Which airline for Mumbai-Chennai route? |
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Feb 9th, 2006, 00:10
| #1 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rome, Italy
Posts: 328
| Which airline for Mumbai-Chennai route? Hi all. I have just booked my flights for my trip of next August; I have to fly from Rome to south India, having one ticket available free as Frequent Flyer with Alitalia and a second one to be purchased - but, incredibly, I didn't find seats with Delta Airlines to Chennai or Air France to Bangalore, at least for the quote reserved to the Frequent Flyers programs, six months before!!  So I had to book with Alitalia up to Mumbai, having my free ticket as FF and buying another ticket on the same route for my wife. The question is: I will arrive to Mumbai and depart from Mumbai, how can I manage to reach Tamil Nadu and Kerala without spending too much? I have checked other posts and found several low-cost companies offering domestic flight; Spicejet has the Mumbai-Chennai route, but they don't have schedules for August (I suppose they are going to be published later). The fares for March-April are quite good - about 4.000 Rupies, return. Other airlines are much more expansive. Is Spicejet reliable, especially for the punctuality? On the way back I should fly from Chennai to Mumbai and take my flight back to Italy, can half a day be sufficient for the connection? Can someone suggest other airlines or give some hints? Thank you: Gianni |
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Feb 9th, 2006, 02:42
| #2 |
| Up in the hills with my head in the clouds...  Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: India/UK
Posts: 1,021
| This is India. I would suggest you arrive a day early so as not to miss your connecting flight from Mumbai to home. http://www.airdeccan.net http://www.goair.in http://www.jetairways.com http://www.flykingfisher.com http://www.paramountairways.com http://www.spicejet.com http://indian-airlines.nic.in http://www.airsahara.net
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Feb 9th, 2006, 02:58
| #3 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rome, Italy
Posts: 328
| Good listing John. Do you think that the price of the different airlines is proportional to their reliability?  Gianni |
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Feb 9th, 2006, 03:03
| #4 |
| Member  Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: guest of the third world
Posts: 65
| Deccan Airlines has the best prices (almost 50% cheaper) and the airplanes are perfectly ok!!!
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Feb 9th, 2006, 14:15
| #5 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rome, Italy
Posts: 328
| Senior Member!!! Wow, I'm a Senior now!!!  I think it's because I reached my 100th post, yes? Probably I'm the first Senior Member who has atill to leave for the first time to India!!  BTW, back to the topic: I have seen very good fares with Air Deccan, but somewhere in the forum there are very bad feedbacks for this airline...  On the other hand, Jet Airways has very, very high fares!  Also Kingfisher has good fares for Indian residents, but quite high fares in USD for NRI. Maybe the best solution can be Spicejet? Any experience? Last doubt: can I have problems in landing in Mumbai during the monsoons season? Is the airport usually operative or is there the risk of shutdown? Bye: Gianni |
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Feb 9th, 2006, 15:08
| #6 | |
| Up in the hills with my head in the clouds... Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: India/UK
Posts: 1,021
| Quote:
Last year (2005) the airport at Mumbai was shut for several days during the monsoon. The monsoon was exceptionally fierce last year, and you will probably be fine when you travel. There's nothing wrong with Air Deccan - people like to whinge because their Rs.500/- flight was delayed by ½ an hour and they didn't get a free meal. That's why the fares are so cheap. If you want all the frills, don't use a no-frills airline - pay Rs.15000/- for the same journey on a different carrier and you'll get a "free" meal! | |
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Feb 13th, 2006, 17:59
| #7 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rome, Italy
Posts: 328
| After checking different schedules and fares, I have found that the best option is to fly from Mumbai to Cochin with Goair (3.320 Rp per person, tax included), and then travel by train through Tamil Nadu up to Mumbai, passing through Hampi. I have checked also the train schedules, they fit perfectly for an itinerary like this (in three weeks): Cochin - Madurai - Tiruchirapali - Thanjavur - Mamallapuram - Chennai - Kanchipuram - Tirumala - Hampi - Mumbai. My only concern remains the possible bad situation of Mumbai airport due to the monsoons, but I will leave on 12th of August and fly back on 3rd September, so I suppose that the strongest part of the monsoons will be already over. I have checked the reports of last year, and the worst period was end of July up to the first week of August - I hope to find a better situation this year, not only for me, but especially for the people in Mumbai! I also have considered the idea to start my trip descending south by train and terminate to Cochin, then fly back to Mumbai, so that I would be in Kerala later, with less possibility to get rain, but to go from Madurai to Cochin there is a very very bad schedule with a train arriving to Cochin at 3 and something in the night!! So, I cross my fingers and start my countdown... 6 months to leave! Gianni |
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Feb 14th, 2006, 04:53
| #8 |
| back in the ussa  Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Rang De Basantistan or Santa Cruz, CA
Posts: 489
| I recently (Feb 2006) flew Air Deccan www.airdeccan.net from Chennai to Mumbai and it cost me 2300 rupees, which is cheaper than the 3AC train ticket for the same distance. I bought my ticket online about 12 days before the flight. If I had bought the ticket a day before the rate was 1600 rupees, and I met someone who bought a ticket a couple days before the flight for 3500 rupees. So it pays to buy your ticket a couple weeks in advance of flight time, and because of the cheap prices they do sell out. Air Deccan was very good to me, they are a good airline.
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Feb 14th, 2006, 15:14
| #9 | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Rome, Italy
Posts: 328
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