As we awaited our plane at Minneapolis, we worried about the weather in Chicago, which was reporting freezing rain and sleet. But we arrived on time at O'Hare without incident. When we attempted to go through security in Terminal 5 at O'Hare, however, they told us our boarding passes were no good. We had to go stand in an endless line at the Air India desk, just to get new passes that said the same thing as the ones United had given us in Minneapolis. By the time we got through security, the plane was boarding and we rushed to the gate.
We might not have bothered to rush, as Air India was delayed -- not by weather, but by inefficiency. Once we were seated we had a bit of drama when an Indian man, with way more than the allowable number of carry-on bags, came aboard after us and began rearranging the overhead bins to accommodate all his stuff. He caused even more drama upon landing, when he pulled Mary's bag down among his own, mumbling something about it looking like his. All of his bags were black, Mary's is a greenish-brown.
Air India wins no prizes. The foot rest in front of Mary's seat would not retract as it was supposed to. The life vest under my seat was hanging down and flapping against my legs. Also, my "entertainment" screen was erratic. I put entertainment in quotes, because the limited selection of movies were pretty ancient, and the music selections were entirely Indian pop music. There was no beverage service at all, ever, on the entire 14 hour flight. When a woman near us asked for something to drink, the flight attendant snarled at her that there was a bottle of water provided in each seat pocket.
There were three meals served. They were pretty average, even by airline food standards, but not awful. But the only beverage was a cup of water with each meal. The attendants came by, unsmilingly tossing the trays onto our seat tables. They really looked like they hated their jobs. Then they would come by to offer coffee or tea, pouring a bit into the little cup that had come with the meal tray, but never coming back to offer seconds. The pilot kept the seat belt sign lit almost the entire trip, and they kept reminding us of that over the PA, telling us to stay in our seats. But between meals the flight attendants completely vanished, and the ride was smooth. Plus, when you have to go to the rest room, you've got to go, so people eventually just ignored it. Once, when getting up to stretch, Mary found a huge tray of little packets of peanuts -- obviously intended to be served with the beverages that weren't being offered. She grabbed a couple, and they were the best food we had on the flight.
There were three meals served. They were pretty average, even by airline food standards, but not awful. But the only beverage was a cup of water with each meal. The attendants came by, unsmilingly tossing the trays onto our seat tables. They really looked like they hated their jobs. Then they would come by to offer coffee or tea, pouring a bit into the little cup that had come with the meal tray, but never coming back to offer seconds. The pilot kept the seat belt sign lit almost the entire trip, and they kept reminding us of that over the PA, telling us to stay in our seats. But between meals the flight attendants completely vanished, and the ride was smooth. Plus, when you have to go to the rest room, you've got to go, so people eventually just ignored it. Once, when getting up to stretch, Mary found a huge tray of little packets of peanuts -- obviously intended to be served with the beverages that weren't being offered. She grabbed a couple, and they were the best food we had on the flight.
We were most happy to be off that plane by the time we got to Delhi. The airport is new, clean and efficient. Immigration and Customs officials obviously were not taking their jobs too seriously (the uniformed Customs guys wouldn't even get up off their chairs. They just told us to pile our Customs forms on their desk as we walked past them. The OAT agent met us with pungent marigold necklaces that made our eyes water and our noses run. We wore them on the entire taxi ride to the hotel with him, but ditched them at the elevator on the way to our room, because we didn't want to even bring them into where we were going to sleep. Our guide, Sujay, met us in the hotel lobby, got us checked into our room, and told us that the rest of the group would be meeting in the lobby in 15 minutes to take an orientation walk around the neighborhood. We settled in very quickly and then went back down to meet the group.
The immediate neighborhood appears to be pretty much middle class, with McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's and Subway as main features. But there was more trash on the streets than one would find even in China, and there were very persistent children begging from us the whole walk. We were back in our room by 6:30 and in bed, asleep, well before 8 p.m. Of course, we were also wide awake before 4 a.m.
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