Airfare within India

absolut_v

Hi
im hoping some could answer this question..
Im travelling to india in May for 3wks & have alot of ground to cover in such a short time & dont have the time for trains...

Would buying air tix for travel within India be cheaper if i purchased them here in the States or when i get to Mumbai? need to go to Delhi, Mumbai, Banglore & Goa..& possibly Jammu..

Heraclitus

There are some places in Asia where you can get fantastic deals on air travel. Bangkok is particularly famous for this. However, I don't think you can get such deals for domestic Indian air travel. (Gerlinde will no doubt correct me if I am wrong on this.)

If you already know the exact dates and times you want to travel, I would suggest booking in the U.S. I booked a truckload of flights (Jet Air and Indian Airlines/Alliance Air) through Travelocity.com and they all worked out fine. By all means, fly Jet Air if you have any choice in the matter. They are a first rate outfit.

absolut_v

thanks for your response...
i should be getting a quote back from the TA
later this week,
i think she's working out
a 5 city open tix in which i have 15 days to use..
i think they break down the cities in zones...
i'll let you know what fare i got
thanks
vivek

absolut_v

http://www.makemytrip.com/

has the info for travel within india...
gives your both indian airlines & jet airways...

im still gonna purchase my tix when i get there...
v

Gerlinde

15 days "Discover India" with Indian Airlines cost 500 US$ + 5 US$ for each airport. There are some regulations (returning to one airport only if no other possibility, no zick zack...) what can be taken from the Indian Airlines and Jet Airways sites.
Jet calls this "Visit India" and it's 550 US$.
It's worth when you have to cover long distances in 15 days.

300 US$ "Wonderfare" is for one week - but only in regions. Would not be possible to fly Delhi - Trivandrum - Delhi what comes to 740 US$! But under "Discover India it's possible for 500 US$ + 15 US$.

Other special offers are almost not available - except night flights Delhi - Mumbai - Delhi with Air India and also Jet which are cheaper than the normal fare.

All domestic tickets bought abroad have to be reconfirmed in India with the airline.

25 % discount for passengers below 30 is only applicable for separate sectors, not for the discounted Discover India/Visit India schemes.
Gerlinde

erosadventure

When I was in Calcutta in March of this year I considered flying to Bonmbay with a private airline, since...

1) government airlines generally offer inferior service.

and

2) the train trip across the country is a long haul.

I didn't however because we angrezis are charges *double* local's price. And I don't mean some rip-off from an agent, I mean plain two tier pricing - my guess is that it's at the state's behest.

Political commentyary: I can't see why any business would want to alienate foreigner's customers. I've never figured out why India has such a socialist mentality in the marketplace. Even China has long abandoned state planned economies since they learned that they just aren't as efficient as market ones.

But India is better than twenty years ago when everything seemed to be this state co-operative for manufacturing widgets and that state enterprise for buffing spitoons. Nehru was a socialist (unlike Gandhi who was a communalist - the difference being scale and voluntariness) who looked for inspiration from the USSR. Now it seems to be mammoth monopolies and miniscule operators - very few mid size businesses such as in Hong Kong and Thailand.

I think we need some more Chinese mentality in India. Not likely to happen without a massive ethnic change! BTW, I read my guide faithfully that wrote that Calcutta's Chinatown has Chinese custom footewear craftsman. Absolutely false. They all left ages ago. Now it's only ready-to-wear.

The best looking girl I saw in Calcutta was a Chinese student. I'm in the wrong country!!!

chrissawka

anyoneknow how long it would take to go from mumbai to goa,if i took trai? or if i took bus? and how do costs vary?

also i want to enjoy the country side and experience india which offers better view and experience?
please reply to chrissawka@hotmail.com thank you

__________________
enjoyed 6 weeks in southern india and saving up to go back..
i never hated.....yet loved<more>a country soo much
words cannot truely describe the satisfaction it gives u

Pablo

Could someone advise if the Jet Airways 21 days pass is worth the v.expensive cost ($750USD) ? Wouldn't normally consider the yuppie option but visiting family in Delhi and want to see Kerala & Ledakh in a 3 week period as well...don't fancy spending half that precious time on the train....
Any advice would be gratefully received.