India Question
 

I have a Flight comming into Delhi at 12:30am and was planning to go to the domestic terminal to catch another flight to Amritsar at 7:30am.

Question. How is Delhi Airport? is it okay to hang around the airport for a few hours? we don't want to go into the city and come back to the airport a few hours later.

Thanks for the help.

Well, it will be safe to hang out there but it is not a comfortable airport, being rather outdated and relatively small. If you are planning on catching some zzz's, it might be difficult but it will probably be quiet - we arrived there at 5 AM and the place was deserted. Hope this helps.

Are you going business class to Amritsar? If you are then I would go to the domestic terminal and wait in one of the lounges as they would be the most comfortable (they are not really like most business class lounges but would be better than the main terminal). You would need to confirm that these would be open overnight, but that would be my first suggestion.

If you are going economy, you will find that Delhi is nothing at all like an international airport which you may be used to, there are no shopping areas or restaurants other than one or two little coffee stands. However, as you have to change to the domestic terminal, there is a waiting area for the transfer buses to the domestic airport where there are sofas. I would suggest you wait here for several hours rather than going directly to the domestic terminal, as there is even less there in terms of places to sit and restaurants.

The shuttle bus is free and runs about once an hour, I think on the half hour. The waiting area is to the left after you come out of baggage claim and Customs, you will go through a set of doors and enter a long hallway with money changers and pre-paid taxi counters on your left, about halfway down this hall on your left is the waiting area for the bus to the domestic airport. There should be a sign overhead. There are about 5 sofas grouped here. You can also ask if you don't see it. I would not take the first bus, but wait a while here as this is the most comfortable place I can think of, as I recall there are also rest rooms here. You should be able to buy coffee and water and one or two places near the exit doors from the terminal out back in the hall to the left. I have not done this but am going on memory. You might want to get some bottles of water and/or snacks on the plane and bring it with you just in case these are not open all night, which is possible. Many flights depart Delhi between midnight and 2 am so things may be open until around 2 am.

Sorry, you know I am not sure that the shuttle buses to the domestic terminal run all night. So, you might want to confirm this at the information desk (this is inside the baggage claim area near the carousels, hopefully it is open at 12:30 am). If it is not running, I would still say to hang out in the waiting area for a few hours, and then arrange to take a taxi over to the domestic terminal at like 3:30. The trip takes about 15 minutes. You can do one of the pre-paid taxis, the counters are out in the hallway.

If you have to get a boarding pass at the domestic airport, you might want to confirm with the airline what time they open the check-in before the flight, there is no point in getting to the domestic terminal before they open. It seems unlikely that your international carrier will be able to issue you a boarding pass for your Amritsar flight.

Thanks guys!!!!!. We will be flying on Air Deccan which has the earlist flight out to Amritsar. Will we be able to pay them to use the facility?

I don't understand the question. If you mean can you pay to use Air Deccan's business class lounge if you aren't flying business class, the answer is no, they don't let people do that. If you mean can you pay to use the waiting area for the buses to the domestic airport, that is free (as is the bus to the airport) so as long as it is open all night (which I don't know for sure), you can use it.

I'd recommend you book a car and driver at the international airport and go to the Radisson Hotel which is pretty much en route from the international airport to the domestic. You can freshen up in the powder rooms and get something to eat at the 24 hour coffee shop (though confirm theirs is actually 24 hours) then get your car driver to drop you to the domestic airport around 6 AM in good time for your flight. Things like car drivers are cheap in india and well worth paying for.