Tuesday started with a 4:30am wake-up call in order to catch the 6:45 flight out of Hyderabad. The bus to the airport took almost an hour and checking-in the group of 24 was unbearably slow. We got the last boarding pass only 20 minutes before departure and still had to clear security. We all made it, but I wondered about those bags.

We taxied out to the runway in the oldest Airbus on the planet, and sat there for a while before the pilot decided he had a mechanical problem. He shut down the engines and called for a tow back to the terminal. The guy on the tarmac holding a fire extinguisher did not increase our confidence in Indian Airlines. In the picture we are trying to decide whether the mobile stairs being pushed up the the open door means a cancellation.

No sooner did we get our luggage into the aisle than the pilot said "lets go" and fired up the engines again. Do we really want to fly this thing to Delhi and will we get there in time for our connecting flight to Varanasi?

We landed in Delhi, taxied forever, and stopped at a remote gate with stairs and busses. It is five minutes until our next flight, the only flight of the day, to Varanasi. The bus drove to the terminal building but only dropped off a couple of people who really wanted to stay in Delhi. An airline agend hopped on board and we then went careened off across the tarmac slaloming jets until it reached the one bound for Varanasi. It was quite full already of very impatient people who had already expanded into the 24 empty seats. Ten minutes later that plane was rolling down the runway. During the transfer I was no signs of luggage handlers or our 40 checked bags. This was shaping up to be a real mess. If the bags get sent out on tomorrow's flight, they will arrive on the plane we will be taking back to Delhi.

On the best of days, Indian airlines is unreliable, but on this day, all of the passengers made an impossible connection and all of the bags incredibly arrived. We are going to have a great time in Varanasi.