If you haven't bought a plane ticket

indiamike

Announcement

Good news for travelers right now, if you haven't bought a ticket yet and are planning to travel, now is the time. I checked in on a few fares and they are super low. Less than $1000 USD from JFK to New Delhi. I am doubtful that it will get any lower than this, so if your thinking about going to India, now is the time to buy tickets.

Mike

indiamike

On Expedia.com I have seen Russian Airline Aeroloft having some sales for $988 (via jfk) Plus a few other airlines have announced slashing prices and one (I can't remember the name) has taken away the penalty for changing your flight.

If your paying $1118 for a flight from Houston, I would consider that a pretty decent price and would snatch it up.



Mike

Julie

It may be worth checking out BA apart from what is being said below I know they are currently offering a lot of cheap flights not sure if you have to originate it in the UK though but have a look at their web site. www.britishairways.com


BA’s offer of dirt cheap tickets sparks protests

Shivram Krishnan & G Ganapathy Subramaniam
NEW DELHI
BRITISH Airways has sparked off a furore by offering cheap fares on various sectors, including Delhi-London-Delhi and Mumbai-London-Delhi for just Rs 18,000 through a new scheme, to protest ‘undercutting’ which is said to violate norms prescribed for international carriers.

Under a new scheme christened The Biggest Lowest Offer aimed at boosting sales and speeding up revenue flows by seeking upfront payment from agents, the London-based airline has offered connections from India to the US at Rs 28,000.

Passengers can even fly to Sydney for this fare, provided they are willing to travel Mumbai-London-Sydney for this amount.

Unlike routine sales, the new scheme is designed to sell vouchers to travel agents who can exchange them for tickets at the time of booking. While agents are given 15-day credit for normal sales, British Airways seeks to receive payments upfront for the new scheme.

Agents have to pay up right now and buy the vouchers before October 31 and book the tickets by the end of November. Travel under the scheme can take place between November 2001 and March 2002.

The new offer may be a bonanza for potential passengers but rival airlines, including Air-India, are finding it ‘unethical’ as the current market conditions are one of the worst for the airline industry.

Travel agents, on the other hand, are watching it with interest but are wary of putting their money upfront in the hope of reaping windfall in the next five months. The general refrain is: Given the current situation, who can predict the market conditions in the next five months?

The new scheme violates several regulations, including routing of all payments through the billing settlement plan which acts as a buffer between airlines and agents, industry sources said.

Representatives of nine airlines, including Air-India, met on Wednesday evening to seek immediate withdrawal of the British Airways offer.

At a meeting in Mumbai, they said the London-based carrier should withdraw the offer within 72 hours and stop selling vouchers.

Stressing that nobody should travel under the scheme, they demanded that BA should refund the vouchers already sold.