Single air fares BACK from India ?

butterball

Has anyone had much experience with availability / costs of a single air fares from India back home.. ( london for me )

I'm weighing up the options of the difference in cost / convenience for a long stay in India with no clear idea of return dates. Very flexible return fares can be quite pricey, and one option would be to use a dirt cheap charter flight out - say £300 ( Nov / Dec ), and source my return flight the following year whilst out there ( around spring time )

Any experiences / contacts would be most appreciated.. ( likely departure points - South India )

Bryan

We usually just buy one way as we would rather have the flexibility of where we return from and when ...

You can usually pick up flights from Delhi and Bombay very easily and quite cheap
The figure I have in my head is around £250 to Europe ...However I could be wrong adn for some reason I'm sure it was cheaper

The travel agents are reasonably good and are plentiful and are willing to cut there prices to get your business. You usually can get to Delhi buy a ticket and fly out in a couple of days so don't worry about being stuck, its never happened to me or my friends

I've always found Delhi to be best for this though others may have experience of Mumbai

I last bought a ticket in Bangkok to fly home and it cost 12,000 Baht to London
with Kuwait arilines ...Due to the outbreak of war that was cancelled and I managed to get on Gulf Air for the same cost

If you don't have a set plan on return I would highly recommend the one way option as the freedom it affords you is un-matched ...Just remember to keep the fare home in reserve hahaha

Hope this helps
Bryan

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butterball

Thanks Bry...

What do you get to fly OUT from the UK ? I did a search and Gulf & RJ do Bombay for about £350 single.. Seems a charter ( direct to Trivandrum or Goa which I prefer.. nicer airports ! ) could be an option - late deal ?

Bryan

My last trip was to Mumbai via Amsterdam
Im in Glasgow and they fly direct from glasgow so it saved me some money and the convience helped also

OW have went up in the past few years
The Gulf airlines are alwasy cheap and good value ...usually come in around £250-£350 mark

Eastern European are also cheap ...I went with aeroflot once ...the best rollercoaster i've ever been on but at £210 London - Delhi it was a bargain

The bucket shops in london are usually good checkout teletext and the internet can be useful but requires alot of searching and phoning

If I remember right Air Lauda was very cheap via Vienna especially on the return leg

When we fly into Mumbai we usually just hop a flight straight to Goa ...See the Jet Airways website ...You can buy tickets from their office in london adn they are very helpful and very reliable

A friedn done the package flight to Goa for £199 a few years ago got a late deal and then never used the return leg

Not sure how available these are now ...when I looked on the last trip they were all pretty pricey

Both trivandrum and Panjim airports are tiny but are useful for location and mena youa void Mumbai ...sorry I'm not a fan of the place

getting flights home from them though is pretty rare and the bigger cities are the best bet

Good luck

If I think of any more info I'll post it

Bryan

butterball

I've done the packages for as little as £189 !

Also usefull www.fareworldtravel.com www.farebase.net and surprisingly I've had some of the cheapest fares for Egypt & India from www.thomascook.co.uk !

Sri Lankan airlines are doing some good deals to Trivandrum via Colombo where you can stopover is you want...

Was interested in your experiences with the flight back home - sounds very straighforward ( not in peak ) to get something from the large hubs..

I do avoid the eastern block stuff I have to say

Jeroen

I flew one way with Turkish Airlines to Delhi from Prague (with a day layover in Istanbul) for about 320 euro, best deal around except for Aeroflot at the time.

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Dr Funkenstein

I like to get a single to give me the flexibility of returning when I feel like it, too. It's definitely more expensive but gives you quite a bit more freedom. I got back from Delhi - Heathrow for £198 with British Airways a couple of months back. Really good deal - the bloke at my guesthouse (Star Paradise, Paharganj) sorted it out for me.

I know you can change your return flight but this can be be a major hassle once you're in India. I met quite a few other people who were having a nightmare trying to change their flights once in India - emails never replied to, phones off the hook all the time etc.

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butterball

Dr F, I think you finally convinced me that it's EASILY the best option..

Was there much hassle with the "... is this a confirmed seat " fiasco in Delhi ?

Dr Funkenstein

No, but I flew the day after I booked the ticket. Which is also one of the reasons it was so cheap, I expect - I think it must've been a cancellation / standby or something.

butterball

Well .. I've finally done it ! My first ONE WAY flight to India ! I'm so excited



Picked up a GULF AIR to Trivandrum for £329 ( priced it online with www.farebase.net and then phoned the 'Flight Centre' who price matched it for £10 less ! )

So, another trip.. and NO time limit as I'm on a career break and I've ( hopefully ) got some people in to rent my appartment while I'm away ...

Probably looking at finding a 'base' down South and doing all those things I'd like to see again, those places I've never made it to and hopefully some 'hops' over to Thailand / Vietnam / Laos etc..

Expect plenty of posts between now and November..