meal, but hey ho.
The taste was good for airline standards, but the portion size was terribly underwhelming. For reference, the main entree was only slightly larger than my phone. Or, just compare its size to the size of a cucumber slice on the left. Literally two handfuls of rice with a spoon of vegetable korma and a few potato cubes. Also, why not give out a single large bottle of water instead of these tiny 200 ml bottles with every meal?
I slept for about 5 hours. When I woke up, we were literally on top of the world.
The second hot meal, breakfast, was served close to the halfway point of the flight. This was interesting since it was breakfast time in Vancouver but dinner time in Delhi. This time, there was a choice available of eggs or pancakes, and I took the former. Same issues as the first meal - decent taste but poor quantity. Look at the orange slice on the left for a size reference.
I was wide awake at this point so decided to check out the IFE. There was a pretty decent selection of movies and I ended up watching a broad spectrum of titles including Good Will Hunting, Coming To America, Going In Style and Horrible Bosses.
As we passed over central Asia, the Himalayas came into view. I promise, that's them in the picture.
About 90 minutes before landing, a snack was offered. This time, everyone got a cold vegetable wrap and a Biscoff. The wrap was surprisingly filling and flavorful, dare I say more filling than the earlier meals.
At this time, we passed over the India-Pakistan border, which looked pretty cool all lit up. Here's a very poor image.
Landing cards were passed out and finally, we landed at DEL on Runway 28, a few minutes late, and taxied to T3.
I had heard horror strories about the lines for immigration and document checks, but it was my lucky day and the entire process was done in less than 30 minutes. However, an acquaintance who did fly in later that morning faced an enormous crowd and eventually missed his connection, so I guess I was just lucky. Also, the authorities pick 2% of pax from each flight for random on-arrival testing. Luckily, I was not chosen.
I made my way to the transit corridor; however, the door was locked so I had to exit the terminal and reenter for my domestic flight.
Vistara check-in was a hot mess - just 6-7 manned counters for hundreds of pax. I spent some 45 minutes in line. There were several people for whom the check-in window closed while they were in line so there was a lot of shouting at staff. Also, I did not appreciate how pax who showed up late were allowed to jump the queue - this became more and more frustrating as I approached the front of the line. Security was crowded as well but to its credit, moved relatively quickly. Social distancing went for a six - if you try to space out, a family with their kitchen sink moves into the gap. Also, the signage on the check-in counters was pretty bad - usually the airline name is displayed on the screens.
Boarding was on time at gate 48.
Vistara 833
Delhi [DEL/VIDP] - Chennai [MAA/VOMM]
December 15th, 2021
STD: 7:20 AM (IST)
ATD: 7:40 AM (IST)
STA: 10:05 AM (IST)
ATA: 10:08 AM (IST)
Actual flight time: 2 hours 28 minutes
VT-TVA, Airbus A321neo
Seat 31F, Economy Class
This flight was operated by one of Vistara's A321neo aircraft, which have been kitted out for longer and international routes. They feature PTVs, in-seat power, and lie-flat business class. While the legroom was a bit tight, I appreciated all the other seat features.
Every seat was taken this morning. We pushed off at 7:20 and taxied towards Runway 29 in pretty poor visibility.
DEL is constructing a new fourth runway which looks to be nearing completion.
Right after takeoff, breakfast was served. Same old story - decent taste, pathetic quantity. Use the butter sachet as a size reference.
I slept for most of the flight simply out of exhaustion, and soon enough we landed at Chennai on Runway 7.
MAA is going through a lot of infra improvements: new terminal, new taxiways, new aircraft stands, etc.
We parked at gate 1 at the domestic terminal. While a jetbridge was hooked up to the front door, pax towards the back were encouraged to disembark through stairs and take a bus for the ~20 metres to the terminal. I don't see why the US doesn't adopt this method - it improves turnaround time, and those with disabilities or simply an aversion to stairs can always use the jetbridge.
There was a quick temperature check as we exited the terminal. I booked an Uber to take me home.
This was my first time on Vistara and given the price, it was a phenomenal deal, at least by US standards - hot meal, PTV, power on a 2.5-hr domestic flight for just $36. Air Canada was fine, and United was great, particularly them enabling a 7-minute connection in Denver.
If you've followed along until here, thanks for reading, and have safe travels wherever you're going!
Previous trip reports:
USA-India Repatriation during Covid-19: AUS-IAH-IAD-DEL-MAA on UA/AI/6E, June 2020 [lots of pictures]
Lufthansa's newest US route: FRA-AUS in Y, August 2019 [lots of pics]
American Airlines shorthaul + British Airways transatlantic in Y, AUS-DFW-LHR, December 2018 [lots of pictures]
To Cleveland and back: ExpressJet dba United Express ERJ-145, BOS-CLE-BOS, September 2018 [lots of pictures]
JetBlue's refurbished A320, AUS-BOS, August 2018
American Airlines longhaul Y, LHR-DFW on the B77W, August 2018 [lots of pictures]
Spotting at SFO + Virgin America (not yet Alaska!) A320 SFO-AUS, April 2018
MAA-DEL-MAA on Air India A20N and IndiGo A320, March 2018
Spotting at BLR + Jet Airways BLR-MAA, October 2017
