Review of Air Astana flight from New Delhi to Almaty in Economy

I needed to be in London by the end of the first week of May, but couldn't leave until the 1st, which meant only a few days in between.
Gulf Air via Bahrain from a larger airport in India was the easiest way to add a new country, and it was easy to get a long layover. Another, more interesting option I looked at was Beirut via the UAE and then Middle East Airlines on their new(ish) A321neo to London. I made a whole itinerary that worked quite well with a few days in Beirut - and then around two days later the war in the Middle East started. For a day or two it actually looked like Lebanon wouldn't be touched but that didn't last long.

Just in case airfares shot up because of fuel costs I booked Etihad to London with American miles so it was refundable. 20k+taxes which was a terrible price for a $300 flight but it did give flexibility.

It was very important that I got to London without any major disruptions, but there weren't any great options besides the Middle East so I was planning to go with Emirates. There was Air China, but I didn't want to fly them on such long flights. Also AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines and Uganda Airlines, but neither worked well with proper stopovers in their respective nations. I had ruled out Air Astana a while ago but then I happened to check them to Frankfurt and it was actually reasonable, after looking into it a bit more London actually worked ok with a few days in Almaty. This was a country and airline that I had wanted to do for a while and while it was expensive - nearly $200 more from Delhi than Emirates was from Kolkata, and closer to the entire cost of the original Beirut idea - it was probably worth it since even a couple of days of UAE airspace closure would be a huge mess for me.

The booking process wasn't easy. It didn't work on the website, the app didn't have multi-city, the Delhi office said they had no idea, the Almaty call centre wasn't able to do it either. Finally after a complicated morning involving multiple bookings and payments that didn't seem to be going through, with a very helpful Air Astana agent the booking was made. It was pretty stressful since the process took a few hours and in between the fares shot up to over $700, but in the end the booking came through for a total of $535 Delhi-Almaty-Heathrow with 2.5 days in Almaty. There was an earlier flight to Almaty at 1:10 AM but this 11:35 AM departure was worth missing a few hours in Kazakhstan.

This flight was really at a great time, late enough for a reasonably relaxed morning in Delhi but still a few hours of daylight on the other side in Almaty.
There was a short wait to get into the airport with the ticket check outside and the Air Astana counters were near the end of the terminal. It was fairly quiet; the check-in area was in a little corner without too many people and it wasn't very busy generally anyway.

They were surprisingly strict with the carry-on for a full service airline and even put in the bag sizer which I haven't experienced in years. Still, didn't take too long to get through. There was a long line in immigration but security was impressively efficient compared to the usual chaos.
Here's a look at the international departures from T3 today. Air Astana itself is probably the most interesting with the exception of Kam Air to Kabul.

On the way to the gate I saw a special plane: VT-ANT, Air India's first refurbished 787-8.

The airport was still fairly quiet here. Sadly not great views of the international aircraft present.

Air India's flight to Shanghai started boarding across from the Almaty gate and it was shockingly empty, there was like no one there. I wonder how sustainable the route is going to be, clearly they're struggling to fill the 787s.

Another Air India 787, this one in the Guru Nanak special livery.

I saw the Air Astana plane landing but there was too much in between for me to get a picture, and it came down too fast. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long before it got to the gate.
EI-KGH, a 4 year old A321LR, will be taking me on my first trip to Central Asia. Also my first time on an A321LR.

Boarding was still a little late.

Next door was a little Thai Airways International A320. They really should stop flying these ex-Thai Smile narrowbodies on such long routes

When boarding did start it was fairly peaceful and organised despite a full flight. There was a short backlog in the jetbridge and marginally better views of the plane on the way down.

Beautiful first impression of the Air Astana cabin, with business class.

With economy looking quite nice as well.

Headrests, as you can see, were adjustable.

At each seat was a pillow, and yes, an amenity kit, on a three hour daytime flight. We'll get to that later.

A USB-A port, bifold tray table, personal lights and air vents, a literature pocket and regular seatback pocket.

Let's have a very quick look at the entertainment, which, aside from the very limited TV selection, I thought was quite decent if a bit old in content. The screens were extremely reflective so the pictures are from weird angles to minimise that.

The earphones were somewhat better quality than what most airlines provide in economy.

There was also a magazine and safety card.

On to the amenity kit. While I was expecting this from reviews, it's really impressive that they give them on such a short flight especially during the day. They've become rare enough on long haul flights and while they might not be such a big thing, these little touches can make flights much better experiences. I'm not sure if there's any other airline that does this in economy.

As you can see, it was a nice amenity kit - bag and contents - too. It had a socks, earplugs, an eye mask and dental kit and even a pen which is extremely rare.
There were also blankets available on request.
The Air Astana safety video is a bit famous (at least with people that pay attention to such things 😅) and it wasn't overrated. I'd recommend having a watch yourself.

Now during the video alarms suddenly started going off everywhere which was a bit worrying. Thankfully no one panicked and within a few seconds a message came through from the Government of India that they were testing an emergency system.

We were on the runway for a long time, on the way out passing a Central Asian neighbour: an Uzbekistan Airways 767-300.

Takeoff finally happened about an hour after scheduled departure.
The "MySpace" extra legroom economy seems like it could be curtained off like business, but it wasn't.

Lunch service began with a warm towel that felt a bit more cool and wet after I opened it. Another nice touch most airlines have forgotten in economy.

It took a while after that for the actual meal service to start, but finally it came with special meals first.

Pretty good quantity, and looks decent as well…

The butter wasn't actually pink by the way, just the lighting.
Metal cutlery though strangely small, and a wipe.

It was a great meal. Plenty to eat and it all tasted good.
Drinks came later and for reason the FA skipped my row and then seemed almost angry when someone asked her for a drink. The crew were generally not friendly on this flight which was a shame as everything else as great.
Including the cups.

It took a little while to clear trays, and more drinks were given to people who specifically asked during the clearing.
On the way to the back there were a lot of people gathering and chatting in the aisles so it took a little effort to get to the bathroom. That was clean enough though with no special amenities.
(partial) cabin view.

During the flight there were excellent views, especially of the Hindu Kush mountains, but it was a bit hard to take pictures from the aisle.
And then fairly quickly we were arriving in Almaty, and the mountains there I could see a bit better.

There was a twenty minute wait before deplaning finally started, a bit annoying after arrival was already half an hour late.
Last view of the seats for this flight.

There were amazing views of mountains and the plane plane on the way down, but the crew were hurrying everyone along so, very sadly, I couldn't get any pictures except from the bus where the views were undoubtedly inferior.

This does look a bit fake but I promise it is a real picture of the mountains and SCAT Airlines.

During the reasonably fast ride to the terminal the bus passed our plane and a few of its siblings.

Qeshm Air, stuck in Almaty I assume since the war started in its home country of Iran.

A wide array of local aircraft.

And finally, right at the terminal, S7 Siberian Airlines from Novosibirsk. I've always hated the colour of their livery but it does look somewhat better in person.

Immigration was fast and baggage was already starting to arrive when I was through, though mine took a little longer.

And I'll conclude this report here. Thanks for reading.