We reached Pune airport a little after 6:00 PM to check-in for our flight to Delhi, starting our journey to Europe. We had to scan our bags before check-in and the staff sealed the bag with plastic zip ties. The line for check-in was quite long and it took a while before it was our turn. This was the first of five connected segments for our award tickets to Europe 🔗. Vistara had an interline agreement with Lufthansa but not with TAP Portugal. The agent at the check-in desk said that they would be able to complete the check-in for us till Nice on the Vistara and Lufthansa flights but not onwards. So we asked him to issue the boarding passes and tag our bags only till Delhi. We planned to pick up the bags there and check-in all the way to Terceira at Delhi with Lufthansa. He was also kind enough to add priority tags to our bags to ensure that it would be easier for us to manage the international transfer at Delhi.

After about an hour after the baggage drop and security check, boarding for our flight began. It was a few minutes behind schedule, but we had a 2 hours and 40 minutes connection in Delhi, so I was not worried, yet. After take off there was a complimentary dinner service en route, which is now a rarity in Indian skies. And overall the flight was a pleasant and comfortable experience. We started our descent towards Delhi at expected time but kept circling and flying around for a long time. There was a substantial delay due to bad weather. We finally landed at 11:40 PM, 1 hour and 10 minutes behind schedule.

As soon as we were allowed to use mobile phones, I logged into the Lufthansa app and tried to check-in for our next flight. I was able to get boarding passes till Nice and also got an alert saying that last time baggage drop was 11:45 PM. It was already 11:45 PM and we were still inside the aircraft and taxiing to the gate. Finally, the aircraft doors were opened and we scrambled through the crowrd to rush towards baggage claim to collect our bags. We waited and waited and there was no sign of our bags. Most people collected their bags and left. There were others, like us, still waiting. As it turned out, most of them were Business class or Priority customers. It seems that none of the bags with the priority tags had made it. The ground staff made some calls and after a while the belt started moving again. Our bags were out in a few minutes and we began running again towards the international check-in area.

By the time we reached there, the Lufthansa counters for the Munich flight were empty. The agent took a look at our passports and asked her supervisor what was to be done. She mentioned to her supervisor that we had already completed the online check-in and that was the only reason they didn’t bump us off the flight. They issued boarding passes for the next four segments, gave us the stubs for the baggage tags and asked us to not even wait till they completed tagging our bags. They said we had to rush through immigration and security otherwise we would miss the flight.

I don’t even remember what time it was as we started running again. The lines at Delhi were long and winding, as usual. We asked if we could move past people in queue, stating that our flight was boarding in 10 minutes. And everyone, literally everyone, let us move ahead of them. Young and old, Indians and foreigners, business travelers and families, everyone! Some people heard us making the plea to others and didn’t even wait till we asked them but just stepped aside for us. This was truly something I was amazed by and it really stuck with me. I know that given a chance I would definitely extend the same courtesy to others in this situation going forward.

Clearing security and immigration we rushed to the assigned gate to see that boarding had started. We were able to use the priority lane, thanks to my United MileagePlus Premier Gold status. We were finally able to slow down, stop running and catch our breath, as we walked into the aircraft. We had missed the opportunity to visit the Air India Star Alliance Gold Lounge in Delhi but had made it to the flight to Munich looking forward to our first day of the trip tomorrow.

✈️ UK 992