United POLARIS BUSINESS Class: Mumbai to Newark

[@shaanhingorani1524]

Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is definitely a better airport than US airports like Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport and LAX. Mumbai Airport T2 is definitely is beautiful and has very good architecture and infrastructure.

[@TheAircraftKing]

T2 is very stunning for sure. That said it is better than most US airports though I’d argue that LAX’s Tom Bradley intl terminal is also very nice but a lot of US airports are pretty bad for sure

[@shaanhingorani1524]

@@TheAircraftKing LAX Tom Bradley International terminal is decent, but otherwise the rest of the airport isn’t that great

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@shaanhingorani1524 for sure. But they are redoing a lot of the terminals. T7 aka United’s terminal is nice now. T2 and 3 (Delta) are also very nice. The others do need work for sure though

[@ModifydCD]

Man that was a long journey but a great video. We are not going to talk about that slam to the ground landing you all had.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Yup That slam to the ground was the perfect “wake up your new york” landing one could’ve had😁

[@bostonaviation4860]

Just found this channel. How do you not have more subscribers?!

[@TheAircraftKing]

Haha thanks very much! I guess one difference between me and others is that I really do 0 promoting of my own channel. I feel like anyone who enjoys my videos will subscribe or stop by i don’t want to have to force or implore anyone to come to my channel. Definitely doesn’t help with views but just my philosophy and I hope everyone enjoys what I do and more people do eventually come. Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you enjoyed the video!

[@travelwithcarl_au]

Nice review of the airport experience prior to boarding - so many checks to get to the plane.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks a lot! Glad you enjoyed it. It’s always a journey at this airport going from door to door so I thought I’d display that for you guys to see

[@Luke22022]

Thank you for a very informative channel. I have just watched three of your videos and appreciate the specifics you provide on the lounges, plane configurations and in flight services. I have subscribed!

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks a lot!! Glad you enjoyed and many more to come soon!

[@ananth9373]

Good vlog. I am reminded of my many trips to EWR from Mumbai..I was fortunate to travel in Jet Airways to EWR few times..fond memories :)

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks glad you enjoyed. Jet airways was a great airline while it was around. Hopefully it can return to the way it was soon!

[@iFlyTheWorld]

Thanks for the video. You have reminded me of the multiple document checks that Indian airports have. The first time I transited through Delhi I had my boarding pass checked by 4 different people at the same desk, and this was before getting through security where it was checked again by 2 more security guys for no reason. No idea what they expect to see on a boarding pass after you have been checked in😅. The Polaris seats look good. I generally find United food to be bland but the food looked better on this route as its Indian.👍

[@TheAircraftKing]

Spot on spot on and spot on!! The security checks are a lot but I suppose over the years you get used to it. The seats are always great especially on a flight as long as this one. And yeah the food I had on the inbound was so meager and bland while the return flight here had delicious food as you said

[@tonyo7324]

@@TheAircraftKing On my second time with Cathay Pacific, I pre ordered Asian Vegetarian. No offence. Since I have a layover, I have 6 meals roundtrip. I thought they will serve me Chinese vegetables and fish. No. I got Indian food with very strong curry taste and smell. Even the snacks have curry smell. Vegetarian noodle or won ton soup could have been OK.

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@tonyo7324 yeah generally what I’ve seen a lot of airlines interchangeably mix Asian and Indian vegetarian and treat them the same

[@digheanurag]

I just read your written review for the same trip. Good work 👍 Will be flying back and forth on this route later this month on Polaris and wanted to make sure it was worth it. Fingers crossed.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks for watching and reading, glad you got utility out of the report. But how are you flying this route later this month? The route is suspended because of the Russia situation. Are you flying air India perhaps?

[@joydeeppaul5021]

I am taking this flight 787-9 from EWR - DEL in Feb 2023 and have the same seat 7L. This video was the perfect one I was looking for what to expect on this segment although yours was BOM-EWR but it should be pretty much the same or very close. Thanks for making it and sharing.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Glad you enjoyed. And yes virtually everything will be the same except you’ll be served your first meal in multiple courses like the old way it used to be before covid protocols.

[@Dr.Thoughtless]

yo my guy you killed the name! even i couldn't do as good tryna pronounce mumbai's airport,.XD

[@Dr.Thoughtless]

also yes that is what we indians do and good to see a proper yt indian reviewr

[@Dr.Thoughtless]

also that took a long time to reach v1 loll

[@TheAircraftKing]

Haha thank you I’m sure you could, it’s in our Indian blood

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@Dr.Thoughtless it did indeed, long journey full flight and lots of fuel so no surprise

[@pritamkoli]

Five star coverage

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks very much!! Glad you enjoyed all aspects of it

[@danielclooney6248]

Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm not fond of flights that are all night. Have you flown Air India Business? That second plate of food you got just set me off, now I've got to have Indian buffet for lunch tomorrow.

[@TheAircraftKing]

I have but it’s been a very very long time. No experience that would be relevant today for sure. By the way, I’m talking about long-haul, I’ve flown a decent amount of domestic flights on air India in business but I assume you are asking for long haul. And yeah, that breakfast was not the best but funny enough I’ve flown this route well over a couple dozen times and it’s the same bland egg every single time 😂

[@viksinha5410]

5:12 am that’s a very early arrival, at least earlier than it has been for the better part of 7 years. That’s the only thing I would nitpick about regarding this flight; the arrival time has become later than what it used to be. My flight home (Pittsburgh, PA) leaves from terminal A at 8:30 so I have no more than a 3 hour connection. It’s good enough as long as my first flight isn’t delayed by more than half an hour.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Maybe, but I feel like this is the standard arrival time for all the years I’ve taken this flight. The Delhi flight definitely comes in somewhere between 4-5am but the Mumbai flight has always come in between 5 and 6

[@viksinha5410]

@@TheAircraftKing Back in 2009-2013 when I was 5-9 years old it used to arrive between 5:00 and 5:15 (scheduled arrival was 5:20). Last time I took it was in 2019 and it arrived at 5:32 (scheduled 5:40).

[@gunvaldsandhaland7757]

great video,nice business cabin

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed the video

[@tonyo7324]

Nice video. I'm looking at United for our trip this year. For seats, I'm eyeing at A or L 3-5. Row 7 which is your favorite according to the diagram is near the galley. When Jerome brought you the breakfast tray, the galley is not really that near. I can take that if 3 is not available. Regarding security, body and all things in the bag searches are frustrating. When you said 4th check, I thought first it was true. 3X times are already way too much. BTW, in China, bags have to pass thru a security machine and personnel when you ride trains and metros. If the bags will not fit thru their machine, you cannot travel. Water is not allowed.

[@TheAircraftKing]

So row five is missing a window and row three is perfectly good as well. I would say rows, three and seven are still relatively equal distance from the gallery so you can’t go wrong with either. I just like row seven because it has a double window and do you have a perfect engine view. And I’m sure this is the case for just Indian flights or any non-US flights because I was in india about two months ago and they let water bottles go through security without any issues now. I thought it was just a mistake at first when they let it through the first time, but they’re usually strict, so I tried as an experiment taking a water bottle on another flight that I had a few days later, and again nothing was said.

[@ItsJager]

Been on so many of these United Polaris flights in and out of India. The breakfast looks the same, I’ve had to trade out for the eggs on a couple occasions as they didn’t pack enough pure veg breakfast…Don’t know what it is but United eggs are not my favorite. Thinking of the horror if they served chicken to some and say no that’s Paneer 🙄 just because the gravy is a similar color.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Yeah…. I think maybe the FA wanted to play it safe but you should know what dish is which that’s a pretty trivial part of the job. And yeah that breakfast is played on repeat over and over

[@williampark8942]

why is there so much security in Mumbai? Anuyways great video!

[@TheAircraftKing]

Yeah It’s a standard you have to get used to at Indian airports. In the 80s and 90s there were a lot of hijackings so removing non-passengers takes away a lot of risks, but lots of security issues so there will always be lots of security to match that. The security at Indian airports is basically manned by para-military too so they r serious about it

[@Mmaulin12]

Not just Mumbai, all over India

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@Mmaulin12 yeah as you said, this is not a Mumbai specific thing it’s all over India but I was talking about Mumbai and this context since this video is out of Mumbai

[@sibimathen1451]

Terrorism we faced in the past.

[@pradneshsawant7738]

All flights which fly non stop between India and US, have mandatory secondary security check at boarding gate, Even though the passenger clears airport security she/he has to do it again here,,

[@gauravgogia4560]

Hey I please make a trip report on Air Canada Toronto to Mumbai

[@TheAircraftKing]

That flight isn’t operating anymore directly. It’s now operating as a one stop via London due to the Russia situation. Direct flights to India are priority for time convenience for me so not sure if I’ll be able to fly this until it becomes nonstop again

[@andreasmith9009]

American here who has traveled to and from Delhi multiple times.....none of those times have I been through a security line after initial security. They may have checked my passport again at the gate before boarding but I have never seen or been made to do multiple security check lines or extra bag checks.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Delhi is a wonderful example of “not playing by the rules”. By law there has to be that extra security by the gate but yes some of the other checks are unneeded

[@andreasmith9009]

@@TheAircraftKing LOL!! Acurate description of Delhi on so many levels!!!

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@andreasmith9009 hey I had to lay it out there. Delhi is gonna be as good as it gets in terms of ignoring anything by the book

[@randomyoutubevideos3503]

Is Vi a good network in India? I am traveling to India soon and that is what my USA SIM card will roam onto while in India.

[@TheAircraftKing]

It should be decently reliable tho I’m not too sure. My phone automatically connects to either Airtel or Jio while I’m there so I can only speak to those ones. Maybe like 10 years ago I used to use Idea and back then it was ok at best but I think thinks have gotten better since

[@randomyoutubevideos3503]

@@TheAircraftKing who is your home provider in the USA?

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@randomyoutubevideos3503 I have Verizon in the US

[@anthonyincandela4364]

I love your content keep it up

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks a lot! Glad you enjoyed the video

[@viksinha5410]

So does this flight see daylight in the summer? It’s been a very long time since I took it in the summer so I probably don’t remember

[@TheAircraftKing]

It does see daylight in the summer. Lots of it actually. The moment you fly north enough out of Russia it’s all day light and for the most part traces of it follow you all the way back into newark

[@viksinha5410]

@@TheAircraftKing Makes sense

[@viksinha5410]

@@TheAircraftKing I haven’t taken it recently in the spring or summer, and even when I did I was probably busy sleeping

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@viksinha5410 makes sense it’s a long flight you probably slept through the early night parts of it

[@viksinha5410]

@@TheAircraftKing I think I actually slept through most of it, and anyways the windows are supposed to be shut so I didn’t see any daylight

[@sreenivasramineni854]

Bro he spit on your food

[@TheAircraftKing]

LOL, probably spit on everyone’s food

[@daniarevalochocron2985]

How long is the flight

[@TheAircraftKing]

Flight time was blocked at 15 hours 57 minutes but it ended up being north of 16 hours due to unseen headwinds higher up in the polar region of our flight

[@viksinha5410]

They use a 787 for this flight now?

[@TheAircraftKing]

Yeah around end October last year they switched it to a 787-9 which made me sad. But I believe for the summer it’s back to a 777-300ER. They seem to be swapping it around now based on increased flight lengths during the winter time due to high northern jet streams

[@wwenyu2]

Can you keep the PJs?

[@TheAircraftKing]

Sorry im just seeing this but you absolutely can (numerous flights where I've walked with the PJs and replaced my old ones lol)

[@mwenvlay]

i'm not indian and i could tell that was paneer and not chicken.

[@TheAircraftKing]

There we go, pure negligence or a really slow eye from that FA to not notice the difference

[@johniii8147]

UA has indefinitely suspended the flight since they can't fly over Russia in the current situation.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Yes that’s correct and for the time being I’ve been using Lufthansa for my flights to and from as a substitute as I don’t see this route coming back anytime soon without a fuel stop in Bangor on the return

[@johniii8147]

@@TheAircraftKing Makes sense. Not really a fan of LH's business class. The seats are subpar on most of their equipment. Like a generation behind the rest of the industry. I do enjoy their F class though when it's an option.

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@johniii8147 LH has a bad seat for sure but no choice otherwise going to Mumbai. I wish I could fly Lufthansa first but corporate policy only allows for business which I suppose is good enough for now.

[@johniii8147]

@@TheAircraftKing AA/BA offers better access to BOM out JFK is you have to connect

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@johniii8147 yeah that’s true but also I’m not flying to/from New York area exclusively I’m also connecting to LA when I do this so that would add a 2nd connection which really isn’t optimal for travel purpose. I could do BA one stop from LA of course but I pretty much only fly *A for the FF benefits so LH it is for now

[@Dr.Thoughtless]

What did you say? I'm curious

[@TheAircraftKing]

I said “and for those that understand this, hopefully I’ll probably be back in 2-3 months, I’m not sure but we’ll see”

[@Dr.Thoughtless]

@@TheAircraftKing Ahhh okay, i only understood the 2-3 month part. Thanks. What language was that?

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@Dr.Thoughtless it was marathi, my native tongue 😀

[@Dr.Thoughtless]

@@TheAircraftKing Cool! Native tounge for me is hindi. :D

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@Dr.Thoughtless that’s awesome! Maybe I’ll sneak in a little Hindi next time but be warned it’ll be a heavily MH accented hindi and not a proper Delhi hindi :)

[@kartikagarwal8695]

Lol should have asked him if "chicken" is supposed to be this white.

[@TheAircraftKing]

I said “I think this is the vegetarian option and at this point I hadn’t had a single bite yet”. He said “no that’s the chicken”. Imagine trying to tell an Indian that he doesn’t know chicken apart from paneer LOL

[@o.c.g.m9426]

Great video. I'm glad to see such strict requirements to enter the US. Now, if only illegals wanted to fly in, our immigration system would be much better 😂. Usa needs an airport along the Mexico boarder 😂

[@TheAircraftKing]

Well, to be fair, there is nothing stopping anybody from coming in on a tourist visa and overstaying 😂

[@vizzini2510]

It's always nice when a yewtoober begins her review with a severe bias against the airline she is flying. You could have flown Air India, but, oh yeah, they are well known for filthy planes and worse service. Sadly, despite dozens of yewtoob travel chanels, honest reviews of airlines, aircraft, and lounges remain elusive.

[@TheAircraftKing]

Thanks for your comment and while your concerns are totally valid for channels as a whole, I think there’s a bit of misunderstanding as it relates to my video here: 1. I’m a huge Air India fan unlike much of the western world. I myself am Indian and have made many Air india videos on my channel, they have really good service domestically and decent service internationally. I’ve actually never had “worse service” and the “filthy planes” is true on some aircraft, I’ve had mostly decent planes. All of my domestic travel within India for work/leisure is explicitly on Air India. 2. I fly United so much (for work and personal travel) that I’m actually allowed to say this of all people. Parts of process are unneeded and it’s totally and honest part of the review. Having flown AI on this exact route, they don’t have some of the extra steps that United has at the check in counters. And I’ve flown United countless times on this route so it’s a consistent process that could be cut down when other airlines, namely AI, do it more efficiently on the same route. The issue is just that Air India has less work-travel friendly amenities on their planes and you can’t beat direct aisle access on United which is absolutely an honest part of the review. 3. An extension of point #2, as far as the severe bias goes, Given that I fly United so much I don’t have a bias against them, it’s more of i know well by now what they do great and what they don’t and where they can improve so I can shed that light on fellow travelers. I’m not sure where that impression came from. Other than that, I think everything else that you’ve mentioned “the airline, aircraft, lounges” I’ve maintained as honest and genuine of a review as possible Hope this clears things up for you

[@jamesmoninger1982]

Nice review but those meals look pathetic. It scares me that there are people willing to pay $10,000+ for this crap.

[@TheAircraftKing]

To be fair People aren’t spending $10,000 for the food, they are spending it for the seat/bed. The food would be nice to have if it were good. The dinner was pretty decent but breakfast was bland as hell. Thankfully it’s much improved now

[@jamesmoninger1982]

@@TheAircraftKing To be even more fair, you shouldn't assume what other people's priorities are. When I buy an international first class or business class ticket I care just as much about the food/service as I do about the seat. I can't be the only person in the world who feels this way.

[@TheAircraftKing]

@@jamesmoninger1982 this is true. And if work weren’t paying for this I’d definitely be thinking twice. But given the convenience of a nonstop, and arguably the best business class bed in the sky, and that this was a red eye, I and many were most looking forward to that. Aka many people just went straight to bed after takeoff. That said for a daytime flight I am definitely looking forward to some quality food in the sky if I’m up front regardless of who’s pocket it came out of that’s for sure. It definitely can go both ways and based on personal preference to your point.