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I guess I'm not really surprised. I've flown on Delta from LAX to Sydney, from ERW to New Delhi and from Mumbai to ERW, from Honolulu to Fukuoka, and from HNL to Guam and back; and Hawaiian from JFK to HNL and back, and HNL to San Diego and back. While I flew foreign airlines to other destinations, my research into trying to find the cheapest flights came up with US airliners flying those same routes.
San Francisco Bay Area has a huge population of Indian Diaspora. They can support both United and Air India. Both will have a different passenger clientele.
Look at London Heathrow airport- 5 daily flights by Air India, 5 by British Airways, 2 by Jet Airways and 1 by Virgin Atlantic.
Look at JFK & EWR - 2 or 3 by Air India and 2 by United.
San Francisco Area Indian population is rivalling these two cities.
While American passengers, tech businessman travelling in Business Class, passengers connecting onwards in United will prefer to fly by United, Indian diaspora will use Air India more because of better food ( 2 full meals instead of 1 in United plus breakfast), better seat pitch, free alcohol, 46 kilos free baggage in Air India instead of 23 kilo in United. Students get 69 kg free allowance in Air India which is insane.
One should also remember the comfortable timings which Air India enjoy in Delhi Airport plus Air India transfers to other cities of India via domestic sector.
By contrast United traveller will need to spend whole night in Delhi Airport and get domestic connections next day if they need to connect to other cities of India.
Business Class product of United is definitely going to be better then Air India. American passengers are not expected to be attracted towards Air India food or baggage allowance. So we have a very diferent clientele for both the flights. Talk about collecting lot of miles for regular passengers of United.
Both Airlines will survive the competition !!! Good news for the passengers.
Last edited by munna21977; 12-24-2018 at 10:19 AM..
I was answering another poster (the topper) who asked whether noise abatement or runway length would limit long haul flights out of SJC. I live in the area (SJC is 20 mins from my home) so I'm pretty aware of what they can accommodate.
I don't see much 777s these days in and out of SJC but AA used to fly 777-200s from SJC to TPE, CDG, and NRT back around 2001-2002.
San Francisco Bay Area has a huge population of Indian Diaspora. They can support both United and Air India. Both will have a different passenger clientele.
Look at London Heathrow airport- 5 daily flights by Air India, 5 by British Airways, 2 by Jet Airways and 1 by Virgin Atlantic.
Look at JFK & EWR - 2 or 3 by Air India and 2 by United.
San Francisco Area Indian population is rivalling these two cities.
While American passengers, tech businessman travelling in Business Class, passengers connecting onwards in United will prefer to fly by United, Indian diaspora will use Air India more because of better food ( 2 full meals instead of 1 in United plus breakfast), better seat pitch, free alcohol, 46 kilos free baggage in Air India instead of 23 kilo in United. Students get 69 kg free allowance in Air India which is insane.
One should also remember the comfortable timings which Air India enjoy in Delhi Airport plus Air India transfers to other cities of India via domestic sector.
By contrast United traveller will need to spend whole night in Delhi Airport and get domestic connections next day if they need to connect to other cities of India.
Business Class product of United is definitely going to be better then Air India. American passengers are not expected to be attracted towards Air India food or baggage allowance. So we have a very diferent clientele for both the flights. Talk about collecting lot of miles for regular passengers of United.
Both Airlines will survive the competition !!! Good news for the passengers.
Actually, United has offered free alcoholic drinks on international flights for some time now. But the meals served are pretty blah.
The baggage allowance on United is 23 kgs per BAG for economy, and 32kg for business class, the same as AI.
Otherwise I concur with you on the different clientele or market segments being served between the US and India.
Actually, United has offered free alcoholic drinks on international flights for some time now. But the meals served are pretty blah.
The baggage allowance on United is 23 kgs per BAG for economy, and 32kg for business class, the same as AI.
Otherwise I concur with you on the different clientele or market segments being served between the US and India.
It is not same, I have checked it again.
United allows 1 checked-in bag free of cost between India and USA of 23 kg. For second bag, they are asking for 100 dollars fees.
Air India allows 2 checked-in bags free of cost between India and USA 23 + 23 = 46 kilos. If anyone can prove their student credentials, even American students, they get allowance of 69 kilos (extra 23 kilos stuffed in) free of cost.
For typical immigrant passenger who travel with tonnes of sweets/spices/pickles from India and those who manage to travel once in a year or even more, baggage allowance is very very important.
Many Indians like elderly parents have language issues-for them Air India with Hindi speaking staff is better. Some people are fussy about food like Vegetarian stuff-they go with Air India.
These things matter nothing to normal American Business traveller from Silicon Valley and they will go with United Airlines.
United allows 1 checked-in bag free of cost between India and USA of 23 kg. For second bag, they are asking for 100 dollars fees.
Air India allows 2 checked-in bags free of cost between India and USA 23 + 23 = 46 kilos. If anyone can prove their student credentials, even American students, they get allowance of 69 kilos (extra 23 kilos stuffed in) free of cost.
For typical immigrant passenger who travel with tonnes of sweets/spices/pickles from India and those who manage to travel once in a year or even more, baggage allowance is very very important.
Many Indians like elderly parents have language issues-for them Air India with Hindi speaking staff is better. Some people are fussy about food like Vegetarian stuff-they go with Air India.
These things matter nothing to normal American Business traveller from Silicon Valley and they will go with United Airlines.
That's interesting. That only seems to apply to UA's India-bound flights - I tried this with my UA account to SFO to HKG or NRT and it allows me 2 free checked bags. Wonder why?
That's interesting. That only seems to apply to UA's India-bound flights - I tried this with my UA account to SFO to HKG or NRT and it allows me 2 free checked bags. Wonder why?
Are you any Premier Member or Star Alliance Silver / Gold member ? Those guys get 2 free checked bags.
Most passengers do not possess any mileage status or frequent flier tiers.
Baggage calculator is showing free 1 bag only here for General Economy class passengers. I checked between EWR and DEL by United.
I was answering another poster (the topper) who asked whether noise abatement or runway length would limit long haul flights out of SJC. I live in the area (SJC is 20 mins from my home) so I'm pretty aware of what they can accommodate. I don't see much 777s these days in and out of SJC but AA used to fly 777-200s from SJC to TPE, CDG, and NRT back around 2001-2002.
I don't live in California anymore, but it seemed to me that SJC already has or had some reasonably long haul flights.
SJC to
NRT 5,154 mi
LHR 5,369 mi
PEK 5,942 mi
PVG 6,181 mi
TPE 6,499 mi
DEL 7,731 mi ?
Judging by what I read from census, it would be easier to serve the ethnic Indian population from SJC than from SFO. Change from 2000 to 2010
The numbers of Indian-Americans Santa Clara County, which remains one of the nation’s Indian hubs, jumped from about 67,000 to nearly 118,000. In the East Bay counties of Alameda and Contra Costa there was a jump from about 55,000 to 95,000 in a mere decade, a growth of 74 percent.
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