I’m thinking ahead as usual , though we of course won’t buy a ticket till after a successful interview.

My guy’s never flown before, so I was wondering how you all got your plane tickets India to USA? I had a bad experience with a travel agent in India once (took our money, gave no ticket – though finally we got the money back through the police). So I certainly don’t want that to happen to my guy too. From what I hear, plane tickets are less expensive buying in India. Also I thought it could get confusing if I buy online for him, like how to send the physical ticket (maybe Orbitz will ship it to him? Or he can pick it up at airport on day of journey?).

Any suggestions? He’s based in Hyderabad – anyone know any trustworthy travel agents there or nationwide trustworthy travel agents? CHEAPEST ticket possible is the name of the game here. Thanks!

How about contacting one (or more) of the following airlines directly (all fly from HYD):

• Singapore Airlines (as you live on west coast, the pacific route may be better)
• Lufthansa (definitely flys, Pras used it)
• KLM
• Air India (kind of last-resort)

note: I'm basically using the "as-close-to-nonstop, clear customs/immigration at LAX" approach.

Thanks! I will research it. Though, we want to go via JFK for the EAD stamp. The money he could earn in a temp job for 2-3 months will outweigh any inconvenience...

I bought it on britishairways.com.

I got the following data from the airline sites last year for one-ways (rounded to nearest Rs. 100):

• British Airways, Chennai-Detroit: Rs. 39,400 (customs/imm @ Chicago)
• BA, Chennai-DCA (customs/imm @ JFK): Rs. 38,300
• BA, Chennai-Dulles (customs/imm @ Dulles): Rs, 36,900
• British Airways, Mumbai-Detroit: Rs. 37,000 (customs/imm @ Detroit)
• Lufthansa, Hyderabad-Detroit: Rs. 37,800 (customs/imm @ Detroit)--which was the one taken

Hey those prices are pretty good!

But my guy doesn't have a credit card... how to pay? Could he go direct to an airline office and book it with cash or check? Or would I be able to buy it online with my credit card and have them send the ticket to him in Hyderabad? (I believe it is more expensive buying in USD then in Rs)

I confirmed that when trying Orbitz (which displays in US$--no price there was less than $1,000; at last year's exchange rate, about 20% higher than the Rs. price).

In Pras' case, I believe she did buy with cash from airline office.

Thanks for the tips!

When Sujeet moved here, he had never been on a plane either.

Back when he moved here, the best deal we found was on www.makemytrip.com. The deal soley with flights between India and the US, and have offices in India and the US.

But now when Sujeet goes to visit India, Expedia is where we find the best deals and flights. He's leaving for India again this Friday for 2 1/2 weeks. We found a good ticket through Expedia that goes from Tampa to JFK to Mumbai. He won't have to stop in any 3rd country, which is nice.

Do you mean nonstop (Delta only) JFK-Mumbai, or single-aircraft trips (such as Air India--which makes a stop at Heathrow where one can attempt to "refresh")?

Yeah, Delta JFK to Mumbai is what Sujeet is taking.

The only thing I am a little worried about is that on his way back, he only has 1 hr & 45 mins at JFK. He arrives and departs in the same terminal, thank God, but if it takes long at customs he might miss his plane back to Tampa. He will be getting there around 7am, and I have no idea if that is a busy time of day for international flights. I hope not!

Arrival Timetable (unfortunately, requires plenty of sifting as domestic flights are also there)

Thanks for the link!

As a consolation, it will be somewhat easier if/when Sujeet naturalises (I'm a little leery about being pretzelised for 15 hours), as it would open Gatwick-Heathrow transits (sometimes, these are economical--but much hassle if you need a UK visa; for me, that was never a problem even BEFORE I got my GC)

I always get great fares to INdia through airline consolidators( travel agency)

Thanks again all, for all the suggestions! Just wanted to let you know that we reserved his ticket today. I did tons of heavy research but found the best prices on MakeMyTrip.com. Local travel agents quoted higher rates (or exchange rates of me sending the money made them higher) . On Orbitz.com, the search engine advertised cheaper rates, but whenever I clicked on a ticket to book it, a message would come up saying the ticket price had changed and it would be $200-300 more than advertised (their cheapest was $1,400 Hyd-JFK-Fresno). Expedia was also higher.

We booked leaving Hyderabad on May 25, arriving JFK May 25 evening, and flight to CA on 26th morning, total price $1,074. Yes it would have been $200-300 cheaper flying directly to CA, but if he gets the EAD and works even 1-2 months the extra 1-2 thousand dollars will be worth the trouble and cost!

Only problem is a long layover in JFK. I'm thinking about posting a question if anyone knows of any nap nooks there in the airport. (Once my mom and I slept near a Singapore airport balcony on a long layover. ) Getting a hotel would be toooo expensive and I don’t have the $800 it would cost to get a round trip ticket & hotel there, to be with him.

I hope someone will be alble to give u some help with this one because its a looooooooonnnnnnng layover.. oh and dont forget to tell him to wear warm shoes its cold on the plane..

farechase.yahoo.com is one good place to check the rates. It will search all the available web-sites for the best deals, so one doesn't have to go to individual web-sites.

Thanks, that is one I didn’t know about. Orbitz and Kayak are the two sites I used to check prices (both of the sites check multiple websites and carriers for the best deals). Even farechase.yahoo.com reported Orbitz.com as having the best rates, and directed me there.

Still out of all of them, MakeMyTrip gave the best deal!

Glad that you booked the ticket! That's good that makemytrip had the best price.

That is long at JFK, but at least you won't have to worry about him rushing to the next plane. Sometimes immigration and customs can take awhile, so he'll have plenty of time. lol. I'd ask Suj about nap nooks, but he was rushing every time he was at JFK so I don't think he would have noticed.

Nagaraju may have to use the time-honoured approach used quite oft in Indian rail-stations (and also @ Heathrow airport). Find a batch of empty seats (or, if none available, stretch out on the floor) and take the nap.

Sorry to be so callous, but..

That's not callous CherryXS, just practical! (Nagu is of course expert at falling deeply and happily asleep on the cement floor of a noisy railroad platform .)

What about the comment on the "POE JFK SUCKS!!" thread, the person that said their friend was not allowed to stay in the airport and those without money had to walk around a hotel but were not allowed to remain in the airport! How can that be? Can't just anyone in the airport remain all night? Or should I just go ahead and book a $150 a night room for the 17-hours Nagu will have to wait? (Less of course maybe 3 hours immigration and 2 hours domestic flight check-in.) Your learned advice, please!

I just booked my wife's ticket for June 2nd. She'll be flying from Mumbi to Paris to Atlanta to Charlotte.

Her interview is not until May 24th, but felt that having a 9 day buffer will be enough for her to get the visa in hand if she doesn't happen to get it on the day of the interview itself.

The one-way ticket cost Rs 40,000 approx from a local travel agent.

If you can rebook it to one coming straight-in to Charlotte, I recommend doing so--basically, I consider it optimal to use your local airport if it IS a POE (which Charlotte is) unless coming from Canada or Ireland (likely these latter will be irrelevant to you, so...)

Other choice is to do standby on a flight from LGA (LaGuardia) or EWR (Newark) to LAX. There are busses that run between the three airports.

Admittedly, some problems:[list][*]passenger will be set back the bus fare (last I checked, JFK to LGA was $15--which is still less than $150/night hotel)[*]the journey will likely be made by rather jetlagged, tired passenger.

Plus point of it is that Nagaraju has a chance to reach home sooner.

We tried getting the flight to Charlotte, but the tickets from Mumbai to Frankfurt were not available. They said to wait a couple of days to see if any become available. I didn't want to wait any longer.

I was happy to get the website http://www.sleepinginairports.com/ from this forum, it advises that in JFK the one place one can lay down and nap undisturbed on a long layover is in Terminal 4, upstairs on the red rug. Yea! Now we have peace of mind and no huge hotel expense (and no wondering the streets of New York!).

So today's the day, ELW!!

Yah less than 6 hours... but for me things don't seem "real" until they are actually happening... so it is just another leisurally Saturday... till I get in the car to go to the airport I guess...