Trip Report: Mumbai to Delhi on Vistara A321

A Vistara Airbus A321 taxis for takeoff.
MarcelX42, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Ever since I watched YouTube videos of Vistara’s Airbus A321 and Boeing 787, I wanted to try out their product for myself, AviationSource writer Gaurav Gowda reports.

Knowing their Boeing 787 Dreamliners don’t operate domestically, I always had my eye on the any routes flown by their A321 on domestic sectors.

I always tried to check the flight history and book flights out from Bengaluru, and finally I decided to fly up to Mumbai, just so that I could fly to Delhi on their A321.

So, I took a red-eye flight with Akasa Air, and spent the day at my house in Mumbai before my flight with Vistara later in the day.

So, let’s find out if all this hassle was worth it!

Vistara – Mumbai to Delhi


Flight Details:

  • Flight Number – UK 986 (BOM-DEL)
  • Departure Airport – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Mumbai)
  • Arrival Airport – Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi)
  • Registration – VT-TVI, 0.1 Years old during the time of flight.
  • Aircraft Type – Airbus A321

Pre-Check-in Experience


Vistara has a decent UI for its app – I can’t say it is one of the most user-friendly applications out there, but yes, it gets the job done.

Check-in was hassle free and I was all set for my flight, being a Flexi-fare seat, selection was complimentary for me and as always I selected a window seat.

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Arrival at Mumbai Airport


I always arrive way before time at T2 Airport in Mumbai. The view of the tarmac from the food court at this airport always makes me excited. T2 of Mumbai has to be one of the most beautiful airports in the country.

Check-in at Mumbai Airport

Vistara has a good amount of Check-in counters at Mumbai airport, but the thing I have always complained about, and where I wish Vistara would improve, has to be their ground experience.

Out of the total available counters, one is always blocked for “Staff travel” irrespective of the crowds and wait time for its “Paying passengers”.

This counter is never allowed to be used, and this never made sense to me as staff travel should not override the passenger experience.

Of the rest, two are blocked for Business class, the other two are for Premium economy and Vistara Gold/Platinum class members.

Nevertheless, I hope the situation improves and hopefully Vistara takes a note of this feedback.

Security Check at Mumbai Airport

Security check at Mumbai airport has always been well organized, so in roughly about 20-25 minutes I had cleared security check and was headed towards the food court to find myself a seat with a good view of the active runway.

Boarding Experience


I reached my gate almost 40 minutes before the scheduled time of departure and was all set to enter my highly awaited flight trip.

Soon they started boarding, and my first view of their business class product left me awestruck! This would match up to the high standards set by other international airlines, and having lie flat seats on-board narrow body aircraft is always a thumbs up.

So, right here I made up my mind to fly their A321 Business class product as well and the review for the same will be up next month.

Vistara has a 2-2 configuration in Business class and 3-3 configuration in Premium economy and Economy class

The Seat


As soon as I took my seat, I found the leg room to be decent as is typical with all flights with Vistara.

Experiencing Vistara’s IFE for the first time, you can see it was pretty good, and had good touch response.

I love their “Map” view which comes with different types of aircraft views, always exciting for an Avgeek.

Vistara’s safety briefing video has to be one of the most soothing and calm videos I have ever viewed. They provided everyone with a complimentary earphone as well.

In-flight Service


Soon after take-off crew started meal service, I was busy watching movies from their vast selection of Hollywood, Bollywood and regional content.

The meal was served but for the first time the chicken gravy served was a bit weird and not up to the mark, hence I decided to skip the meal and enjoyed their dessert.

Arrival at Delhi


We arrived at midnight at Delhi airport and the Arrivals hall had a deserted look; out of the three terminals here at Delhi, Vistara operates all of its flights from T3.

What I liked the most this time was this aircraft was parked at a remote bay and that meant I could get down to get some pictures of the aircraft I just flew on.

Unfortunately, as soon as I disembarked, I could see Lufthansa’s A350 preparing to taxi from its gate, so obviously I forgot to take pictures of the A321 and instead focused on A350!

Conclusion


Photo Credits (all photos): Gaurav Gowda

Vistara remains my most favourite and preferred airline in the country for its hospitality on-board – for both their soft and hard products and flying their A321 service just enhanced my experience with them.

I enjoyed it so much that I have decided to fly again on the same sector just to experience their business class product, so stay tuned and check out that review as well!

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