It was sad but already time for us to leave India and head back to the states. We woke up early morning and got ready, checked all the bags one last time and got everything ready. We had nice lunch with family and decided to leave around 12:30 pm. We reached Ahmedabad domestic airport in 45 minutes. All of us just hung out outside of the airport and finally at 2 pm we bid our relatives goodbye and headed inside the airport. The airport was empty. There was no crowd and no lines.
We got to the Jet Airways counter to check-in. The agent weighed our bags and it turns out that we had about 3 kilos more among 4 bags. So, the agent tells us to take out 1 kilo. From what I remember, back in 2008, when we flew with Jet they were not this picky. In fact, at that time we had more than 4 kilos and there was no problem. I think it also depends on how flexible the agent is. Anyways, I reduce the weight of one of the bags by taking out an item and the agent continues by saying "Please bring your carry-on bags forward to weigh them"....Whaaaa??? Well, this is new!! I have never had to weigh our hand baggage whenever I have traveled, even with Jet. This kind of had me worried because I knew that all of our carry-on bags had more than 7 kilos. After weighing all the carry-on bags, the weight was about 6 - 7 kilos over, but, the agent didn't say anything. Phew! That was a relief. Good thing is that the agent didn't ask to weigh our personal items (purses & backpack/laptop bag) because we were all carrying additional 5-6 kilos in hand :P. Anyways, after the weighing luggage fiesta, we got our boarding passes for the entire journey (including the United Airlines passes), however, the agent told us to exchange the United Airlines passes with United when we reach Mumbai. We also got tags for all of our carry-on bags and personal items.
*IMP*: Make sure that you have a tag for each carry-on bag and personal item you're carrying. If you don't then you'll be sent back from the security screening to get the tags. The reason for this is that during the security screening, after your bags have gone through the scanner, the tags for each carry-on gets stamped which later gets checked before you board the plane.
Before we head for security, we say our final goodbyes (in the form of weaving) to our family who were anxiously waiting to see us and make sure we checked-in fine. The domestic airport is very small with only 6 or 7 gates, that's why you don't know the gate number until last minute. Once our gate was announced, we headed upstairs and again, find no crowd. Once the boarding started, our bags were checked to see if all the hand luggage had stamps or not. After that, straight to the plane!!
Jet Airways from Ahmedabad to Mumbai: Our first leg of the journey was from Ahmedabad to Mumbai on Jet Airways, less than 1 hour flight. Our flight left on time around 3:55 pm. The seats were good and comfortable. Even though it was an hour long flight to Mumbai, Jet served complimentary meal to everyone which included Cheese & Chutney Sandwich, and a Fruity. This was nice since I was hungry and also good to know that Jet is not "Kanjoos" (Cheap) like FlyDubai who even charge you to get water. We also got the immigration forms on board to fill out ahead of time. Once we landed at Mumbai domestic airport, I had an impression that we would have to take a bus from plane to get to terminal but things seemed to have changed. Our plane taxied at the domestic terminal gate. We were already at the terminal, so we headed to the transfer desk, so we could be transferred from the domestic to international airport. Again, something seems to have changed. In the past, I remember we had to go to the transfer desk, show them our onward boarding passes, and then they would give us tokens that we take to the transfer shuttle. Now, we just headed straight to the transfer bus line and didn't need to get any tokens. All we needed was our passports and the onward boarding passes. The line for the transfer was huge...thankfully my dad had assigned wheelchair so we went straight in the front of the line and got on the shuttle first. Before you get on shuttle, there is one more security screening of your bags and yourself which kind of takes longer time but it's for the safety of the people. Once the shuttle was full, it was about 15-20 minute ride to the international terminal. Mumbai's international terminal was crowded like crazy!! The bus driver had to honk at the people signaling them to move so that the driver had enough space to park the bus!! We get down and head inside for our onward journey.
I am going to stop right here and continue in the next post since this one is already becoming long. Until then, see ya!!
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