V-Flyer

The new Terminal 3 at Delhi airport is very much like Terminal 3 at Heathrow; somewhat chaotic scenes on the pavement outside the building; having to endure the battle through endless duty free shops before you can get anywhere after security; and an obsession with miles of carpet to be trodden to get to the gate. The terminal opened towards the end of 2010 for the Commonwealth Games. But as the friendly assistant who showed me to immigration said, it was rushed and still had many teething problems almost six months later.

Outside the terminal there is plenty of space for drop-offs. But then you have to wade past the milling crowds waiting for arriving passenger or waving off friends. Only passengers are allowed inside the building and soldiers at the door check everyone's ticket and passport. The queue to enter the terminal was very short and the guards very quick at checking paperwork, so I queued for no more than a minute before I was inside the building.

The Virgin check-in area is well ordered, with lots of assistants to help and direct you to the right line.  The Upper Class area had no queues and I was vey quickly directed to an empty desk.  Check-in was very efficient. Rather than give me directs to immigration, an assistant was summoned to escort me. The assistant led me towards immigration as we spoke about the new terminal.  Once he'd helped complete my immigration form he shepherded me to the fast track line; they don't actually call it fast track but rather 'First/Business' which is probably for the best because there was nothing fast track at this point.  The First/Business queue could only be accessed by joining a general queue and then splitting off after two lengths of the rope line.

Finally through immigration and on to security. There are no priority lines here. My George Clooney strategy of seeking out the line full of Japanese businessmen failed me and I queued for about twenty minutes in a line of only ten people.

Through security you have to endure the very large duty free shopping area before you get into the main departure hall. Virgin's lounge is the Plaza Premium Lounge which is a short trek through the hall and up in the lift to the fourth floor; although the Virgin website still refers to the Clipper Lounge in the old terminal. The lounge is good as business lounges go, but not a patch on the Heathrow Clubhouse. There was a hot buffet as well as drinks. At one end there was a corridor of shower cubicles and tucked away at the other a massage service. My only criticism, as so often seems to be the case with airport business lounges, was that the wifi did not work properly; after several failed attempts to connect my iPad I gave up.

At check-in I'd been told that the flight was running thirty minutes late because of a delayed outbound flight; this stretched to forty-five minutes before we were called for boarding. The walk from the lounge to the gate took ten minutes at a fast pace. But then Upper Class boarding was straight forward using a second air bridge to the front of the plane.

There was a further delay after boarding of about twenty minutes whilst someone's bags were off-loaded; I've never worked out why someone would check-in at an airport and then not board their plane? I've flown through Delhi twice and this has now happened on both occasions.

The aircraft was an A340-300.  These are looking a bit tired and could do with a thorough clean; you could see large amounts of dust that had built up around the purple lighting in the cabin for example.

The onboard service was good with the staff friendly and courteous. Although for parts of the flight the crew seemed to congregate chatting around the bar; on the A343 the bar is more open to the rest of the cabin than the A346 or 747 so the noise travels around the cabin.

We made up some time during the flight and landed just over half an hour late. Then further miles of carpet before immigration and baggage reclaim.

Thanks for the TR and update on the experience in Delhi. Sounds very much like the new terminal has not eliminated any of India's love for queues and bureaucracy!

Yes, the A343s are tired aren't they - I was on G-VELD yesterday in 9A, the dust on top of the wardrobes, fraying seats, crackly IFE, the cracked mirror in the bathroom (not repaired since I last flew on G-VELD in November) - are all adding up to a deteriorating experience.

Thanks for the informative TR, and the update on the Delhi experience.

Another for the tired A330s. The old IFE and the lack of regular deep cleans are starting to make them the pariahs of the fleet - a tag formerly reserved for the LGW/MAN 747s.

Nick

Fortunately the plane was G-VSUN which has V-Port, so the IFE wasn't as bad as it could be.

Just out of interest, what was the menu on this service?

Thanks for the detailed TR

Menu was a mixture of English and Indian. From memory:

Starters:
Prawns and smoked salmon
Mushroom soup

Main course:
Chicken in thyme gravy
Roast seabass
Plus two Indian dishes, one I think was vegetarian

Desert:
Chocolate mouse/cake
Indian doughnuts

I had the prawn and salmon (which was okay), the chicken with was good and the chocolate mouse which was excellent.

Thanks for the TR. It does seem that VS are just not getting the message.

Thank you for the TR.

Thanks for the great TR, nicely detailed.

Very interesting TR sounds like the new terminal is still bedlam oh well it wouldnt be India without the heaving crowds and noise atleast they like to keep it real.

cheers

alex