IndiGO Long-Haul Flight – Review and What to Expect

My first trip to India also meant that I used IndiGO for the first time (I’m pretty sure at least), and after taking a flight from Delhi to Istanbul (7.5 hours), here’s my thoughts on the journey.

Price:

Super reasonable! I have mentioned many times in this blog, that I am not a planner. I will often just book a flight a few days before I have to­, and then deal with things after. This approach sometimes doesn’t end well though, because flights ain’t always cheap, especially when you want to go from India back to the UK.

Of course, I fell into my usual trap, got too blasé about it all, and before I knew it, I was due to fly in less than a week, without a flight. I checked direct, and the cheapest was just under £400, which was doable, but if I could find cheaper, that would be ideal.

Step up IndiGO, and randomly, step up Uber Flights.

I tried the usual places (Skyscanner, Google Flights etc) a number of times, but was having no luck until a pop-up appeared on my phone from Uber, saying I’d be entitled to 10% back on any flight if I booked through them.

That was all the convincing I needed, so I opened the app, started searching, and found this flight that cost £223 give or take. I’m actually writing this from the plane, because once again as regular readers know, I really struggle sleeping on flights. So, if this piece doesn’t make sense, it’s because I am massively sleep deprived, nothing else.

So, I ended up paying just over £200, as I will get the 10% added to my Uber account, and my itinerary went Delhi – Istanbul – London. The layover was just 2 hours in Istanbul, so no major waiting around, and the total journey time should be 13 hours, which is just a few hours longer than the direct ones, and at half the price.

What’s the plane like?

Again, count me pleasantly surprised. I was just expecting a budget flight considering the price was so reasonable, but it has a 3-4-3 seat layout, and there was so much spare room on my flight, making the journey a lot more comfortable. The seats had a decent amount of leg room, and were comfortable to sit in, though I was able to spread things out which would have made the situation easier.

It all felt very modern, and there were also screens in the backs the seats, but I will cover this in more detail in the next section.

Is there in-flight entertainment on IndiGO long-haul flights?

No! Well at least there wasn’t on my flight. I wasn’t expecting screens, so I naturally got a bit excited as I boarded. As I don’t really sleep, in-flight entertainment is a godsend, so I was excited at the potential of watching a few films.

For those who are interested, my record is five films in one flight, when I flew from London to Hong Kong. I also won a million on the in-flight ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ game, twice no less, so as you can see I absolutely took advantage of the technology on the plane.

The screens on IndiGO though seem more for show. You get a ‘Welcome Onboard’ message on a white background, and that’s really it. Your seat number is listed, and you can turn the light on, call the crew etc, but that seemed to be that.

Maybe IndiGO have plans to introduce in-flight movies etc, as it seems they’ve done the hard work by having the screens on board, so keep an eye on any updates.

IndiGo has the screens, but on my flight, there was no in-flight entertainment

Did you have food and drinks on the flight?

I did! The staff come around twice with a free drink, and I also requested another water as your boy gets thirsty. I was also given a hot Indian breakfast, which I didn’t order, so not entirely sure what happened here as well. I did tell them that I hadn’t booked it, but maybe it was included in my flight fare and I missed it.

I didn’t notice the usual trolley service you get on many flights, as I could have done with more water (I attempted to buy some before I flew but the Delhi airport vending machine had other ideas), but the fact you get two free drinks is another plus.

Would you recommend IndiGO for a longer flight?

Absolutely! Before the flight I was a bit concerned with there being no in-flight movie or tv to watch, so much so that I used my tablet for the first time in months to download some bits to distract me on the flight. I didn’t need it in the end, as I started writing this fair blog post, and listened to some music while attempting to get any sleep.

There was enough room on my IndiGo flight to use my laptop

7/8 hours was long enough without being too long, and maybe a 12-hour flight would be a different story, but I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. The service was great, seats comfy, and the price was very competitive.  

If you have the opportunity, you can save a decent amount of money, without skimping on the things you’d expect on a longer flight. I think long-haul flights are a relatively new addition to IndiGo's itinerary, and it could be a bit of a gamechanger, especially considering they appear to be cheaper than a number of their competitors.

I received a number of free drinks, and food, and it cost me less that £230 to get from India to Europe. Even if you do the same flight I did, Istanbul is so well connected that you can relatively easily get a connecting flight to another part of Europe.

Therefore, I'd have no qualms in recommending IndiGo for your long-haul flights.

Disclaimer: I was not paid by IndiGo for this article, have no affiliation to them. I just wanted to share my thoughts after using them as a paying customer.