Cheap flights to NY/Washington

Hi everyone

I browsed this section of the forum and found a lot of info about flights TO India on the cheap. But very few FROM India threads.

Could someone please tell me about good air-ticket deals to NY/Washington from India (Del, Mum, Kol, Bang or Hyd). I do not mind if it is a hopping flight (like say, Del - Helsinki - NY) or even a connecting flights (involving an air-craft change)

Oh and I am looking for one way fares, since I do not know when I will return and from where. Tentative date of my outward journey - 1st March

Thanks everyone.

From BOM, Emirates is about INR27K+ for NYC. Qatar Airways about 26K+; Continental is also in the same ballpark. One-way fares are nearly the same range as a round-trip.

Thanks much.

How about lesser airlines like Finnair or Tarom or even a budget airline like RyanAir ??

Hi ASHA
i am sending you two links. hope it will help you.


http://www.joy-travels.com/air_fair2...-Newyork-Delhi

http://www.aa.com/FareFinder?tripTyp...ltPassengers=1

cheers

Hi.

Thanks for the reply and the links.

The second one (AA) offers prices that i can get elsewhere too and the first one gives a very nice 23K offer but thats a return ticket from Del to NY. I wrote them a mail asking if they have a one way ticket to offer.

As NYCank noted, one-way flights these days are often relatively (if not absolutely) very expensive; you certainly shouldn't count on paying anything like half of a return flight. You should scout around of course to see what's on offer, but there's generally not much to do about it.

If you plan to return within a year or so, look for a year (or possibly 6-month, or whatever) return ticket. Enquire about fees for changing the return date (and you will have to fix a return date initially) of course. Round-the-world (RTW) fares can work out attractive as well (and may or may not allow you to travel for longer than a year even; for a regular ticket, I'm not aware they exist for longer than a year, they might though), these normally give you an X nr. of stops & require you to travel ever onwards, never backwards (so let's say India-US East Coast-US West Coast-India over the Pacific, or vice versa, of course). Again, enquire about fees for changing any of those dates around; I've flown on a year return in the past (with Aeroflot) that cost nothing to change (always assuming there's a seat available of course). I currently have one that costs some 100 Euros to change I think, plus some 50 Euros should you need or want to change class (if no other seat is available, for instance).

Beyond that, getting a return ticket and not using the return half may really be cheapest. It's absurd I know, but that's how it is. And no, your airline shouldn't mind about it, or not as far as I know.

you are welcome asha.
have a nice journey

nb Air travel isn't my forte, but you'll find some additional sites to check on it in the "travel links" link in my signature (post #6 above).

If you live in a town of any size, enquiring with some travel agents is still my preferred approach really, certainly if you have any non-standard requirements, that will be hard if not impossible to find out about on any flights website. You'll be paying the agent a fee of course, but only if you actually book with them (and this can really be worth it to me), any information and thinking along with you should be for free. So you could conceivably even just get your info in, compare several offers, then finalize your bookings on the web yourself. Those fees are really quite marginal though, if they've done a good job for you, I'm like why not, they deserved it, and it saves you a lot of frustrated and inconclusive web surfing.

And nnb

If you have any such specific airline in mind that you suspect could work out cheaply, just look them up on the web and see what they have on offer.

I've had good results in the past with just (physically) going to such companies' offices directly, so not (and when the web wasn't so common still) any agent to begin with. Again, there's nothing to stop you from enquiring with a bunch of them and for free (it is after all in their interest to try and sell their tickets to you, and this counts for travel agents as well), then comparing and decide.

OP: The more information and details you give, the more easier it is for posters on this site to help you.

The farebasis change from city-pair to city-pair. One can expect to see fluctuation between BOM&CCU or HYD&BLR. Similarly, NYC and DC.

Not knowing your start of origin, and end destination makes it difficult. Making it to the O-D pair might cost you another 100USD.

You may want to try a few other web sites: Travelocity, Expedia, Kayak.com ..

Not sure how best to access consolidators, but they typically have the best prices, as they are trying to sell off seats the airline feels( fairly certain) they cannot sell before flight time.

Thanks everyone for suggestions.


I will be flying on the 1st or 2nd of March, from either Delhi or Mumbai, to NY or Washington (either would do). And I do not know when i can return. Can I buy a return ticket which allows me to fly back about 10-12 months after my initial journey.

Thanks once again.

Yes, I already touched on it above. There exist 1-year-return tickets; you'll be required to give a return date (anywhere within that year) when buying though, and you may need to pay a fee if you change that return date later.

This won't be easy to find out about on the web I don't think (although it can't hurt to do some groundwork on the web first of course; I don't think those flights sites will typically specify how long that ticket is really valid for though for instance), you'll probably really want to speak to an agent, or to companies directly, about it.*

Alternatively, two return tickets, half of both which you then don't use, may really work out cheapest to you. Just compare and see what you come up with.

(Another option and depending on your future plans: Get a one-way ticket, or a return ticket half of which you don't use then, on the way out. Now start flying back and forth using return tickets from your destination. This obviously only makes sense if you say go for studies or work and expect to fly back home on a regular basis.)

* And as I already indicated, if like you say you are open to connecting flights for instance to save money, I think you'll really want an agent to discuss this with. Stuff like that is naturally next to impossible to find out about on the web, where you typically need to give a specific departure and return date, and will get results with single companies, or perhaps one connection to a nearby departure point. Any search engines or booking sites you'll get for it just won't be so flexible. Whereas any agent worth their salt should be dealing with this all the time, and know what the current deals or unlikely combinations are, or you can try and come up with something together, and they can gauge your wishes and needs; it can really be a great advantage to do this in person, a web search or even phone call can't offer you that same flexibility.

As a matter of fact, I am indeed going for further studies and should come back by this year-end. So i think I will go for a return ticket, with a 1 year (or so) window.


BTW, is there a forum here where I could ask about the pros and cons of applying for an American Visa (Student Visa)

Ask for farebasis GWE12M for Air India; NW11S18W on Continental (these are non-stop from BOM to NYC), NINUS on VirginAtlantic, UPX1YIN1 on Emirates, and a few others These fare basis allows you to stay upto 12 months. All Airlines have similar farebasis for 12 month tickets. Expect to pay around 43K-60K INR.

I dunno much about student visas to US; but if you have not yet received one; and you plan to travel 03/01/09 or 03/02/09; you better hurry up now...