The holiday season is just around the corner (in the US), and so is the travel season for Indians to reunite with their family in India. This generally results in a massive spike in airfare, leaving us spending half of our annual savings buying flight tickets. However, it’s all worth it as we meet our families in person and spend quality time together. But, the question arises, which is the best airline to travel such a long distance?
I am new to this group and have the least flying experience from the USA to India and back. However, I definitely know the importance of a comfortable journey as it is not easy to be airborne for 23+ hours. However, Abhishek, on the other hand, is a veteran and has traveled with many airline companies like United Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, EVA, etc. Therefore, when I asked him for his recommendation, he straightaway said Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines as they were the most comfortable.
In 2021, due to the pandemic, not many flights were flying between India and the USA. Therefore, the only option we had was to fly Air India or United Airlines. Air India had the worst review among the two, leaving us with United Airlines.
Now, I’m talking about November 2021. The United States just lifted its travel ban. So you can imagine the number of Indian techies and their families about to fly to the USA. We were one of them, haha. But, I also traveled with them the second time in May 2022 and had a completely different experience with United Airlines. However, in this blog post, I’ll talk about my first experience with them.
Booking experience, flight timing, and ticket cost
We booked our tickets directly from the United Airlines website, as it felt reliable at that point. Plus, there was no fare difference in any other affiliate websites. We got the tickets for ₹63,713 (per person, one way), with a 2 hour 35 minutes layover in Newark. It was an overnight flight, leaving Delhi at 11:45 pm and reaching Seattle at 10:17 am.
Flight details:
- UA 802
- Delhi (DEL) – Seattle (SEA)
- Friday, November 12, 2021
- Departure: 11:45 pm (Indian Standard Time)
- Arrive: 10:17 am (Pacific Time)
- Duration: 24hr 2min
- Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
- Seat: Economy Class
Boarding Pass and Immigration
Our tickets included a check-in bag, a carry-on, and a personal item. The queue at the check-in desk was huge but was moving fast, and we got our boarding pass in no time. From there, we headed straight to the immigration counter, which was quite empty, and the immigration officer stamped our passports without asking any questions.
The bad experience
In November 2021, I flew with United Airlines for the first time. We booked our tickets from the airline’s website. It was a Boeing 787 carrier that had three rows of seats. We opted for the aisle and middle seats of the middle row. However, after boarding, we saw a modified seat plan, having four seats in the middle instead of three. But the airlines never informed us about this and changed ours to two middle ones. I have short height, so I don’t care about leg space, but there was literally no leg space even for me. The seats were cramped, leaving absolutely no room to move. Let’s jump to the second issue, which was the service. I understand the airline taking precautions by having minimum contact with the passengers in November. But even in May, when things were better and with fewer travel restrictions, the service was still not up to the mark. I remember asking for tea and getting ghosted by the flight attendant, and the same happened with Abhishek.
The good experience
In May 2022, I flew with United Airlines from Seattle to Delhi for the second time. We had again booked the middle-row seats and were hoping to get what we had booked. Thankfully, the seats were okay, and the leg space was adequate. The flight attendants were ignorant at times, but everything turned out okay. One good thing about this flight is that you can fly direct from the US to India in 15 hours (from the east coast).
The meal and snacks were good in taste and quality. They provided us with pillows, blankets, and headphones. Plus, the in-flight entertainment had a bunch of the latest movies that kept us entertained throughout our journey. Overall the trip was okay. Our only issue was with the seat arrangement.
