WOW Air increases India launch fares-50 to 75%

Remember WOW Air's India launch offer- Rs 13499 one way to anywhere in the world? (US, Canada, Europe, Iceland etc) If you've already booked a ticket for yourself at these low fares congratulate yourself. Because now the price has been increased.

Only Iceland ticket can now be had at 13499. All other destinations now cost 6.5k INR or more. The Toronto ticket I had booked now costs 20k, The LAX ticket I had booked now costs 24k one way.

Roundtrip ticket now costs about 40k, without any meals and baggage allowance- still cheapest way to reach US/Canada but if you add baggage and meal cost, the price advantage almost gone.

Earlier Screenshot for reference

So if you're still thinking of Iceland, time to book now, for other destinations, check if it is really worth.

Another thing I noticed is that the booking duration is still limited to March 2019. Website isn't accepting booking for April onwards. Hopefully WOW Air will open bookings for rest of 2019 soon.

Win 2 return tickets to SFO with Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific is advertising that you may win return ticket for 2 to San Francisco (SFO), USA. However, winning is not without conditions and cost- you should register for their loyalty program (which is easy) and should make a booking (which is easy but costs lots of money) and be ready to comply with a set of conditions and cost should you win.

What exactly you will win?

Return economy ticket to SFO, USA from your city in India (city where Cathay operates- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata only)- this is usually worth around 60-70k per person, excluding taxes.

• What should I do to win?
• Create a loyalty account on Cathay's website, activate it
• Spend your own money and make any booking ex-India before July 31st
• You will be eligible for a lucky draw, which if you happen to win, will get you 2 return tickets to SFO

Points to note:

1. Scheme is valid till end of July 2018- you should book a ticket on Cathey before this date for a chance to enter lucky draw
2. The scheme is India specific. You stand a chance to win only if you book a ticket to/from India on Cathay network
3. If you win, you should travel before November 30,2018, black out dates may apply
4. Winner will have lower priority than regular passengers- in case of overbooking, winner will be denied boarding and will be put on next available flight
5. US Visa will cost about 12k and unless you’ve a strong credentials, there is a risk of not getting visa.
6. T&C says even meals is extra- I hope it is not true
7. All taxes have to be paid by the winner- This amount will be around 10000-20000 per person per round trip, depending on various factors such as airport, ticket amount and so on.

Check full T&C Here

So should you ahead go and book?

Cathay Pacific is a full service airline and an expensive one on that. A round trip to Hong Kong from Indian cities costs in the range of 25-35 in most cases. More if you’re going elsewhere. I won’t recommend booking a ticket unnecessarily because of this small chance of winning. But if you anyway have a trip planned and Cathay is one of the options you’re considering then may be you can book on Cathay even if they are a few k expensive than next best option. Use your discretion. Even if you win you’ll be spending about 12-15k on tax and more on visa. Best wishes if you’re booking.

It might be worth considering WOW Air’s India offer- 27000 round trip to US and Canada - No drama, no contests-just bare minimum price.

Fiji airways sale- Fly to Fiji for 900 USD+ return

Fiji airways has some good deals if you have been eyeing to visit Fiji

Fiji islands are located in South Pacific ocean, beyond Australia and New Zealand. Fiji Airways flies daily to Singapore and in code share with silk air, offering connectivity from various Indian cities.

From what I have seen, Mumbai to Fiji return ticket can be had for USD 905+. This is easily INR 62000, which is not really cheap but at the moment some of the lowest I have seen, 10-15k cheaper than earlier seen best fares. If you’re keen to visit Fiji. Fiji airways is a full service airline and the fare includes 23kg checkin bag, 7 kg cabin bag, meals.

Fiji gives visa on arrival to Indians. If Fiji is on your mind, you might want to explore the current offer and plan a trip to Fiji. Of course 62000+ INR is big money- you can use the same amount to visit US, Canada or any other far away destination. Alternatively, you can use this opportunity to plan a trip including Australia, Fiji and NZ.

Philippine airlines Independence day sale

Philippine airlines is running an independence day sale, ON till June 10^th. There’re some tempting fares to various destinations around the world- China, UK, Japan, US etc. However since Philippine airlines do not fly to India, Indian passengers can’t benefit from this sale directly. However, those based in Philippines, UAE, Singapore and various other countries where Philippine airline flies to can benefit from this deal.

I saw a Dubai-Beijing return ticket for INR 31000 (Nov 27-Dec 04) which is super cheap.

Ex Singapore, you can have a return ticket to Japan by about INR 25000, which is again very cheap.

If you’re based in any of the cities where Philippine airline operates, you can benefit from their Independence day sale. Else check if the idea of flying to say Singapore and catching Philippine airlines from there makes sense to you. 

Note that Philippine Airline is a full service airline, so the fare includes meals and baggage but these being promo fares, are non refundable.

I wish they consider some direct flight to India. Philippines has lots to be explored- Palawan islands, Cebu and other parts are great experience for tourists. One of the popular tourist island is temporarily closed for tourists to restore the beaches but there're other places worth exploring. Do check my Philippines posts from my 2017 visit.

Visit Airline website to book: https://www.philippineairlines.com/en/promotions

Top Air Travel news this week

Here’s a quick summary of top aviation news during recent past

1. Paperless boarding pass soon for domestic flying in India
Sharath Babu has shared this news- plans are on to allow paperless boarding, which is common in Europe but still a dream in India. Unfortunately this proposed solution will be based on adhaar and may invade privacy by tracking a person's movements, nature of tickets booked etc. [Read full news here]

2. History made in Arunachal Pradesh- first flight to Pasighat since independence

So far those looking to visit Arunachal Pradesh had to fly in to Guwahati and then go by road. Now with direct flight from Kolkata to Pasighat, we can explore Arunachal Pradesh better. Details on Indian Express

3. US- Drunk man misbehaves on flight
Read this NDTV news for details- this is reported from USA

4. Indigo begins Hubli operations to rival spicejet
After Spicejet began flights to Hubballi in Karnataka from Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad and Goa, rival Indigo is also beginning flights to Hubballi from same cities.

5. Jet Airways says JP Miles will now never expire
Jet Airways has tweaked its loyalty points program JP miles- earlier JPMiles had an expiry period, now they stay active forever, provided passengers are active (they keep flying or buying something using JP miles etc)

6. First person to join India’s no fly list.
A Mumbai businessman named Birju Kishore Salla is the first person to be added to India's no fly list. This is apparently because he caused a hijack scare. Detailed news on The Hindu

However it remains to be seen how this no fly list is enforced by airlines. I could go till payment page while attempting to book a ticket with the banned passenger's name. So there is no check during ticket booking. Probably while only when passenger goes to airport and tries to board he will be sent back? I don't know.

7. AirAsia Big Sale
Air Asia held a big sale last week- the discounted fares were good but not the lowest I had seen. Hence didn't book any this time. Will wait for next one which usually comes in October/November time frame.

8. Jet Airways Mumbai Manchester direct flight
With London Heathrow airport getting expensive, crowded and busy, many airlines haves started focusing on other airports in UK. Jet Airways has announced flights to Manchester. Emirates had started flights to Stansted earlier. Gatwik is another cheaper airport.

9. Spicejet  completes 13 years
Budget airline Spicejet has completed 13 years in operations. Big congratulations to them.

10. In-flight WiFi may cost 22 crore per aircraft!
This livemint article suggests that providing in-flight WiFi and call service will cost airlines about 22 crores per aircraft- 18.4 crores+ in lost revenues due to 13 days of grounding, + 2.9 crores to install. Airlines have to decide if they will bundle this into economy tickets or sell it separately.  A previous survey conducted by Airlineblog indicated that most passengers aren't very keen to have this feature on short haul flights.

11. Some good news on cancellation
Government is mulling for better cancellation terms- base fare + fuel surcharge or Rs 3000 whichever is lower. Hopefully this will be implemented soon. [News]

12. FlyDubai announces flight to Helsinki, Finland
Dubai based FlyDubai has announced direct flight to Finland's capital, Helsinki. More details and ticket price details here.

13. Air India may have to pay 8.8 million dollars in passenger compensation
This news suggests that Air India is looking at a potential compensation payout amounting to 8.8 million USD, due to a diverted flight combined with cabin crew working hour limitations which forced an additional delay (as fresh crew had to be sent to this airport). Read full story here.

Beware of Fake Airline Websites & Promotions

There're a few promotional messages being circulated on social media which promises free flight tickets or other such benefits.

Screenshot courtesy- Amit Panchal

While the message that offers 2 tickets is certainly tempting, the website also looks very genuine. However if you notice carefully, the letter 'i' is replaced by a special character which looks very similar..

Do not fall for these scams-stay alert. Upon clicking your data will be captured and possibly misused. No airline can afford to give thousands of free tickets.

Jet airways is only giving some 10% off on the occasion of their 25 years completion. Official website is https://www.jetairways.com/en/IN/Home.aspx

Fly to Finland for 35k return on new 737 Max8

FlyDubai is starting its Dubai-Helsinki (Finland) flight from October 2018. With this, Indian passengers can now fly to Finland capital for a relatively cheaper price of 34-35k INR.

A ticket to Helsinki from various Indian cities typically costs about 45-50k for return. Even from Delhi, which has direct flight to Helsinki, the cost is often around INR 40000 upwards. Compared to these, flyDubai is now offering an option which is 10-20k cheaper compared to next best option. Please note that this FlyDubai fare includes 7kg cabin bag and 20kg check-in bag and an option to change travel date (at a fee), it doesn’t include food and entertainment (like some full service airlines offer). Still a savings of 10-20k is tempting enough to consider FlyDubai over other airlines. 

Given that WOW air is offering a Delhi-US/Canada for just 27000, a return fare to Europe around 20000 would have been extremely tempting. However till that happens, 34-35k is still reasonable.

While above shown fare is from Chennai to Helsinki and back, similar fares are available for Mumbai-Helsinki and few other cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Kochi, Hyd) in India from which FlyDubai operates. Do check different cities and date combinations till you find a return fare around 34-35k. There will be an ‘administrative fee’ of about INR 1000 in the final page, on top of the fare you see in initial screen. Check-in bag, cabin bag included. Meals, insurance and other services are extra. The Dubai -Helsinki leg will be on the new 737 Max 8 aircraft [Checkthis post for my review of FlyDubai’s new 737 Max 8]. This new aircraft has economy seat with adjustable headrest and business class with 180 degree flat folding seat.

Below is a pic I had clicked of Finland’s Ambassador to UAE, explaining Finland to journalists attending Arabian Travel Market 2018 in Dubai last month.

Be advised that winter will commence in Helsinki in October-November- not the best time of the year to visit. If you wish to enjoy snow or winter activities you can plan in this duration, else select a date March 2019 onwards.

Helsinki has lots to offer. Samolina island, Kamppi Chappel, Rock Church, Cathedral and Senate Square, Seurasaari Open air museum, Suomenlinna Island, Uspenski Cathedral and many more

Of course, you can keep Helsinki as a base and fly to various schengen destinations all over Europe with your Schengen visa.

From Helsinki you can take a ferry to Estonia (Estonia has free public transportation), or even visit St Petersberg (Russia) without a visa.

Helsinki airport transfer: You can either buy a Helsinki card (around 60 Euros) that includes free public transport OR buy a single journey ticket or a 2 day bus & tram pass (Was around 18 Euro when I visited few years ago). Both these are valid for ferry to Saumenlinna island as well. The bus pass is valid for 48 hours from the moment of purchase, not just the calendar days, so it is great.

Read my FlyDubai Experience here * 

Kerala Nipah Virus scare- Airlines should allow free rescheduling/cancellation

Kerala is facing a major health crisis at the moment with Nipah Virus claiming several victims. [Details on NDTV] Nipah Virus symptoms are also reported in neighboring Karnataka's Mangaluru [Prajavani News]. With no cure and no sure shot way of protection against the infection, this development certainly affects tourists heading to Kerala. Though it is unfair to assume everyone going to Kerala faces a great risk of getting killed by the Nipah Virus, leisure travelers often prefer to be safe than sorry.

A colleague of mine had planned a family trip to Kerala- he had booked 3 return tickets on Indigo by paying around 28k INR. Because of this Nipah outbreak, he decided NOT to go to Kerala right now. Under the current Indigo cancellation policy, he stands to lose close to 25k. Only some airport tax component will be refunded.

Though this is standard airline policy, whenever there were an emergency airlines have been flexible to offer full refund or free of cost rescheduling to a future date. This is done in exceptional cases like floods, heavy rains or other such activities disrupting normal life and making travel difficult.

Unfortunately Airlines haven't taken a decision yet on Nipah virus scare. If you have a ticket to Kerala but don't want to go right now, no special consideration for you. Go at your own risk, or lose money.

Of course the cause- Nipah virus- is not the fault of airlines. Airports are operational and flights as flying in and out. So airlines may not feel the need to relax their policies. But in this special case, I think policy should be relaxed keeping in mind sentiments of the tourists and a potential risk they prefer to avoid completely

I feel Airlines should allow a free rescheduling or full refund to passengers who have booked tickets to Kerala/Mangaluru in May and June 2018. (For July n future dates decision can be taken in mid-June based on latest developments)- There're only 3 airports in Kerala- Kochi, Trivandrum and Calicut. Airline call centre guys can't decide this- someone higher up in the management need to take the decision. Kerala being a tourism dependent state, such tourist friendly policy and measures are critical to retain trust and favor of tourists. Kerala tourism should work with airlines to be generous on tourists heading to Kerala but keen to postpone their trip. If any tourist dies due to Nepah, it will be a PR disaster for Kerala tourism.

I checked yesterday on twitter with few airlines- they all gave standard replies, which confirmed they don't have any special policy as of now for Kerala's Nepah virus incident. I hope airlines will take a passenger friendly decision soon.

Indigo offered my colleague a rescheduling at a fee of 5k, which we find expensive, considering that flights in say August/September are lot cheaper than the amount paid during last minute booking done for May end.

Related: Government is pushing a more generous cancellation policy- 100% refund if cancelled within 24 hours of booking, cancellation charge otherwise to be max of base fare + fuel surcharge or Rs 3000 whichever is lower. [Details]  Hopefully this should be implemented soon.

Related blog post: How to deal with high cancellation charges

WizzAir Sale 30% off deal-Europe and Dubai

WizzAir is running up-to 30% off- Those based in Dubai and can fly out of DWC (Dubai World Central, not the regular DXB) can check WizzAir deals. You will get 30% off on display fare if you create an account in the website and login.

A WizzAir plane I had seen in Lithuania, 2015

Few deals I found are as below, ex Dubai (DWC)

#	Origin-Destination	Dates	Lowest return fare	Remarks
1	DWC- Sofia (Bulgaria)	July 17-21	235 AED	(64 USD/ 4400 INR)
2	Dubai- Bucharest (Romania)	July 11-18	305 AED	84 USD/ 5700 INR
3	Dubai- Katowise (Poland)	Sep 6-27	508 AED	140 USD/ 9400 INR
4	Dubai Cluj Napoka (Romania)	July 21-Aug 4	400 AED	110 USD/ 7400 INR

At times onward/return ticket is cheaper but other way is expensive, pushing up total. Still above shown return fare is almost one third of normal fares to same destinations out of DXB with conventional airlines like Turkish or Emirates etc.

While above table focuses on Europe, similar deals are available on rest of WizzAir network in Europe.  Do check on WIzzAir Network. Of course the cheapest one is basic fare, no meals, no check-in bag. One cabin bag is allowed. Below is a snapshot of 3 different fare types offered by WizzAir.

Most flights are once or twice a week only, if you miss it, you may have to wait another week. Still, it is a good deal to explore Europe from Dubai or within Europe. If you're based in Dubai/Europe you don't want to miss this opportunity.

I got to know about this deal via Rutavi Mehta. Let me know if you are booking.

Event Alert-IATA Aviation Data Symposium-Berlin June 2018

Here's an IATA Event Alert

Click here for details and registration
http://www.iata.org/events/Pages/aviation-data-symposium.aspx

WOW Air India launch-US/Canada for 27k return-Lowest rates ever

Update: Prices have been increased now- details here
----------------- Original Post ------------------------------------------------

A trip between Indian and Canada/US costs at the least about 50-55k INR at its lowest level for round trip. While there are many budget airlines to explore South East Asia- like Air Asia, Scoot, Silkair etc and a few for middle east- like FlyDubai, Air Arabia, there was no budget option so far to go to US and Canada. This is now set to change, with WOW Air beginning its India operation by late 2018 with an irresistible offer!

WOW Air is set to begin India operation from December 2018 and website is already updated with pricing. On select dates, WOW Air has an extremely low one way fare of Rs 13499 for India to Canada/US destinations. A round trip ticket can be had for about 27000, which was never possible before.

Wow! The catch:

The fares advertised are genuine. You can indeed book and fly at these prices. But this cheapest ticket doesn’t get you anything apart from a seat. Not even 7 kg hand baggage, which is usually standard in low cost airlines. You will only get to carry what WOW Air calls a "personal item"- a small laptop bag/camera bag (size 42x32x25cm, weight less than 10 kg)- something that you can keep below the seat in-front of you.  Please note that Delhi to Iceland is a 12 hour Marathon flight- from there to US/Canada etc another 5-10 hours. Surviving without food will be very difficult, unless you plan well.

In my opinion it is very difficult to manage with this WoW basic fare which doesn’t allow standard cabin bag either.  It is still doable if:

Possibility 1: You’ve mastered the art of flying extreme light- like you plan to buy essential stuff at the destination than paying for extra bag,

Possibility 2: have some friends/family so you don’t have to carry cloths n stuff

Possibility 3: You’re buying say 2-3 tickets- only 1 of them will be requiring check-in bag and other 2 can fly hands free

Also WOW Basic is non refundable. You’ll have to book for some dates in January- March 2019 onwards- about an year away- no interest, no refund if you can’t travel as per plan. US Visa will cost about 12000 rupees. You can pay Rs 4000 extra to get 100% refund eligibility.

If you can’t manage with bare minimum WOW Basic fare (27k return) then you’ll have to select next category, WOW Plus, in which the round trip will cost you 43000 rupees at the best. WOW Plus will get you check in and cabin bag allowance but still no meals. Journey to US/Canada is a long one- difficult to manage without food.

How much do add-ons cost?
For a Delhi- New York (EWR) return flight, below is what various things cost

1. Round trip WOW Basic fare: 27000
2. 7 Kg Hand Baggage: Rs 3300 one way (4700 at check in)= Rs 6600 return
3. Check in bag 6700 one way, 13400 return
4. Special Equipment: Rs 5000
5. Meal- Rs 650-900 per meal- for a round trip you will need min 8 meals total (these are super long flights- Delhi-Iceland 12 hours, Iceland to US/Canada-5 to 7 hours) =Rs 3000-4000
6. Cancellation protection: Rs 2000 each way, Rs 4000 round trip(You will get full refund if you'd like to cancel)
7. Priority Boarding: 670 per boarding, Rs 2300 approx for 4 boardings on the round trip
8. Seat Selection: Rs 550-600 to 16700 per leg depending on type of seat= Rs 2400 to 60000 per round trip

At the minimum you may need a cabin bag and food, which will be around INR 10000 extra over the basic fare. If you also add check-in bag, seat selection then any cost advantage over middle east based carrier will be lost. Round trip will now be costing 50k+ which is same as what Emirates or Etihad or Qatar would charge (if planned well in advance)

For Delhi folks who can manage light, this is a great opportunity to explore Iceland, Canada and US. For others, return flight to Delhi from other Indian cities cost around 6-8k, so the net expense comes to 35-50k (WoW basic/Wow Plus)-This additional flight you've to plan well to factor possible delays- since they are separate PNR, you will be a no show if previous flight is late) Still great if you can manage without bag. If you’ve to pay extra for bag, meals etc it might be more practical to fly one stop on a full service airline via middle east (Emirates/Qatar/Etihad) for 50-55k return, as it includes baggage, meals, entertainment etc

Other things to note:

• WOW Air has set a fixed promo price irrespective of destination- Even if you’re flying halfway to Reykjavik (Iceland), ticket price is same. The Multi stop itinerary also costs lot more than a return ticket, which I find it very discouraging. (If a US return ticket costs 27000 and I wish to add 2 days stopover at Iceland, it costs almost double- may be a thousand or two thousand rupees extra would have been very acceptable.
• Cheapest return ticket to Iceland would cost close to 26000- for another 1000 rupees you can go to US/Canada and come back…
• Right now Wowair.com is accepting bookings till March 2019 only. Not sure why not beyond that. I guess once summer kicks in, they will need more aircrafts to fly within Europe and may cut short flights to India. (Upto March it is winter in Europe, due to snow and bad weather most airlines cut their flights. Some companies take these aircrafts and fly them to elsewhere to make some money. It is also possible WOWAir is experimenting with India market-if demand is good they will continue else look for an alternate destination to fly in Asia (I am only guessing)
• Good news is the fare you see on the website is final. No convenience fee was added while purchasing. Of course there’re a dozen things you can buy- bag, insurance, cancellation option, meals
• Iceland weather can often go bad, causing delays. Also Iceland doesn't get much of night time, so your sleep cycle may feel more burden than a transit via Frankfurt or Dubai would cause.
• The Delhi-Iceland leg has been planned based on new A330-900 Neo ultra long range aircraft-delivery of which hasn't happened yet and is expected by December 2018. If its delivery gets delayed, WOW Air's India operation may get delayed. WOW's challenge will be to fill all 350+ seats on this jumbo aircraft out of Delhi, every single day.
• Reliability-WOW Air has only one flight per day to most of its destinations, at times only few days a week. In case of a missed connection, your wait will be lot longer than other popular airlines like Emirates/Etihad/Lufthansa etc- who may have multiple flights per day to popular destinations and impact of a missed flight/connection is little less.

WoW Air India launch summary:

• Cheapest return ticket from INR 27000 to any destination- Iceland, Canada, US etc, but without food, bag anything
• Current allowed booking period- Dec 2018-March 2019
• Above is only available on Wowair.in website upon creating an account. Not available on OTAs like MMT
• Cheapest ticket doesn’t get cabin baggage, food etc. Only a small personal item is allowed (like laptop bag). Everything else costs more.
• If you add every available add-on- check in bag, cabin bag, meals etc, then price adds up to 50k+ which is at par with what full service airlines charge between India and Canada/US
• Tickets can be booked from December 2018 till March 2019 only. Not sure what happens after that.
• All flights will be via Iceland. Stopover flights can be booked, will cost more.
• All flights via Delhi in India.

Visit https://wowair.in/ for bookings. I have made a few bookings, will look forward to the experience.

If WOW Air gets fly through rights over Russia before Dec 2018,flight time to Iceland from Delhi could be an hour or so less.Else they will have to take a slightly longer route.

Is the WOWAir India offer worth?
Yes, by all means, provided you can make use of no frills service and buy bare minimum add-ons. If you've lots of luggage, need to buy every add-on then cost benefit disappears. I suggest go check it out and try to make the most of this opportunity, particularly if you're based around Delhi.

Does the fare excites you? Booking anything? Let us know

Srilankan Airlines- cheap ex-India deals to China, Japan, Seychelles etc still available

I had written first in Feb about Srilankan Airline’s 50% offsale. Later wrote again in March about some of the cheap deals available. Two months later, I still see some cheap tickets available on Srilankan.

Below is a quick list- grab them now.

#	Destination	Lowest seen return fare at present	Travel Dates to try	Remarks
1	Chennai-Beijing return	26000	Nov 28-Dec 05	20k was lowest
2	Mumbai-Beijing return	26600	Nov 28-Dec 05
3	Mumbai-Seychelles return	26552	October 16-24 2018	MAA-SEZ expensive at 40k
4	Chennai-Tokyo (NRT)	33058	October 10-18 2018
5	Chennai -Gan Island Maldives return	10761	September 12-20	Lowest was 9k
6	Mumbai-Tokyo return	31099	9-18  October 2018

Srilankan is the official airline sponsor for TBC Asia 2018 to be held in Srilanka in October. I visited their stall at Arabian Travel Market 2018 last month at Dubai, got to interact a bit with their representative and learn about the airline. Looking forward to three different flights I have with Srilankan in 2018. Will book a few more for 2019 during their next sale- have identified destinations and target price.. Meanwhile you can book your trips if you find above fares tempting. Srilankan being full service airline, above return fares include food, 30 kg baggage and most flights will be widebody A330 with entertainment included. So don’t miss the deal.

10 must have features in every airline website

What are the critical features that are must have on an airline's website? I've compiled my list of top 10 features every airline website should have. Do check n let me know you think there're other critical features each airline website should have.

1 Ability to modify search and retry

Though this looks like an obvious feature, many airline websites miss it. While booking, customers often need to try different dates/destination etc. To facilitate this, an airline website should allow modification of previous search criteria, so that passengers can change only one or two attributes and trigger a fresh search. This is allowed on most airline websites- but websites of some airlines- like Srilankan, Fiji Airways etc don’t have this simple feature. Each time we have to start a fresh search by entering all attributes again, which is highly inconvenient. This could even be limitation of the platform used by airlines to book- like Amadeus.

2 Ability to locate all my bookings in one place

Once I login into airline’s website, I should be able to see all my current and past bookings. While this is allowed on many websites like AirAsia, Spicejet etc, on some websites seeing our own booking is a very complicated process- like on Jet Airways.com or on Srilankan. To see our booking we have to enter PNR, name, airport etc with exact precision and then retrieve- why not simply list all the bookings made with logged in user id? It is not convenient to store these elsewhere (like email) and copy paste them back into airline website.

Similarly if I made a booking without logging in or without specifying loyalty membership number, there should be an easy provision to add this booking to my account later. Missing basic functions like forgot password is also a turn off.

3. Ability to see fare calendar

Very crucial for budget travelers or holiday travelers who are flexible with date. If the fares on adjacent day is several thousand rupees cheaper, many are open to change their travel dates by a day or two. For this airlines should give an idea of how the fares are for rest of the days in the week/month.

Some airlines (like AirAsia) and OTAs show lowest fare right inside the calendar, which is even better.

4.View rates n make payment in a currency of choice

While most airlines allow payments in local currency, some websites like FlyScoot don't allow payments in local currency, show payments in USD. Even Srilankan used to charge in USD earlier but now they allow INR payment. If not all major currencies, at least currency of country in which they operate must be supported. Disadvantage of foreign currency payment is that banks charge an extra fee plus always use a conversion rate favorable to them, so we loose few extra rupees in the process.

5. Auto apply best possible offers
This issue I spotted in FlyDubai exclusively. There's a cheaper fare with 20 kg bag but default selection doesn't include this.

In some cases with Vistara/Jet I find that Premium economy is at times cheaper than Economy- booking system is smart to auto select such option, which is good.

6. Provide a hold function/free cancellation within 24 hours 
Jet Airways allows a 24 hour no questions asked cancellation policy. If you're not 100% sure (like you've to check with family etc) but don't want to lose out on the low fare you saw, then this is great option. All airlines should provide this.

Spicejet used to allow this earlier for free, now they are charging Rs 150 to retain the fare for 24 hours.

This feature is also useful if you do some mistakes- like selected wrong date or typo error in name etc.

7. Provide easy cancellation & swift refund
Cancellation is a simple & straight forward process on Jet Airways, Air Vistara etc. But extremely complicated in AirAsia [Detailed post here] and few other airlines. Cancellation and Refund process should be simple and fast enough.

8. Once origin is selected, show only destinations applicable to the origin.

AirAsia website does this brilliantly, but most airlines don’t. Once I select the origin city, show me only those destinations to which airline flies from origin city. Showing a city and then next screen saying No flights between the two cities is waste of everyone’s time. It is OK if flight is full or flight is not available on specific day, but otherwise make it simpler for end users.

Another variant of this feature is to enable only the dates on which flights operate between the two cities, which is also super convenient.

9. Support multi city booking or booking with long transit

Some websites make it very complicated/near impossible to book a ticket with a few days gap in between connections. Etihad, Srilankan etc facilitate this very smoothly. With few other airlines, it is nearly impossible- booking separate ticket often costs more money and complicates the process in case of delay/cancellation etc. Some airlines like AirAsia allow this only for AirAsia X long haul flights.

10. Don't add unsolicited add-ons. Don't try to trick me when I am trying to book
Auto including insurance, some charity, bags or other stuff I haven't asked for irritate me a lot. (For example, FlyScoot selects FlyBag option by default, which is some 50 to 100 USD extra one way compared to lowest fare shown- if you don't notice and you didn't need a check-in bag, you lose money) Don't force me to check every screen n opt out of unwanted stuff. Let me opt-in if I really need an additional service. Some websites show lowest fare in one screen, but auto select a slightly more expensive fare (like say one includes check-in bag etc)- this is also bad practice- passengers will feel cheated when they realize that they have been charged more or things they didn't ask were auto included.

Most websites add insurance n few other things by default- one should be careful as final price keeps going up at each stage due to these add-ons. Best is airlines to keep the original price throughout and let users add themselves if they need anything extra.

Do you have a feature in mind that airlines should include in their websites? Do comment below.

Chennai- St Denis (Reunion Island, Africa) direct flight 27k return

I just discovered direct flight between Chennai and St Denis, capital of Reunion Island, near South Africa.

A round trip ticket is available for around 27000 INR (327 Euros), which feels reasonable. Air Austral is a full service airline- the fare includes 25kg checkin bag and 7 kg cabin bag. I am assuming meals is also included, though not explicitly stated. Date change is possible for a fee of 70 euros and fare difference.

The low fares of 327 Euro shown above is available for several dates in October/November 2018, Jan/Feb 2019 etc.

Note that there’s only 1 direct flight per week- leaves from Chennai Saturday morning 7 AM, return flight is on Friday night. On other days, one stop via Bangkok may be possible.

Air Austral is a French airline headquartered in Reunion island. I was happy to see that of all the cities in India they are flying direct non-stop to Chennai. (To 3 other cities- Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Air Austral offers connecting flight via Thai Airways

It would have been great idea to book a one way ticket to Reunion, then fly to Mauritius or Seychelles and then return to India, but one way tickets are doubly expensive and doesn’t make sense- watch out.

Al Maktoum International Airport/Dubai World Central (DWC)- Dubai's future airport!

Those flying to Dubai or UAE often land in DXB (Dubai) or Sharjah or Abu Dabhi. While these 3 airports in close proximity handle most of the inbound and outbound traffic for UAE, there’s a new airport called Al Maktoum International airport- with Airport code DWC (Stands for Dubai World Central) that is being readied for the future. The current airports in Dubai, Abu Dabhi and Sharjah are sort of reaching their operational limits as to how much flight they can handle. This capacity is not enough for UAE as it aims to grow its revenue from tourism and business. Thus the new DWC airport is getting lots of focus.

DWC originally began operations with cargo aircrafts. In late 2013, few passenger planes like Wizz air and Nas Air started operations out of Maktoum. Hungary based WizzAir operates twice a week flights to DWC from Budapest.

FlyDubai operates to Amman, Beirut, Kathmandu and Kuwait from DWC. [Details] Because of this, we can't book a Chennai-Amman through ticket with FlyDubai at present, as Chennai flight arrives at DXB and change of airport is required to connect to next flight.

At present main limitation of DWC Al Maktoum international airport is its distance from Dubai city- at least 40 kms and non-availability of metro or bus transport. However, I am told UAE authorities are trying to convince more n more airlines to operate out of DWC instead of DXB, to de-congest DXB and start promoting DWC. Lots of incentives are being provided to airlines willing to operate out of DWC instead of DXB. I am told even flag carrier Emirates is asked to shift to DWC, which has 6 runways and can facilitate more flights. Emirate's planned shift of base has been postponed multiple times- current target is by 2025 Emirates will operate fully out of DWC instead of DXB. [News]

Lots of urban planning is also likely to come up around DWC- golf club, residences, business parks etc. Wikipedia has some more details about the Al Maktoum international airport 

Should I worry as a passenger? Not immediately. I am sure the shift will come with required facilities like high speed train.  Only one has to factor more travel time. But by then city of Dubai will also be growing at Al Maktoum may not feel too far from city.