Book tickets enough in advance and the Maharaja will bow to your wallet.
Government-owned Air India is offering cheaper tickets if you book them 60 days ahead. The fare is comparable with I class AC train ticket cost.
So, a Delhi-Mumbai ticket will cost Rs 3,981 on Air India compared to Rs 5,590 for AC I class travel, but higher than the Rs 2,370 charged for an AC II tier ticket.
Only, the Railways allows passengers to book tickets 120 days in advance and also doesn’t vary charges except for last-minute bookings under the Tatkal scheme.
Almost 35 per cent lower than the regular fares, Air India is offering the discount on all the routes it flies on, but only on a limited number of seats.
The fares are cheaper on the longer routes compared with that on the airline’s scheme of booking tickets 30 days in advance. That is, a Delhi to Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram ticket booked 60 days in advance costs Rs 5,062 compared to Rs 6,552 for a ticket purchased a month before the travel date. In contrast, the airline’s web site shows that the fares are the same for travel between Delhi and Bangalore regardless of whether the ticket is booked 30 or 60 days ahead.
Air India’s new scheme, aimed at skimming away the cream of the Railways passengers, coincides with schools and colleges breaking for the summer.
The airline is tailing its private sector competitors, SpiceJet and Jet Airways, that had come up with discounted fares for a limited period. However, none of the private sector airlines has responded to Air India’s latest initiative.
Sharat Dhall, President, Yatra.com travel web site, feels Air India’s scheme could prompt some people to shift to flying.