12 Month open-ended Flight Tickets

Pandey12

I'm looking to go to Goa for six months sometime in September 2005
I would like to fly from Birmingham to Mumbai if possible.
1. Can I purchase an open-ended return flight ticket for 12 months so as to choose my own departure when I'm ready.
2. Can I also purchase an open-ended return flight ticket from Mumbai to Goa?
3. What would I be expected to pay for 4 Adults and 1 Child Economy Class?

SteveM

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wandering_kat

i've tried without much success to find a cheap 1yr open return. The most reasonable i found is Syrian Airlines, which was offering it for just over £400, but that's now - i dunno what the prices are like in september.
Someone posted a bad report about syrian airlines on here a few days ago - may be worth researching tho.

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phobal

Of course all of this is possible, the airlines want your money . You'll have to buy a fully refundable Y fare. A cheap Y fare? Now that's the challenge. You may as well buy the cheapest business class (J) fare.

With *A airlines, you cannot just go up to them and say "I want to use this fare whenever I want." You'll have to set up dates, but that's just a formality being that the fare you want would be 100 percent refundable with free date changes.

If you want to find the fare, a good idea is to use expedia, travelocity, or any of the airlines websites (BMi, Lufthansa, Indian, Syrian, Qatar, BA [jet airways for your goa-mumbai leg]). Look up the 'most flexible' fare. Being that you're not really going for cost, the airline websites should find the Y fare for you. Consulting a travel agent should help, too.

crvlvr

I guess 1 year open ended tickets will be hard to find given that visa stay restrictions limit tourists to 6 months. Most airlines allow you to extend the retur, nut you will have to pay a penalty of $100 - $150.

phobal

Yeah, or even do that. But the penalty is the base charge, you have to pay the fare difference, if any, on top of that. Another idea is just to standby it. Show up, make a deal, and if you're not happy, try again the next day. Great way to get to Hawaii from Canada with those ridiculous charter airlines.

icetea

I came to India with a one year open-ended ticket...very cheap....with Czech Airlines. They have some Prague - Colombo flights (the final destination is actually Male). I then took a Srilankan flight from Colombo to India. You can try it. This Czech Airlines flight is sort of uncomfortable...for it stops in Dubai and you have to get out of the plane for luggage check. But otherwise it's fine (and I didnt mind taking a peek on Dubai).

The price of such a ticket is around 585 Euro (was the cheapest I could find, way bellow any other offers). This is in fact the fare for Y class (and I was actually flying from Budapest), but I'm sure Q class is not much more expensive. Check it out!

I also came on a tourist visa (6 months) but that wasnt a problem, as I set the return date within those 6 months. Changing the date of the return will cost only around 25 euros, as far as i know.

Good luck.

Peyompian

Hmmm... sounds like this is possible. Whenever I've looked into this, its always been cheapest to get two one-way tickets. But thats from the US.

I would say consult a travel agent, preferably one that specializes in India. They often have the cheapest rates, several hundred dollars less than the cheapest internet price. For a while it seemed like travel agents were a thing of the past, with internet booking... but actually, they can get great deals. Try one. If you don't book, you pay nothing so you have nothing to lose.

GoanCanuck

>> Nonetheless, the last one way ticket I purchased was about 600 CND including taxes (Delhi to Vancouver) <<


Neomadd, from which travel agent did you buy this ticket?

sticky

Royal Jordanian Airlines may be worth a look as well, I got a cheap fully flexible 1yr ticket from them (australia - thailand - india - jordan - london). they only fly the india london leg.

on the ticket i have you can change dates as often as you like for free, as long as you get to your destination within a year.

try cheapflights.co.uk

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Indiadancer

Hey...
Also try www.makemytrip.com. I called a "real" travel agent and the fares they found vs. the ones from this website were pretty much the same. Good luck to you!