Emirates Airbus A380 & Boeing 777-300ER to India (November 2023 trip)

[SQfanatic]

The next day, mid-week on Wednesday, we left Bangalore for Chennai. Generally loved Bangalore due to the pleasant climate and cooler nights. Mysuru was a little more on the humid side. The city is generally modern & generally loved the atmosphere and vibes it gave me. My hope is that should a flight to and from Bangalore be cheaper than going to Chennai, one way (preferably while coming back), I will spend 2 days in Bangalore and do some more exploring and visit some family and friends I missed to this trip.

On the way to the airport, here are the outskirts of Bangalore enroute:










Entering Bangalore Kempegowda Airport, the entrance reminds me a LOT of Singapore Changi Airport. There is so much uniqueness to the place that many other South Indian airports lack:






















View of the tarmac and runway in Bengaluru Airport:



Inside the airport:













A garden theme on the way to security. So nice



Past the airside:



Love the waterfall:





As I barely had breakfast and coffee at the hotel due to time constraints, I had a cheesecake and cappucino at Tim Hortons:





I was trying to get the egg sandwich or omelette, but they apparently ran out of eggs in general. However, I tried to at another place but they said it would have taken more time. Still the food was good.

Here are some more pictures of the airport. It really gives me vibes of Seattle, Singapore & Las Vegas:

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Around 12PM, we boarded our Air India flight for Chennai. It was an Airbus A321 (VT-PPW), which was a 12 year old plane. I didn't take too many pictures of it as the flight was only 30 minutes total in duration.





Although it was a 30 minute flight, Air India still gave us a snack which was a vegetarian sandwich, butter cookies and water. It was average and barely ate as I wasn't really hungry:



Generally very cloudy conditions during the entire flight up to descent where it was muggy and cloudy



Landed at Chennai Kamraj domestic terminal:



Arrival into Chennai Airport:

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Heading out of the airport into Anna Salai & Mount Road, here are some pictures of Chennai in the daytime (last few trips it was either the early evening or night time):

A very muggy & sultry day after some rains in Chennai:













Hyatt Regency up in Anna Salai (Mount Road) where we'd be staying for 4 nights until my mom leaves. I will be there 2 extra days staying at another hotel with my dad. After which my dad will shift to the New Woodlands hotel (we tried to get Woodlands, but it was unavailable)




We waited more than 30 minutes for an Uber but there were complications at the rideshare pickup point, so unfortunately it felt like a mess waiting for an Uber as we were very drenched in sweat. Yes, Chennai is hot, but around this time of the year & December, it is more tolerable in terms of the humidity. Unfortunately, the whole day was a little on the intolerable end of thing

We got room 416, which was a King bed room but still the same large size as last time.



The Lobby Lounge which looked darker on a cloudy day:








Although there are 3 of us, we booked the room with a King Size bed as opposed to the 2 twin beds, which we would have also been happy with (price wouldn't have been different). Since my dad became a Hyatt member last year, this time it came with free breakfast:



(More hotel room pictures will follow suit later)

Water & tea kettle in the room



In-room safe with multiple closet drawers and iron.





Just like JW Marriott in Dubai, the bathtub is really an unneccessary item but could be treated as a jacuzzi





The standard Hyatt Regency walk-in rain shower.



Around the evening time we went to Annalakshmi, a vegetarian royal restaurant we've been trying to visit every trip with no avail.









Royal silverware and a colorful cloth




They serve plates in a style of plantain leaf





We had some vegetable fried rice & paneer makhanwala (which was basically a mix of cashew and tomato gravy). The paneer is very fresh and the sauce was not too light or heavy, it was just about right like we expected



A lot of nice unique things about this place. Also the smell of sandalwood fragrance really gives a pleasant feel to the room





The Annalakshmi we went to is in Egmore, which is 15-20 minutes with traffic in Chennai from Anna Salai. Incredibly polite staff, while you order dishes, they treat you royally and give you a little bit even if you want to take it by yourself. We had more than what was shown but the quality is amazing. I highly recommend it.

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A few views to greet the next day morning.

Atrium at the Hyatt:





View from the room and that faces the swimming pool. Further in the distance is the Indian Ocean



Difference on a sunny morning:





I went further into the corridors and got more views of Anna Salai





Some pictures inside the hotel as I decided to take a walk after breakfast

Fake bees:



A little bookstore while also seeing the Lobby Lounge:



To enter the garden, you cannot do so from just the ground floor and Lobby Lounge. I don't know why they have blocked that part. You'd have to go to the 1st floor, go through the spa & gym and go down into the garden

Here's the gym




Garden area:







More garden pictures on a sunny morning. Here's the funny part. My weather app showed my current location as raining, even though it is NOT. Chennai being a big city with rain at times means while it will say rain (though it may be sunny or partly cloudy) doesn't mean it can rain in your current area. It may rain in another district. I guess that's why we could not properly organize any hangouts with friends. So 20% chance of rain doesn't in a wide range of things mean no rain. It just means it's isolated to one particular area. That's how our local meteorologists (i.e. CBS News Bay Area classify rain chances).

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Anna Salai (street level) - It was still quite damp and a little bit intolerable on the humidity spectrum than what is expected in November & December. Fortunately, the last couple of days rain or not, the humidity levels improved to more tolerable levels





We went to T. Nagar to do some shopping. Thankfully the rain stopped, which led to plenty of blue sky and some lingering clouds. I won't show what we bought as those are personal, but I can show you the part of T. Nagar I was around from the outside







Panagal Park has been closed off for a few years as it's being replaced by the Chennai Metro expansion. That's going to be at least a couple of years away. Even at that, the convenience will be increased for any folks going to work or shopping.





The traffic is reduced to 1 lane, leading to still some congestion




We went to Egmore to try to go to KC Das with no avail. However, we went to Annalakshmi once again for Thanksgiving dinner and had a different item than the previous day:

Rush hour traffic around Egmore around 5PM






Annalakshmi silverware & different colored cloth:



We went for the coconut sevai (rice noodles), okra (vendakkai curry), veg pulao and gobi manchurian. Alongside the appalam and salt lassi. All of which were good. Nothing compared to the paneer makhanwali which was excellent

[SQfanatic]

Most of Black Friday was a down day for me but not my parents. They had to do some more shopping but they observed how crowded it was compared to the previous day. After all, it sounds like it is marriage season in India once you get to November & December with much of that period being good weather only.

I spent some of that period exploring the Chennai metro, instead of riding to Washermanpet, rode up to a transfer point en-route to the airport.

AG-DMS Metro station in Chennai next to the Hyatt Regency











The platforms, all of which are A/C unless you are outside and the glass barriers

Inside the metro



Views of Anna Salai and Mount Road in Chennai from the metro












Notice that the outside stations do NOT have glass doors like you'd have in Dubai









Later in the evening time we went to Mylapore, our main spot for going to Kapaleeshwarar Temple

Notice the crowds are due to Karthigai Deepam:





Kapaleeshwarar Temple:





Giri Trading bookstore:

[SQfanatic]

Most of Saturday (yesterday) was really a down day as we went to Woodlands with my dad's side of the family.

Starting with the hotel breakfast - everything was ragi flavored. We went lighter on that so that we can have some lunch.

Breakfast a few days ago with other items:

Regular dosa with sambar and chutney & idli, poha and vadai. Excellent quality overall.



Continental - French toast & pancakes. Unlike the last time, they seemed to have used a different shaped bread for French toast. In Raintree, the same bread was used for French toast that was used in our last Hyatt Regency stay.



Ragi flavored dosa & idli/vada:



A few other breakfast items we had on other days (continental included):

Waffles:


Breakfast for all items were of excellent and fresh quality as expected in a 5-star hotel in India or in the world.

A few pictures of the Spice Haat with its ambiance and the filter coffee stand:





Filter coffee stand. They also had badam milk if you wanted to have it. I tried it one day, and while it was good, it was a little on the sweeter side, so had less than half of it. Still it was good.



It wasn't till about the 3rd day that I recognized the same guy in the filter coffee stand, had a good conversation with him in Tamil, he recognized my parents too as well as the Hyatt staff. Generally, all very friendly and service oriented folks. Their kindness and enthusiasm for helping guests and customers is contagious. They seriously deserve a raise.

Juice at the end of the Spice Haat with very nice facts:




Here's the ambiance of the Spice Haat restaurant:


The street vendor coffee stand simulated:



Many of these faces including the staff were familiar and some even recognized us, what a nice touch. z

We went to Mylapore, one of our main spots besides the temple to the New Woodlands hotel. This is where my dad will stay the remainder of the trip. However, the restaurant is very nice and prompt as far as service and food quality and I highly recommend it.




Menu:



The items can be limited at certain times, so went for the vegetable fried rice with curd rice & some poori while my dad and his brother had the South Indian thali. They do not compromise on the quality of anything.



Later in the evening, we had a small engagement at a temple friend's parents' house and went to Mylapore Tank once again. Because it was so crowded, I didn't take pictures but we went to the temple which was not as crowded.

After that we had some authentic filter coffee at Madras Coffee House, which I highly recommend.

[SQfanatic]

The next day we have moved into Raintree in Anna Salai. My mom left 2 days before back to the US via Dubai (A6-ECZ & A6-EUW). The reason for the extended stay was because of a relative's engagement ceremony. It was hard to get a room at Woodlands Hotel for a few days because it was unavailable and we realized it was due to wedding season.

The Raintree hotel is a 5-star hotel. However, you notice the difference between the Hyatt Regency ambiance and large rooms and the Raintree smaller rooms. Pictures will describe what I mean.

View of Anna Salai from room 409:




Room with 2 beds:



Love this veranda looking chair:



Walk-in shower, very standard of what we're getting in India for sure, but also the US and other countries regularly now. You'll notice that it's far smaller than the Hyatt for sure, but still plenty of good water pressure:




View from near the elevators of a gloomy Chennai:





A few pictures at night of the ambiance of the elevator as well as the gym I also got to check out




We went to Anna Nagar, which I didn't take too many pictures of and bought sweets.

Later in the evening, we checked out a place called Mathsya, which has the option of buffet and ala carte.



It was not more than 10 minutes from our hotel on a rainy Sunday night.

We opted for the buffet option which had Indian & Western options.

Paneer kadai along with vegetable fried rice & naan/appalam. However I also had more than that such as the pulao, idayappam. and some dessert. Excellent quality overall.



We had breakfast today (and it's my last day, my dad will be staying another day, so that'll mean 2 more days of free breakfast for him before he shifts to New Woodlands Hotel in Mylapore):

Ambiance of Kitchen:



Had both a mix of Indian & continental breakfasts

Indian (dosa, idli, poha and sevaiya upma):



Continental (French Toast and pancakes):



Overall, the breakfast was excellent like always. The dosa was a little more softer and at the right texture compared to Hyatt.

Because the rest of the day entailed more on attending an engagement, I will not post pictures.

Up next? My return journey to San Francisco on Emirates from Chennai & Dubai. That'll come in the next 1-2 days based on my jetlag. Stay tuned!

[SQfanatic]

Route: Chennai - Dubai
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (A6-END), 11 years at the time of departure
Livery: Normal
Date of Departure: November 28 (3:30AM), Arrival November 28 (6:20AM)
Seat: 43A (Economy Class)
Configuration: 3-class (Suites, Business, Economy)

We started from the Raintree hotel around 11:45PM (earlier than I anticipated to go) and got to the airport around midnight. My dad had a free ride back to the hotel as we hired an airport transfer. The downside to that was that it was raining, but the upside to that was no traffic.

If I remember correctly, Singapore Airlines & Cathay Pacific typically depart from Terminal 4. The airport T2 at Anna International looked better than the terminal I've always departed on Singapore Airlines. Still not as big as Bengaluru, Mumbai or Delhi, but still good.



Inside the check-in area. Noticeably a difference between both terminals:





You notice that the layout of the check-in counters are pretty identical to San Francisco International Airport. The other terminal had a horizontal layout. It didn't take too long. All they ask for is both your passport and OCI card for processing.




Check-in was a little slow but not too bad. By 12:30AM, the check in got completed with no issues. At that point I proceeded to security check (before that customs). It is completely different than the Singapore Airlines terminal where you have crowded security followed by Customs. Security check was just like any Indian airport - you have to take even the wires (chargers, powerbanks and all electronic devices out. Other places you can keep your phone in your backpack.

Still it did not take longer than 5 minutes to get through but checking of the backpacks took about another 15 minutes. At which I went downstairs and still had at least 2.5 hours to spare

Downstairs near the gates and airside. I was surprised at how different this side of Chennai Airport was like compared to the Cathay Pacific & Singapore Airlines' terminals. All those times my gate was either gate 15 or gate 16.




Around the late night hours, you have European flights depart first, followed later by flights to the Middle East. I dozed off at one of the chairs even after having a filter coffee. At some point my gate changed from 10A/B to 11A/B at the point it was occupied by an Air France A350-900 aircraft and the gate changed, which the plane arrived after the Lufthansa A340-300 departed.

My ride to Dubai (A6-END). Singapore Airlines' 777-300ER's also have the N* on the nose gear, but only SNA, SNB, and SNC. Emirates I think goes to A6-ENZ.







Boarding began around 3AM by Zone numbers. After boarding, there was 1 more passport and boarding pass check.

The difference between this Boeing 777-300ER and the one I took to Bengaluru is that it has more Economy class seats and we passed through a smaller amount of Business class seats:

3-4-3- configuration - a little tighter, but not bad. Certainly nothing compared to the SQ A350 and 787's





Closeup view of the seat:



Wingview next to an Etihad aircraft:



ICE inflight entertainment system:





Handset version:






Captain came with his announcement mentioning the flight time would be about 4 hours with some occasional light bumps due to multiple storm systems around India. In Chennai, there has been quite some on and off rain lately. Our on-time arrival would not be severely impacted.

We began our pushback around 3:40AM & starting up our engines:







We proceeded for take off around 3:45AM, which meant it was a very quick taxi. Most Indian airports have a quick taxi for take off at all hours (i.e. Trivandrum):





The Wifi on this plane did work compared to the 77W I took to Bengaluru:



The cabin after departure, with the Starry night theme:





I dozed off for a good 1.5 hours and before I knew it, they served breakfast around 5AM IST.

Menu for reference:



Indian Vegetarian meal - Vegetable poha along with some aloo cutlet and curry



It also included the breakfast cake (as they had on the Bangalore sector) as well as some yogurt based dessert (amazing).

As we had less time before landing, I decided to take pictures/video of the 3D map, which was nice but non-interactive.

World clock in list form:



Compass:



Some flight information in both English and Arabic:























Arabic version:











Compass heading:















World clock in map form:









Arabic version of world clock:







World clock in alarm form:



Wing view:

[SQfanatic]

A few versions from the handset:







Dubai flight information for connections - Extremely useful for most Indian O&D traffic heading to the US and other places:















The cabin was eventually lit up for towel service and at some point landing:



Beautiful sunrise before we make our go around and land in Dubai:



Eventually there was a go around before we began our landing into Dubai









At some point, past 6:30AM we landed in Dubai:









We began our taxi to the gate and got there around 6:45AM:







Deplaned around 6:45AM

3-4-3 Economy class seat





The inferior Business class seat of Emirates:





GE90 engines at sunrise:





Security and connections took no more than 15 minutes and I was at the airside around 7AM with time to brush my teeth and get a coffee and the gate was right there. My gate was at Concourse B.

[SQfanatic]

Route: Dubai - San Francisco
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800 (A6-EVH), 5 years at the time of departure
Livery: Normal
Date of Departure: November 28 (8:45AM), Arrival November 28 (12:45PM)
Seat: 83A (Economy Class)
Configuration: 3-class (Suites, Business, Economy)

As the registration indicates, my parents & I were both respectively on A6-EVH while traveling from San Francisco to Dubai on EK226 on November 16th. Surprisingly, I got that registration too on the way back. Remember September 2022? When my dad got 9V-SJD both ways to/from San Francisco (SQ31/32).

After I finished the security check, which was quite similar to how the US does it, meaning no need to take laptops, jackets, tablets, etc out (it's almost like you're a TSA Pre), I headed to my gate of B19. There was an extra bag security check, but not bad at all. Prior to that had a few minutes to grab a cappucino and muffin. The Wifi in Dubai airport is superb, but when I tried to call my mom & dad, the audio doesn't seem to properly work at all. Doesn't matter the app, I only used both Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger and audio is bad.

A sea of Airbus A380's. It was hard to make out which was mine. Unlike when I was departing for India, the view of my A380 (A6-EVH was bad until we got into the aerobridge). This was a different A380 shown below:





After the extra security check was done, this was NOT our A380. The A380's that now fly to the US have Rolls Royce engines (like Singapore Airlines' A380's).

Here's my A380 (A6-EVH) - hey there, we meet again on the way home:





Rolls Royce engines as I indicated:







Here's my seat for the next 16 hours (83A):



You can really see the difference of how wide the A380 seat is. The 777 seat is fine, too. But certainly not like the current 2017 Y class seats on SQ.



Wingview of the adjacent A380 I took a picture of:



Here's my view from up front:



Our captain came with an announcement even after departure time because most passenger were still boarding (probably from other connecting flights) with a flight time of over 15 hours and turbulence from time to time. We departed after 9:15AM but the on-time arrival made up for it.



The taxi to the runway was relatively quick and we took off a little after 9:30AM





View of Dubai after take off:







As with any sector the second leg really tires you out. Lunch service began 2 hours after take off, close to 11:30AM

Menu for reference:













Ignore the offline mode, because the wifi was quite spotty on this leg like while I was going (one of the few reasons I was hoping to get a different A380 registration on the way home)


Indian vegetarian meal - Same meal as last year (seviya upma with sambar). It was pretty delicious overall. Alongside with that is a croissant, cheese/crackers, and a dessert (yogurt based), which tasted really nice.



Cabin during lunch service:



Afternoon flying north:



Snapped this picture while waiting near the lavatory:



Flying further north:



Flying into the sunset going further north of Europe around northern Norway (Tromso):







Actual sunset from behind the plane:



Second meal (dinner) - Bhindi masala (okra curry) with lentil daal curry with bread roll, croissant and an apple strudel dessert.



Bhindi masala was overall excellent but a little spicier. The rest of the food was great overall.

[SQfanatic]

Before I slept for 6 hours on this leg, I snapped a couple of pictures of the A380 Voyager 3D map up Greenland after flying over Northern Norway and later Canada & North America. Surprisingly, this time around it did not take the Polar route.







Flying over Greenland:































The sunset over this route was very long that it did not even get dark at all. It stayed that way pretty much for an hour during dinner service and likely this was even sunrise. What an interesting view as we did not touch total darkness at all:



Light snack prior to our arrival into San Francisco:

Emirates cheese pizza along with Diet Pepsi which was excellent



Flying over the West Coast:



Captain came back to us mentioning we'd be 15 minutes ahead of schedule around 12:30PM in San Francisco. Despite departing late and having quite a lot of turbulence on our route, we managed to land on time.

A few landing views:


San Francisco Bay:













Landing around 12:25PM at SFO:







We deplaned close to around 1PM after arriving at the gate on schedule (12:45PM).





The journey came to an end on Tuesday afternoon, which I had the full day off work (used my vacation time). Next day I headed back to work.

[SQfanatic]

Overall thoughts on Emirates?

The food and planes are very nice and reasonably comfortable. As far as service, it's also good. However, the sad part is that during breakfast on my last leg, I was expecting they'd ask if you wanted tea/coffee, but not at all. You'd have to ring the bell to ask the F/A for it. The problem sometimes for that is that they might be too slow and sometimes unresponsive (It's no different on Singapore Airlines that my dad experienced as well as my mom & me last year). Food was also fresh and quality is excellent. Crew were friendly, even for filming for boarding and disembarking this time around as opposed to the last time.

They certainly do have a lot more entertainment options as opposed to Singapore Airlines. Most of the time on both these legs I slept so took whatever pictures I could.

Because this was a trip for a relative's wedding and engagement, I did not have a say on the airline I was planning to want to take. The original plan was to travel in October but so many date changes were quite costly. I had a plan to initally cancel Emirates and take Lufthansa instead (748 and 744 to BLR, A343 from MAA, 748 to SFO), but there wasn't much of a point even if it was cheaper.

Later this month (around Christmas) I will be flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt and Spain, so I will post a TR at least on that.

Thoughts about India?

Always good to be back there in Chennai. However, it was certainly nice to visit Bangalore after 15 years. Climate was dry and excellent all the days and temperatures were hot in the afternoon but cool and pleasant in the evenings and mornings. I'd like to take a visit there again maybe in trips going forward (if going to BLR is cheaper both ways, which can sometimes happen). Especially to see MG Road/Brigade Road in the daytime and ISKON in the daytime. I'd also like to explore the Bangalore metro because that is very close to ISKCON, and stay at a hotel nearest to that. If not, maybe stay with my cousin and his wife and they can take me around.

All the events went very well. The only thing that did not go so well was the ability to meet friends despite the planning, Whatsapp group, etc. Maybe we need to better plan before next trip, but I at least kept the group open.

As of now, my dad is flying back to SFO on Emirates (He was on A6-EPQ from Chennai, which happens to have the newest Y class seats identical to the A380, currently on A6-EVQ to SFO).

My parents will be planning to travel in February themselves for Pongala puja and my dad will stay back to explore a few more things.

Like my dad, honestly 16 hours on Emirates is too long. It's a good carrier I agree, but if it's possible based on price I'd like to break the flight times to something like 10-9 via Europe or something.

[yflyer]

Thanks for posting this TR, SQfanatic! I am thoroughly enjoying the read!

The new airports in India are very impressiove, and all that food looks so delicious too.

Been a while since I flew Emirates. I'm not so keen on their 777's, but I love the EK A380, especially if it is equipped with the newer/newer cabin products (like your last sector).

Enjoy Lufthansa and your upcoming Europe trip!

[SQfanatic]

Thanks for posting this TR, SQfanatic! I am thoroughly enjoying the read!

The new airports in India are very impressiove, and all that food looks so delicious too.

Been a while since I flew Emirates. I'm not so keen on their 777's, but I love the EK A380, especially if it is equipped with the newer/newer cabin products (like your last sector).

Enjoy Lufthansa and your upcoming Europe trip!

Thanks yflyer for the feedback as always. I couldn't have agreed more on everything you said. Bangalore Airport is very nice and also Chennai which it looks to be Terminal 2. I wonder how Terminal 4 (Singapore Airlines/Cathay Pacific terminal) looks like now, maybe undergoing renovation.

True, the food is pretty good more and it's more than plentiful that you'll get on EK. About the 777's, I agree but of course that depends on the seat It's a little tight, I agree, but it's not as bad on the 777 in my opinion compared to the A350 or 787.

Btw - As I said before my parents will be flying Emirates themselves in February again. My mom will go to Trivandrum completely for Pongala puja, but my dad will go earlier and spend a few days in Chennai picking up some jewelry.

Also, I am going again to India in late March, which unfortunately at that time marks the hotter season (Summer). But the purpose is different - We have some temple friends who moved to the Bay Area recently from Toronto (their daughter lives in San Francisco with their granddaughter) and they do a lot of religious puja for their profession. They organized something in Varanasi (Benares), which means we will be flying Emirates to New Delhi, then taking a local flight to Kashi (like we did on Cathay Pacific back in 2018). Although I won't actually show the puja stuff, I'll show the ghats & the hotel plus food we are eating as applicable. Delhi flight will be by their 777-300ER. It's going to be a challenge in the hotter weather but something we are going to attend.

Flying to Europe tomorrow (Dec 23) from SFO, so will show plenty of pictures of LH (I bought the Wifi package ahead of time) & Spain and Portugal.