Comments on: Indira Gandhi Airport to Become India’s First Global Transit Hub, with more Flights from USA and Other Countries

By: indianeagle

indianeagle — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:20:36 +0000

In reply to Raj. Hi Raj! Your post-arrival and pre-departure experience is relatable. The concerned authorities should fix issues with immigration clearance and make the procedure efficient. FYI, thorough baggage transfer from the port of entry (to say New Delhi) to the final destination (to say Hyderabad) is over in India. The passengers of all international airlines, including the Middle East carriers, flying into India are required to claim their checked bags at the port of entry and recheck in the same for domestic flights.

By: indianeagle

indianeagle — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 15:56:46 +0000

In reply to Mahesh Desai.

Hi Mahesh! In order to ease immigration clearance for low-risk international travelers, the government of India is planning to launch a trusted traveler program like the Global Entry program in the US. You can read more https://www.indianeagle.com/travelbeats/trusted-traveller-program-indian-airports/

By: Mahesh Desai

Mahesh Desai — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 21:26:01 +0000

I flew air India from jfk to Ahmedabad this year it was disastrous,long connection 7 hours custom immigration and rechecking chaotic disorganized and returned flight immigration worst at Delhi airport why a person would fly if can get easy facility with direct flight from Middle East air line to Ahmedabad I prefer local carrier but unfortunately I may take a flight that take me direct to Ahmedabad very short sighted planning

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 19:58:37 +0000

Delhi airport as a transit point for going any where from us to south india and back is an absolute shit show. I recently(April 2023) travelled from Chicago to Hyderabad via IGI airport. At first I was happy that the only place i will be landing directly in India after taking off from Chicago, soon after landing in delhi my excitement turned into horror show. Once I landed in Delhi even though my final destination was Hyderabad, I had to go through Immigration terminal and get my passport stamped in delhi itself. After that I had to collect my check in baggage in delhi which took about 45mins of my time. Once after this i had to wait in Air India Check in counter again for another 1hour to check the bags for my Hyderabad flight, after almost 2 hours of unnecessary process I had to go through long domestic security check lines. On the whole by the time I reached my Hyderabad flight gate I had spent 2.5 hours simply collecting my baggage and checking it back in. I had travelled with air india in the same route prior to Covid and they had taken care of transferring the luggage by themselves and all i needed was to just go through an international secuirty check, this is something that is very common with every other international transit. But this method of rechecking luggage is absolute bull shit and some thing the indian authorities need to pay attention to if they are trying to make the journey for air travelers a smooth ride.

My return journey was even more tiring when I started from Hyderabad and landed in Delhi to catch my flight to chicago. I had about 4.5hrs of layover so I thought I could be relaxing during that time but because our indian immigration employees get paid even for not doing their job i had to wait in line for about 3.5 hours to get my immigration stamping done. There was literally one employee who was stamping every one for about 3 flights that landed around the same time. This is absolutely pathetic as it does put India in a very bad light since there were many frustrated passengers and other foreigners who were all just worried that they would miss their flights because how horribly managed the airport staff at IGI Airport delhi is.

Hopefully all employees will be held accountable and DGCI of India pays attention to plights of the air travelers and improves and applies simple and effective laws at airports. Until that happens I will never again chose a transit flight through delhi(mostly air india) and fly through middle east carriers where the transit is much more stream lined and really stress free.

By: Mahesh Desai MD

Mahesh Desai MD — Wed, 24 May 2023 15:53:07 +0000

I last travel in January this year to Ahmedabad from jfk I live close to ewr I am looking forward to direct flight to Ahmedabad or shirt waiting at New Delhi or Mumbai instead of over 6 hrs of Waite for connection,no wonder mid east airlines has advantages over air India they should look in to priority

By: indianeagle

indianeagle — Wed, 24 May 2023 13:51:45 +0000

In reply to Mohan Nair. Hi Mohan! San Francisco to Bengaluru is the only nonstop flight service between USA and South India. Reportedly, Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport has good chances of seeing direct connectivity from more US cities in the near future.

By: Mohan Nair

Mohan Nair — Wed, 24 May 2023 05:21:55 +0000

With no direct flights from the US to Southern India, many wouldn’t prefer to fly into Delhi and fly into Southern India. The hub and spoke concept will not work for such long haul travel.

I would rather fly one hop to Europe and fly into Bengaluru or Chennai