All about Domestic Flights

mufajel

Hi have planned a few air routes when we are in India, and we have booked flights with Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Spice Jet and Air Deccan.

Just to let you know - the cheap carriers, Spice Jet and Air Deccan have on line reservation, and rates are the same for all, wether you are an Indian Resident or not, and it is similar to Easy Jet, you get an e-ticket, which needs confrimation at the airport.

Indian Airlines, you have to call them if you want youth fares (if you are under 30 years old), then they e-mail you a payment slip which needs to be filled in and faxed back plus your passport id to verify your age.

Jet Airlines, is similar, but you have to fax over your credit card as well as your pass port ID. something which I am not too happy doing incase it goes to the wrong hands. But Jet assures me this is not the case! Both sent paper tickets within days.

Anyway if you can get airfairs via Spice Jet or Air Deccan, its very simple and works out much cheaper than the traditional airlines, however some of the less popular routes are not served by the cheap airlines. I will post my views on the outcome of the realities of flying the different airlines later in the year!

Balini

Thanks so much Mufajel, really helpful , we will try to use air Deccan.

__________________
FONT]Balini

pezworld

Kingfisher is now flying to Cochin (via Bangalore)!

owenr3

Does anyone know if either Spicejet or Deccan airlines run flights in Feb 06? I've been trying to book a one way flight from Goa to Delhi for 16 Feb 06 to catch my connecting flight back to the UK but the online facility only goes up until Jan 06 and when I tried contacting the airline, they advised 6 months ahead I should be able to book but it's now less than that and still no online facility.

My husband and I are travelling independently from UK to Delhi in Jan, touring around India and then getting a train from Mumbai to Goa before spending a full week in Goa before returning back to Delhi to catch our BA flight home and are keen to get this final part of our journey booked.

Anyone know the situation?

Cheers
Lisa

pezworld

Kingfisher now flies that route (gosh, I'm beginning to sound like a shill for them!), and their online service works for Feb 06. I just checked: you have two flight choices, both at about $229 US.

I booked my Cochin-Delhi flight on Kingfisher yesterday; it was about $205. Their website is a bit weird -- the online booking wasn't working most of the day yesterday, but then just popped back on... but it wouldn't let me charge American Express because of some weird ActiveX thing (I thought it was my computer, but my friend's did the same thing). Using a Visa card solved the problem!

crvlvr

Mumbai, October 10:
Jet Airways today became the country's first airline to introduce Internet check-in facility for its passengers.The facility is currently available for passengers holding a confirmed and valid e-ticket, anytime between 48 hours and 60 minutes prior to their flight departure, in 29 of the airline's destinations across India,

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=56324

Keral

ZOLAF

Kanbe, when you say "airlines to watch out for" do you mean:
a) watch out for them cause they're dodgy
b) watch out for them cause they have good deals?

I might be being stooopid but I just wasn't sure how to interpret that line!

Thanks

pezworld

Keral, although I'm flying Kingfisher from Cochin to Delhi via Bangalore, I did notice in my research that Air Deccan flies Bangalore to Delhi (I think) and for fewer rupees. Check them out.

-m2-

I think Kanbe meant that these are new airlines and not quite 'up and running', so watch out for them as they might have good introductory 'deals' as the other new airlines have when starting up.

Priyamav

Hi Lisa, I have noticed the same thing on Air Deccan. I keep on checking Deccan, because when they add new dates they always add Dynafares, which are 500 rs for ANY route. Last month I booked Bangalore - Goa, returnticket, for Rs 1442,- including taxes. I know it's far ahead, but there's not much to lose! If it turns out I can't make the dates, I can cancel. Means only losing Rs 142. So I am definitely gonna keep on checking for dyna fares.

But as you said, I too noticed that the february dates have not been updated yet. But then again, there system often has problems...

Only problem with flying Goa-Delhi with Deccan is, is that you will have to fly through Mumbai and you will therefor have to book 2 seperate tickets. The itinerary would be as follows:

Goa - Mumbai
07:10 - 8:35
Mumbai - Delhi
11:10 - 13:10
Trip Duration: 6 hours
Price approx: $115 per person (can be cheaper if you find Dyna Fares)

It SHOULD give you enough time, but delays are very possible with Deccan. And Deccan is not responsible for you missing the second leg of the flight.

Kingfisher Airlines is a possibility and has 2 straight connections a day, but is pricy for foreigners.

Goa - Delhi
13:40 - 17:45
16:30 - 20:25
Trip Duration: 4 hours
Foreigners: $ 230 per person

Another option, for february 6th, is Air Sahara:

Goa - Mumbai
13:35 - 14:35
Mumbai - Delhi
15:35 - 17:30
Trip Duration: 4 hours
Foreigners: $286 per person

So as you can tell, for foreigners Deccan is the cheaper option. However for the Kingfisher flight Indian residents only pay $95. So that would make that option cheaper and more comfortable (direct flight), but you would need resident status.

If I were you, I'd wait for Deccan. You will not have trouble getting tickets.
If you can afford the $230 per person for the direct flight (without having to worry about missing the flight on the next leg), I would opt for Kingfisher.

pezworld

Yeah, we're sucking it up on Kingfisher instead of Deccan because of the potential unreliability factor. We could have saved at least $50 each by going Deccan rather than Kingfisher on the Cochin - Delhi (via Bangalore) route. Can't risk missing the flight home though!

Then again.......

-m2-

I don't know 'for sure' but the on-line booking date should be updated to include Feb '06 by next month and that should be lots of time for a mid-february booking. (I noticed the same thing when checking SpiceJet for a mid-november flight back in July and had no problem booking it last month)

Priyamav

Question: when booking flights on http://india.makemytrip.com/ it seems not distinction is made between foreigner and indian resident. How does that work?

-m2-

If you did manage to book AI/Jet/Sahara at the resident rupee price, you would not be able to board the flight. Possibly MMT asks for residence status somewhere along in the ticketing process.

BTW, GoanCanuck's comments to the effect that PIOs or NRIs can get by with tickets bought at the resident fare is misleading and could lead to disappointment.