Indian visa help/advice needed please

soil_2

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Getting out of even my experience here but my guess is on the same visa your f**ked, :eek: but I stand to be corrected.
I don't know how you would stand getting a NEW transit visa for India in Singapore. (Very helpful Indian High Commission in Singapore)

Who are you flying with?

Kingfisher.

The High Commission in Medan is more convenient for us. My wife and son have Indonesian passports and are eligible for visa-on-arrival in India.

My daughter and I have British passports and are not.

We will be spending a lot of time in Medan.

According to them:

http://www.congendiamedan.or.id/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=65

"Applicants who are not citizens/ residents of the Indonesia and hold a tourist or other short-term visa for Indonesia should normally apply for Indian visas in the countries of their permanent residence. In case of emergency or special circumstance, an application could be made at this Embassy. In addition to the relevant visa fee they should remit an additional Rp.236,000 for reference to be made to the country of their original residence. The processing time in such cases is usually 4-5 working days. "

I would expect the Indian Consulate General in Medan to be very quiet considering there are no flights from Medan to India. We will be spending one month+ in Medan so we have plenty of time to get it done.

It seems that if we apply for a single entry tourist visa now, upon leaving India the first time, it would no longer be valid and we should be able to get a new transit visa, upon which there does not appear to be a 2 month restriction.

soil_2

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

If your booked with the same airline from Singapore to India and then on to London I would seriously consider changing your flight (I know it will cost you) and then checking the bags through to London and going through Mumbai as a Transit passenger (air-side so no visa needed).
Mumbai can wait for another day.

The flights are held until noon tomorrow. We have not yet paid for them.

As you say it looks rather problematic for just 2 nights/1 day there. The only problem is that our flight arrives in BOM at 9:25pm, while the flight to LHR leaves at 15 hours later. 15 hours in Bombay airport with 2 small kids is no fun at all....

soil_2

The only other option is instead of flying Medan-Singapore-Bombay-London, we can fly Medan-Bangkok-Bombay-London. If we do this however we have to leave Medan on the 3rd (instead of the 4th), spend one night in Bangkok (which we are also doing outbound), plus we end up back in the UK on the 4th instead of the 6th, and the flights are more expensive (by £140).

Bob_the_Saver

soil wrote: »

The flights are held until noon tomorrow. We have not yet paid for them.

As you say it looks rather problematic for just 2 nights/1 day there. The only problem is that our flight arrives in BOM at 9:25pm, while the flight to LHR leaves at 15 hours later. 15 hours in Bombay airport with 2 small kids is no fun at all....

If you've not got a confirmed/paid booking look at Jet as well, times might be better I don't know.

Bob_the_Saver

soil wrote: »

The only other option is instead of flying Medan-Singapore-Bombay-London, we can fly Medan-Bangkok-Bombay-London. If we do this however we have to leave Medan on the 3rd (instead of the 4th), spend one night in Bangkok (which we are also doing outbound), plus we end up back in the UK on the 4th instead of the 6th, and the flights are more expensive (by £140).

My guess is if you tried to go down the dual entry Indian route £140 would
be the worlds biggest bargain. I'm not saying 100% it can't be done but I wouldn't even try especially with kids in tow.
I know this is a new idea all together but what about Best airline to KL or Sin return then other flights inc India with Air Asia from KL?
So Maybe LHR-KUL
KUL-BOM-KL then KL-LHR worth a look

Bob_the_Saver

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

My guess is if you tried to go down the dual entry Indian route £140 would
be the worlds biggest bargain.
I know this is a new idea all together but what about Best airline to KL or Sin return then other flights inc India with Air Asia from KL?
So Maybe LHR-KUL
KUL-BOM-KL then KL-LHR worth a look

Check out the non Air Asia flights now with https://www.kayak.co.uk
Air asia on https://www.airasia.com

soil_2

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

If you've not got a confirmed/paid booking look at Jet as well, times might be better I don't know.

That does look like an option. They have more daily flights, and the fare rules say:

UNLIMITED STOPOVERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT AT
GBP 30.00 EACH.

OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS
FARES MAY BE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIP BASIS
-TO FORM SINGLE OR DOUBLE OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/
CIRCLE TRIPS.

Kingfisher and Jet both charge £385 + YQ + taxes on this route, so the only difference is the £30 stopover fee (free on Kingfisher).

Kingfisher is however a better airline, and we earn BA miles (though I think no lounge access and no tier points as they are not yet OneWorld members).

Bob_the_Saver

soil wrote: »

That does look like an option. They have more daily flights, and the fare rules say:

UNLIMITED STOPOVERS PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT AT
GBP 30.00 EACH.

OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/CIRCLE TRIPS
FARES MAY BE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIP BASIS
-TO FORM SINGLE OR DOUBLE OPEN JAWS/ROUND TRIPS/
CIRCLE TRIPS.

Kingfisher and Jet both charge £385 + YQ + taxes on this route, so the only difference is the £30 stopover fee (free on Kingfisher).

Kingfisher is however a better airline, and we earn BA miles (though I think no lounge access and no tier points as they are not yet OneWorld members).

Well compared with the possible problems with your original plans lack of tier points is nothing. Best of luck, I'm off to bed.

soil_2

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Check out the non Air Asia flights now with www.kayak.co.uk
Air asia on www.airasia.com

Air Asia are not particularly competitive on London-KL (with all the fees), and Stansted is inconvenient for us. I also don't much like KL.

I checked all the airlines on kayak previously and the cheap ones were all Gulf airlines; I noticed Jet (9W) previously for some reason I thought they were Qatari or something.

9W fly SIN-LHR via BOM arriving KHR 6:45am, with a stopover from 9:50pm to 1:45am in BOM, which isn't great, and KUL to LHR via BOM on the same flight but arriving BOM 10:40pm, which is not really any better, because SIN beats KUL

I think I will try to book 9W LHR-DEL-BKK, SIN-BOM-LHR with one stopover in BKK.

soil_2

The other option I guess is to do

LHR-DEL...BOM-BKK, SIN-BOM-LHR.

But then I'm not sure BOM is a must-see unless passing through on a stopover anyway.

Shame about all the visa regs.....