Jet and Etihad have been known to be trying to make a deal since September 2012. Speculation about this deal came out about that time period, since when the deal moved towards closure. At this moment, we heard there is a little stall, with Etihad being worried about the Indian Government’s policies on aviation. The backroom also said there was difference of opinion on how the management of the airline and its board was supposed to be organised. This led to 9W’s faresale last week to generate cash as a precautionary measure. However, looks like things are falling in place now. To tide over the current difficulties, Jet Airways has concluded a deal yesterday, to sell its 3 airport slots…
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Air India sale fares still available
While the Jet Airways sales came and went over last week, Air India was late to the party of announcing cheaper air fares. However, their fare announcement did not come with an expiry date it seems, and when I checked for some tickets this morning, I could still see that Air India was selling tickets at the new promotional prices they announced last week. These fares are available for dates of travel beyond 7 days, and up to September 30, and could be booked on www.airindia.in, any travel portal or an offline travel agency. This seems like a good opportunity for those who still have not been able to decide on their plans. If you know your timelines now, you…
Getting around the annoying convenience fee on Indian airlines
I know I know, all of you are very very annoyed by the new transaction/convenience fees that have been out there from various airlines for a while now. Even though the Supreme Court of India recently ruled that airlines could not charge a separate transaction fee over and above the displayed fares, they have renamed it CONvenience fee and continue to charge this fee, even those who announce proudly, like Indigo and SpiceJet. Declaration Actual Travel Agents and online travel agents have been, on similar lines, popping up a booking fee right before payment is made, which makes you believe through the booking process that you are booking tickets with a x value, but it turns up to have a Rs.…
Air India puts one million seats on sale for travel till Sep 30
I hope you guys have been enjoying the first discount party of 2013, which has been brought to you by Jet Airways, Indigo and Spicejet. I know GoAir joined the party too, but has been patchy, so I haven’t given it a big look. If you want to check out how to make good use of the sale, which exists till February 24, 2013, you should look at this post I wrote a short while back. Now, with all of them out there, Air India could have not been far behind, right? So, they have announced a fare sale too, and for those of you who cannot find Jet Airways tickets due to whatever reason, you should head to www.airindia.in…
Air Asia is coming to India, with the Tatas
Air Asia’s Tony Fernandes has just announced his plans to enter India’s aviation scenario. Air Asia is planning to start a new low-fare carrier in the Indian market, which will be a joint venture with the Tata group, one of India’s largest conglomerates, and a third investor. The JV will also mark the return of the Tatas to aviation, something they had to get out of long back when Air India, India’s original poster boy of aviation was taken away from them and nationalised. As per this quote from Tony published by Reuters: We have carefully evaluated developments in India over the last few years and we strongly believe that the current environment is perfect to introduce our low fares…
How to work the current fare sales in India: a primer
I thought I bored you guys enough with the barrage of fare sales that hit yesterday. There were one too many: Jet Airways, Indigo and then Spicejet. I know all of you are not being able to get through, so I will try and do the best I can to help you. First, lets go with Jet Airways. In the post I wrote yesterday, I told you the basics of their offer. There was a small footnote there, which I was not sure of at that moment, and hence not in the main text. Small tip: look for one-way tickets. Round-trip will not show the correct fares! It turns out that Jet Airways has now included this in their terms…
Spicejet enters the fare war with Jet Airways
I’ve had a long day full of meetings, and I’ve been not exactly in front of the computer all day long. So to recap, Jet Airways made the biggest fare sale in recent times this morning, and if you haven’t got in, there is time ahead. Next, Indigo matched it and undercut by a small amount. Now, Spicejet took it upon themselves to be in the game as well. So, as if the 2013 INR fare sale they made in January was not enough, they announced the new sale a short while back on Facebook. While I am not clear at this moment if this covers all their sectors, I checked randomly and I found some good deals on a…
Indigo undercuts Jet Airways Fare Sale!
Indigo had to do this, after all, how could they let Jet Airways walk away with all the marketshare. Jet Airways announced this morning the biggest airfare sale of the year, with fares at a low of Rs. 2250 all inclusive onwards. In my post on the sale, I presented an example on Mumbai – Delhi fares being down to Rs. 3300 from their usual Rs. 5,100 one way. Now, it turns out, Indigo is matching the sale, however, offering a smaller range of flights. Have a look for BOM-DEL for a different date than what I mentioned in the Jet Airways sale: These are a full Rs. 10 lower than Jet Airways. So, if Indigo is your airline of…
India’s biggest fare sale:book Jet Airways till Feb 24, travel till Dec 31
I thought 2013 is going to be an interesting year in terms of Indian aviation. There has been a back breaking impact of low fares on Kingfisher Airlines which wounded up last year, which allowed other airlines to bump up ticket prices. However, prices going up meant passengers numbers went down. To beat the heat of falling loads, SpiceJet went in first with a faresale of Rs. 2013 on any route in India, offering a million tickets, out of which 7 million got sold over the weekend. Now, there is a BIGGER sale. Jet Airways announced this morning a fare sale which allowed anyone to book one of the 2 million economy seats on sale from now till February 24,…
[Video]: Air India pilot raps about the bad situation at the airline
Most of the videos I post here are humorous, but this one is trying to get across a message. An Air India pilot, trained to fly the 787 but mostly on the ground, made this rap video and posted it on YouTube about the situation at the airline and what he has to go through. Worth a watch! Your views, guys? My heart goes out for this guy! Live From A Lounge is present on Facebook, Twitter & available via email, RSS.
When the travel agent steals and Indian Government notices
I happened to read this in yesterday’s newspaper but was way too shocked about the scam to react. Here is what was happening while no one was looking, as per the news report: The Rajya Sabha secretariat paid long haul international fares for domestic air tickets for one of its members. The scam was detected only when the MP realized the incredulous prices paid for the tickets and then complained to the government. The secretariat paid Rs 99,292 for a one-way Delhi-Chennai flight on Jet Airways for Ashk Ali Tak, a Congress RS member from Rajasthan. A Chennai-Hyderabad ticket on Air India was bought for Rs 35,184. A Hyderabad-Bangalore journey on Jet and a Bangalore-Jaipur ticket on low cost IndiGo…
