u/Exciting_Bid9133

I recently travelled to Italy in May 2026 - when I arrived, all the biometric kiosks were switched off. I walked through the normal immigration line, the officer stamped my passport and I was in. No fingerprints, no photos taken. 20 minutes.

I travelled to Germany in July 2026. Arriving at Frankfurt airport, there was absolute chaos. There were about 20 self service kiosks in front of the immigration counters. There was a single long line that seemed to be going to the kiosks and then back around again to the immigration counters. Someone then mentioned that I needed to pre-enroll at the kiosk before getting into the line for immigration. So i walked over to one of the machines - it scanned my passport but said to go to the manual immigration counter. My understanding is that it only accepts Biometric Passports, so if you've got your Indian passport over 2 years ago, you probably don't have a biometric passport and have to go to the immigration counter anyways. By this time another flight had landed and the original line I was in had tripled. If I had just waited there and not attempted this pre-registration, I would have been out of the airport in 20 minutes. Instead, I had to now walk to the end of the line and wait for about 90 minutes to get to an immigration officer. Again, no fingerprints, no photos taken. Just a stamp on my passport.

There was no one to coordinate the lines and of course, since it was a flight from India, everyone was trying to skip the line and jump ahead. In fact, I noticed quite a few senior citizens who kept pretending to be completely clueless and walk through the fast lane (reserved for connecting flights within 45 minutes). I use the word pretending because they were approaching non-indian travellers and asking where to go - the moment I spoke to them and explained they had to get in line like everyone else, I got the nastiest of looks and no response.

Also, I bumped into a few surprisingly over confident indian uncles who insisted that just by scanning their passports at the machine, their pre-registraiton was done. I asked them if the machine had clicked their photo or taken their fingerprints, they said no - as long as you're standing in front of the machine it can do all these things. Yikes.

In conclusion, I think if you have a non-biometric passport, you would ALWAYS have to stand in line and get a stamp on your passport. So don't waste time trying to pre-register at the kiosk - just get in line for the normal immigration counters.

Please update me if I got anything wrong.

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If the person in front of you takes two steps forward, don’t do the same. Take one step and pause. Wait for the uncle behind you to take a step and bump his belly into you. Thats when you take the second step. He generally won’t take a second step so fast so you’re safe for a bit.

If you don’t do this, every time you move forward, uncle is gonna bump that belly into you and push you into the person ahead.

I’ve stood in line with people from so many different nationalities - but I find it’s almost always the Indian uncle who has no concept of personal space when queuing up… Strangely, I haven’t encountered this behaviour with Indian aunties.

Caveat - Obviously not all Indian uncles. But always an indian uncle.

(I’m currently standing in line at immigration at a European airport and since the Air India flight has just landed, there’s additional confusion. Hence the rant)

I mentioned in an earlier post how I redeemed 68k SQ miles for a Mumbai to Frankfurt business class ticket on Air India - hoping to fly VT-AWA.. I'm actually flying to the USA but took this route specifically to experience this aircraft. Turns out it's swapped to either VT-TSE or VT-TSH.. both former Vistara aircraft. So annoyed right now. But I guess it's always a gamble. VT-AWA is moving to the Mumbai-London sector from the 1st of July.

https://www.reddit.com/r/indianawardtravel/s/7FpqoYKO30

I'm driving from Assisi to Rome on a monday morning/afternoon. Are there any scenic locations on the way that we can visit for a quick stop? On the way from Rome to Assisi, we drove via Montepulciano and the tuscan countryside.

I'm driving from Assisi to Rome on a monday morning/afternoon. Are there any scenic locations on the way that we can visit for a quick stop? On the way from Rome to Assisi, we drove via Montepulciano and the tuscan countryside.

What a weird and complicated transfer process at Delhi airport. I usually fly out of Mumbai, but got a good deal on flight to Rome via Delhi on Air India. No issues with the airline - They were great. Bags tagged to Rome in Mumbai itself. Boarding passes for both flights received in Mumbai. Got off the plane at Delhi T3 and thought I’d go straight to security check and immigration at the bottom of the escalators (where there are large signs that say “Security Check & Immigration”) but no -  That area was closed. Everyone was made to line up and have boarding passes and visas checked. The lines were long and they were sending people with earlier departure times to the front of the line so obviously the line kept getting longer and longer. After reaching the front of the line, I asked them why this pointless waste of queing. The staff replied that this was a secondary check. Fair enough, but if your staff gave me a boarding pass for the flight, they’ve clearly already checked the documents no? And they’ll check them again at the gate right? Right?

Anyways, reached the front of the line after like 20 minutes, he checked my passport and visa and said follow the stickers on the floor that say “International Transfers”. Cool. This treasure hunt leads you past the baggage belts and then to another area called “Domestic Transfers”… yup. The stickers that the earlier guy said to follow that say “International Transfers” end at a line that has a sign saying “Domestic Transfers”. Everyone has now lined up and every few minutes the guard says “Sorry, this is for domestic transfers - for international transfers, go to the other end of the terminal. Okay. Everyone now rushes to the next line which is also long. This is now the third line that passengers are being made to stand in. Lines that are pointless and can be avoided with just a little planning. We have not even reached security check. After getting our boarding passes scanned we head up to the departure area.

I was glad I had Fast Track Immigration coz the lines here were also ridiculous. I looked for the Fast Track E-Gates - I spot them up ahead - right below a sign saying “Business/First Class Passengers”. Are these e-gates only for them? That can’t be. Why are the e-gates placed in a spot that is clearly marked for Business/First class passengers? And why such complicated signage everywhere? I went through the gates and now we’re in line number five for security check. I usually complain about the chaos at Mumbai airport security check but this was even worse.. You’ve got long lines snaking around till you get to the baggage scanning machines. You then take a tray or two or three and head to the tables to unpack and load the trays up. Once loaded, you join another ridiculous line with everyone pretending they’re in Cirque Du Soleil - balancing their trays precariously while also dragging their strollers. 

Why does everything always have to be so complicated in our glorious motherland? End of rant.

I've booked a two night stay at Kimpton Era Midtown New York in July. I used the points + cash option. I cannot understand what these additional charges on the right are. Can someone please help? Is it $10.14 per night so $20.28 for two nights? Plus 14.75% of what? Plus $45 per night so $90 for two nights? Plus a destination fee of $51.64 per night so $103.28 for two nights? So $20.28 + $90 + $103.28 + 14.75%?

Basically, what do I have to pay when I arrive at the hotel?

https://preview.redd.it/irbo7owv9j1h1.png?width=2454&format=png&auto=webp&s=05e22e0dae85d53d6e84f865af1ce2d0f147589d

After my earlier experience of waiting for 6 months and getting a 6 month single entry tourist visa (back in April 2025), I decided to apply again as I could not make a trip on that earlier visa (here’s the link to that ordeal). This time, thankfully, I received a visa that's valid till my passport expires.

29th March  - Application submitted online on IRCC website. I used the old portal (the earlier application was on the new portal)

6th April - Biometrics submitted at VFS, Mumbai (I didn't need to coz I had already submitted them for the earlier visa - but made a mistake and wasted some money here)

15th April - Passport Requested

17th April - Passport picked up by courier

21st April - Passport received at VFS, Mumbai & dispatched to Delhi

22nd April - Passport received at VFS, Delhi

23rd April - Passport received at IRCC office, Delhi

12th May - Passport sent back to VFS, Delhi and couriered to Mumbai

13th May - Passport delivered by courier to me.

Once the decision has been made, you can check the status of your visa on the status tracker website (even though you haven’t received the physical sticker on your passport) - https://ircc-tracker-suivi.apps.cic.gc.ca/en 

If you log on to the HDFC forex card website and put your mobile number in, before it asks for the OTP, it asks you to choose which forex card account you want to log in to - it then gives you the list of cards linked to your mobile number - revealing the last 4 digits AND ALSO THE USERID associated with that card!!! Why is everyone's user ids so easily available? Isn't that information supposed to be confidential? You can try it with any mobile number and if they have a HDFC forex card, you'll get their userid. Screenshot attached. #ridiculous

https://preview.redd.it/uvgucvi1to0h1.png?width=2812&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd59b7573802ba0ae95111ac3fe90e92b3945a57

Transferred 1,25,000 Infinia points to Kris Flyer.

Booked flight No.1 from Mumbai to Frankfurt in business class on Air India for 68,000 KF miles + ₹2317/- (Excited to try the new 787-9 - hope it doesn't get swapped out by July)

Booked flight No.2 from Frankfurt to New York premium economy on Singapore Airlines (Fifth Freedom Flight) for 57,000 KF miles + ₹15,300/-

Mumbai to New York - Business & Premium Economy - 1,25,000 Infinia points + ₹17,617/-

Could I have done this better? My dates were fairly fixed - I had to be in New York that particular week. I have a Schengen visa so stopping over in Frankfurt is not a problem.

Mumbai to Frankfurt revenue fare was 2,72,000/-

Frankfurt to New York revenue fare was 1,83,000/-

https://preview.redd.it/dwcszycalryg1.png?width=2252&format=png&auto=webp&s=9819a3e3e6ca8fa92390a1f38825c6f7904db906

Hello, I will be visiting Rome in June and plan to travel to Assisi for a few days (5th to the 8th). In the past I've usually taken a direct Trenitalia Regional train from Rome Termini to Assisi - however, when trying to search for trains on the trenitalia website, I'm seeing that from the 18th of May to the 13th of June, there's only a single Intercity train that departs at 19:55 and arrives at 22:00. Same for the return.

The other alternative train journeys are 4 to 5 hours long. Anyone know what's happening? Any alternate ways to get to Assisi?