As I mentioned before, I am being flown to and from India on Air India—in business class! It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever flown out of steerage, so it was of great interest to me to see how the toffs travel. When I checked in (special line for business class!), they handed me a pass to the Air France lounge at O’Hare. Since I was starving, I said, “Is there food there?” (as I said, I’m new to this). The ticket lady said, “Of course!”. And, it being Air France, there were plenty of noms, a comfortable place to sit with free wi-fi, and they even call you when your plane is ready to board.
The lounge:
There were free soft drinks, juice, and delicious sandwiches. I had two sandwiches: brie-and-apple, and smoked turkey with cheese—along with some Doritos, pineapple juice, a mozarella-and-tomato salad, cookies, and chocolate pudding. I’m afraid I made a pig of myself. . .
There was lots of free booze, too, servez-vous style, but I had none. I don’t usually drink around or on international flights. Had I been a boozer, though, this would have been paradise:
The snacks, including cereal, individually-wrapped cookies, and muffins:
We boarded first (ah, the life of a toff!), and had spacious and comfortable seats with video screens and lots of leg room. The view from my seat. I slept most of the flight, but did watch one movie: The Hunger Games; Mockingjay Part 2, as I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss is about very little.
Business class. It was almost empty! The seats convert to flat beds with a push of a button, and for once in my life I slept for hours on an international flight. (We left Chicago at 2:30 p.m. and arrived in Delhi at 3:15 p.m.).
Free newspapers and magazines right at the start. Make mine the good gray Times.
And free booze. I relaxed my habits a bit and had a beer, even though there was champagne and hard liquor. Booze messes up my time clock when I’m traveling.
Free Indian toiletries, including jasmine soap, vanilla lip balm, and rose geranium face wash. I saved them. They also gave us free Air India pajamas, with the airline’s symbol of a rajah on them. I should have saved them but didn’t have room.
Snacks with my beer (I could have had more). The thing to go for is the “dry snax,” which are spicy Indian chaat (see below), the perfect accompaniment for a beer.
The appetizers (I chose the vegetarian Indian option):
Dinner: daal (lentils) in the small bowl, kofta curry, rice, mixed spicy vegetables, and a vegetable chappati (bread). It was very good, and I guess it had been prepared in Chicago. The photos are blurry because they were taken with a 1/4-second exposure, hand-held in a vibrating plane.
Dessert: kheer (Indian rice pudding), flavored with green cardamom and topped with pistachios. This is one of my favorite Indian desserts. Two chocolates came with it.
Breakfast: I had an omelet, but wished I had investigated the Indian option.
And now I am comfortably ensconced in Delhi, and this is the breakfast my hosts kindly provided this morning (Friday). Idli, sambar, coconut chutney, papaya, and freshly squeezed orange juice. A lovely South Indian breakfast, and you can’t beat that!
Oh, and I’ve never visited India at this time of year, so I’ve never seen the bougainvillea bloom. It’s all over campus:
Wow!! Amazing airline food!! I am soooooooo jealous!!
Yes sir. That is the only way to fly when crossing the oceans. Most of my traveling days were from Hawaii to the far east or from Dallas. Some from Dallas to German. The upgrades to business were the best and once or twice to first class. I would save up the miles to go first class on a domestic flight.
Coach on the overseas travel is brutal.
Sacre bleu! Zee French provided DoRItos?? The rest of the noms look deelish, and the bougainvillea gorgeous.
Looks like business class to Asia would cost about $3200. What a sweet break to get it free!
Yep business class for sure is a lot better then the cattle class. 🙂
Wow, great stuff. The food looks great.
I’ve been in that lounge! And it is wonderful. Various Air France partners get to use it (Aer Lingus in my case, typically, ORD-DUB).
I, too, declined the alcohol, I’m sure for the same reasons you do. I sleep better w/o and I feel better next day — and air travel demands stacking the deck.
Since the cabin altitude is typically anywhere between six and nine thousand feet alcohol is definitely best avoided particularly on long distance flights,( less oxygen uptake in the blood) water is the best beverage for good hydration and combating jet lag and no hangover.
Yeah, but if you try to carry water on the security goons (sometimes) take it off you. And in some airports you can’t even buy water in the screened area, not even at the doubly-exorbitant bottled-water price.
cr
I always carry a small wateer bottle in my purse, dump the water before going through security, and then fill the bottle at a drinking fountain once I’m been cleared.
First class is for the toffs.
Business class is for capitalist lackeys (like me).
Having proper crockery and cutlery is one of the best things about the meals. And I’m afraid I always take advantage of the free alcohol, just enough to create a pleasant buzz throughout the flight.
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Or you could fly Etihad Airways or Air France, where you get proper stainless steel cutlery and good meals, even in cattle class*.
Maybe they’ve figured out nobody ever hijacked a plane with cutlery.
cr
(*this is on flights that don’t go near the USA/TSA, though)
Most of my air travel is to the US. But I’ll bear that in mind; tx.
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Welcome back! I think the first Hunger Games movie was good enough, but the others less so. I was pretty much dragged to the last two.
I listened to the first two with my sons…they were good, but the third was not only disappointing, it was kind of boring.
I do like heroines. Our world needs more of them.
Lucky you! I’ve only flown business class a few times – and first class once – only because I got ‘bumped’.
On transoceanic flights I generally have a couple of the little bottles of red wine after takeoff, and then I sleep like a baby 🙂
I may as well tell my “first class” story … On a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Toronto I was rebooked onto a Northwestern flight via Detroit because the previous day’s KLM flight to Toronto had been canceled and they had needed to accommodate those passengers. They put me in first class by way of apology.
Upon being seated, the well-dressed grey-haired man next to me turned and asked, ‘Is it your first time in first class?’ Geez, I thought, is it that obvious, looking down at the jeans and polo shirt I was wearing. ‘Me too!’ he said excitedly, ‘They bumped me up from coach!’
LOL, cute story!
Enjoy the trip and India, Jerry!
I still think you should have checked the booze out at the business class lounge. At the very least for completeness sake. 🙂
Cheers!
Carl Kruse
Wow, you’re living the life! (Not that you had a shabby existence before flying to India.)
Pity they don’t fly from Midway…
I’ll probably never live such an experience but if it’s the case, I hope it will be with a real beer, not an Heinecken !
That’s all they had. . . .
Shame I get motion sick on planes, otherwise having food of that character while and before flying would be great …
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d2JKXbVGq7A
This will be you from now on Jerry…
I’ve also flown Air India internationally and their service has always been excellent and the food good, even in the cattle compartment. It’s been a while though …
BTW, I used to work in aerospace for many years (engineering: OEM, Regulator, and Operator). Air India has a good reputation. Indian Airlines on the other hand …
I’m not sure how they are now as the domestic wing of Air India.
The bougainvillea blooms take my breath away…. sooo beautiful and lush.
I’ll have to learn to make kheer. Enjoy it all, PCCE.
The food looks good for an airplane. I subscribe to Blue Apron meal service (highly recommended). We recently got “Cod Kedgeree,” which they described as follows: Kedgeree, a popular breakfast option in England, is comforting, casual fare at its finest. Adapted from an Indian dish of spiced lentils and rice, kedgeree substitutes the lentils with ingredients like flaked fish and eggs. For dinner tonight, we’re seasoning our hearty stir-fry with a blend of warm curry spices, including ground fenugreek and coriander. We’re garnishing each bowl with lime wedges and—for satisfyingly crispy texture—lightly dredged and pan-fried onion.
I’ve never had anything like it. It was very interesting and very good. Your pictures reminded me of it. Here’s the website for Blue Apron. https://www.blueapron.com/
It’s like a cooking school and food delivery service rolled into one. If you like to try new food and you like to cook (or want to learn how), it’s wonderful.
What an odd dish, but sounds like it would be worth trying for sure.
How beautiful the bougainvillea!