In a huge country like India, taking a flight is definitely the fastest and best way to move forward. A high number of airports are being built, the market is constantly growing. Yet, some things are important to know, some things work entirely different here.
Airports in India
Airports in India are largely organized like all airports worldwide. They have restaurants, cafés and shopping. In the meantime, this is usually works quite well. Domestic flights have extreme high growth rates. New airports are being built everywhere; yet domestic flight travel has only just begun in India. The market will continue to grow even more. Staff and guest are becoming more professional and more accustomed to flying every day.
Before Takeoff: Entrance Control in Front of the Airport and Restrictions
In front of India airports, there are always gatherings: many people just standing or sitting there. I have never seen it any different.
At the airport’s entrance, there are very strict controls. You have to show your ticket, your passport and you are only allowed to enter the building if your flight is scheduled for the next four hours. In Goa, we were on a midnight flight, on the course of the day; the waiting line has become very long. We had to stand in that line for 30 minutes just to be able to enter the airport.
In Mumbai we had to wait several hours in front of the building. We arrived at the national terminal, had to change terminals and it was too soon (more than four hours before departure) to enter the terminal. We had no choice but to wait in front of the airport. If you are lucky, you can go sit in a café but even that did not work for us, the café was closed.
If you have entered the terminal building once, there is no way out. There is no exit, all the entrance has a security guy standing there who does not let you out. Some smokers did not like this at all. You also cannot say goodbye to anyone outside the building who is not on a flight.
Luggage Check Before the Check-In and a Compulsory Hand Luggage Tag
Check-In Luggage (everything except hand luggage) is checked for the first time even before the Check-In. You need to go to your airlines luggage scan (looks like the hand luggage scan) where they scan you bags and put a kind of seal on it. In fact, it’s a plastic hook with the airline’s button around it. But you would definitely see if someone opened it, your luggage is sealed.
This is the only way they accept your luggage at the counter. Booking with a foreign credit card does not allow an online check-in. You have to show your credit card at the counter. During check-in you get another airline tag for your hand-luggage (similar to a name tag) that you definitely need to carry visibly at your hand-luggage.
Security Check and Hand-Luggage Check: Have Your Boarding Pass Ready
Hand-luggage check and security check has separate lines for men and women. There are two lines, the men’s line is usually longer the women’s line shorter. Women are taken in cabin where female employees do the check. These cabins are closed, no visibility from outside, including a curtain. Men are not in cabin. The security people stamp the boarding pass. Definitely have your boarding pass in your hand and not in your hand-luggage, you need it.
After a successful hand-luggage check, they also stamp your hand-luggage tag. That is why you absolutely need this tag: without it, there is no complete hand-luggage check.
Before entering the plane, there is another check for that stamped tag. Definitely make sure you don’t lose the tag on your bag.
During boarding, there is another regular boarding pass check, but it’s even possible that your boarding pass is checked a second time for example after landing. Make sure to keep your boarding pass as long as you are in the plane or at the airport (even after landing), every now and then someone wants to see it.
Everything takes a loooong time!
Flying always requires patience, everywhere and always. But definitely more in India! There is always another security check, another control point or a person who is there to check something (e.g. boarding pass, stamped hand-luggage tag). One example: the boarding pass is read by a machine. Less the 10 meters from there, another person is standing to check everyones boarding pass manually.
Always consider that while planning flights. Nothing is fast, you always need some more time. There can be another line, waiting for some check around every corner. No matter how many people waiting, nothing is done any faster. It’s always slow.
We had two very unexpected lines: one in Goa (in front of the airport) and one in Mumbai at immigration. We only had 3 people in front of us but had to wait in that line for more than one hour. I would never book a tight-scheduled connecting flight in India