Airlines to Kathmandu

[Buckshot]

Is it the case that neither Singapore Airlines nor Dragonair service Kathmandu any longer?

Which other options for airlines does this leave for pax?

[FatFlyer]

Went there with Qatar a couple of years ago from LHR via Doha, not sure if they still do that route?

[DX Wombat]

Royal Brunei still fly there, or did in February
:ok:

[slingsby]

Royal Brunei only fly there on charters, and they are very few and far between.

[newswatcher]

Buckshot,

Thai Airways from BKK.
Royal Nepal from DXB, SIN, HKG and KUL.
Indian Airlines from CCU and DEL.
Gulf Air from AUH.
Qatar Airways from DOH.
Biman from DAC.

[reynoldsno1]

Have been there a number of times over the past few years - always gone on Thai Airways.

[rsoman]

Avoid Royal Nepal if you can
For one they have only three aircraft (last heard it was Boeing 757s) and any delays or tech problems can mean torible esp with so few airlines now serving Katmandu. The only time I was there, one of their 757s rammed into an eagle (or that is what the newspapers said) and as they lost their fleet by 1/3rd the resulting chhaos could be imagined. Their inflight service (economy) is really bad.
Thai seems to be the best bet. However Qatar was impressive when I last flew them and Indian Airlines is anyway many times better than Royal Nepal. No IFE or even channel music though (but it is only abt 90 min to DEL and even less to Calcutta).

Cheers

[GwynM]

I flew Royal Nightmare Airlines about 10 years ago from Gatwick, with a stop in Frankfurt (I think) and Abu Dhabi.

I still treasure it as the worst flight I've ever done, with a German crew using highly developed sleep deprivation techniques. The return was better though. Having a dose of the trots that hit in the departure lounge (the imodium was foolishly packed in the hold luggage), I discovered there was more comfort and leg room in the toilet than in the seat. There seemed to be quite a group of us in the same situation of coming out of the loo and rejoining the queue.

[PAXboy]

I mentioned this thread (and GwynM's comments) to a friend and she replies:

I flew them from Delhi to Khatmandu in 1996. Firstly, the BA flight to Delhi, which was SUPPOSED to connect, arrived at 6 am. Flight to Khatmandu was not scheduled until noon, it turns out. Then there is no-one to open the check in until AFTER the flight is supposed to have departed.

Finally, we get on the plane around 1 pm. Half an hour out, some sort of mechanical problem, can't remember exactly what. We have to turn back to Delhi. And wait another three hours for a new plane to be located.

Finally set off late afternoon. Get to Khatmandu nearly 12 hours after arriving in Delhi.

We came back to Delhi by road!

[rsoman]

Paxboy
I can sympathise with your friend. I flew Royal Nepal as late as 2000 and the less said the better. The outgoing flight from Bombay was interesting in the sense that the only meals ona 2 hour delayed dinner flight (2/12 hour long) was vegetarian . It seems that they ran out of non vegetarian meals. When asked how they managfed to acheive this (normally it is the otherway aroud - non vegetarian meals is the default in the industry and it is vegetarian meals which have to be pre reserved) they mumbled something like looking at the passenger manifest and allocating meals etc judging on the passenger names or some such unbeleivable excuse .And worst of all the food we got was unedible.

Return was even worse. Two days before, our departure their flagship 757 service to London managed to ram into an eagle while taxying (not take off interestingly!) and apparently one of the engines suffered extensive damage. With a 3 Jet operation and with destinations as far flung as London and Hongkong (at that time) the result was chaos asnd cancellations. Fortunately our return flight atleast took off (12 hours late) and this time while there were no shortage of meals , the lack of any inflight entertainment (no music/drop down screens etc) was compensated by a 15 minute fist fight between two pax. Finally it was broken up by a hefty member of the cockpit crew who appread to have been specially invited to the cabin to referee the fight. Apparently this is par for the course for this airline as there didnt appear to be any law enforcement guys to meet the passengers at Bombay either!

Royal Nepal makes Indian Airlines look like the epitome of luxury (IFE apart Indian Airlines isnt too bad).

A memorable inflight experience indeed!

Cheers