Points to Remember while Flight Booking

With the onset new technologies and infrastructure in the aviation industry, the price of flight booking has been reduced significantly. The automation of reservation system and de-regulation of the industry were the milestones in the functioning and restructuring of the whole process. These not only affected the process of reserving a seat with different carriers, but also changed the approach of people towards air travel. The advent of low-cost carriers in the late 1990s affirmed this wave of change, and perhaps introduced most drastic changes in all the aspect, starting from price. Not only air travel, but other modes of transportation also underwent this process of modification. Now, travellers can opt for any of these flights to go to new places or explore old ones. However, in case of long distances that can take hours to reach via car or train, flights are usually preferred. In recent days, it has been observed that even for short-haul journeys people opt for air travel because of its time and cost efficiency. Here is a list of tips that can prove to be cost-reducing while reserving seats with any airline.

Timing and Advance Booking

The air ticket price is usually high during festivals or peak tourist seasons. Hence, experts advise on avoiding these times while planning the trip. Apart from this, the booking in advance can save a great deal of money as most of the flights are vacant, and carriers offer them at low cost to achieve minimum load factor for operation. This advance period may vary from three months to 20 days, but after that, there are less chances of cracking a lucrative deal. Last-minute deals are treated as the last resort as the chances of success are less than 30 per cent. However, it is worth noting that booking in advance for festive seasons also do not help; hence those times should be avoided if possible.

Look Beyond Price

Most of the people compare ticket prices on the basis of price. However, there are several other aspects that need to be considered like baggage allowance, meals offered and other services included in the ticket price. It has been seen that the lowest priced deals do not always give the best value for money. The cost is one of the most important factors, but others that may affect the travelling experience and needed to be kept in mind before ticket booking include the number of stops, flight and connecting timings.

Number of Stops

A direct flight to the destination is often the best option, but it is usually priced quite high. Hence, people can book a flight with one or two stopovers. This will neutralise the total cost of travel at the expense of precious time. However, it is not the best option for people who have to attend urgent business meeting or family event.

Connecting Options

There are certain routes, where a direct flight is not operated due to technological constraints or because of the revenue issues. Travellers, who have to travel to such destinations, need to check for airports on which these deals may land them. They can easily get connecting flights from popular airports. These little things help passengers in getting the cheapest deals, which offer the greatest value as well.

Google Soon to Add Dedicated Tab to Provide Flight Schedule and Status

The flagship carrier of the Unites Arab Emirates (UAE), Etihad Airways recently announced its collaboration with Google regarding one-click flight information. This Abu Dhabi-based carrier operates on more than 1000 routes every week. It is one of the largest airlines of the Middle East serving over 10 million customers every year. The giant search engine will add another tab in its search buttons, namely, Flights. This will enable people to get information related to flight schedule, like its arrival and departure time, routes or deviation, fares or any such information. However, for now, the option is limited to few countries only.

People living in Spain, Italy, Canada, Poland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the US and the UK can check details of over 140 weekly routes of the airline serving than 100 destinations. People, who want to book ticket either click on the flights button of navigation bar on the Google search result page or can type the same after typing google.com in the address bar. Along with searching flights for their destination, selecting the seats and timings, they can book the ticket also. The chief commercial officer of the airline expressed his zeal on being associated with such a renowned and efficient search engine. Indian domestic carriers may also like to explore this opportunity and checking SpiceJet flight status or for some other airline will be just a click affair.

However, travellers looking for information of Etihad or any other carrier can get same details from travel portals and dedicated websites. One just needs to enter destinations and date of journey, a list of different carriers connecting the start and end destination appears on the screen. To get full detail of the listed flights, they just need to click on it, for instance for IndiGo flight status.

Steps to be taken by Government to Provide Cheapest Airfare

The aviation industry has undergone a tremendous change in last few decades, and the most significant among them is the introduction of the low-cost carriers. With the changes in economic structure of the country, and travelling behaviour of people, the government of India is considering a revision in the visa rates, which in turn may affect the overall airfare. It is speculated that these changes will bring down the cost, creating a new standard for cheapest airfare. In an interview, the tourism minister said that the government is planning on to slash the visa rates and is taking actions to curb the increasing airfares to compete with the cheaper destinations all across the globe. During the interview, example of destinations of neighbouring country, Sri Lanka and South Africa was given.

When asked about price hike in the ticket prices of the popular destinations like Goa, the minister replied that several steps are being taken to control and reduce it, which may lead to reduction in the SpiceJet flight fares also. As per reports, during the peak season – December and January – the tickets can be more than INR 23,000, which is higher than the flight ticket to Bangkok. Additionally, he said that they are also making strategies to reduce visa rates and promote Indian tourism.

Sample of Indian Visa

Comparing the price of Indian Visa to that of the Maldives and Sri Lanka, which costs around 75 per cent lesser, he said that new visa regime of e-visa facility, may be introduced in the near future. It is speculated that after implementation of these policies and changes, the cost of air travel will definitely come down leading to tremendous growth in the tourism sector of the country. This will help domestic carriers to sell their tickets at lesser rates and gain market share in the coming future.