• Introduction
• Check-in: ICICI/American Express Altitude Lounge Mumbai Terminal 1A
• Airborne: Flight AI 660 (BOM-DEL), Air India, Economy Class
• Check-in: ICICI/American Express Altitude Lounge Delhi Terminal 3
• Airborne: Flight AI 657 (DEL-BOM), Air India, Executive Class

I arrived at the Mumbai Airport in time for the flight, in spite of the fact that it was a working day and I had a late-afternoon flight. This involved arriving at office a couple of hours earlier than usual, and skipping lunch to make the one hour plus trip across town. On arrival at the airport, I proceeded to Terminal 1A, which is currently full of banks of empty counters and only has Air India occupying the terminal. Heck, even with that, they were overcrowded in the row of counters they used.

I went ahead and joined the queue which said Golden Edge/FFP members. Heck, I am going to take a lifetime to be ever getting any status on their loyalty program, but the nuance of the logic I used was that this was the Frequent Flyer queue. No one said a thing when I popped over at the counter to collect my boarding pass.

On the other side, people who were trying to barge into the Executive Class queue (Business Class) were being turned away if they were not travelling in that cabin. Some professionalism, that!

Notice the crowd on the Air India side of things, while on the other side there is a whole row of empty counters, which has been the case since Kingfisher died.

After going through the security queues I was on my own, and I had to choose where I’d like to go. Like I mentioned, the original intention was to check out the Amex Platinum Lounge this time around, which is situated inside the Carnations Lounge at Terminal 1C around gates 4-6. However, my gate today was going to be 11, and I ended up walking towards a side of the terminal I usually don’t go to and hence am unfamiliar with. While I walked, I noticed that the incoming flight for my trip arrived ahead of time.

I don’t know if this was oversight or bad planning, but I happened to step onto an escalator which brought me to my gate. However, to go back up, there was no escalator and you’d have to climb up the stairs. With a couple of relatively heavy cabin bags, I was not stepping into that trap of going back.

I also saw the very inviting Altitude Lounge tucked away here, in a corner of the airport’s domestic terminal where no one knew about it, right opposite gate 12. However, they made it on an elevated platform, and forgot to put an escalator along. So I had to suck it up and climb the stairs anyways.

Like you’d have noticed, American Express has launched a new set of lounges, presently in Mumbai and Delhi for the members of the cards which are issued by ICICI Bank for American Express networks. Access is only available to the Sapphiro, Rubyx cards, as well as the Jet Airways Sapphiro and Rubyx cards which are on the American Express network.

The Lounge was empty, at the middle of a busy week, especially when people were all set to get out of town for a long weekend! That is because no one knew where it is. It is about a 20-seater, and pretty well done. Here are some pictures of the lounge. To access the lounge, Sapphiro members get 4 free trips per membership year at any Altitude lounge across the country, and the Rubyx members get 2 trips per membership year.

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• Introduction
• Check-in: Clipper Lounge, Terminal 2, Mumbai
• Airborne: Flight 9W228 (BOM-BRU), Jet Airways, Premiere (A332)
• Hotel Manhattan, Rotterdam
• Hotel Sheraton Brussels Airport, Brussels
• Check-in: Jet Airways Lounge, Brussels
• Airborne: Flight 9W227 (BRU-BOM), Jet Airways, Premiere (A333)

Like I mentioned in the earlier post of this trip-report, I was intending to rush it in the morning to beat the long queues that tend to form up at the Brussels airport counters of Jet Airways. Even as an elite, you can be waiting for a while because all the counters would be full.

Having made it early, I walked up to a bank of empty Jet Airways counters, which was the first time in years I’d seen it like this. I walked over to the Business Class check-in counters, however, the counters were busy so I walked up to an empty Economy counter, where they looked up my ticket and requested the upgrade vouchers for this leg of travel. After providing them with 3 upgrade vouchers, which are needed for BRU-BOM, out came my new boarding pass, which was my seat in Premiere. I was excited because this was my first trip on the new A333s inducted in the fleet by Jet Airways in December 2012.

I walked up to the passport control counters, and looking at them being pretty empty, I walked to the nearby airport shop for not more than 3 minutes. However, when back, I was one amongst the many in the queue. Never take passport control for granted, lesson learnt!

After having gone through passport control, I hopped into the security check queue. Brussels does have a separate express security check queue for premium passengers, which is only accessible by scanning your boarding pass. A few moments there and I was over to the other side.

Now that everything was done, my tummy was growling for some breakfast, and I decided to hop over to the Jet Airways Lounge to check out my options. The ulterior motive was also to fire some emails away before the flight, and if I had time, I could get out again for the quick round of waffles I wanted to have.

Jet Airways used to operate two lounges at Brussels, right across each other. One used to be a very small one, I presume for the first class passengers, and the other one a bigger lounge for all entitled passengers. I used to go into both interchangeably, but this time I found the smaller lounge shut. So, I hopped into the big Jet Airways lounge which tends to get crowded because they host passengers transiting from 4 flights at this time, apart from passengers originating in Brussels. The crowd had the better of me and was already there!

Lounge entrance

I walked around to try and get an empty seat, usually by the windows so I can see plane movement at the tarmac, but that was not to be. The lounge is big enough to accommodate heavy traffic, however, I saw heads bobbing around all over. The good part about this lounge is the separate section for kids, which I am sure parents would appreciate.

The Videowall section

Magazines & newsprint

The kids section of the lounge

The main section of the lounge

Tarmac view

One-time use wifi codes at the airport were available at the lounge, and I went about my business which needed to be finished before I was up in the air. Internet was patchy at best, leading to all my attempts to make a couple of big file uploads fail a couple of times over. I did manage it eventually. After that, I had time to make rounds of the buffet on offer, which is usually a mix of Indian and Continental offerings for breakfast.

Coldcuts, Sandwiches and Eggs

Cheese & fruits

Breads & Bakery products

Beverages & adult beverages

Juices, Smoothies, Coffee, Cakes & Cereal

I realise I did not get to snap a picture of the Idlis & Sambar, but it did look the same to me like my other previous visits. Somehow, the European kitchen of Jet does not get the Sambar right, ever. However, the sandwiches were not the usual stretchy rubbery sandwiches I’d usually encounter at lounges and were made with fresh bread.

After that quick pit stop, my flight was called and I was on my way to the gates for boarding.

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One of my intentions to be writing this blog is to help you guys travel well. Last year, I wrote about Lounge Access with MasterCard plastic in India, which has become one of the highest accessed posts on this blog. Some of the other tools I’ve created earlier this year is the list of the best mileage credit cards in India, and a calculator which helps you find the best mileage earning CC for your needs.

The Visa Lounge Access program has been in operation for a while now and is currently valid till September 2013. Under this program, all premium Visa cardholders (Visa Signature or Visa Infinite) from various banks get free access to lounges and airport restaurants in India on domestic as well as international flights. You will be asked to present your card at these premises, and a dummy transaction of Rs. 2 will be made to validate the card using a swipe terminal. If it goes through, you will be allowed access. However note, this program is valid only for 2 free visits per quarter for Visa Signature, and 4 free visits per quarter for Visa Infinite. Subsequently, you will be charged as per the rate card published here (PDF).

The offer is valid at the following lounges/airport restaurants across India:

• Grid Bar (Restaurant) @ Delhi Terminal 3 Domestic Departures
• Delhi Daredevils Sports Bar @ Delhi Terminal 3 International Departures
• Carnations Lounge @ Mumbai Terminal 1C Domestic Departures
• Celebrations Lounge @ Mumbai Terminal 2 International Departures
• Pause Lounge @ Bangalore Domestic Departures
• Kingfisher Sports Bar @ Bangalore International Departures
• Flight of Fancy (Taj SATS) @ Chennai Domestic Departures
• Maharaja Lounge @ Chennai International Departures

The following banks are participating as per my information: ICICI, Kotak, SBI, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank Debit, Citibank (Premiermiles & others), HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank. Debit and Credit Cards both, with the Visa Signature or Visa Infinite signage will be welcomed.

Citibank PremierMiles Visa offers 20 visits per quarter complimentary as compared to the 2 from others.

If there are other cards which you know of, please leave a note in the comments below and I will add them to the list.

You get access to the F&B, internet (complimentary) and all facilities available to the regular visit of the lounge. At the international lounges, this also includes access to the alcohol if that counts as a benefit for you.

Do share your experiences with the Visa lounge access program in the past or in the future in the comments section below.

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