AIR MILES

ANISH SOOD IS an Indian music producer, songwriter and DJ. An acclaimed name in the dance music circuit, Anish takes over 150 ights every year. He is the host of a popular podcast called Sunburn On Air and is a social media junkie.

Your career must entail a lot of late nights. Ever missed a morning flight?

Yes I have! I’m usually very good with morning ights. But sometimes my body cannot function with three or four hours of sleep over consecutive nights, and simply refuses to wake up.

Ever flown twice in a day for two gigs?

Yes, a few times actually. It depends on the two cities and what the set times of the shows are. If there’s one gig in the day and one later at night, it’s easier to nd a commercial connection, else we look at private options for exibility.

Is it tricky to travel with lots of equipment?

ankfully enough I don’t travel with any equipment, just one laptop and an iPad. Since my technical setup on stage is industry standard, it’s the venue’s responsibility to handle that. I just need to carry a bunch of pen drives and a pair of headphones!

Have you ever lost vital equipment?

Yes, I have lost the above-mentioned headphones once.

What do you normally do on flights?

Despite ying over 150 ights a year for the past 5 years, I simply haven’t been able to master the art of sleeping on a plane. If I met a genie who granted me three wishes, I’m fairly certain this would be amongst them. Since sleeping is tricky, I end up reading a lot or catching up with TV shows on my iPad.

What elements of flights or airports are most important to you?

Since I y so o en a strong frequent yer program is very important to me. Priority check-in, lounge access and upgrades are de nitely worth the premium fares since very o en the only meals I eat that day are on the airplane or in the lounge. For domestic travel, I am enrolled with the programmes of Jet Airways, Air India and Vistara, while internationally I credit my miles to Alaska Airlines.

I very rarely check any bags so my major bottleneck at airports is always at security. While Mumbai and Delhi have premium queues, most airports don’t and it can be a bit frustrating, especially when you do seven to eight ights over a weekend.