Apologies- it is stupidly long!
Just for a bit of background- I had gone out to Nepal to volunteer for a community development NGO and flew with VS via Delhi, with Kingfisher on to Kathmandu. This is my return trip back to Delhi where I was going to stay a bit before I headed on the next day.
I had tried to online checkin the day before. Usually I don't bother with OLCI, but when I had done this for the outbound, my OLCI options were only First Class seats! The plane was declassified, so every seat had economy service, but I managed to get the nice big seat. However, there were some issues with online booking, so I gave up and waited till the airport.
Journey was quick in the taxi, and I was dropped off at Nepal's only international airport about three hours before the flight. I have flown out of KTM once before and I remembered it for a large amount of security checks (and some pretty stinky toilets). The former did not disappoint on this one.
Check number one - Man at the very front door checking the passport and boarding pass.
Having negotiated him, we joined a small queue in a covered area for check number two where another man checked the boarding pass and passport. Following this, check number three all bags were put through a machine and we went through a scanner, and, whether the machine was set off or not we got given a pat down (I'm a good Ryan Bingham style flyer at security- put my belt and phone in my bag during check in- and not set it off since I was a kid)
I then headed to the Kingfisher check in. there was no queue.
Apologies for the fuzzy photo!Since I was so early for my flight, while there was a lady in a Kingfisher jacket she had to call someone else who could actually check me in. Whilst we waited, she checked my visa and despite some confusion I managed to avoid my bags getting checked through to London! (It was my own fault- she had asked my final destination and I said London, though I was spending a night in delhi).
The check in lady arrived and I cheekily asked if there were any seats available in rows one to five (which were the first class seats in the aircraft). Remarkably, my charm worked and I was given 5a and the coveted SEQ 01!
Obviously, no-one had been able to do OLCI- probably due to the primative facilities at KTM- you’ll have noticed that the boarding passes are all issued for Nepal Airlines!
Headed past some souvenir shops (unlike most guidebooks say, you do NOT need to pay a departure tax at the airport for international flights- its now included in almost all air tickets) and to one of the escalators leading up to departures. Check number four A security officer checked my boarding pass before I was allowed up. Headed up and through immigration, picking up and filling out my departure card and then headed to a ‘foreigners’ queue, which moved slowly until a second one opened up. Very friendly man, impressed with my small amount of Nepali.
The departures lounge consists of a couple of duty free shops, a coffee shop, snack bar and an internet café. There was also a restaurant upstairs.
I mooched around the shops for a bit and then sat and read. Only highlight of the departure area was to see a man dressed in a long black jacket with a Michael Jackson style badge on it being escorted to the VIP lounge by a very senior police officer. Presumably he is ex-royalty or something but I had to stifle a laugh at his clothing and pretentious bearing. He also wore sunglasses indoors which I always think is unforgivable unless you have sensitive eyes!
We then went through the ‘main’ security check- or the one equivalent to the check at heathrow- where there were separate queues for men and women. We put our hand baggage through the scanner and again had a pat down whether or not we set the machine off. Check number five
Having done this headed off towards the gates, but were stopped by a policeman who said that we needed to go back and get our bags checked by hand as this seems to be mandatory anyway. Got this done check number six and then showed our stamped baggage tag to the policeman check number seven . We went to the gate area. There were two large rooms with rows of cinema type seating, and a couple of gates for each room. To enter the room, we had to show our boarding passes to a member of staff check number eight. Saw the plane touch down and very quickly were called to gate two and had our boarding passes checked check number nine followed by another pat down check number ten . There are no air bridges at KTM so we were taken to the bus. Many customers thought that the security circus was over but not yet!
At the foot of the stairs to the plane was a little hut:
Where the bags were checked and stamped again. Check number 11 . Worth noting here that any drinks in hand luggage were not allowed- not sure what they’d do with Duty Free…
Got yet another pat down halfway up the stairs Check number 12 and another man finally detached our boarding pass check number 13 before we entered the plane and the cabin crew member checked our pass and directed us to our seat check number 14 . Finally we could relax and put our passports away!!!
A copy of the newspaper was provided in each seat. Service started before take off and we got a little moist towel (a paper one out of a packet) and a drink of water. We were also given our Indian immigration form before takeoff which was a good idea I think as since the IFE isn’t turned on until take off it gives you something to do if you haven’t brought a book! Waited a little while for a few domestic flights to land before we took off.
Not many views- clouds or smog all the way- but people on the right hand side got some good Himalayan peaks. The man next to me was a first officer in uniform and kindly showed me how to recline my footrest. Seat was very wide with lots of leg room- bigger in width and length than a PE seat. Also two pockets in the seat in front which was handy.
Kingfisher beer was served or lemon juice. I turned on the IFE and started to watch Kick Ass, which had had some comedy censoring- lots of use of ‘Freak’, ‘Freaking’ and even ‘Mother Freakers’.
Food was a choice of vegetarian or chicken. I chose Chicken and it was excellent- chicken pieces, nachos with chilli, cheese, and tomatoes. This was served with a side of nuts and a delicious chocolate cake. The cutlery was metal- premium economy quality. Very impressed with the food and would give it five stars!
The crew were efficient and polite, but could do with smiling a bit more. One scowled through the whole security briefing. Probably four stars here.
Selection was limited on the IFE but this was only a 1.5 hour flight so you didn’t really expect anything! Indeed the IFE probably beats the Nova system used on 9 hour flights! Four stars, only because there were a few small crashes at the start.
We landed about on time, as far as I could tell, to a cloudy Delhi. Terminal Three was a long walk and immigration was a lot busier than when I came on VS300 in October- I think a lot of airlines have moved across since then!
My tip here- there is a large number of foreigners posts as you arrive in the hall (left hand side facing the immigration office) , followed by posts for Indians, diplomats and special assistance- but over the other side from those was another set of foreigners posts! I started off behind five guys who appeared to be Afghani and had special documents, so did a Ryan Bingham and got behind the line of asian ladies with the same forms as me!
Immigration officer was a grumpy git, said nothing to me, and chatted to his ‘box mate’ a little bit before throwing my passport back at me.
Bags took about ten minutes to come out and entered in to the Terminal Three arrival hall which is bright, airy and hassle free. Went to pick up a cab outside from Meru cabs- even outside there was no hassle- the police must have cracked down for the new terminal.
However, on the way to the Hilton, the taxi driver said ‘Oh no, I forgot to put on the meter!’. Everybody says about how dodgy the Delhi taxi drivers were and this just proved it! Luckily I’d looked up the distance on my Iphone before I came and they had the price per kilometre on the side of the car so I told him my fare! But no doubt he would try to scam a less prepared driver! He also asked me if I had a booking at the hotel- the other typical taxi driver reputation in Delhi is to try and take you to a hotel where they get commission! Stereotypes clearly do have some truth to them!
Overall an excellent experience on Kingfisher, I think even better than Jet, who I have also flown this route with, and I would highly recommend them. If I didn’t have a Au card I’d probably choose them for a flight from LHR-DEL over Virgin in future if the price was right.
Last edited by swedey2k on 27 Jan 2011, 13:49, edited 2 times in total.
