Bargain Airfares for India

Air Pass - Visit India Airfares

Are there bargain airfares available for travel to India? Sure there are! Cheap airfares are available, But you need Travel Poster to find them. With the entry of private airlines in India, airfares have gone down due to severe competition amongst airlines flying in India. Discount airfares are now offered by all airlines operating in India.

Improved economic conditions of India over the last decade have increased the air traffic to India immensely. India today is not only a popular tourist attraction but also a popular destination for businessmen from all over the world.

Many airlines now travel to India’s major cities i.e. New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkota. Air India now also has international flights to Amritsar in the state of Punjab. Jet airlines a previously local airline now operates overseas also and has recently started flying to New Jersey and Toronto.

Visit India Fares

Visit India Air Fares are available to Non-resident Indians and foreign nationals.

Many tourists expect such fares to be a bargain that is exclusively available to foreign tourists and I am sure quite a few tourists buy these tickets for their travel within India. Visit India Fares may not be the best way to plan your air travel within India for some tourists.

DO VISIT INDIA FARES REALLY SAVE YOU MONEY?

To find out if how much of a saving 'Visit India Fare' would offer against regular booked flights. I checked out one of India's popular airline, Jet Airways.

The cheapest Visit India Fare is USD 350 valid for 7 days.

Before we even start calculating the savings on this fare when compared to buying a regular ticket. Please remember that this 7 day fare only allows passengers to travel to only certain cities. Depending on the region they choose. So some restrictions are attached to the 7 day 'Visit India Fare'

Jet Airlines ( am sure other airlines as well) have divided the country into different sectors or regions. Jet Airlines lists four regions, namely East, West, North and South.

Provided below is what Jet Airlines has posted on their website showing the various cities in each region. With your 7 day Visit India fare you can fly to cities in ONLY ONE region.

East	West	North	South
Bagdogra	Ahmedabad	Chandigarh	Bangalore
Guwahati	Aurangabad	Delhi	Chennai
Imphal	Bhavanagar	Jaipur	Kochi
Jorhat	Bhopal	Jammu	Coimbatore
Kolkata	Bhuj	Khajuraho	Hyderabad
Agartala	Diu	Leh	Madurai
	Goa	Lucknow	Mangalore
	Indore	Srinagar	Calicut
	Mumbai	Udaipur	Trivandrum
	Nagpur	Varanasi
	Porbandar	Jodhpur
	Pune
	Rajkot
	Vadodara
	Raipur

The 7 day 'Visit India' fare quoted by Jet Airlines is USD 350. In addition to the fare quoted there are some extra charges. Below is an excerpt from Jet Airlines website:

An additional charge of USD 5.70 towards the Passenger Service Fee (WO) is applicable per flight coupon i.e. per sector flown as per Government of India regulation. A Fuel Surcharge of USD 16 is applicable for each sector and Air Congestion Surcharge of USD 4.00 is collected per sector.

Let's try a typical 7 day tourist journey using the 'Visit India' fare. Keeping in mind that most tourists will spend at least a some time exploring the city they fly to. So lets try an example of Delhi to Jaipur. Then Jaipur to Udaipur and from Udaipur back to Delhi.

Lets do the math:
Basic Advertised Visit India Fare for 7 days       = $350.00
Passenger Service Fee 3 Sectors @$5.70          = $ 17.10
Fuel Surcharge fee for 3 Sectors @$16.00         = $ 48.00
Air Congestion Surcharge for 3 Sectors @ $4.00= $ 12.00
TOTAL CHARGE FOR VISIT INDIA 7 DAY FARE = $427.10 Jet Airways

To satisfy my curiosity on the savings one would achieve on the Visit India fare when compared to the regular fare. I tried a sample booking on Jet Airline website.

I found that the price for the three sectors of travel i.e. Delhi to Jaipur, Jaipur to Udaipur and Udaipur to Delhi would cost $382.10 and there would be no time restraints like the 7 day period with the regular fare ticket.

In my opinion unless you have a lot of destinations to fly to and are really pressed for time. The Visit India Fare is not recommended.

Tourists I'm sure would like to explore the various cities they visit and for this they do need some time. Having a time restraint to use your flight coupons within a set period requires some planning to make the trip worthwhile.

Before going the Visit India Fare route do read the fine print and decide for yourself if it is worth buying such tickets.

Visit India Fares are also available for 15 or 21 days. The 15 day costs USD650 while for 21 days the current price is USD925. (Remember to add the additional charges to these prices.)

How to save money on airline tickets.

Airlines generally have a certain number of tickets available at a lower price and these sell out fast. Book early, the earlier you book the chances are the more you save.
I have found that for overseas flights to India. Airlines seem to charge more if you travel on a Friday or Saturday. So if possible be flexible with your dates.
Some cheaper tickets have restrictions like no date change etc. I used Air Canada a few months back to travel from Toronto to New Delhi at a discounted fare and the ticket specified that one change in return date was allowed. Additional changes cost $150. So read the fine print before booking.
Compare several airlines fares. When comparing several airlines compare the final fare and not just the advertised price. Remember airlines now also seem to be adding on fuel surcharges etc to the final price of tickets.
If you are offered a cheap ticket, check the route to make sure you are not going to be changing flights a few times or wait several hours for connecting flights at airports.
For airfares to India, It may be a good idea to check with the ethnic travel agents in your city. They sometimes have deals of with airlines and can offer some bargain prices for airline tickets. So how do you find the ethnic travel agents? I normally pickup a free ethnic newspaper from some of the ethnic stores in my area and browse through the advertisements.
Some airlines offer discounts to senior citizens.
With the internet at your disposal you now have the advantage shopping around to find the best value for airline tickets.

Are airfares for International travel cheaper in India?

This is a question that may have crossed the minds of several Non Resident Indians who live abroad and travel to India frequently.

On several occasions we see advertisements by travel agents in India advertising airfares for flights to international destinations like New York, London, Toronto or Sydney. Some of these airfares are so cheap that some of us living abroad often wonder whether it would be cheaper to buy airline tickets in India or perhaps travel to India on a one way ticket and then buy the return air ticket from India.

If you are thinking of doing any such thing then I would advise you examine your options carefully.

Consider the following:

I have found that in most cases, buying one way fares to any destination costs more than a return fare. This may not be true for local travel within India, but for international fares this certainly appears to be the case.
Check the advertised fare in India. Currently one of the leading travel agents in Delhi is advertising a Delhi to New York return fare for Indian Rupees 34,569 + Tax. The Indian rupee fare when converted to US dollars, works out to approximately only 785 USD and does look very tempting. Many travelers do not realize that the tax has to be added and in this case the tax alone is Rupees 16,597 this takes the total price of the Indian fare from Rupees 34,569 to Rupees 51,156. When converted to US dollars we have a grand total of 1162 US Dollars.

This is very much in line with discounted fares that are advertised in the United States.
When you consider that it is possible to buy a New York to Delhi return ticket usually for around 690 USD plus tax. We can realize that there are no big savings in buying airline tickets from India if you reside overseas.