This was a trip that I didn't particularly want to take, but I needed to go to Mumbai for an event. I'd gotten a little bored of this route as I've been flying it a lot recently.
Mumbai-Kolkata and Kolkata-Mumbai is my most flown city pair since COVID started at six flights (which is maybe not that many but my travel tends to be fairly varied). Incidentally two of those were CCU-BOM while the other four were BOM-CCU. Four were Air India and there was one each for Vistara and Akasa.
Perth/Melbourne comes second with five, though if we restrict it to post-pandemic that drops to just two and nothing else comes close to CCU/BOM.
I was able to use a premium economy voucher for either the outbound or inbound and since the outbound was cheaper it was saved for the return. This flight was ₹7877, or around $87.
There aren't too many options on this route, Akasa timings weren't great and I avoid IndiGo so unfortunately it had to be boring Air India again. The lack of competition in India especially with full service carriers, of which there are now none besides Air India, is quite unfortunate.
Earlier in the week Air India sent an email advertising an upgrade to business, but when I opened it they only offered premium economy and for an unreasonable price, followed by an offer to block seats next to me which wasn't really necessary on such a short flight but it was interesting to learn they offered that.
Two days before I checked the flight status and according to Flightradar24 there had already been an aircraft assigned: VT-TQN, a 3.4 year old (ex) Vistara A320neo; the day of the flight I checked in the morning and it had changed to VT-TQV, all the same but only 2.2 years old. This surprisingly early assignment followed by a change later on happened on my last flight too.
Here we go again…
As always in Indian airports there was a document check to get in which didn't take too long.
I could use the premium economy check-in because of Maharaja Club silver status, though there was still a bit of a line there.
Nice purple design.
Check-in was fairly hassle free.
During the wait an agent had recommended going down to the end of the terminal for security as the gate was right after that, I went part of the way but before the end there was a security area that didn't seem to have much of a line compared to some of the others so I stopped there. Unfortunately the line was very slow so that may have been a mistake.
It was a weird system they were using - everyone had go around in a big loop line to put stuff on the belt and then go around again to go through security. They also seemed to be stopping just about every bag for inspection so it took a while and the flight was meant to be boarding by the time I got through.
The gate was downstairs, so used a bus to take passengers to the remote stand. I didn't get much of a view of the planes, but there didn't seem to be much to see anyway. No international airlines besides Emirates pushing back rather late to Dubai.
The only other interesting plane I saw on the way was an IndiGo-operated Freebird Airlines.
I got to the gate just as boarding was starting and could go early with Silver. The bus was surprisingly empty (maybe regular economy had a different bus?).
I saw Emirates and Freebird again during the short ride to our plane.
Interesting livery, looks a little like Iran Air but in Mahan Air colours.
And our own plane, VT-TQV.
I would have been one of the first people on…
But there were some issues, they didn't want to let me on and made me wait a minute or two before letting me continue. I did get a good view from the stairs though.
In the end I was still one of the first people from economy on.
Cabin view of business:
Premium economy was too full to photograph.
Economy:
And my seat.
There was some paper in the seatback pocket.
No proper headrest.
A crew member asked for the boarding pass again I'm not sure why, a different one brought it back few minuts later. She didn't know what the issue was.
Every seat had personal lights and vents, a USB-A charging port and a coat hook thing.
There were also device holders.
The seatback pocket contained a safety card, sickness bag, entertainment information card and magazine, which, as always, had some interesting articles.
Next to our plane was an Akasa 737 MAX, with a Turkish (presumably cargo) A330 (I think) further down.
Old livery Air India planes are rapidly disappearing; this one, VT-RTH, is actually operated by Air India Express.
The plane was quite loud during boarding, with announcements, of course, but also lots of conversations including one person two rows back talking on the phone about how his lounge access hadn't worked.
It still felt a bit like Vistara. This was actually my first time flying economy on an ex-Vistara Air India plane, as the last flight had been premium economy.
We pushed back early, passing a few regular domestic planes as well as this SpiceJet 737-800 leased from Fly4 Airlines.
There wasn't much of a view during takeoff.
The meal service, I guess breakfast, started quite soon after takeoff with my special meal being one of the first to be delivered.
Not quite the quantity of the old Air India, but still reasonable for a flight like this.
The water bottle was cold and a nice addition to a great meal. I didn't have high expectations given that it was breakfast but the meal was pretty good. The main was great while the dessert leaned more to average.
Entertainment, by the way, was already working and thankfully functioned well unlike on the last flight. It seemed like the selection may have expanded a little, a decent amount of content though if it's the same on long haul flights it might not be quite enough.
These picture just show some of the movies, there were more as well as TV shows and audio and a map with very little information.
As the main meals were served they also served tea, coffee and water as there's no full beverage selection in economy. I got more cold water.
After that it was a fairly quiet flight. The crew were in the cabin delivering drink orders for a while. Generally they weren't especially friendly.
About an hour and a half after the meal the crew started handing out something, I wasn't sure what. It looked a little like a small drink carton from what I saw in forward rows.
But no, as it turns out, the truth was much more bizarre.
It was toothpaste!
No idea what the reason for this was, it's not like it was an amenity kit. I've never had this happen before though with Vistara they'd once handed out skincare products (I think, I don't remember exactly) during deplaning. No explanation either.
Cabin view from near the lavatories. Premium economy was curtained off.
I was going to ask the crew about the toothpaste but they were curtained off as well.
Some nice views along the way.
The entertainment stopped working just as the crew were coming through in their pre landing check.
We seemed to be going into BOM from the same direction as the Muscat flight, though there was more air pollution this time and views were less clear.
Soon we were landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport.
Besides that BA, there wasn't much international presence on the ground at BOM. Other than some Air Indias there was one Norse Atlantic flying for IndiGo…
…and another BA.
On the way to the gate we passed the Tata SIA airlines special livery Vistara plane, which looks a bit like Etihad.
And soon we were at the gate.
A brief look at economy and premium economy on the way out.
The crew were talking amongst themselves but did respond to my thanks.
Last view of the plane.
Quiet outside.
The baggage claim wasn't far to get to but that meant there was more of a wait until the bags started coming.
Some more displays on the way out.
I'll end this report here, before my loooong wait for a car.
Thanks for reading.
