NYC to Delhi January 2010

miffy

I've been checking airfares for January 2010 and RT nonstop NYC-Delhi seems to be running pretty consistently at around $1160.

If anyone can shed some light, offer their experience, etc., on the following questions, I'd really appreciate it.

1) Is there any reason to buy the tickets now? Is the price really likely to rise significantly when the travel dates are still this far off? I realize that, for example, fuel costs could go up or down and that would affect the price, but are there other (or any) advantages to buying the tix 6 months in advance?

2) Both Air India and Continental fly nonstop to Delhi from NYC airports. The ticket prices have been identical lately. Are there any particular reasons to go with one of these airlines over the other?

Air India flight's ETA in Delhi is 4:45 pm. Continental's is 9:20 pm. Is one of these times better/easier/more convenient for landing at Delhi? Of course, E = estimated, so this might not matter at all.

One odd thing: Air India's inbound flight leaves Delhi at 12:25 am, so I have to keep remembering to search for a return flight the day after Contintental's return flight.

3) Any other advice or info about this is much appreciated.

It's our first trip to India--as I'm sure you can tell!

Thanks so much.
--miffy--

hfot2

A quick reply to your questions:
1. Buy now only if the flight you want has few seats available. No one can tell you if the price will go up or down - and anyone who does is just guessing. (Will Mumbai be attacked again?) Do get travel insurance to cover your pre-paid expenses and for evacuation in case of health emergency.
2.Yes, go with Continental. We have flown both - AI was an old United plane, some would say held together with duct tape and chewing gum. The crew on AI was polite and agreeable, but Indians are. The food was better on AI, but that doesn't mean much. Continental is a better plane, with an iffy crew. Some nice, some surely. Nevertheless, I will never risk my life on AI again.
ETA for Continental will get you there past rush hour Delhi (but traffic in Delhi is awful most hours, but not in the middle of the night.) You will have to pay for an hotel room that night even though you won't use it that much. Our 4 Continental flights have arrived very close to or earlier than ETA. Remember when checking for return flight time that you need to get to the airport in Delhi many hours (most say 3) before flight time.
3. You will enjoy India and will get much more advice and info here if you ask a precise question.

distaff half of hfot2

miffy

distaff half of hfot2

Thanks so much for your reply. As you can see, I'm still in the early planning stages, so I've got lots more to figure out. I just now found out that we need tourist visas as well as our passports--and I discovered this by accident!

Re travel insurance to cover prepaid expenses and possible evacuation: Can you recommend a particular carrier? We've never bought any kind of travel insurance, so I'm 100% unknowing on this topic.

Thanks so much.
--miffy--

hfot2

You are very welcome! We are all here to help and you may get other ideas on this as this post sits here. Read below for my travel insurance answer, but first -

It's great that you figured out about visas BEFORE getting to the airport. You will have go through Travisa (I think that's their name - who do the paperwork for the Indian embassy) They were very efficient and did a good job. If you plan (or even consider - and once you've been, you will consider...) to return to India, I recommend getting a 10 year visa - a great travel bargain.

For travel insurance I recommend taking a peak at insuremytrip.com to see what is out there. Then call Dan at travelinsurancecenter.com 1-866-979-6753, Tell him what you can about what you want and he'll offer up suggestions. He has been great for us. (you may get their anwering machine, just leave a message and ask to have DAN call you back - you can tell him someone on indiamike recommended him and he may figure out who it is)
We have used CSA in the recent past, but for the last 3 or 4 trips used Travelex (their Travel Plus policy). It depends on your circumstances and what you anticipate; with aging parents, we had very specific needs (and we actually had to use the insurance when we were forced to abort our last trip mid-flight. Travelex reimbursed us in 10 days of submitting our claim for the full amount of our prepaid expenses covered)

Hope this helps,
distaff

miffy

Dear distaff:

I can't thank you enough for all the info. Even though this is our first trip to India, I've already begun planning the second trip, since there's no way we can fit in even 1/2 of what we want to do this time. We have a mere 17 days, including travel days.

I was looking at the various available visas earlier today and was definitely leaning toward the 10-year variety. Your advice on this was very welcome.

No particular vaccinations seem to be necessary to go to India unless one is coming from sub-Saharan Africa. That's right, right?

Thanks again and again
--miffy--

hfot2

Re: vaccines - well, it's right, but...
Find a good a travel doctor/travel clinic (who should know India). We use the one at the state university here. There's the standard range of shots for travel that need to be up-to-date no matter where you are going - Hep A & C (I think), meningitis (opinions vary on this), diphtheria/tetanus, polio - it depends on what your doc says. Many of these are shots you will already have had, like tetanus, and you'll probably just need a booster, if that. (One caveat, travel doctors sometimes tend to be a bit overly cautious as ours is known to be; we disregard some of her recommendations. You can get a feel for the travel doc or clinic by asking questions of the nurses who work with him/her) Some docs recommend a series of rabies shots - we have never done this. Depending on where you're going - ask your doctor about Malarone for Malaria. Different folks here on IM have differing opinions on this. You can find lots of threads just search for malaria. And get an Rx for a broad spectrum antibiotic like Levaquin. I do not like the idea of casual use of antibiotics, but sometimes it's essential as long as you take the full course of meds to help slow the proliferation of drug-resistance.

Also, you might want to join IAMAT http://www.iamat.org/ For a mere $10/year (or whatever you decide you'd like to contribute) IAMAT will provide you with loads of info on malaria and other health issues for travelers, along with a booklet of doctors all over the world )which you won't need if you get the travel insurance with medical included but it's good to have as a backup anyway.)

And do read here on IM about diarrhea. For starters see:
My wife and Pepto-Bismol

Before I offer any more, perhaps unnecessary, recommendations and advice, how much traveling have you done to "third world" countries? Not to say that India is third world, exactly, but it's not Kansas.

We probably should be talking about all these issues on new threads since anyone else with similar questions will never find this here.

distaff

PS I don't know where you are planning to go or how you are planning your trip. PM me if you want the name of a Delhi contact.

miffy

Hi again, distaff,

Being a New Yorker, I'd have to say that, to me, Kansas is a third world country! (Kansasites, I'm only joking!) But, seriously, I guess the answer is none, since our only overseas travels have been to Europe and Japan. You could almost say that Japan makes the US seem like the third, or at least the second, world.

Anyway, DH and I are very relaxed about everything, and we're really looking forward to finally going to India.

I promise to start new threads for other specifics, but I really appreciate all the info you've given me so far. It makes a good start on some practical issues that I hadn't previously considered.

--miffy--

ETA: The Pepto-Bismol thread was great! Thanks.

nycank

Flying out of NYC in Jan '10 ?

I'd probably fly out after 01/07; and try flying on a Saturday. If this is your one'off trip - call some consolidators; If not, then check your CC and your FF(frequent-flyer partners)

The typical blackout dates for desh(India) are Dec 15th - Jan 07 out bound. Flying on Saturdays is cheaper than other days.

Last four months, the load-averages for flights to India from EastCoast on US carriers were abysmal.

Shop around for consolidator fares, you might get fares in sub-thousand. YMMV.

__________________
bade bhaisaheb is outsourced

nycank

Here is the breakdown for Jan 2010 - Best is Aeroflot (you dont wanna fly via Moscow do ya ?) Some of these are codeshares.



Stops


Nonstop Only $1,007

1 stop Only $904

2 stops Only $1,020

Carriers

Jet Airways Only $1,704
American Only $1,291
Air Canada Only $2,419
Air France Only $1,179
Air India Only $985
British Airways Only $1,295
Continental Only $1,007
Delta Only $1,563
Emirates Only $1,304
Etihad Airways Only $1,009
KLM Only $1,483
Lufthansa Only $1,357
SWISS Only $1,007
Northwest Only $1,523
Austrian Airlines Only $1,254
Qatar Airways Only $960
Aeroflot Only $904
United Only $1,059
US Airways Only $6,231
Virgin Atlantic Only $1,295
Aerosvit Only $1,253
Multiple Airlines Only $1,000

miffy

nycank:

Thanks for the info. We're planning on leaving Saturday, January 9th, so apparently we accidentally hit on a good idea!

I've been searching through Sidestep and also on Continental's site. I'm guessing the nonstop fare you referenced doesn't include all the fees, taxes, etc., since I've been getting $1136 as the everything-included fare for Continental nonstop RT.

Do you think it's possible to get a sub-thousand fare for a nonstop flight? Would this be through a consolidator? I haven't bought a ticket that way since the pre-internet-ticket-buying '90s, so I'm not even sure I know what to do anymore.

If you've got more info on that, I'd appreciate anything you could throw my way.

Thanks again,
--miffy--

hfot2

I noted after I hit submit that there was another note from you, miffy, above. Sorry if I repeat questions you've already asked.

I think this Saturday info is not a hard & fast rule. (unless it's a consolidators' rule and I am unfamiliar with those)
I checked several dates in January for miffy on Continental.com - nonstop, the best flight option, imho, and Saturdays made no difference. Different dates had different prices but Saturday was not a determining factor. Typical airline games...
miffy, if you have a Continental CC,(depending on the type) you can get double miles when you buy on continental.com. On the other hand, I have had very little luck in redeeming FF miles to fly free to India using miles them.


nycank - abysmal in what way? You'd think this would make the flights cheaper if by abysmal you mean empty planes - the airlines see empty planes and raise the cost to get more income. High season and weather also factor in, of course.

nycanck - Where did you find this price? "Continental Only $1,007"? I clicked your "only" underlined links but got nowhere

distaff half of hfot2

hfot2

miffy
I wrote my reply to nycank above (with a small note to you included in it) before noting that you had already asked the question.

I too am curious about the price on Continental.

You are right to look at non-stop flights - much less opportunity for losing your luggage and a real time and energy saver.

distaff

PS Japan is our other favourite place to visit, been there manymany times. As you say - and as you will see - the difference between the countries is huge (actually, you say between US and Japan, wait till you see India!) (we've been known to stop off in Japan on the way home from India to decompress!)

nycank

From kayak: (via cut and paste)


5 results shown from up to 48 hours ago
Fare AirlineTakeoffLandingStops (Duration)

Note: fares found by others and may no longer be available.

$1007+Continental
EWR8:45pDEL10:50a0 (14h 05m)
DEL11:35pEWR3:00p0 (15h 25m)
found 24h 51m ago
Check now Traveling: Jan 21 - Feb 24 (34 days)

$1054+Air India
EWR6:25pDEL10:35a1 (16h 10m)
DEL7:00pEWR7:55p2 (24h 55m)
found 47h 17m ago
Check now Traveling: Jan 30 - Mar 19 (48 days)

$1066+United
EWR7:10pDEL2:45p2 (19h 35m)
DEL3:05aEWR2:50a1 (23h 45m)
found 33h 11m ago
Check now Traveling: Jan 5 - Feb 9 (34 days)

Fares by and large change because number tickets assigned to one booking class may not be available after a few hours. Here is an information you can use by calling a travel agent Remember, farebasis is TLX7INE

I am not a travel agent, nor in the airline industry. I do have access to non-free online GDSs.

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Rajahindustani

Hi,

Buy now. no anybody can't tell you if price will increase or decrease.

cheers..
raja

hfot2

Thanks nycank for the info.
Sorry to be so non-savvy, but can you tell me please what TLX7INE means?


Thanks also for this disclosure!


distaff half