{"id":35356,"date":"2025-04-29T11:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T16:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/?p=35356"},"modified":"2025-04-30T08:41:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T13:41:47","slug":"my-mothers-first-solo-flight-from-india-to-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/my-mothers-first-solo-flight-from-india-to-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"“This is How Maa Traveled Alone from India to USA First Time,” Shares a Green Card Holder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long-haul travel from India to USA, and that too with an international layover, is overwhelming for first-time travelers.<\/strong> The very thought of navigating big airports, sitting buckled up for hours, transit in a third country, stepping into a different time zone\u2026evokes fears and anxiety to the extent of pressing the panic button. On top of that, language barriers intensify the fear of flying alone, especially in non-English-speaking elderly travelers from India.<\/p>\n

The above sums up Ramana Jalluri’s Reddit post wherein he poured out his apprehensions about his sexagenarian mother\u2019s first international trip to the US<\/strong>: \u201cAmma in her 60s would be flying to USA via London all alone for the first time. She can\u2019t speak Hindi or English other than Telugu. How would she navigate the bustling terminal during her transit at London Heathrow? She may miss the connecting flight as she won\u2019t be able to understand the wayfinding signage or announcements in English. What if anything goes wrong\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"India<\/a><\/p>\n

His post resonated with many Indians in USA, among the Reddit users, who have had the same feeling about their elderly parents\u2019 first solo flight. Contrary to Ramana’s anxiety, his mother had a comfortable journey, a safe flight, a pleasant experience \u2013 she flew from Hyderabad to Dallas, Texas smoothly. Before booking her flight tickets to Dallas<\/a><\/span>, he tried to find a fellow traveler having the same itinerary as hers. He even reached out to online communities and groups, but his efforts bore no fruit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhile googling for special airport service for senior citizens, Ramana Jalluri came across Travel Beats<\/a><\/span>, Indian Eagle\u2019s in-house travel magazine for Indian Diaspora. Our article on British Airways\u2019 in-person airport assistance<\/a><\/span><\/strong> in Indian languages caught his notice. Available for free, the newly introduced service aims to help non-Hindi or non-English-speaking Indians with airport procedures from departure to boarding to transit. On knowing this, he heaved a sigh of relief, as it mitigated his worries to a great extent,\u201d said Sourav Agarwal, Senior Editor of Travel Beats.<\/p>\n

He went on to purchase British Airways flight tickets<\/a> from IndianEagle.com<\/a><\/span> for his mother\u2019s round trip between India and USA. Once the tickets were confirmed, he visited the airline website<\/strong>, booked in-person airport assistance for his mother at RGI HYD Airport and selected Telugu as her only medium of communication. British Airways\u2019 meet and greet service is available in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Punjabi, and at five major airports: New Delhi IGI, Mumbai CSMI, Hyderabad RGI, Bengaluru Kempegowda, and Chennai MAA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He further wrote on Reddit, \u201cBritish Airways\u2019 in-person airport assistance service is a welcome relief. The moment Amma arrived at Hyderabad Airport, she was greeted by an assistant who spoke fluent Telugu<\/strong>. At every step of her journey from Hyderabad to London Heathrow where she had a connecting flight to Dallas with American Airlines, she had someone by her side to assist her. I was mostly worried about her transit at Heathrow; however, she had hassle-free connection to American Airlines.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Now she\u2019s here with me, smiling, glowing, more confident than ever. And I\u2019m just\u2026 proud. So proud.<\/em> We kids often forget that it\u2019s our mothers who brought us into this world and had far tougher journeys than a few hours in the air. They raised us without Google Maps, mobile apps, social media, and yet, when they travel alone, we panic. Sometimes we worry too much, forgetting that the strength they gave us has always been their own,” Ramana Jalluri concluded.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long-haul travel from India to USA, and that too with an international layover, is overwhelming for first-time travelers. The very thought of navigating big airports, sitting buckled up for hours, transit in a third country, stepping into a different time zone\u2026evokes fears and anxiety to the extent of pressing the panic button. On top of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[55,233],"yoast_head":"\nThis is How Maa Traveled Alone from India to USA First Time, Shares A Green Card Holder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/my-mothers-first-solo-flight-from-india-to-usa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This is How Maa Traveled Alone from India to USA First Time, Shares A Green Card Holder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long-haul travel from India to USA, and that too with an international layover, is overwhelming for first-time travelers. 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