Flying in Asia

A view of Calcutta from the plane

Flying in Asia has been unexpectedly wonderful!  So far we have taken 13 flights in Asia.  Not a single one has been delayed more than ten minutes.  Most leave and arrive early.  Many of the airports have been beautiful - Singapore, Bangkok, and Delhi in particular.  Other than having to work hard to make our way off the plane amidst some aggressive jostling by other passengers, it has been a really pleasant experience.

Last week flying from Sri Lanka to Guwahati airport in Assam, India we had a pretty exceptional experience.  We had booked what we feared was an impossible connection (but it was the only way to get from Sri Lanka to Guwahati in one day).

Flight 1: Sri Lanka to Chennai, India (departing at 3:50 a.m.) - 1 hour, 25 minute layover
   - No problem, even needing to clear customs, retrieve our bags, and recheck them.

Flight 2: Chennai to Calcutta- 25 minute layover
   - We expected that we wouldn't even make this connection and definitely not our bags, so we packed our carry-ons with everything we would need for the weekend. To our surprise, when we landed in Calcutta and stepped onto the jetway we were met by a bus and taken directly to the Guwahati flight.  But what about our bags?  They had us stand beside the plane for a minute or two until a tractor arrived with our connecting bags.  We identified our bags and then hopped on the plane.  Amazing!!! 

Flight 3 - Calcutta to Guwahati: We landed a few minutes early!

Sara identifying our bags at Calcutta International Airport