Transit at Delhi Airport (Indira Gandhi International Airport)

Let me start by saying avoid transit the Delhi Airport (Indira Gandhi International Airport). If you really have to for whatever reason try to make it minimum. I was stuck at the airport for 8 & 14 hrs and o boy I had so much fun!!!

As you get of the plane there will be two guys asking where you are going. If you have a transit they will tell you to wait. You will probably be standing up for another 1/2 hrs depending number of passenger for transit. Once everyone is there they will ask you to fill a form and start processing the form. They start with whoever is the near to them. There is no systematically way to process it. If you can push through the crowd and come to the front they will do process your form, basically there is no line and if your think they will come ask you if you need any help you will be sitting there all day long.

Once the form is filled out they tell you "you're done, now wait". There is no waiting room or chair. I had no clue what I was waiting for or why I was waiting. Again you will be standing there for another 1/2 hrs till everyone form is processed. Once everyone form is processed they will tell you "follow me". I tried to ask the guy what we are doing next, he pretended he didn't hear my question. I found a lot of situations like that.

After we followed him for 10 mins he took us to a small room and said "wait here" and left. I thought probably some one will come to tell us what's the next step. But no, no one came. My flight was after 14 hrs and I didn't know what was going on. I ask a guy in uniform about what I need to do to get boarding pass for the new plane. He said, "wait here, tomorrow morning" and left. O by the way we reached there at 10:00 PM ... All the passengers who came in that plane had no idea what was doing on, nobody has a clue what need to be done next. A group of guys got into arguments with one of the employee who as walking by. They wanted some information and the employee said "wait here, 15 mins". No matter what the passenger asked he said "wait here, 15 mins" and left....

Finally, I was able to get some information about what was going on by asking a guy after buying some food from him. He was very helpful then the employee who worked for the airport. The room we were dumped on was a transit room.There was a desk with "transfer" name no one was there because it was middle of the night. We were not allowed to go anywhere beside that room. The airline company's employee comes to the transit room 3 hrs before the flight and screams your name and you follow him. They will come up to 2-3 times and if you are asleep at that time you will miss your plane. A person ended up buying a new ticket because he was asleep when they called his name. The transit doesn't have anything beside restroom, 2 canteen, a phone booth and currency exchange. If you thinking of using your laptop to watch movie on the transit you probably wanna carry some extra batteries as there is no electronic outlet.

If you have a long transit like ours than you probably want to go to a lounge. There are three lounges after transit room right before you reach security check point. The one we went to is the on the left side, I believe it a lounge of Indian airlines. You don't have to travel in Indian airlines to use this lounge. All you need to do is ask the front desk guy "how much?". I paid $ 60 per person to use the lounge for 10 hours. I asked for a receipt, as he put the money in his pocket, he replied the system is down. Later on I came to know that it's their side business. I suggest to go for a bargain. The good thing about the lounge is everything there is free computer with high speed Internet, wi-fi, food and unlimited drink. Might not be that bad of a deal if you drink a lot. But at the same time you don't wanna miss your flight cause you are drunk as a skunk.

Make sure you come down to transit 3 hours before the flight. You won't be able to hear the announcement as the lounge is quit sound proof. And the one list thing to be careful is on the security checking. There are two; first one before leaving the transit room and second before boarding to the plane. The first security will give you tags to put on your hand luggage but not on your handbag or a purse. Ask them for a tag even though they will say you won't need it.Because the second security will send you to back if you don't have the tag on you handbag.

In short, following are the things that you want to keep in mind.

1. Don't expect to have a good customer service
2. Transit room is very small, no source of entertainment or electronic outlet
3. If you want to use a lounge, go to Indian Airlines Lounge and do some bargaining
4. Put tag on everything you are carrying on the first security check point