India - Temples, Thalis, and Tuk Tuks (Part 1)

TRIP REPORT

Flight Details:



American Airlines Flight 292
Departing: Chicago O'Hare International airport at 7:30 PM
Arriving: Delhi Indira Gandhi International airport at 8:30 PM
Business Class
Seats: 9H & 9J (moved to 9E & 9G prior to take off due to a broken seat)




Background:

India. It's a country that has held my travel fascination since I was a little boy, and despite my enormous desire and curiosity in regards to the world as a whole, it's essentially been my travel "holy grail". I remember telling my Dad once that someday I was going to go to the Taj Mahal. His response? "I dunno, its pretty crazy and dirty over there. You won't like it. Try somewhere else."

Regardless of the lackluster support, India never left my mind. Once my travel odyssey began in 2009, I knew it wouldn't be too long before I was on the subcontinent. Then this spring some motivation and conviction sprang in my head. I knew I just HAD to go to India this year. With a little airfare shopping and some solid persuasion on my part, in no less then 3 weeks I had a travel companion and airline tickets booked. September 3, 2010: my date with destiny.

Check In:

Despite being on the brink of excitement induced madness, I managed to work a full day at home before catching a cab to Chicago's O'Hare International airport. Being late Thursday afternoon, American Airline's Terminal 3 was pretty packed to the brim with business travelers and vacationers alike. While I typically just check in at a kiosk, the chaotic mess unfolding before us convinced me it might be an better idea to head down to the other end of the terminal and use the First Class/Business Class/Executive Platinum desk. Hauling our bags through the heaving sea of people, we arrived at the premium check in counter in about 5 minutes, slightly sweaty but intact.

Check in was neither friendly nor efficient, but the job got done. While walking into the line an American employee darted out of nowhere to immediately ask us if we were flying in a premium cabin with them today. I found this a little odd considering a few others had entered the line with no questioning. I guess two 20-something guys with hiking backpacks looked like they might be lost? The check in agent got us our tickets and handed back our passports in about 10 minutes, and we headed off to the security lines. For some reason the priority pass line was being directed to the new full body scanner. I'm mildly annoyed at this point because this set up seemed highly counter productive. You have a priority access line to facilitate a quick and smooth transition through airport security yet you force those high priority passengers to wait around for the slowest security check currently offered by the TSA? That's cute.

After 15 minutes I got slightly agitated and suggested we sneak over to the nearby metal detector line. We hopped over without incident and were through in 5 minutes. A quick glance up at the departures monitor informed us that we'd be leaving from the very distance L gates in Terminal 3, which was almost as far as one could get from American's Flagship Lounge. Oh well, can't win them all. With the busy Thursday night flights and the inane security circus, we only had an hour to burn at this point. We hauled it toward the lounge.

Lounge:

Despite being an Executive Platinum for almost a year and having a few international flights, this was the first time I was able to access and utilize my home airport's Flagship Lounge. Prior to this flight I'd only been able to used the one in New York's JFK a few times.

First impression? Tiny. Tiny, tiny, tiny as hell. How is this supposed to be a step up from the spacious confines of the Admirals Club? Yikes. First impressions often change though, and that was the case here. Despite being about the size of my apartment's balcony, it did have some nice touches. Unlike the Admirals Club, the food spread was pretty decent. While there wasn't fillets of steak stacked from floor to ceiling, the shrimp cocktail, chicken kebabs, Indian samosas and egg rolls were tasty. The mini bar, stocked with a wide variety of bottled waters, sodas, and beers left my thirst quenched. Sadly I'm a non-drinker, which mean the spread of liquor laid out in one corner did not appeal to me. My traveling companion did enjoy quite a few cranberry vodkas though.

All joking aside, I did enjoy Chicago's Flagship Lounge more then its Admirals Club. The only downside was that I felt very confined and crowded. Hot food and free cold drinks go a long way, but the appeal of these things loses a bit of luster when the Japanese business man sitting in your lap due to limited seating snags a bite of your mini pizza without asking. Maybe that's just me? In the future I'll still be there, angling for a place to sit and playing "Guess My Deodorant" with my other oneworld elites.

Flight:

Soon enough our time in the Flagship Lounge was over and we headed all the way out to American's boondocks. Gate L8, our departure lane for the trip of a lifetime. I was hoping the gate's labeling wasn't an omen regarding the status of our flight, and as it turned out things were looking pretty good. By the time we made it from the lounge to the gate they had already called boarding for first class, business class, and AA/oneworld elites. We hustled up to the gate agent, handed over our tickets, and happily headed down the jet bridge on our way to India.

Business class on American is always an enjoyable experience. I've read and heard a lot of people give some critical opinions on the hard and soft product, but at the end of the day for the average flyer, it ends up being pretty comfortable and nice.

Having never traveled in business class before (similar to my brother and sister in my last post about our trip to Japan in July), my traveling companion immediately set to work testing out his "fancy" digs. For the next few minutes, seat 9H was nothing but a whirl of motions, contracting and extending from an upright airline seat to an almost flat bed and everything in between. I smiled on the inside and enjoyed the pre-departure beverage being served: a choice of sparkling wine, water or orange juice. Again, being a non-drinker, the orange juice went down just fine. I suppose it was a stroke of good fortune when my friend inquired as to whether or not I was going to give my seat a bit of a test ride. More for his amusement then from any need of my own, I poked around with the seat controls.

Sadly, my seat was completely and totally broken. Each time I pressed a button, the seat groaned and moaned as if I were a contestant on the Biggest Loser. You could hear the gears sputtering and attempting to move with absolutely no success. We flagged down the flight attendant working our aisle and she apologized for the issue and called for a mechanic to help out. When he arrived we scooted out of the seats and let him test the controls out. It worked perfectly. How embarrassing. We both knew it hadn't been working just a few moments ago, but right before our eyes the seat was moving with the stealth of a Romanian gymnast. The mechanic grunted a bit and walked off. Taking a seat I tested out my newly working seat only to discover..... the same grunting and groaning.

I quickly put together that the problem seemed to only happen when someone was seated in the chair. The mechanic had tested the seat while standing. Again, we flagged down the flight attendant who called the mechanic back. This time we asked that he sit in the seat while trying to move the chair and this was enough to garner a grunt of disapproval. He tinkered around for a few minutes before throwing his hands in the air and declaring the problem too difficult to fix in the period of time he had. A little creative seat swapping resulted in the two of us moving to the middle section of business class sharing a row of three seats with a rather grumpy Indian business man who appeared rather displeased that the empty seat next to him was now occupied by my 6'2" friend.

Take off was smooth and timely, despite the minor hold up my seat created. Soon enough the flight attendants were heading down the aisle passing out Bose noise-canceling headsets, beverages of our choice, and the signature warmed nuts in little white ramekins. While this all happened, another flight attendant headed down the aisle asking us what we'd like to have for dinner. The menu for the flight was:

Dinner

To Start

Warm Mixed Nuts

Appetizer

Mint chutney shrimp with curried chickpeas and potato salad

Salad

Fresh seasonal greens and an assortment of fresh vegetables offered with classic Caesar dressing or Sapori d"Arte olive oil and vinegar.

Bread Basket

Assorted gourmet breads

Main Course

Mughali Jhinga

Shrimp marinated in a clove almond sauce served with green chutney rice and paneer makhanwala (cubes of Indian cottage cheese immersed in a rich fenugreek tomato sauce)

Paneer Makhanwala

Cubes of Indian cottage cheese immersed in a rich fenugreek tomato sauce paired with lemon rice and channa saag (garbanzo beans in a spinach and cinnamon sauce)

Lamb Medallions with Cardamom Sauce

Lamb medallions enhanced by a cardamom sauce offered with roasted butternut squash, haricots verts and mushroom risotto

Ginger Soy Salmon

Fillet of salmon with a ginger soy glaze offered with haricots verts, carrots and jasmine rice

Dessert

Ice Cream

Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch with cocoa dusted almonds from Ben & Jerry's

Fruit and Cheese

Ancho chile caciotta and Sage Derby cheese accompanied by fresh grapes

Snack Attack

Uno's Pizza

An individual deep-dish spinach and garlic pizza served with a green salad and peppercorn dressing

Chicken Tikka

Chicken tikka served with mango cucumber salad and a lemon relish

Dessert

Citrus carrot cake

Breakfast

To Start

Fresh seasonal fruit

Breads

A selection of breakfast breads

Main Course

Cream Cheese and Chive Omelette

Cream cheese and chive omelette served with blue crab sauce, a potato boat with spinach and tomatoes

Vegetable Cutlet with Paneer Tikka

Seasoned potato patty with vegetables and Indian cheese sauteed with spices

For my dinner I decided to go with the Mughali Jhinga. The flight attendant returned after about 15 minutes to provide me with a tray of starters:

The appetizer was tasty but had a little too much garnish. I'd have preferred more edible vegetables or a few extra shrimp, but beggars can't be choosers. The salad was good, the creamy wasabi dressing has a bit of kick to it, helping to clear out any lingering or developing congestion one might have carried onto the plane. One of the unique things about American's Delhi service is that the choice of bread for dinner included a warmed naan, which I haven't seen on any of my other flights.

Having eaten my way through those three plates, I was presented with my main course:

This was singlehandedly the best airline meal I've had to date. Admittedly, my flying career has been very short, but I can't remember actually savoring a dish while in the air before. The shrimp was full of flavor; not over cooked, and the sauce was metered out in just the right portions. There's nothing I dislike more then seafood that's tough and slathered in sauce to disguise the fact. The rice was also cooked well, without any hard clumps distracting me from my dining experience. The paneer side dish was an excellent addition to the meal, adding a spicy, creamy kick to the meaty bites of shrimp.

For dessert I opted for the ice cream, because honestly, is there any other choice? I asked for a nice cup of coffee to go along with the cold scoop of milky goodness, and I sat there for a few minutes content that all my hunger had been sated. This was the first time I can honestly say that I really enjoyed an airline meal. Good job on this flight American!

While I typically attempt to stay awake for the majority of my flights, after the big meal and the dimmed cabin lights, I found myself drifting off in the middle of an episode of 30 Rock. If I'm sleepy enough that the antics of Liz Lemon can't keep my attention, I know its about time I huddled down and counted some sheep. I switched off the TV show, lowered my seat into the bed setting, and threw on my complimentary eye shade. I was out in about 5 minutes.

Despite being the longest flight in American's schedule, I somehow managed to sleep until I woke up and saw this:

So much for enjoying my lengthy business class experience! I'd slept right through the small meal in the middle of the flight. Breakfast was about to make its way down the aisle so I jostled my traveling partner awake and raised my chair. I quickly glanced at the map on my screen and noted that I was about to have my breakfast while flying over Kabul, Afghanistan. I suppose it's not often in my life I'll get to do that. My breakfast choice was the Indian option. I figured I'd better start my transition to Indian food as soon as I could.

The meal was presented to me quickly and promptly:

What a difference this meal was from the one I had right before falling asleep. The paneer cubes were dry. Not dry in a "this is ethnic food you might not be familiar with, so just go with it..." kinda way. It was the kind of dry that suggested it had been cooked, heated, and baked to the point of loosing any hint of moisture. It literally tasted like cubed cardboard. The first bite immediately was chased by a gulp of water. The second cube the same. The third cube never made it near my mouth. The potato side was good enough to keep my stomach from growling, but even that paled in comparison to the amazing food just a few hours before. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Arrival:

Despite being sent around the airport twice because of air traffic issues in Delhi, we were soon on the ground and making our way through Indira Gandhi International airport's brand new Terminal 3 arrivals section. Newly constructed for the 2010 Commonwealth Games being hosted in Delhi, the new terminal had a few pluses and minuses that you notice right off the bat.

Minus: When we exited the airplane we became trapped for 5 minutes because none of the ground crew at the airport knew how to open the sliding glass door at the end of the jet bridge.

Plus: Bright and seemingly clean walls and carpeting.

Minus: The moving walkways to immigration and the transfers area were not functioning, making the trek from the plane to immigration over the carpet difficult and cumbersome.

Plus: The bathroom we stopped at just before immigration was clean and well stocked with toilet paper.

Minus: The airport employees acted as if they had never seen a tourist and stared quite a bit while one "takes care of nature's call".

Plus: The artwork in the terminal and in the immigration hall was very nice -

Immigration itself was interesting. As soon as we got off the escalator there were two immigration booths reserved for First and Business class passengers. We immediately cued up behind a few other passengers. Time ticked on as we realized perhaps this priority line wasn't exactly moving with the speed one would hope. A tip of the hat to the priority security line in Chicago, perhaps? We looked down the hallway a few feet and noticed there was no wait for the regular immigration queues. Time to hustle over to those lines.

I presented my passport to the immigration official with a friendly "Hello!" No response. He proceeded to open my passport, examine the picture, examine me, examine my picture, examine the visa, examine my picture, examine my visa, examine me, pause for a sip from him bottled water, converse in Hindi with the official in the next booth over for a minute, examine my visa, stamp my passport, hand it back and motion me forward without ONCE speaking a word to me. Talent and commitment, for sure. Refusing to speak to newly arrived visitors to your country is never NOT the best way to greet people.

We then proceeded to exchange our dollars for Indian rupees as the luggage carousel looked rather bleak and lonely without any luggage on it. Crowded with people eager to head out of the airport, getting our money exchanged seemed like a better option then joining the growing number of passengers impatiently stomping their feet waiting for any hint that baggage was on its way. The exchange was painless and efficient. During our trip we noted that we seemed to have gotten a fairly good rate, though it seems we might have gotten 1 extra rupee per dollar had we waited till we got into the city. Rupees in hand, the luggage carousel sprung to life and we soon had our bags. Even if it took 45 minutes for the bags to arrive, at least the priority tags on our luggage ensured they arrived at the very start of the distribution. It's the little things.

Overall:

This was one of my best flights to date with American. Mostly because I slept through the entire trip completely content with my meal. I have such a difficult time sleeping on airlines but for some reason I was quickly lulled to slumber. The seat made sleep at least tolerable, though I'd prefer to be completely horizontal. You're in a flying tube of aluminum though, so almost flat isn't half bad. At the end of this flight, I'm was a happy American Airlines elite and passanger.

As always...

Safe Travels,

Leo