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How Far In Advance Should You Book A Flight?

Planning a well-deserved getaway trip and trying to find the cheapest day to buy airline tickets can turn into a costly and frustrating game of hit and miss, for even the most experienced of travellers.

There are also important factors to consider that determine the best day of the week to buy flights. Your destination, when you plan to travel and whether you are booking a domestic or international flight!

So is there a magic number to consider when locating the prime booking window to buy tickets for your dream trip?

There are 3 things you need to look into:

How Far in Advance Should You Book a Domestic Flight?

Flying within the country? That’s good news in terms of how much time you’ll have to buy tickets.

When you’re booking a domestic flight, book your tickets between one and three months prior to your trip.

According to Travel & Leisure, Kayak compiled one year of flight data and discovered the following:

“Six months before departure, domestic ticket prices were about 20 percent higher than the lowest fares. They started dropping three months out and hit a low to seven weeks before departure”

It’s important to remember that these numbers aren’t written in stone, but rather, are to be used as a guideline on what to consider when searching for the most affordable booking window.

Whatever you do, don’t wait until the last week because on an average, prices shoot up by 25 percent.

When Is The Best Time To Buy International Flight Tickets?

It takes a lot more preparation to plan an international trip, and that includes booking your tickets further in advance.

International flights don’t see the same kind of fluctuation domestic flights do, so more often than not what you see is what you’re going to get.

According to “CheapAir”, international flights stay fairly flat for a few months, then start to creep up slowly, until about 90 days before departure when the place of increase starts to accelerate.

“FareCompare” says that the cheapest days to fly international are between five and a half months and one and a half months from departure.

Put simply, three months out is when you want to start thinking of booking domestic flights – whereas for booking international flights, three months out is the last minute you want to be thinking of booking.

Have more than 3-5 months to book tickets for international flights to ensure that you’re getting the best deal possible.

When to Book Flights to Popular Destinations & Times?

Airline ticket sales operate on complex formulas, but one thing that remains fairly simple is the concept of supply and demand.

When there is less supply, there will be more demand. Understandably, when there is more demand, there will be higher prices.

What that means for your travel plans is that you’ll want to book early when traveling to popular destinations and during peak times.

Going to the beach or to Europe this summer, when everyone else is doing the same thing? Book early!

*To ensure you get the most affordable flight deal, don’t forget to compare flight fares from different airlines, so you can ascertain the best airline to get the cheapest deal.

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Singapore’s Low-Cost Airline “Scoot” To Expand Operations In India!

Scoot, the low-cost arm of the Singapore Airlines Group, has announced plans to strengthen its presence in India with flights to three new cities, including Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam.

Scoot, launched in June 2012 and merged with Tigerair Singapore in July 2017, retaining the Scoot brand, currently operates on seven routes between Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli in India.

The new routes are due to be transferred over from sister airline, SilkAir, and Scoot will be the only airline operating direct non-stop flights from Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam to Singapore.

Flights from Trivandrum to Singapore will commence from 7 May 2019, and flights from Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam will start from 27 October 2019.

The airline has announced a limited-time sale on flights from all its India points – including Trivandrum, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam ,starting from 14th – 28th January 2019 on its website.

One-way promotional fares (inclusive of tax) begin from as low as Rs4,500 for economy, for trips to 27 cities in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam via Singapore.

Scoot’s network presently encompasses 66 destinations across 18 countries and territories, with 16 more destinations from Laos, India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia to join the network by the second half of 2020.

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Are Low Airfares Really Helping Airlines In India To Grow?

Global airlines are looking to enter India, lured by the by a domestic travel boom and what’s expected to be the world’s third-biggest aviation market by 2025.

Yet India has proven to be a highly competitive market, where profits are scarce and the life expectancy of weaker airlines is anything but certain.

The best example of this is the recent fall of Jet Airways. Jet Airways India Ltd, one of the first carriers to launch after the market opened up in the early 1990s, is struggling to handle the cost of its day to day operations and are in dire need of liquid cash.

This is the sign of financial distress in a market which struggles with high fuel prices, airfare wars and a depreciating rupee. The competition is set to intensify if Qatar Airways follows through with its proposal to start a short-haul flights in the country.

To give you a small insight into why this is happing , we did some digging around and found some interesting points.

Running The Rat Race

The Indian aviation sector is slowly heading towards reaching a scenario similar to the telecom sector, which faced immense disruption since the data pricing war started.

At present, airlines regularly offer major discounts and cashback offers on flights as they want to ‘snatch’ more passengers from the railways & their competitors to fill up more spots.

Many aviation experts say that the major problem facing the sector is a “low-cost” airfare war that is driving ticket prices unrealistically low, even to such an extent that airlines cannot cover their operating costs.

The woes faced by Jet Airways are similar to those faced by other Indian carriers that are struggling to remain profitable. This is despite filling nearly 90 percent of their seats and recording a sharp increase in domestic passenger numbers over the last four years.

Although the higher demand in the sector reflects as growth, it does not necessarily add up to profitability in terms of revenue generation. Experts have termed the growth in the airline sector as “unhealthy” and even profitless.

The Real Killer

With the entry of budget carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet since the mid-2000’s, full-service carriers like Jet Airways & Air India that have higher overhead costs, such as in-flight meals and entertainment, have been forced to offer discounts to passengers looking for a great bargain.

For instance, in 2015, SpiceJet offered base fares of as low as Rs 65. Average ticket prices for New Delhi to Mumbai, the world’s third-busiest route, fell 15 percent to 3,334 rupees in July-August 2014.

“Such fares are “not sustainable,” yet there’s “no choice” but to keep offering them” Rahul Bhatia, the billionaire co-founder of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. that operates IndiGo, told analysts after almost all of its quarterly profits were wiped out.

To Robert Mann, the New York-based head of aviation consultancy R.W. Mann & Co., the Indian market now resembles that of the U.S. 30 years ago after the government freed ticket prices from federal controls in 1978, setting off a fare war.

According to Mt Jagat Puri who’s a pilot by profession, “Ticket prices on key and popular routes are always under sustained pressure from various carriers”. He went on to say that, some of the prices are unreasonable and this leads to an unhealthy fare war.

India’s airlines have particularly suffered because passengers are highly price-sensitive despite spiralling jet-fuel prices and high local taxes that reach as much as 30 percent.

India Flying At A Loss

The Indian government also has had to prop up its loss-making national carrier Air India, pouring in taxpayer money to keep planes in the air. In July 2018, the government pumped in €261 Million to keep Air India operating.

Air India has found itself in dire financial straits over the past decade, saddled by a gigantic debt amounting to around €7 billion and having to beg the government for bailouts.

But while the government is looking at infusing fresh capital in Air India, the private airlines need to fight for themselves in a hostile market.

What Is The Solution?

With margins slipping, fuel prices not showing any signs of coming down and little likelihood of the government lowering taxation on jet fuel, the only option with airlines is to raise fares.

While airlines are now introducing measures to curb passengers from increasing flight load (recent baggage rule change), much more needs to be done to make the sector profitable again. 

Other than that, industry veterans such as Kapoor feel there is a need to focus on real growth, which can only be achieved by matching global costs and not trying to compete with the Indian Railways. 

However, it would be extremely hard for airlines to move away from the low-cost model as passengers may again go back to travelling on trains. This is where the airline industry lacks the pricing power and is forced to offer low prices. 

Conclusion

There is little that can be done to change the fortunes of the sector which is facing increased stress due to rising ATF prices and pressure from depreciating rupee.

Considering that Indian airline carriers pay the highest for ATF due to local taxes to the tune of 30 per cent, the only intelligent move is to increase ticket prices and aim at real growth rather than a boost triggered by discounts.

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The World’s Safest & Punctual Airlines In The World For 2019!

If you’re a nervous traveller, you’ll be interested to know that Qantas is the safest airline in the world, according to a new list from AirlineRatings.com.

The Australian airline has nabbed the top spot on the annual list since 2014, although technically it was a joint winner in 2018. United Airlines is back on the list after the ranking left it out it last year.

AirlineRatings.com put together its list by sourcing data from 405 airlines, looking at points like government audits, crash and serious incident records, and profitability.

While Qantas has the top spot, Finnair and Hawaiian are not far behind.

Here is the list of the top 20 safest airlines in alphabetical order (which is how AirlineRatings.com presents the list):

  • Air New Zealand
  • Alaska Airlines
  • All Nippon Airways
  • American Airlines
  • Austrian Airlines
  • British Airways
  • Cathay Pacific Airways
  • Emirates
  • EVA Air
  • Finnair
  • Hawaiian Airlines
  • KLM
  • Lufthansa
  • Qantas
  • Qatar Airways
  • SAS
  • Singapore Airlines
  • Swiss
  • United Airlines
  • Virgin Atlantic
  • Virgin Australia

The Most Punctual Airline In The World

Panama’s Copa Airlines SA has been crowned 2018’s most punctual carrier in a global survey.

Latvia’s Air Baltic ranked second among airlines arriving or departing within 15 minutes of scheduled times, according to a report by data firm OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd.

Hong Kong Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Bangkok Airways rounded out the top five. IndiGo & Air Asia India have come in the Top 20 as well.

About 4.3 billion passengers traveled by air last year, 6.1 percent more than in 2017, according to a preliminary report by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization. Airlines filled a record 81.9 percent of their seats in 2018.

Here’s The List Of The Most Punctual Airlines in the world in 2019

  • 1. Copa Airlines (89.79%)*.
  • 2. AirBaltic (89.17%).
  • 3. Hong Kong Airlines (88.11%).
  • 4. Hawaiian Airlines (87.52%).
  • 5. Bangkok Airways (87.16%).
  • 6. Qantas Airways (85.65%).
  • 7. LATAM Airlines Group (85.60%).
  • 8. Azul (85.21%).
  • 9. Qatar Airways (85.17%).
  • 10. KLM (84.52%).

*On-Time Performance

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SpiceJet Under Scanner After Mid-Air New Year Celebration!

A mid-air new year celebration party has landed SpiceJet into trouble with Indian aviation regulators Directorate General Of Civil Aviation(DGCA).

On December 31 last year, the private airline decided to celebrate the arrival of 2019 onboard. The crew wore colourful wigs and carried pompoms while greeting passengers in their seats.

What irked the DGCA was a video on social media that showed passengers dancing on board a mid-air flight. The regulator has summoned the airline officials seeking an explanation.

Here are the details of the incident:

  • The video was taken inside flight SG 282 flying from Amritsar to Goa.
  • In the video, it is seen that while the aircraft was mid-air, many passengers were moving around the aisle dancing, clicking photos, and even posing with the cabin crew.
  • According to DGCA this is a violation of cabin-safety requirements. Use of cell phones to take pictures mid-air is also a violation of safety rules.

The regulator is probing whether crew members joined in the celebration and if it was an incident inside only one aircraft. However, SpiceJet said no protocols were violated and the airline crew did not participate in the dancing.

According to SpiceJet, On one specific flight, after completion of service and prior to the seat belt sign coming, they got some of their cabin crew members to greet passengers while walking down the aisle.

“The people seen dancing were passengers who got momentarily carried away. The crew immediately requested the passengers to be seated. The captain also put on the seat belt sign and appropriate announcements were made.”

This is not the first time that the regulator has taken a strict stance against a mid-air bash inside an aircraft.

In 2014, the DGCA had sent a show-cause notice to SpiceJet for holding a 10-minute dance show inside an aircraft. In 2016, the regulator had also grounded the crew of Jet Airways after singer Sonu Nigam was allowed to perform mid-air over the public announcement device inside an aircraft.

Mid-air bashes, however, are common as airlines regularly use them to attract flyers and improve their brand image. Airlines such as Finnair and AirAsia have conducted dance and birthday celebrations onboard their flights.

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Everything You Need To Know About Frequent Flyer Programs!

Travelling frequently by air can get expensive, but most flyers will agree to the fact that air travel is still the fastest and convenient way of reaching your destination.

But how do you get around those expensive flight tickets and keep your travel within your budget?

Well, the answer to this question is “Frequent Flyer Programs”!

Signing up to a frequent flyer programme is one of the most important steps to spending a lot less on travelling by air and ensuring a much better flight & airline experience.

It’s such an unbelievably simple way of saving money on flying, yet many of us don’t use it at all.

But that’s why we’re here!

To help you save whenever you fly, let us give you brief  understanding of what exactly is a frequent flyer program and how does it work.

What Is A Frequent Flyer Program?

A Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) is a promotional offer given by an airline to win the loyalty of its guests by offering certain rewards to them.

The programme involves the guest accumulating frequent flyer miles or airline miles by travelling with the airline.

These miles can then be used to make the most of rewards offered by the airline such as free flights, seat upgrades, priority check-ins and lounge access. These rewards apply to both domestic and international flights.

History Of Frequent Flyer Programs

When the concept of FFP started, airlines gave frequent flyer miles or points to the guest for the number of miles  or distance they flew with them. Basically, the points given were roughly the same as the miles a customer flew.

However, overtime this concept changed.

In recent times, while the distance travelled doesn’t earn you as much points as it used to, travel miles can now be earned in a lot more ways than just flying.

Things like booking a ticket on the airline’s website, subscribing to their magazines and booking through a partner airline credit card can earn you frequent flyer miles.

What Are The Benefits Of Frequent Flyer Miles

1.Elite Membership

As you accumulate more points, the airline tends to upgrade you to a platinum or a gold memberships.

Every airline has its stipulated amount of miles to be accumulated before you can be invited to an elite member program.

The elite membership in FFP’s give you some eye catching perks like lounge access, priority check-in & boarding, occasional free ticket upgrade, priority baggage handling and more.

2.Seat Upgrades

You can use you airline miles to upgrade your seat from economy class to premium class or premium class to business class depending on what is available with  the airline.

3.Trade Miles For Experiences

Some International airlines allow you to exchange earned miles for vacations, festivals, sporting events, and more.

Tickets to a football game, a seven-day cruise , 5 star hotel stay and tickets to an arts & music festival are just some of the packages you can exchange for your airline miles.

4. Travel With Partner Airlines

Frequent flyer miles can come in handy when you’re flying with a partner airline or if your airline is part of an alliance.

For instance, Air India is part of the Star Alliance which has International carriers such as Lufthansa, United Airlines & Singapore Airlines.

You can use your Air India miles to redeem rewards if you’re flying with its star alliance partner airlines.

Registering For A Frequent Flyer Program

There are 2 ways in which you can register for a Frequent Flyer Program:

Airline Program

Registering for a FFP is very easy. You just have to go to your airline’s website and create an account with them. Once you sign up , you will get a frequent flyer number and they will also send you a frequent flyer card.

Airline Credit Card

Airlines partner with banks to help each other benefit from their customers, so check if your credit card bank has a tie-up with an airline

If you want to stack up your flyers miles, then use your credit card wherever you can. Put away the cash and debit card. Use mileage-accruing credit cards for everything from bills to everyday items like shampoo.

For instance, Axis bank credit card holders can be a part of the “Axis Vistara Infinite” FFP. This progra gives up to 4  Vistara Business Class vouchers (1+3) based on your credit card expenditure.

Using Frequent Flyer Miles

  • Onece you get your Frequent Flyer Number, all you need to do is use it while booking your flight.
  • It will be used automatically if you’re booking through the airline’s website and points will be added to your profile.
  • If you book through websites like GoIbibo or MakeMyTrip, you can add this while you are booking the ticket.
  • In case, you forget to use the number while booking a flight, you can always let the staff at the airport counter know while check-in and he/ she will be add it to your journey. Typically your boarding pass will have this number printed.
  • If you forget to use the number all together for a journey, you can always claim your miles after 3 to 6 months for that trip.Howvere, you’ll need to retain your boarding pass for it.

*Learn more about “How To Earn & Spend Frequent Flyer Miles Like A Pro

Best Frequent Flyer Programs In India

These are the best frequent flyer programs in India

1.Jet Privilege By Jet Airways

Jet Privilege is an award winning airline loyalty program and is useful for both international and domestic travel.

Rewards are very easy to redeem in this program, plus you can earn “JP Miles” by flying internationally with Jet Airways partner airlines like Etihad.

The Jet Privilege loyalty membership is a 5 tier program. The journey begins as a Jet Privilege Blue member and progresses through Blue Plus, Silver, Gold and finally to a Jet Privilege Platinum member.

2.Club Vistara By Vistara

Club Vistara claims to be the fastest rewarding Frequent Flyer Program in all of India and “tailored for the trendsetters and the high boardroom fliers” as stated in its official website.

However, the airline is relatively new and flies to a limited number of destinations. Plus it has only 2 partner airlines, which are Singapore Airlines and Silk Air.

Club Vistara operates a four tier Frequent flyer program which are – CV Base, CV Silver, CV Gold and CV Platinum. The more you fly with them the faster you’ll progress from basic CV Base membership to a CV Platinum Membership.

3.Flying Returns By Air India

Flying Returns was India’s first frequent flyer program.

The biggest advantage of being a Flying First member is that you can redeem and get rewards for you points across many international airlines , since Air India is part of the Star Alliance.

Flying Returns has premium membership with some very amazing perks. The program has three tiers, the Maharaja Club – as the elite tier, The Golden Edge Club and the Silver Edge Club.

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Government Paves Way For Wi-Fi On Flights!

People will soon be able to make calls and access internet through their phones during air travel within Indian territory as the government has notified rules for providing such services.

The government has made a set of guidelines under the Indian Flight and Maritime Connectivity Rules (IFMC), 2018, which says that Indian and foreign airlines operating in the country can provide in-flight voice and data services in partnership with a valid Indian telecom licence holder.

The services will be activated once the aircraft attains a minimum height of 3,000 metres in Indian airspace to avoid interference with terrestrial mobile networks, the rules state.

The IFMC licences will be granted against an annual fee of Re 1 for a period of 10 years and the permit holder will have to pay licence fees and usage charges based on revenue earned from providing services.

However, airlines and service providers will decide how much they want to charge the customer. It is also up to them whether they want to offer both internet and calling services or limit themselves to Wi-Fi services only.

Most airlines globally offer only Wi-Fi on board as allowing mobile calls could be too much of a nuisance for fellow travellers.

This development helps India, one of the fastest growing aviation markets and the second largest smartphone market, join a long list of countries like the US, UK, Canada and China that have been offering the services for a couple of years now.

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Airlines In India Are Raining Discounts This Holiday Season!

To take on growing competition and boost sales this holiday season, several airlines in India including Jet Airways, IndiGo, Vistara and Air India are all offering discounted fares on domestic and international flights.

Here are some of the deals:

Air India

India’s national carrier, Air India, is offering air tickets at a starting price of ₹1,000 for several domestic routes.

However, the offer is applicable on late night flights, with an aim to “beat peak hour rush” according to the national carrier’s website.

These will be serviceable only on Bengaluru-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Coimbatore and Delhi-Goa routes.

Jet Airways

Jet Airways has announced more flights operational across its domestic and international network from ₹2,398 onwards.

But, the fares proposed by Jet Airways are applicable only on selected flight tickets for passengers travelling in economy class.

In a separate sale, the airline is offering domestic flight tickets at a starting all-inclusive price of Rs. 1,313. Jet Airways flight tickets purchased under the sale are valid for 12 months from the date of commencement of journey.

IndiGo

The budget carrier IndiGo has announced discounted daily non-stop flights operating from Bhopal to Hyderabad and Jabalpur to Hyderabad,with effect from 5 January, 2019.

These services will operate at a starting cost of ₹1,999.

Additionally, the airline will also operate its fourth daily return flight between Hyderabad and Tirupati. The additional services will commence from January 2019.

Vistara

Budget carrier Vistara, a Tata Sons and Singapore airlines joint venture,  has rolled out a‘24-hours-only’ sale offer, which it says will include flights with fares starting from ₹999.

The sale will be applicable for travel between 27 December 2018 to 10 April, 2019.

*The offers have been rolled out on the official website of the airlines.

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