Review of Jet Airways flight Mumbai Colombo in Economy

Airline Jet Airways
Flight 9W256
Class Economy
Seat 21A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 02:30
Take-off 19 Jan 15, 02:30
Arrival at 19 Jan 15, 05:00
9W 47 reviews
jish.b
By 1780
Published on 1st April 2016
This is the fourth and final part of my January 2015 trip from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to New Delhi (India).
I will be covering the flight from Mumbai to Colombo in this part, featuring the brand new Terminal 2.

Here is the link to the video trip report of this flight:


Part 1: CMB-BOM on 9W255 VT-JFP (B738) http://flight-report.com/en/report-13057.html
Part 2: BOM-DEL on 9W307 VT-JTB (B73H) http://flight-report.com/en/report-13247.html
Part 3: DEL-BOM on 9W354 VT-JGD (B739) http://flight-report.com/en/report-13715.html

We were guided out of the arrivals section of Terminal 1B to a bus waiting to take us to Terminal 2.

We departed from T1B towards T2, going past T1A. Quite a bit of traffic was present in front of the Sahara Star Hotel, so rather than turning right onto the Western Expressway Highway (towards T2), we went left. Towards Bandra suburbs and the like.

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Close to the New Airport Colony, a tunnel brightly lit with signs of purple lights took us straight on to the six-lane approach road with the palm tress. With no traffic on the way, the lovely sights of Terminal 2 awaited.

A few minutes later what I saw was truly mesmerizing. I couldn’t believe where I was! The size of Hong Kong, maybe bigger. The lighting of Dubai, maybe brighter. I couldn’t believe that the Mumbai Terminal 2 was right in front of me. Back in 2007, I wouldn’t have ever believed such a structure would ever take shape, let alone 7 years later!

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The size though…well, if a passenger got off at the wrong gate, a long walk would follow, no doubt. But the signs were more or less very clearly marked, no issues. And all electronic, so making any changes should be straightforward for officials. One thing that didn’t change: the number of people. Absolutely amazing, the sea of life! But thanks to the much higher roof of T2, it didn’t feel cramped like the old T2, not one bit.

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Dad and I headed off to the Jet Airways counters to pick up our cabin baggage tags. Security was up next, and this took a while. I had to get my laptop out of its case. I asked the CISF guy why, because I didn’t have to the same in Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai Domestic, but he just gave me a rude look. Well; new-beyond-belief terminal or not, some things back in India never change after all.

Comprehensive screening was going on for a bag placed just after mine, so unfortunately, my bag was stuck in there, going in out of the x-ray machine along with the bag in question. A good 5-7 minutes wasted for nothing, essentially…

Immigration was next and this was a pleasant surprise. Almost ALL of the immigration counters were open, so the lines were relatively short. This was awesome! Very unlike the old terminal where it was very small and congested to begin with, but some counters were closed too, leading to very long lines. A clear step forward here.

Straight after immigration is the duty free, taking you straight through it. A plethora of shops, people, information boards and a massive waiting area followed next. What I was walking through was absolutely awesome, I couldn’t believe I was in Mumbai, India!

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A quick look at the impressive FIDS - 9W256 would depart from Gate 86C, which I automatically presumed was a bus gate, because there were other narrow body flights departing from here (Jet Airways to Bangkok, Doha, Singapore, Dubai etc SpiceJet to Dubai, Air China to Shanghai-PuDong and all)

What I found interesting, a true testament to Indian aviation was this: Air India logos had the Silver Star of Star Alliance alongside, while Jet Airways logos had the golden triangle of Etihad Partners, while the odd Vistara logos were placed here and there. And all you need to do is look back to 2012 when Indian aviation was in a real mess: hell knows what Jet was up to, Air India got rejected by *A continuously, Kingfisher were well and truly gone….and early 2015, in the new state of the art terminal, I had good vibes.

Oh wait, back to the lounge, hehe. The lounge is located on Level 3 I think it was. As the lift opened, a huge banner was put up: behind that lay what I believe was parts of the domestic T2. A friendly agent was manning the counter as he redirected people to the departure gates one floor lower (gates 85/86) with a smile, while welcoming people inside. With Dad’s card, I could gain access to the lounge.

He went off for a foot massage. Another thing I was impressed with - wifi. Wifi was available at almost all points within T2, and with some pretty decent speed, AND it would connect without a fuss. Awesome!

I had an hour to kill while Dad was away, after which I’d go back up to the main departures level for some spotting. I killed some time by…..eating.

Selection was pretty decent, I was happy. I liked how there was a huge fridge with so many drinks! Both Coke and Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta, 1 liter tetra packs of juice (a variety!), bottles of water and beer.

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I headed upstairs as soon as Dad came back. I had missed out the Singapore Airlines A380. Yes, again, seeing an A380 in India would be very big thing for me. I hoped to at least see the Emirates A380 that morning. I was feeling quite tired to be honest, I wanted to finish whatever spotting I could…and rest a bit. I glanced through the art exhibition on display at T2, and headed for the huge windows nearby: a Delta Air Lines A330-300 (to Amsterdam) was being pulled in by a tug, while Vistara’s A320 VT-TTC was parked right in front of me! By now, I had seen 100% of Vistara’s fleet on the day (as I write this, six more A320s have been delivered to Vistara). She was there, parked quietly. In the moonlight. Waiting for the morning to arrive, when she’ll head back into the air.
Other wide bodies included an Air India's Boeing 777-300ER heading for Newark, 2 Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ERs heading to Brussels (and onwards to Newark) and Hong Kong, and a British Airways Boeing 747-400 in the distance.


I walked a bit towards the AI B77W, and saw there was an extra security. Hmm, this must've been the dedicated USA gate then. A long walk towards the BA plane lay ahead. As much as I love to spot and click night photographs, I just didn’t have the energy to go all the way. I headed back to the massive duty free area, and went through the electronics store. Despite my tiredness, I was loving T2!

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Headed back to the lounge for a bit
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It was about 0115 hours, almost 15 minutes before boarding time when we went down to the bus-boarding gates 85A/B/C/D and 86A/B/C/D. 86A was assigned for us. Another sea of people here as the narrow body planes were preparing for their departure. Jet Airways flights to Singapore and Bangkok were boarding while we arrived there. A few minutes later, the SpiceJet and Jet Airways flights to Dubai were boarding.
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0130 came and went, as the boarding for the Dubai 9W flight started. I was sure of a delay for us. I walked around exploring the Terminal a bit more. Almost everyone was asleep!

0201 hours, boarding started from 86A (not 86C), and the few buses brought were filled up to the brim. SriLankan Airlines flight UL141 from Colombo had come in, operated by 4R-ABK, an Airbus A320-200. We'd be racing this bird to Colombo (spoilers - Boeing won!)



The bus drove us past the Delta A330, the beautiful Vistara A320 and then behind other planes such as the…. UL A320, a Cathay A330, Lufthansa B747, before finally making a turn towards the narrow body stands. The Air China A319 in some special livery was being pushed back, while we got so close… Ever so close to VT-JBE.
However, we pulled up beside another Boeing 737-800 parked, and this happened to be VT-JFP. VT-JFP, a 1.2 year old bird would be taking me to Colombo. This plane had the Boeing Sky Interior equipped.

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Emirates A380!!

Boarding took some time. All passengers were let out on to the tarmac, all had to board from the front door. Like VT-JGD getting stair number 124, JFP here got stair number 131, so 9W131 was written rather largely. This caused a bit of confusion, as some Sri Lankan people came and asked me if indeed I was on 9W256 to Colombo, to which I replied in the affirmative, and told them that number is just to indicate ground vehicle particulars, the latter which they did not understand. I wouldn't blame them, because everyone there was equally confused!



I walked up the stairs and we had to be held up a bit longer as passengers took their time to settle down. Boarding was slow. But a word on the crew - 2 AM in the morning and they had a smile like it was only a mid day flight! This truly was awesome. Not one yawn, as far as I could see. I took my seat 21A. 2 gentlemen were seated right next to me, well on the sleepy side.

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2 crew members addressed the people sitting at the emergency exit windows. I overheard one of them, requesting the passenger in question to stay awake during both take off and landing. After all, this was a red eye flight. Nothing much happened really afterwards, as I found one particularly annoying mosquito doing the rounds in the plane…


We were 17 minutes late. So pushback commenced at 0247 hours. It felt good to be holding the camera, recording the start up sounds. It felt good to be back in a window seat! Quickly both CFM56 engines were brought into life as we made a moderate speed taxi towards runway 27.
We made a very powerful take off into the night skies. We made the bank towards the South, and set course for Sri Lanka.



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The blue mood lighting was on from take off right until the end of the meal service. I was still amazed as to how the crew kept a smile through out this all!
At 0323 hours, I ask for a non vegetarian meal. Prior to this, I have flown on 9W256 five times. This was my sixth time on 9W256. The meal served was exactly the same as I had received in the prior two instances. Funny.
A bun and minced chicken curry. And fruits. I ate all of it rather quickly, with a glass of apple juice (I had to request for it as most passengers were asleep anyway..). At 0333 hours, I was done with the meal.

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Announcements for arrival at 0434 hours, we descended rapidly towards Colombo - we were pretty quick even on short finals! However, at 0451 hours, a very smooth touchdown was executed by the pilots, and we began the long taxi towards the gate. On the way, one of the two CFM56 engines were turned off - a first for me on the Boeing 737 at least!



Immigration was pretty quick. Baggage was already doing the rounds at belt 4.

And with that, I will end this flight report. I hope you enjoyed reading this!

My next trip will have a lot more variety…including some lovely wide body flights. Stay tuned!
See more

Verdict

Jet Airways

6.9/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering6.0

Independent (Oberoi Group Clipper Lounge)

6.8/10
Comfort6.5
Meal/catering6.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Services6.5

Mumbai - BOM

9.4/10
Efficiency8.5
Access10.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness10.0

Colombo - CMB

7.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness7.0

Conclusion

Not much can be expected of an airline during a red eye flight especially of this length. Yet, the crew were smiling (but disappeared after the meal service...)
Bags reached after sending them from Delhi, so no issues there

The lounge was pretty decent. It was getting very full but the staff made sure everything ran very smoothly.

Information on the route Mumbai (BOM) Colombo (CMB)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Mumbai (BOM) → Colombo (CMB).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Jet Airways avec 7.3/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 28 minutes.

  More information

2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 161105 by
    Rl 777 802 Comments
    Thank you for sharing this FR with us!

    The architecture at BOM T2 is stunning indeed, very beautiful!

    Great spotting shots at BOM!

    Yikes! A 02:30 AM departure and 05:00 AM arrival! It's impressive the FAs managed to be so attentive on this flight.

    Have a good one, see you!
    • Comment 337676 by
      jish.b AUTHOR 283 Comments
      Thanks for your reply! Much appreciated :)

      I too was surprised by the Flight Attendants - they did a fine job throughout (for the parts I was awake, at least :) )
      They would later return on the same plane (9W255 dep CMB 0610 arr BOM 0850)

      Cheers!
      Jish

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