Review of Air India flight from Mumbai to New Delhi in Economy

The day started as usual by arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) T2 at 1700 hrs IST for the scheduled departure time of the flight at 1945 hrs.The flight AI-314 is a long haul flight from Mumbai to Osaka with stopovers at Delhi and Hong Kong. The aircraft was Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANC. Since I had already done a web check-in The only task left was to drop the baggage . The staff was really kind and helpful. Although a long queue for the baggage drop the staff handled well in spite of the huge crowd. After the baggage drop I was directed to security checks which also went smoothly. The flight was scheduled to depart from Gate 71, which was stand V17 of CSIA. Since there was little time left for boarding I decided to do some wandering in stores and do a bit of plane spotting, which is a worldwide hobby for aviation enthusiasts.

After that we were instructed to board the aircraft. It was truly a dreamliner with a beautiful ambiance around. The flight was commanded by Capt. Jagmohan Singh. We boarded the aircraft and there were in-flight announcements stating the safety instructions of the aircraft. The announcements were complete and we were ready for push back and taxi.

Indigo Airbus320 preparing itself
Soon the engines were fired up and we were taxing to Runway 27 for our departure after a delay of 30 minutes due to congestion at the airport. We were taxing on taxiway N N1 behind the Spicejet Boeing 737-800 WL and holding short of Runway. We were number 2 for takeoff.

We lined up on Runway 27. The engines were spooled up and finally the power was opened on the 2 General Electric engines and we were rolling on the runway. We were airborne and made a right turn via ANOLI 1A departure and transited towards the DOTIP waypoint. After sometime the captain turned off the seat belt signs and the crew began serving us meals which was first started by Amul buttermilk. Later we were given a sumptuous meal containing a bun , salad , a main course which included rice , paneer sabzi and dal tadka.

After the meal the announcement came in from the flight deck that due to rough weather and congestion at Delhi airport our landing would be delayed. We started circling and after about 6 circlings and 45 minutes of holding, we finally were lined up for landing in Delhi. The flight ended with an apology announcement of Captain and we were parked at Bay B17 at Delhi. The Air India staff made the flight really comfortable and I would love to fly Air India again in future.
I sincerely apologize for the quality of pictures.