Review of Air India flight from Kolkata to Mumbai in Premium Eco

I needed to be in Europe around the beginning of October and it didn't make sense to just go for a short while, so after spending a lot of time figuring out exact dates and the best routing I finally chose Oman Air to London and back. Flying out of Mumbai or Bangalore was pretty similar so in the end I thought Mumbai would be better since I'd rather fly Air India than Akasa Air (AI doesn't fly CCU-BLR) and the departure time from Mumbai to Muscat was also better. September 11th though, not the most popular day to fly…
This particular flight was the best option because it didn't get in too late or leave too early, and was meant to be operated by an ex-Vistara plane based on the flight number beginning with AI2.
The ticket cost ₹6720/$77 in premium economy booked on MakeMyTrip which was reasonable for PE - economy was around $15 cheaper so it was worth the upgrade.
I've never flown Air India premium economy before, but I've been in this same cabin on Vistara a couple of times, one of which I reviewed here.

Welcome to Kolkata Airport.

As in all Indian airports, CCU has a checkpoint before entering the airport. Luckily the line was short since it was a very warm day.

Premium economy and business check-in counter were located in a slightly different area to economy for Air India, and no line there either.

The check in agent was friendly enough. What happened didn't make much sense, the checked baggage allowance had been exceeded slightly but he also offered to check in the carryon, only he first made sure that it was under the allowance of 7kgs. What didn't make sense is that he said if it was over 7 it would be ok to take onboard… I'm not really sure what the logic behind that was but it worked out.
At the SpiceJet counter, which was on the other side, it sounded like there was a bit of drama going on with a passenger threatening to go court. From what I could hear it was because they wanted to check in his bag but there was a laptop in there.

Security was quite fast as well with no line. One of the security people was apparently there a previous time when I flew through and came over, he wanted to chat a bit and asked about the trip plans.
I'd wanted to go for lunch near the airport before the flight but it got too late with traffic so I got to the airport a bit early and especially since everything was so fast, there was plenty of time for lunch in the airport.

The food court had more options than I remembered (the picture shows about half the places). I got a veggie sandwich for the equivalent of a bit over $4, ridiculously expensive for India. It was a good sandwich though, at least.

And a cookies and cream shake for dessert.

Scheduled boarding time was 20 minutes before the scheduled arrival of the inbound aircraft from Mumbai and while the plane did come in a bit early, boarding had of course not started on time.
While waiting, I took some pictures of our plane: VT-TQK, a 3.5 year old A320neo. It had only flown with Vistara for a couple of years before the merger with Air India, and the livery was unchanged with some "operated by Air India" stickers.

Also an Air India Express A320neo, which was originally Air India's. Air India has transferred some (maybe all?) of its all-economy configured A320s to AIX.

I'd gotten distracted and didn't notice that boarding had started. Luckily there was a priority line for premium economy and business, so I could cut ahead. There was no line there, and a short but organized line for economy boarding. For the first time I noticed e-gates at the gate but they were out of order.
Rather than our flight, the screen at the gate showed all the domestic departures.

In the area after the gate and before the jetbridge, the line wasn't moving at all for a few minutes. It must have just been closed up ahead, after a few minutes it started moving again but slowed down on the bridge, which was quite hot and uncomfortable but had good views of the plane.

And of the Air India Express plane.

Almost there!

Just in case anyone forgets that we aren't actually flying Vistara, sadly that'll never happen again.

There was a very friendly welcome on board, "Namaste!"
And this is the business cabin.

And premium economy, with my seat.

While the seat design was the same as on my last Vistara premium economy flight, the seatback design was so much better. I believe the cabin is fully unchanged from the Vistara days but there were different configurations and seat models.

USB-A chargers, which only started working after takeoff.

Device holder.

Personal lights and air vents.

Nice red lighting that got turned on a bit later.

Headrests were adjustable.

The seatback literature pocket contained an entertainment information card (when I flew Air India on this same route last year they didn't have streaming IFE yet), safety card, and the Air India magazine.

People were talking a lot during the announcements, and the announcer was speaking a bit uncertainly and sounded congested, so it was hard to hear.
The crew handed out cold, wet towels on the ground. They were so refreshing and a really nice addition to the flight which even Vistara didn't have on my flight with them.

Now, Air India has a meal service that differs by time of day, and for most of the afternoon it's a "refreshment" rather than a full meal service - this was also what I got on my Air India flight last year. I'd thought maybe in premium economy it would be different, but no menus were handed out (unlike on Vistara) so I assumed that there would again be something like the fruits I was served on AI last year.
We pushed back a minute early, with an IndiGo A321 and Air India A320 coming in.

And an Air India 777, not sure what it was doing in Kolkata, must have been cargo since there aren't any AI widebody flights to Kolkata anymore (they used to have a double daily 787 to Delhi).

Excellent view of the airport as we climbed up.

And of Kolkata itself, with the River Hooghly in the distance.

Soon after take-off it was announced that they would be beginning the refreshment service. "Oh yeah, sounds like it'll be fruits again," was what I thought.
The crew then passed out menus, which Vistara did on the ground.

"Looks like a nice menu but for my special meal it'll probably be fruits again," I thought (not getting my hopes up!) and had a look at the entertainment in the meantime, which had started working after take off.

It was a pretty solid catalogue, though not an extraordinary selection. Most of the options aren't in these photos.
Then the service began, with special meals first. Wait, that doesn't look like fruit…

And it wasn't!

In fact, it actually looked like a pretty good meal. 
Beverages were served with the meal and I got Sprite.

Metal cutlery, and the knife had the Air India logo.

If anyone was wondering there was a mixture of potatoes and spices inside the balls.

Everything was a little dry but it all tasted great, really an excellent meal. And technically this wasn't even a full meal I believe so maybe there's even more stuff at flights that are during meal hours.
By the way, that red packet on the tray earlier which looked like a ketchup sachet, was wet wipes.

The tray was cleared less than a minute after I finished eating.
There was an incredible lightning storm happening outside which I couldn't get any pictures of because of the reflection. The whole sky lit up a few times.
The beverages cart came through the cabin at least twice but it seemed to be just for answering orders. I did notice a few people being offered drinks, but I wasn't. I was going to ask for one but then I forgot about it.
I went to the lavatory in the back, but there were several people waiting there and everyone had to squeeze in since the crew were moving in and out taking drink orders to people, they were working very hard with lots of people requesting things. One flight attendent said that it would be ok to use the business class bathrooms in the front so I headed there instead.
Economy cabin view, on my way out.

And the business recliner seats.

The bathroom was a little dirty and that was the business one, so the economy one was probably quite bad.
I took a business menu from an empty seat to have a look at.

To be honest the premium economy menu looked better to me.
And soon, lights were brightened and the entertainment stopped working as we started our descent.

We landed around 25 minutes early.

After a short taxi during which I didn't see any planes worth trying to photograph, we parked right at the edge of the apron and across from the slums that line the runway.

Bags were being unloaded right in front of me.

People started getting up almost immediately and had to be told to sit back down. After a few minutes we could deplane and I got a few more pictures of business class on the way out.

As with the welcomes, the crew were very friendly with their good-byes, much more so than during the flight itself when they had been a bit more reserved.
It only took like two minutes to walk to the baggage claim. Usually in Mumbai it's closer to 10-15 so that was a really nice surprise.
There were some sculptures on the first two belts, but not any of the others.

Because it took so litle time to get there, there was a short wait before bags started arriving.

For once, getting an Uber actually went smoothly. Just one night in Mumbai before a morning flight to Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman.
Thanks for reading.