Incredible India - (Page 30)

GettInG there & Around either business—with lie-flat beds, vintage champagnes and state-ofthe-art in-flight entertainment system (including access to Bollywood entertainment)—or economy class, offering longer-than-average seat pitches. Clients who are comfortable traveling with Continental Airlines (continental.com) will want to know that the U.S.-based airline offers daily nonstop service from its Newark hub to both Mumbai and New Delhi. On these flights, the airline utilizes a Boeing 777 and there are Getting There special products and services for Indian customers. For example, Air India (airindia.com) offers daily service from Washington, D.C. to Bollywood movie channels are featured on the in-flight entertainment New Delhi (with a stop in New York en-route) with continuing service system, and traditional Indian music is incorporated into the world from Delhi to Kolkata. Additionally, the airline offers daily nonstop music audio channel. In-flight meals, which include Indian vegetarian service from New York’s JFK to Mumbai and New Delhi; the flight and Indian non-vegetarian choices, have been designed by Indian into Mumbai offers continuing service to Hyderabad, while the flight chefs based in the U.S. and India (no beef is served). Additionally, local into New Delhi offers continuing service to Kolkata. There’s also daily Indian newspapers are available for BusinessFirst customers. service from Newark to Ahmedabad and from Chicago to Mumbai Lufthansa (lufthansa.com) too, offers a plethora of options when (both of these flights stop in Frankfurt en-route). For travelers departing booking travel to India. With over 50 flights per week from Frankfurt and from Toronto, Air India offers daily direct service four times a week to Munich, Lufthansa offers convenient connections to seven destinations Amritsar and three times a week to New Delhi (with a stop in London’s in India—Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Heathrow Airport en-route). and Pune—flying from17 gateways in the U.S. In fact, Lufthansa is cur Clients will want to know that as of Sept. 1, 2009, all of Air India’s rently the leading European carrier to India, offering more weekly flights flights between the U.S. and India are on Boeing 777 aircraft, offering to the destination than any other European airline. economy, executive and first class service. Economy class features a Additionally, the German airline offers U.S.-based travel agents the seat pitch of 34 in. and built-in 10.6-in. LCD monitor; executive class Lufthansa India Specialist Program. The program essentially works offers flat beds with a pitch of 76 in., with privacy partitions and 15.4-in. like this: agents who sell Lufthansa tickets record the ticket data in the LCD screens. The first class cabin boasts compartments with flat beds specialist website (lufthansaspecialist.com) and for every qualifying that pitch 80 in., a built-in massage system, buddy seat, and a large Lufthansa ticket to India sold in the U.S., they accumulate points toward 23-in. LCD screen. a status level that earns them rewards. The website is also jam-packed Jet Airways (jetairways.com), meanwhile, operates daily flights from with information, including the most updated Lufthansa travel informaNewark and JFK to Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi via its hub in Brus- tion to help support agent’s India business. sels. On these flights, travelers fly aboard an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in There are also a host of other airlines, including American Airlines, Emirates and Turkish Airlines, that offer convenient air transport to India’s most populous cities from the United States’ east and west Important note to agents: U.S. citizens require a valid coasts. passport and valid Indian visa to enter and exit India for any purpose. Visitors must obtain visas at an Indian Embassy or Getting Around Consulate abroad prior to entering the country, as there are no Once in India, clients can also opt to travel with Kingfisher Airlines provisions for visas upon arrival. Those arriving without a valid passport and valid visa are subject to immediate deportation. (flykingfisher.com), India’s only five-star airline rated by Skytrax, and The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India are unable to assist the only one to offer premium first-class service on domestic routes. when U.S. citizens arrive without proper documentation. Each Additionally, the airline says that it offers the most flights by any single visitor should carry photocopies of the bio-data page of the airline network in India. This past November, for example, the airline traveler’s U.S. passport and the page containing the Indian launched daily direct flights from Chennai to Salem—a city in the state visa in order to facilitate obtaining an exit visa from the Indian government in the event of theft or loss of the passport. Reof Tamil Nadu, in the north-central part of the southernmost state of placing a lost visa in order to exit the country takes up to three India—the only airline to offer flights between these two cities. k business days. A string of airlines offer convenient air transport to India from the United States, including India-based Air India and Jet Airways, as well as Continental Airlines and Lufthansa. And once inside the country, clients can hop on Kingfisher Airlines, offering an array of flights that makes air travel within this vast country a seamless process. I-30 recommend.com http://www.continental.com http://www.airindia.com http://www.lufthansa.com http://www.lufthansaspecialist.com http://www.jetairways.com http://www.flykingfisher.com http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Incredible India

Essential India
Dreamy Accommodations
Touring India
Specialized Travel
Quintessential India
Meetings & Incentives
India in a Nutshell
Getting There & Around

Incredible India