New Delhi Airport Terminal 3 – First Thoughts
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by David in Airport, Blog, Delhi, Travel
At the end of July the New Delhi airport opened up the brand new Terminal 3 for international flights. Here are my initial thoughts regarding the new terminal after flying out and back in on a recent trip.
- High ceilings: There’s a wonderful spaciousness about the new terminal and the much higher ceilings, especially in the check-in and baggage claim areas, greatly help this.
- Lots of carpet: The spacious departure and arrival piers have a curious flooring choice – carpet. Not just any carpet, but patterned wall to wall carpet that seems thicker than carpet I’ve seen in airports. A rolling bag didn’t roll as easily on it due to the extra friction from the thickness. I wonder how well the carpet will hold up over time with all the traffic walking on it.
- Long, wide walkways: Departure gates in the previous terminal were all mostly in the same small area. In Terminal 3 the gates are spread out across the super long walkways making up the departure pier. It can be a long walk from the food court in the departure hall to your gate.
- No post office: Unlike the old terminal, Terminal 3 has no post office in the main departure hall before you go through immigration and security. Perhaps there will be one if the future, but for now get your final post cards mailed off before you show up at the airport. (Update: according to the airport’s interactive map a post office is now listed in the T3 Departure Main Hall.)
- Less free wi-fi: Previously the international terminal offered 60 minutes of free wi-fi provided by Airtel. Terminal 3 now offers free wi-fi for up to 20 minutes through Aircel. After 20 minutes it’s available for a fee, but I couldn’t determine how much as the wi-fi wasn’t working the day I flew out.
- Different currency exchange: In the international baggage claim area of Terminal 3 there are two choices for exchanging foreign currency into Indian Rupees – Thomas Cook and Central Bank of India. The latter option is new and seems to replace the State Bank of India which was the recommended place in the previous terminal since it didn’t charge the commission which Thomas Cook did. I wasn’t able to confirm it, but I think the Central Bank of India doesn’t charge a commission either.
- Outside pickup: If you have a taxi waiting to pick you up on arrival, the driver will now be waiting just outside the arrival hall rather than inside the hall like before. That’s no fun for the driver if the weather is hot.
- Rough around the edges: Terminal 3 is a great upgrade over the previous terminal, but there’s still some work needed to complete everything. Not all of the restaurants and shops were open when I flew out, and I couldn’t find any ATMs in the international arrival hall even though they are on the map. I’m assuming all of this plus other little details will be complete by the time the Commonwealth Games come to New Delhi in early October.
Check out the official Delhi airport website for more information on Terminal 3.
9 Responses to “New Delhi Airport Terminal 3 – First Thoughts”
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Kashmir Gallery
Lines. There are real lines to stand in for immigration processing. With signs that tell you where to stand. I think this is marvelous.
And there are travelators for walking those long distances.
Thanks, I forgot to mention the much improved immigration area. I’m not sure what I think yet of the giant hands/fingers above the arrival immigration counters. Definitely unique.
Hi
I had an interesting experience with the new terminal 3 that you can read about here..
http://elasticwords.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/what-to-expect-when-expecting-someone-at-ig-airport-delhi-terminal-3/
Regards …
Thanks for sharing. Your experience has to be one of the funniest posts I’ve read recently! I’ve also found myself standing at the wrong side of that elevator!
I’ll be sure to pass on your post.
Thx David and best of luck ..
Thanks to Aircel. I can access good quality net in airport courtesy Aircel Wi-Fi @ T3.
Well, when I last went through in February I wasn’t able to successfully use the Aircel wi-fi. Have heard of others with trouble too, but I know it has worked for some. It certainly doesn’t seem as reliable as the Airtel option used previously.
The International airport has lots of advancements actually.
But the fact is that the officers working there still needs more customer service training. Most of them are harsh and corrupt. They dont know how to speak and give good customer service.
I and my husband Rakesh Kumar Mishra flew on last Sunday 12th March from Jet Airways at 12:20 from terminal 3. He was carrying cricket bat which was taken by CSF customer officer at gate 4. He told the officers to keep it and his brother will come to collect it.
His brother went to collect it after 45 mins but he was not given the bat. We tried to contact on call centre number next day. No picked up the calls. We send the email on contact address. After 3 days reminding them to respond. We received the reply as expected – no bat was found.
This was really disappointing for us. I will like to warn all customers to be careful and not to trust any officials working there. I will obviously not like to visit India anymore with such ugly experience. Feel sorry for foreigners.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. However I would hope one bad experience wouldn’t ruin India for you or anyone else. While I know customer service can sometimes be a challenge at the airport, we’ve had helpful interactions many times with other airport staff so not everyone there is poorly trained.