Online Flight Booking Trend

The global travel industry is expanding and is robust in growing economies like India and China. As per reports, travel sales are expected to reach $830 billion in the year 2017, in spite of cheap flight tickets offered by carriers. Despite influential role of new economies, North America is leading when market value is considered, and annual growth rate has been estimated at 7 per cent. However, one thing that is common in all the markets is change in the method of seat reservation. The culture of going to the counter is coming to an end as most of the people use internet services or get their tickets booked by agents.

The Emerging Trend

In places like Spain and the United Kingdom, online travel sales accounts for more than 50 per cent. Asia-Pacific is one of the fastest growing travel markets and its value increased to around $91 billion in the year 2014. With the onset of new technologies, and penetration of mobiles and tablets, online flight booking has been replaced with mobile travel purchase. Currently, Japan is the leading country in the regions as far as digital booking is considered, but China and India are catching up quite fast. Improvements in the basic infrastructure and increased access to the internet may act as a catalyst in digital flight booking.

Seat reservations, made by using mobile devices, have increased by more than 20 per cent in the first six months of 2014. When compared to desktops or laptops, it is around 10 times higher in case of booking. Not only air tickets, but car rentals and hotel bookings by using smart devices also increased in the past few years. An average of $600 more were spent on the reservations made by an iPhone or iPad as compared to Android-based devices. However, the sum total of Android bookings is higher in value as well as number.

Effect on the Cost of Seat Reservation

Apart from simplifying the booking process and increasing the reach, it has also reduced the cost of operation to a great extent. The manpower and machines needed by carriers to generate the ticket as well as to distribute it, has been reduced significantly. Now, travellers can book tickets using mobile phones or other devices. Travel portals have launched their applications that can be downloaded by users to book tickets anytime and anywhere. As per reports, in-app bookings account for around 12 per cent out of total reservations done using the phone.

How does it Work?

Simplicity is the first reason that it is preferred by passengers over other methods. Just with an internet connection and smartphone, travellers can handle most of the transactions in minutes. It usually includes information regarding all the flights operated on the required routes along with secure online payment option. After making a seat reservation, passengers can opt for online check-in process, view the flight schedule, track current status and other flight information. They can also amend dates or request cancellation using the same application. In some cases, passengers may have to visit the office in person to cancel tickets. Apart from this, a valid identity card is required at the terminal for boarding the flight.

Cheaper Air Travel with SpiceJet Flight Booking

Technological revolutions have simplified our lives in a number of ways. Online flight booking, reservations, payments, money transfers and many other time consuming activities can be carried out with just one click of a mouse button or a tap of the mobile phone. Earlier, it took days and weeks to introduce a new product or offer on the existing ones, and months to assess the results. However, now, these offers reach to target customers instantly, and its impact can be assessed in a short period. For instance, SpiceJet is offering around one million airline tickets having a base fare of just INR 999 and a significant number of tickets are already sold as per reports.

Studies show that online ticket bookings do not only save precious time, but also save a lot of money. A lot of hard earned money can be saved by availing seasonal offers rolled out by different carriers. Travellers planning their trip anytime between January and October in the next year can get one of those million tickets, prior to 10th of July. This is one of the most successful marketing strategies followed by low-cost carriers (LCCs) of other countries. Usually tickets booked under this scheme cannot be cancelled and are non-refundable, but as per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), surcharge including taxes and other fee, except for the base fee can be claimed by travellers.

Industry experts say that this offer can generate quick funds for the Sun Group of India by turning in the fliers with long term plans. The carrier is using aggressive strategies to boost up the sales as the Premium Economy class was recently introduced by the airline, having about 36 inches of leg room as against the usual 32 inches provided in the Economy Class. As per industry reports, these offers have considerably increased the SpiceJet flight booking in past few months.

Perks of Online Flight Booking

The advent of online travel agencies has revolutionised the tourism sector considerably in the past few decades. Online flight booking on travel portals has made planning holidays a matter of few mouse-clicks. This has promoted tourism up to a significant extent as organising tours consumes lesser time now. People can browse through available scheduled flights of their favourite airlines from anywhere and any time. They can make reservations on the internet on their devices, such as smartphones, laptops and tablets whenever they want. The inception of online travel agencies or OTAs has led to the dawn of a new era in the field of tourism.

Get the Best Deals in Flights

In addition to the advantages of no geographical boundaries during booking air tickets, OTAs have several other amazing benefits. One such advantage of using an OTA is that getting cheap airline tickets is easier. By the application of several tactics and strategies, travellers can bag good deals while making reservations on a portal. First of all, these tour websites offer various promotional schemes all-round the year and there are fair chances of getting lower airfare on these portals during any time of the year. Secondly, these websites have various helpful features, which increase the probability of getting the most-discounted rates. To name one, users can register their email ids and mobile numbers with these websites to get latest notifications about ongoing and upcoming discounts. This unique feature keeps tourists updated about discount and offers that prevent them from missing out on good schemes.

Remain Updated with Alerts and Notifications

Fliers with online reservation have the benefit of access to updated information regarding flight schedule and current aircraft status. In case of last-minute alterations like delay in flight, terminal change or cancellation of flight, tourists with internet reservations will be among the first to know. They can constantly check for details through mobile applications of leading travel agencies on their smartphones and they can also get notified automatically if they register for alerts and notifications. These facilities ensure a hassle-free tour avoiding eleventh-hour chaos due to slight alterations.

Online Check-in

Another revolutionary feature, which OTAs offer is the leverage of checking-in on the internet. There are several benefits of checking-in using web services. First of all, it spares travellers from the hectic process of queuing up at the airport in order to confirm their presence in a flight. Secondly, this facility enables tourists to print their own boarding passes, which again saves time and efforts at the airport. Thirdly, fliers can select seats of their own choice and they can even upgrade to a higher class of travel if they wish. Besides, passengers can check-in through an OTA almost 72 hours before the schedule departure of the flight. This makes things easy and sorted out, saves time and energy. This array of advantageous features and user-friendly interface of travel websites have made them popular and most people prefer making reservations through OTAs today.

Discount for Families while making a SpiceJet Flight Booking

Just before the online flight booking options in Indian aviation are set to increase, the carriers operating in the nation seem to leave no leaf unturned to attract more passengers. The initial four months of the year were marked by a series of discounts from all the operators in the market, which encouraged more passengers to opt for flights. Some of the carriers such as SpiceJet and GoAir offered more than five rounds of flash sales, targeting a particular niche population at a time. Recently, the market leader IndiGo offered special discounted flight fare rates for travelling families. The Sun-group airline, SpiceJet, seems to take notice of its success and launched a similar offer last week.

This offer is named Friends and Family and is beneficial for travelling families or even those who are flying in groups. Under this scheme, four fliers to nine when making a SpiceJet flight booking together can get discounts of up to 25 per cent on most domestic routes. Travellers should keep in mind though that this per cent of discount will be calculated on the base fare and the surcharges are taxes are exempted from the calculation. Furthermore, not all seats on a single flight are available for getting this discounted airfare. Only some of the seats on each aircraft come under this offer and travellers will be allowed to avail this discount based on their choice and availability.

The Indian carriers are trying their best to encourage to stay with them by offering such attractive offers and deals. It is noteworthy that Indian aviation is set to witness the entry of Singapore Airlines and AirAsia, which will start offering domestic services. This event will set the tune for a more stressful competition among the operators and the carriers, which are already operating in the market are looking to be in the best possible position before their entry.