Which is a better airline to trave IYO - Air India or British Airways

Froogle · Post by **Froogle** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 12:48 am

I would prefer Air India direct flight from JFK to BOM over British Airways (BA). Depend on from where you board, some BA flights are smaller jets from US to London.
-Edit- Just Noticed that you are querying from India to US. My comments are for BOMBAY (MUMBAI) from East (JFK)

zen · Post by **zen** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 10:20 am

Depends on when you are traveling. Remember, Air India is in trouble & have had lot of cancellations. Recently (end of May), my relatives who were supposed to fly from BOM to NY, their flight was cancelled because of the strike. They were put on a different airline via Delhi - Frankfurt - NY, reached some 16 hours later.

BA - I have never flown via BA but heard it is a good airline. I never consider it because of my frequent flyer program with United Mileage Plus.

I have traveled to India some 8 times so far, out of which 6 times I have traveled by Lufthansa. Sometimes they have special deals to India.

dark angel · Post by **dark angel** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 11:52 pm

zen;467783Depends on when you are traveling. Remember, Air India is in trouble & have had lot of cancellations. Recently (end of May), my relatives who were supposed to fly from BOM to NY, their flight was cancelled because of the strike. They were put on a different airline via Delhi - Frankfurt - NY, reached some 16 hours later.

BA - I have never flown via BA but heard it is a good airline. I never consider it because of my frequent flyer program with United Mileage Plus.

I have traveled to India some 8 times so far, out of which 6 times I have traveled by Lufthansa. Sometimes they have special deals to India.

Yes, The delays and cancellations are worrying for AirIndia. BA is reliable for its on time service. In yatra the rates are good. It is working out to about 10,000 Rs more expensive than Air India for all members combined.

I think I'll go ahead with BA. It has also got good in flight services like tv programs catered to children and some activities to keep kids occupied, child first meals etc. The issues of BA from what I read is less leg space, surly staff, bland food(if you are Indian you would mostly not like it).

pnq2012 · Post by **pnq2012** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:27 am

dark angel;467848

I think I'll go ahead with BA. It has also got good in flight services like tv programs catered to children and some activities to keep kids occupied, child first meals etc. The issues of BA from what I read is less leg space, surly staff, bland food(if you are Indian you would mostly not like it).

Order the special Indian meal, will be much better than what you would get by default.

triveni · Post by **triveni** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:26 am

For east coast from JFK or Dulles IAD Qatar airlines is awesome. Door to door 22 hours for me. Have done this a couple of times recently. Service and food is better than BA and AirIndia

dark angel · Post by **dark angel** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:05 am

triveni;467928For east coast from JFK or Dulles IAD Qatar airlines is awesome. Door to door 22 hours for me. Have done this a couple of times recently. Service and food is better than BA and AirIndia

Thanks triveni. At the moment Qatar is working out much more expensive than BA. But I'll keep this in mind in case I get to travel anywhere again.

dark angel · Post by **dark angel** » Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:07 am

Is a transit visa required even if we dont leave the airport?- Is transit visa required for travelling via gulf countries also? Any idea how much would be the cost of transit visa via london, abudhabi, dubai?
Thanks,

zen · Post by **zen** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:18 am

dark angel;467946Is a transit visa required even if we dont leave the airport?- Is transit visa required for travelling via gulf countries also? Any idea how much would be the cost of transit visa via london, abudhabi, dubai?
Thanks,

I don't know about Qatar Airways but for BA you do need a transit visa. Better to just call Qatar Airways and find out. I'm sure that they have a local office in India.

ycl1688 · Post by **ycl1688** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:08 pm

zen;469099I don't know about Qatar Airways but for BA you do need a transit visa. Better to just call Qatar Airways and find out. I'm sure that they have a local office in India.

with BA you should keep in mind, called by the British 'bloody airlines', AI has some annoying ways, yet it is better connection wise.

farfromhome · Post by **farfromhome** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:03 pm

dark angel;467738Which is a better airline to travel from India to US and back . Air India or British airways. Singapore Airlines and Jet are working out way too expensive. These 2 are among the lesser expensive for travel from bangalore/chennai to Newyork and back.

Try Ethihad. It might turn out to be the cheapest (JFK-Abu Dhabi-Chennai). I don't think you would need transit visa for Abu Dhabi.