Which Is The Best Way To Travel From Philadelphia To India?

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According to Pew Research there are about 108,000 Indians in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The number is even larger when you include Central New Jersey and Delaware. In addition, business travel and tourism is slowly increasing between this region and India (When I travel to India, I mostly end up visiting friends and family. I would love to spend time in India and photograph the temples and hill top fortresses when I get a chance).

But why is it difficult for people to travel between Philadelphia and India? Note that travel between the United States and India in general is very difficult except maybe from New York City. The following are some of the reasons:

• In general, when it comes to international travel, the major American carriers are focused on travel to Europe and the Caribbean and South America. Flights to Asia is not a priority and the few flights that are available are prohibitively expensive.

• Philadelphia is the hub of American Airlines. From the Philadelphia hub, American Airlines seems to be focused on domestic travel and not international travel. American is the biggest carrier in the world but does not have a single flight to India from the United States. This is stunning considering India is one of the largest aviation markets in the world.

• There are many carriers that are registered in India. But one of the largest carriers, Jet Airways went bankrupt last year. Jet Airways is yet to recover from the bankruptcy. India’s national carrier, Air India is deep in debt and the government of India has put the airline up for sale. This has had a big impact on travel between United States and India. Indigo which is a low-cost carrier dominates the Indian domestic market (it is the sixth largest airline in Asia). But Indigo does not operate flights to Europe or North America.

India’s Real National Carriers.

Most Indians will acknowledge that Air India is India’s national carrier in name only. The real national carriers are Emirates (based in Dubai), Qatar Airways (based in Doha) and Etihad Airways (based in Abu Dhabi). The business model of these three airlines is to move Indians back and forth from India to the rest of the world with a brief stop over in their respective bases in the Middle East. If American carriers and European carriers establish more direct flights to India that is somewhat affordable, then these three Middle Eastern carriers will be in serious trouble.

Traveling to India from Philadelphia in the past.

British Airways and Lufthansa have operated flights from Philadelphia to London and Frankfurt respectively for a very long time. For most of the 90’s and early 2000’s, travel between the United States to India involved flying British Airways, Lufthansa or Air France. I have flown in all three of these airlines many times. But there is a big catch. The stopover in Europe can be very long. For example, traveling from Philadelphia to Mumbai via London Heathrow could take two days because of the almost 15 hour layover in London. In addition, these airlines only fly to two or three Indian cities (which means that you have to take another domestic flight to reach your destination).

Most travelers to India were very happy when the Middle Eastern airlines started taking over. They operate from many American cities and they are very India focused (from Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi, you can pretty much fly to most major Indian cities).

Flying from Philadelphia to India now.

• The best and most convenient way to do it is to fly Qatar Airways. You will reach your destination airport in India in about 20 hours with a brief stop over in Doha (Qatar). Qatar is one of the best airlines in the world. The tickets are on the expensive side and their customer service in the United States is spotty.

• British Airways and Lufthansa still operate flights from Philadelphia. Both these airlines have changed their profile in the last 15 years and now they are more “upscale” than they were before. The tickets will be expensive and they fly only to limited destinations in India (British Airways only flies to 5 cities in India. Lufthansa flies to only 4 cities in India). Qatar Airways flies to 13 cities in India.

• My preferred way of traveling to India is from Newark. United Airlines and Air India have direct flights from Newark Liberty Airport (EWR). Emirates has a flights to India vis Dubai as well. I normally book my tickets directly from the United website. They have an airport code for the 30th Street Station (ZFV). So your United ticket will include an Amtrak train ticket from 30th Street Station to Newark Liberty Airport. This ride is only about 55 minutes and it is very convenient to go to the terminal from the train station (the Newark Amtrak train station is also the starting point for the EWR Air Train). United only flies to Mumbai and Delhi. But from these two cities, you can catch a plane to any city in India. It is a long flight, one of the longest commercial flights in the world (about 16 hours non-stop). But the Boeing 777 is a thing of beauty. You will develop a real appreciation for American engineering!!

• Flying from JFK is probably the most popular way of traveling to India simply because it is the cheapest way to travel between the two countries (you will save a lot of money if you are traveling in a large group). From JFK, you can fly to India via Europe, the Middle East or Africa (Ethiopian Airlines is one of the best airlines in the world). The difficult part is getting to JFK from Philadelphia. Most people take a limousine. The limousines are not that expensive but the issue is you are dependent on their schedule (On one occasion the limo took almost 5 hours to travel between JFK and Center City because the driver had to make stops in between to pick up and drop off passengers). This is the last thing that you need after sitting inside a plane for almost 16 hours!!

Which is your preferred way of traveling from Philadelphia to India?

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