Morning_Giggle

Hi all,

I have a tentative reservation to fly Cathay Pacific to India from the US west coast through Hong Kong. It involves a local hop PDX-San Fransisco, then 15 hours to Hong Kong and 6 more to Delhi.

Alternatively, there is a flight available through Europe which would consist of 9 hours to Amsterdam, then 8 to Delhi.

I'd love to know who's taken either of these routes, and your feedback. Which is the easiest? Thanks!

rhkkmk

i have taken routes similar to thailand which is similar....i prefer the east bound routes because most of the flights are nite flights which assists with sleeping and arriving more relaxed.....but a flight through hong kong with a stop there for a few days would hold interest for me too....isn't there a big price difference?

dreaming

I've taken an east bound route to India (LAX/ORD/DEL) and west bound to Hong Kong & Thailand. The direction of travel wouldn't sway the balance for me, what would influence me more is the total travel time.... Looks like you have 17 hours in flight eastbound and 21+ hours in flight westbound. So unless there's something else in play - long layover, or per rhkkmk, either a price difference or a long layover option, my inclination would be to go east...

BeachGirl247

My husband who traveled to India for business many, many times preferred the eastern route. Chicago/Heathrow/Dehli. He said it was much easier on him than the western routes he took.

BA was his airline of choice at the time.

jules39

I have just gone through this whole process & have ended up with the AMS flight just because the Hong Kong way there was a long lay over in Hong Kong & the timing just turned out being better. If I could have swung an extra day or 3 off work I would have taken the Cathay route & had a couple of days in Hong Kong on the way over. J

Jaya

The layover coming back is long in Amsterdam - something like 10 hourse.

Also consider:
- American Airlines nonstop from Chicago to Delhi,
- Continental nonstop from Newark to Delhi, or
- Air India nonstop from JFK to Delhi.

I personally do the Continental route and have been happy with it. You save a lot of time by not having the layover in Europe. Also, Continental has the best arrival and departure times in Delhi.

Morning_Giggle

Thank you very much! This is very helpful.

Rhk and Beachgirl, that's good to know -- I've taken east flights to Europe a number of times, and I guess it's knowing what it's like that made me lean that way.

Dreaming, I hear you about total travel time. I'm doing this on mileage, and with Cathay I got first class SF to Hong Kong, business class to Delhi, then coach back to Hong Kong and Business back to SF. However there's a long layover both ways in SF -- and the rest of the flight takes something like 25 hours, which seems exhausting. (OTOH it's not coach, most of the way.)

I was thinking of staying overnight at the Amsterdam hotel if I went that way, giving me a direct 9 hour PDX-AMS (coach) and another 8 hours the next day to Delhi. It sounds easier, but it's so hard to tell.

Jaya, thank you for the Continental-through-Chicago advice! I've never taken Continental before -- and it's not on my mileage plan, but I saw a deal for under $800 so I might look into it.

rhkkmk

i find continental does a very nice job

magical

There are several direct flights from LAX to Delhi or Mumbai, with a 1 hour refueling stop in Frankfurt (Air India)...I hear the new Air India is much improved) or Lufthansa (refuel in Frankfurt) and others too, names of which I can't recall at the moment.
Total flight time is about 19 1/2 hours. So check this out, if shorter flight times are important to you.

Going west, 20+ hours will get you as far as Bangkok or Singapore, with another 5+ hours to Delhi + layover time in BKK or SING or Hong Kong.

Cicerone

If your choices are between an <i>all-economy</i> trip via Europe where you also have to spend the night in a hotel making a long trip even longer, and an <i>all-first/business class</i> trip via the Pacific (on Cathay no less) to me that is a no-brainer. I would take that flat-bed seat in Cathay, sit back (or more accurately: completely recline back), get a glass of champagne and enjoy the fantastic service. They will even give you pajamas. In first class you have your own little fort like you used to build as a child. You may not want to get off the plane.

You may have long layovers in San Fran, but you will have access to the Cathay lounge on the outbound which will help, not sure about the return, but you could check to see if Cathay will give you access to a lounge.

I would not worry about the economy class return from Delhi to Hong Kong, as the flight to Hong Kong is only 5 hours, and by the time you take off and get ready for landing, you really don’t get any sleep on that flight (I take that flight a lot myself, including this Friday night). But I would ask if you can check-in with first/business class, as this will save you time in line, including immigration where there is a special line. You might also ask if they can get you lounge privileges at Delhi airport. The lounge is not much, and this would be less of an issue to me than being able to check-in with first/business and use the immigration lines for first/business which are much shorter.

Some other things to consider in your planning:

1. You do not have to fly into and out of the same city in India, and probably don’t want to. You don’t need to return to Delhi if you are going to be in the south for example, it may be easier to head back to the US from Mumbai. Consider your itin and whether having to trek back to Delhi for a flight home makes sense. “Open jaw” flights, i.e. into and out of different cities generally do not cost any more than flights into and out of the same city.

2. There are many major gateway cities in India which it might be easier to enter than Delhi, such as Chennai, Bangalore, or Hyderabad. There is service into these cities from Hong Kong and Singapore and from some other places in Asia and even Europe. There are non-stops to Singapore from San Fran. These cities may make an easier introduction to India if you are interested in these regions. (Singapore Airlines also goes to Delhi.) I am not a fan of Mumbai for the tourist, esp a first time tourist, but you could look into entering India from there as well, as there are numerous connections from Mumbai to other parts of India.

Morning_Giggle

Rhkkmk and Magical, thank you!

Cicerone, it's great to hear from somebody who's taken those very flights, thank you too. I'm glad to hear about the lounges and the shortness of my one coach flight. (And as you can tell, I've never travelled first class before. Pyjamas! The idea of open jaw is one I'd never thought of, and I'll look into it. (I've always been attracted to Chennai and area especially.)

I'm off to search!

Jaya

I love Cicerone's description of building a fort like when we were kids. I hadn't thought of that in so many years, but that's what we used to do!