The Hindu Business Line : Bargain airfares: Spoilt for choice

FINDING the lowest airfare if you wanted to fly between Indian cities was certainly simple back when there were just a couple of big airlines and standard fares. Travelling from Mumbai to Bangalore, meant calling your travel agent and choosing from the two or three standard fare options.

Now, with half a dozen airlines criss-crossing the skies and most of them offering "dynamic" fares, the options have become mind-boggling.

But the upside is that while booking airline tickets has become complicated it has become much less expensive.

Flexible airfares

If you Internet search a Mumbai-Bangalore trip today, you will find offers from five competing airlines, ranging from a bargain price of Rs 2,479 to a Rs 6,495, for a one-way trip.

Each airline, in turn, has five or six connections between the same cities, at varying fares. If you are prepared to do some heavy surfing, you can bag a flight ticket for less than the A/C train fare for the same distance.

The dynamic fare system, which has replaced schemes such as Apex fares, determines your fare based on the demand and supply of seats on a flight, at the time of booking. If the flight is almost full, expect to pay more; if it is flying empty, you'll probably pay less.

In addition to this, airlines may release a few seats from time to time at "special" discounted fares. The no-frills airline, Air Deccan, for instance, periodically releases a limited number of Rs 500 (plus taxes) tickets for inter-city destinations.

You can make a Mumbai-Bangalore trip for a throwaway price of Rs 500, if you book as soon as a fresh batch of discounted fares is released.

Finding bargains

As dynamic fares are based on availability, there are a few thumb-rules you could follow. If you already have an airline in mind, keeping your travel time and day flexible can help reduce your airfares significantly.

Afternoon and late-night flights tend to cost much less than the early morning ones, (which are usually preferred by business travellers). The difference between the afternoon and morning fares may, in some cases, be as high as 20-30 per cent.

A morning Chennai-Delhi Jet Airways flight may cost Rs 8,140 (one-way), while the afternoon flight on the same route costs 20 per cent less, at Rs 6,450.

As with trains, weekends and school holidays are high-traffic periods. To save, avoid travelling at the beginning of Puja holidays or summer vacation. Mid-week flights are, similarly, less expensive than weekend ones.

If your flight dates are not flexible and you have to fly during the holidays, book two-three weeks in advance. Many airlines offer a certain number of tickets on each flight on auction. If you are willing to "bid" a week to a month in advance, you stand a chance of landing a handsome discount.

The portal, www.auctions.indiatimes.com, offers a good shortlist of the various airline tickets that are up for bidding over the next couple of months.

No rules

These thumb rules may not work all the time. In the world of dynamic fares, the actual fare depends on the status of the particular flight that you are booking on; so, there are no hard and fast rules.

At times, on certain trips, a full service airline may offer you a much better bargain than a no-frills one.

Thus, an Indian Airlines ticket may cost much less than an Air Deccan one for the same route. A one-way trip, booked each way, may cost less than a round trip, though the latter is supposed to be more economical. Sometimes, travelling the very next day may be cheaper than travelling ten days from the time of booking.

Fishing for the best fares

If you are keen on finding the best available airfares, you better prepare for an hour or so of intensive "fare-fishing" on the Internet. A couple of new specialised airfare portals have made this easier.

Recently launched portals, such as www.makemytrip.com and www.ghumo.com, have made it their business to maintain a roster of fares offered by various airlines and help you zero in on the cheapest ticket going. A search on one of these portals will give you a good idea of the range of airfares between two points.

And airfares can vary quite widely for the same route on a single day. According to ghumo.com a one-way trip between Mumbai and Chennai this week has four options with widely varying fares. Air Deccan offered the best bargain at Rs 2,679 for an early morning flight.

These Web sites also allow you to book online. However, if you are a real bargain-hunter, you may want to go through the Web sites of individual airlines. This is because some airlines may choose not to be part of makemytrip or ghumo.

Searches on makemytrip.com, for instance, threw up fewer options for no-frills carriers, such as Air Deccan or SpiceJet, compared to full-fare ones, such as Air Sahara, Indian Airlines and Jet Airways. ghumo.com also allows you to compare airfares on a particular route with the train fare for the same route, which you could find useful. Most airline Web sites allow you to browse fares in their online booking module on their homepage itself. For instance www.airdeccan.net, www.jetairways.com and www.indianairlines.in, have modules on their homepage that lead you straight to the fare details. You can usually access these facilities without registering on these Web sites. Do keep the following points in mind when you browse for airfares:

Most Web sites flag promotionaloffers on their homepage. While Jet Airways has "Special fares" on several routes, Indian Airlines has a slew of "Easy Fares". Check them out before attempting a specific search.

Many airlines offer limited-period promotional offers that allow you price-offs on a ticket if you book for a group of people at one go. Air Deccan's Value Flier and Indian Airlines' Monsoon Saver are examples. But block-booking is useful only if you plan to make a certain number of trips over specific sectors. It may, however, reduce the flexibility associated with your travel plans.

If you are using a promotional offer, do read the fineprint. Tickets bought under promotional fares are sometimes not eligible for frequent flyer miles. More important, some promotional fares are not eligible for rescheduling or refund on cancellation.

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