Yesterday, we arrived New Delhi by Air India flight, AI333 and spent an afternoon to explore The capital of India and rested for a night before continue our trip to The Land of Little Tibetan, Leh (Ladakh). We decided to book our flight with Air India, the same airline what we took from Bangkok to India because it was easy to manage everything in the same booking and the price of Indian flag carrier for this route was interesting.

Herewith our flight details.

Route : Delhi (DEL) – Leh/Ladakh (IXL)
Carrier : Air India
Flight No. : AI445
ETD : 6.45 AM (GMT+5.5)
ETA : 8.20 AM (GMT+5.5)
Duration : 1 hours and 35 minutes
Aircraft : Airbus A320
Cabin Class : ECONOMY

.

Our trip was started by when we arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) – Terminal 3 on 5AM, about 1 hour 45 minutes before flight time. Delhi Airport has 3 terminals. Terminal 2 and 3 are in walking distance. While Terminal 1 is 8 kilometers away. Hence, you must check the departure and arrival terminal before your trip to avoid missing flight.

.

.

.

Air India’s check-in counters and baggage drop-off is at Row-E. Even, we did internet check-in in advance, but it had no specific counter. We had to queue at normal counters. 😂 Furthermore, Delhi Airport was one of the crowded airport of the world. The queue was so looooong. We recommended you to arrive the airport 2 hours in advance for domestic flight and 3.50 hours for international flight.

.

We spent about 45 minutes to complete the check-in, drop baggage and get the boarding pass. Next, we rushed to pass security checkpoint and headed to the gate without delay. Today, we would board at Gate Number : 30B.

.

.

.

.

.

We arrived the gate at 6AM, just few minutes before boarding announcement. Our A320 was waiting us already.

.

The boarding was started couple minutes after 6AM. It did use Aerobridge even the aircraft is just single aisle equipment. Awesome 👏

.

.

The seats were arrange as 2-2 for business class and 3-3 for economy class. The general pattern of single aisle aircraft.

Business Class Seats

.

Economy Class Seats

.

The seat pitch of Economy class was quite narrow (my height is 183 cm). But it was acceptable for short haul flight. It has no any entertainment equipment of PTV. It just has magazine and safety data sheet.

.

.

As soon as the boarding completed, the flight was pushed back and taken-off from Indhira Gandhi International Airport as scheduled.

.

.

Once the flight was in cruising altitude, the cabin crews started to serve the snack. It was vegetarian wrap and drinking water. The taste was spicy but tasty with traditional style Indian cheese. 🌶️🌶️

.

About 30 minutes after taking-off from Delhi, we could see the breathtaking view from the aircraft. It was the cold-desert mountain with snow on the top. I thought we can see this unique scenery from the flight to Leh only. By this, we would like to recommend you to select the seat at the left of the aircraft from Delhi to Leh and select the morning flight to enjoy this incredible vista ! 🗻🗻

.

Then, the flight was descended and safely landed at Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport – Leh. This airport is located 3,250 meters above sea-level.

.

.

After arriving and getting in the arrival hall by the bus, the baggage could be retrieved at belt number 2.

.

.

.

For foreigner, arrival registration form (Form-C) must be filled at arrival hall and handed to the officer after retrieve the baggage. This is because Leh/Ladakh is region administered by India as a union territory. The officer gave this form to foreigner passenger upon arriving the passenger building.

.

After we retrieved our baggage and handed the registration form to the officer, we exit the passenger hall to meet our appointed taxi driver for our Leh/Ladakh trip (6 days 5 nights). We would recommend Jimmy Tour Around Leh Ladakh. His Whatsapp number is +91 99 06 98 64 12. He and his team had very good service and friendly. Traveling with Jimmy and his team made us feel safe. We had unforgettable trip with Jimmy’s team ! 😃

.

Next, we headed to our hotel. We book Hotel Kanika Ladakh where is just 15 minutes from the airport and located just 10 minutes by foot to the city center. The hotel owner was friendly and helpful as well as extremely service mind. She made us feel like we were staying at our home in Leh. 🏠

Once we arrived and checked-in to the hotel in the morning , about 9AM, the hotel’s owner advised us to have a rest and sleep for a couple hours before starting to slowly walk around the city center to adjust our body with high-altitude in the afternoon. As Leh/Ladakh is located in high altitude region (3,000 – 5,000 meters above the sea level), herewith the tricks to prevent altitude sickness.

• Take Acetazolamide (the medicine to prevent altitude sickness) for 1 – 2 days before arriving high-altitude area. And, keep taking for 1-2 day after arriving. The dose and using of this medicine must be instructed by the pharmacist or doctor.
• It is highly regulated that we must arrive the high-altitude area at least 1 day before starting our trip to let our body adjust the altitude (acclimitization).
• The first day of arriving, we MUST not do hard activity. It is recommended to sleep for 2-3 hours upon arrival. Then, just starting to walk slowly in nearby area, not further than 1.50 kilometer from the hotel.

Furthermore, Leh/Ladakh is the special region of India, phone roaming (both voice/SMS and internet) is not available. Only post-paid Indian SIM card can be used (pre-paid Indian SIM card is also unworkable). For foreigner, buying Indian SIM card is almost impossible due to strictness of Indian Law. Now that, staying in Leh/Ladakh is like we are signed-out from the world. Only Wi-Fi in the hotel and Restaurant can connect us with the online system. 🌏

By the way, if the visitor would like to go out from Leh city for road trip to another area like Alchi, Nubra Valley, Turtuk or Pangong Lake, INNERLINE LINE PERMIT must be applied. Because it has security checkpoint to inspect the permit of foreigner en route. Only local tour company or taxi servicer can apply for their client. Once you booked the taxi service and/or tour package, the local company will ask you to provide digital photocopy of your passport and Indian visa to apply this paper. We would recommend you to apply INNERLINE PERMIT in advance.

All this, it is a review of travelling from Delhi to Leh/Ladakh by Air India flight. We could say that the service was quite satisfied as the airfare was reasonable with the full service range of Indian flag carrier. We would recommend Air India for traveling this route. 🛫 We wish you have a wonderful moment and enjoy stay in Leh !

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Written by : Shipy Siwarit Tiasuwattiseth

HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SHIPYSHIPDOTCOM