JetAirways deep discount sale to rise working capital

Jet Airways seem to be on a desperate attempt to raise some cash. My facebook friends- Raghv Tripathi and Acharya Deepak recently reported multiple super cheap fares on JetAirways- such as Delhi-Singapore for 5k oneway and so on.

I was little busy to work out a blog post immediately, so this post is going live a day late, but it is still not too late. There’re multiple tempting deals on JetAirways. Below is a sample, do check more for origin and destination of your interest. Low fares are available for dozens of destinations.

Some of my friends have noted that the fares are cheaper on some external website like Kayak and Skyscanner and others than Jet Airways website. I believe Jet Airways has given some target to these sites and has promised incentives if they exceed the target. Because of this the travel websites are probably using the incentive money to discount the tickets a bit further. (Just my guess-not sure)

Jet Airways got into all the bad news recently with announcement that they don’t have cash beyond 2 months unless something drastic is done asap. Airline proposed cutting staff salaries, selling promotor’s equity and many other measures. The above deep discount sale is part of that exercise, to raise as much money as possible that can be used for immediate working capital needs. There’re many other ways being adopted too- Boeing is said to have returned 200 million dollars from the advance payment Jet had made for new 737 max aircrafts. There was another news in which Jet is planning to sell meals on board the flight (even Vistara tried similar with freedom fares). Hopefully all these measures would pay off and Jet Airways will continue to fly.

Will it be safe to book Jet Airways for immediate travel?

Yes. I don’t see any drastic steps like massive flight cancellations trickling in right away- if that were to be the case it will happen a several months later, if airline fails in every other attempt made to keep it as going concern.

Will it be safe to book jet airways ticket for say 2019?

I don’t have enough information to comment on this. It is not a good idea to guess that a big airline will go down- that would trigger panick and cause even more damage. At this moment I suggest we stay positive that airline will continue for near foreseeable feature.

If situation gets worse, may be they will cut some routes, cancel flights, sell some planes, give up their lucrative landing slots in premium airports and so on. So I am optimistic there will be some turn around soon.

How to detect if trouble at JetAirways is getting worse?
If Jet is not able to fund its daily operations, following signs will emerge. I hope there won't be such a situation

1. Jet will start cancelling less important flights- domestic flights on less popular routes to save money
2. Vendors will put on Cash & Carry mode, meaning Jet will have to pay in cash for fuel, food etc
3. Refunds may take longer
4. Employee salary payment gets delayed and may result in strikes or protests

What happens if Jet Airways stops flying?

Jet has about 20% market share so if they stop flying it will be a big void. Indigo, Spicejet, Air India and Air Vistara will be able to increase their prices- my guess is these airlines will buy available aircrafts from Jet and use it to expand their fleet and network faster. But this is far-fetched thinking. At this moment we should hope for the best, support Jet Airways by flying with them where possible and wish them luck in their turnaround plans.

Let me know what do you think about Jet Airways Crisis? Will they turn around quick enough?

Indigo direct flight to Kuwait-Flydubai still cheapest

Indigo has announced direct flight between Chennai and Kuwait city starting mid- October 2018. The round trip ticket is being offered at 20k + convenience fee during the initial launch offer. The mid night flight will take you to between two cities in about 5 hours.

If you notice Indigo's website is showing wrong timings- it is not factoring time zones- it doesn't take 7 hours to fly back and you can't reach Kuwait in 3 hours

This is good news for those looking to explore middle east beyond Dubai. Kuwait has started offering eVisa to Indian passport holders, so you can a quick trip to Kuwait. [Details on Kuwait eVisa]

However, I noticed that Indigo's pricing is not cheap enough. FlyDubai still offers cheaper trips to Kuwait from India- around 17k round trip on better days. But FlyDubai will be one stop via DXB, but good thing is they have multiple flights to Kuwait each day, so connection time is short and even if you miss, next flight is not far away.

Another limitation with flyDubai is they have only 3 flights a week to Chennai, not daily.


So this puts forward a tough choice: Save 3k INR, spend a few hours extra on FlyDubai one stop flight to Kuwait or spend 3k more, fly non-stop on Indigo- which one do you prefer?

Fly to Shanghai on Srilankan for 23k return

If you're looking for destinations to visit during rest of 2018 for low fare, here're some options

Srilankan has cheap tickets to Shanghai (China), Maldives (Male and Gan island)- Do check below screenshots and act fast to book.

The Europe one way ticket I wrote earlier is still available for about 8k

Jet Airways has deep discounts on many international destinations- you may be able to book India- Paris for about 30k

Best wishes.

Myanmar airlines, airports, domestic flight network

Myanmar (Burma) is a small, less popular and relatively poorer country. Take a guess-how many airports do you think Myanmar has? How many airlines do you think operate in Myanmar?

Before visiting Myanmar, I also had no idea. I was thinking it may have just a few airports and one or two airlines- but I was totally wrong. The aviation scene in Myanmar is much more wider and bigger than what I had thought.

There’re at least 7 airlines based in Myanmar

1. Myanmar National Airlines- seem to be the biggest, govt owned
2. Myanmar Airways International
3. Air Mandalay
4. Air KBZ
5. Golden Myanmar Airways
6. Mann Yadanarpon Airlines
7. Yangon Airways

Now that is a good number of airlines to fly around Myanmar. Let us look at number of airports- Below is the network of Myanmar National Airways- they fly to close to 25 different airports within Myanmar, as per this route map that I saw outside their office close to Custom House in Yangon Downtown. A wikipedia page lists 50+ airports in Myanmar- but not all are operational or civilian.

But there is one thing to note about flying within Myanmar- despite so many airlines and so many airports, domestic flights are NOT cheap. Most domestic flights cost around 100 USD one way. You should be lucky if you spot a slightly cheaper 75-80 USD fare. At times fares go up to 150 USD+ one way. When I was planning my trip to Myanmar, I did check a possibility of flying to Mandalay or some other destination. But the 200-250 USD round trip fare was very discouraging- it would cost me more to fly within Myanmar than what I paid Air Asia to fly me from India to Yangon and back (12800 INR or 180 USD) Because of this I decided NOT to fly domestic in Myanmar, stay focused on areas around Yangon and may be plan a separate trip to Mandalay, Bagan n Inle area sometimes in future.

In India, for about 100 USD or less you can fly all the way from Tiruvanathapuram in extreme south to National Capital Delhi- about 3 hours flying. But in Myanmar, even one hour flights cost around 100 USD, which is discouraging. May be Myanmar doesn’t have too many people flying domestic- if they can’t fill up the plane, they have to raise per ticket price. Or may be the airlines there are able to sell enough tickets at this higher price so they don’t see a need to sell them cheaper- I don’t know.

Airlines in Myanmar don’t have serious competition from rail or road. There’s no high speed train in Myanmar, nor wide and smooth expressways network. So if you don’t want to fly, your next best option will be to endure a really long train or bus journey. I am guessing because of this many tourists would prefer to take a flight even if it is a bit expensive.

I think the catch is in capacity- Between say Mumbai and Delhi there''re probably 100 flights every single day- assuming each flight seats 150 people, airlines in India need to find 15000 people willing to pay and fly between Delhi n Mumbai every day.

But the numbers tell a different story in Myanmar- Between Yangon and Mandaly, there're only 10-12 flights per day, some of them being ATRs. So all 7 airlines put together need just about 1000 people to fly between these cities. Not very difficult- some tourists, some businessmen, may be govt officials etc will usually fill the plane

The fleet:

Most airlines use smaller aircrafts- ATRs and Embraer so it is easy to fill up a flight. Others use A320/B737 family mostly for international flights. No wide body jets yet.

Accidents:

According to Wikipedia page, there’s been only 4 major aircraft related accidents in Myanmar so far. I think that qualifies as a fairly safe operational history

Flying international

Myanmar based airlines fly to select international destinations in the neighborhood. Chiang Mai, Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Hong Kong, Kolkata, Gaya (India) etc are some of the select international destinations to which Myanmar based airlines fly.

Do they fly direct to India?

Only two Burmese airlines fly direct between India and Myanmar- MIA or Myanmar airlines International has flights between Yangon and Kolkata, as well as Yangon and Budh Gaya in Bihar.  Myanmar National airlines flies between Buddh Gaya and Yangon. Our Air India also flies non stop between Delhi-Yangon and Gaya-Yangon. But these direct flights tend to get extremely expensive. Low cost carriers like Air Asia can fly you there for one third the price via their hubs in Bangkok or kuala Lumpur. Further most of these don’t surface on websites like Makemytrip- you will have to check on the airline’s respective website.

This website https://flymya.com/ will help you find domestic flights in Myanmar easily

So that’s what I have about airlines and domestic flights in Myanmar- let me know your thoughts..

Best vegetarian food options inside KLIA2

If you’re transiting through Malaysia’s KLIA2- the low cost hub used by Air Asia, here’s a quick tip on availability of vegetarian foods.

The best bet- Noodles at WH Smith

This shop, closer to gate Q entrance sells vegetable noodles at a decent 3.5 MYR each (costs 8 MYR on Air Asia plane)- two of it is enough for an adult to fill stomach. By far this is the cheapest and best veg food option for short transits. Same shop also sells coffee premix (add hot water), some chocolates or bread/bun items which can also be considered. WH Smith has another shop closer to Gate L entrance as well

Taste of India- Unfortunately this Indian restaurant doesn’t have a single decent vegetarian option in their menu. However, upon request they can serve you a bowl of rice with some veg curries, for the same price of a non-veg dish (around 19-20 MYR)- Not the most comforting option- since the rice, veg curry etc are all stored right next to various non-veg items.  I saw a Masala Dosa with chicken curry option, but not a vegetarian masala dosa. If you’re sensitive to veg-non-veg mix/proximity this will not be comfortable for you.

Donuts and coffee- large donuts can be had for 5-6 MYR at multiple shops, including Starbucks, Beverage station etc. One or two Donuts+ coffee is usually good enough to quench your hunger for a few hours. Warning-donuts may have egg.

Other key shops like McDonalds, Burger Kings etc do not have a single decent veg option on their offering in KLIA2, but you may be able to buy some secondary items like French fries, garlic bread, coffee and other light snacks here.

If none of these suits you then bring your own food or buy inflight in your airline.

Do you have a better tip? Have you found some other veg item in KLIA2? Do comment below.

India Europe Cheapest fare ever 6k one way- Book NOW

A friend and airlineblog reader Amar Singh Solanki has shared this tip off that can save you thousands of rupees on your dream Europe trip from India.

There're tickets available from Ahmadabad, India to Zagreb, Croatia one way for just Rs 5500. If you had Europe on your mind, book NOW. It won't get any cheaper than this. Zagreb is a new destination launched by Fly Dubai and this could be a limited seat promotion. Travel dates- cheapest tickets are available for select dates in Dec 2018, March 2019 etc. Check one way fare, not return.

From Hyderabad for 9k

Even if you're not in Ahmedabad/Hyderabad, you can plan a flight to Ahmadabad from anywhere else in India for about 6k-8k return max- still makes sense.

What about return?
Unfortunately this ultra cheap fare is only available for onward journey. Return ticket will cost about 25000 if you are on flydubai.

Your alternate options for the return journey:

• You can explore various schengen countries and return from a different airport
• Try Milan-Mumbai or Milan-Delhi on Air Italy- you should get oneway ticket for about 15-16k for select dates
• Try Iceland-Delhi on WOW Air
• Jet Airways is running a 30% off sale- you may get Paris-Chennai, Paris- Mumbai or AMS-Mumbai etc for a good price.
• Cheap tickets are available to Dubai from various European cities (check Whizz Air)- fly back to Dubai, spend some time and continue to India

Thanks to Amar Singh Solanki for the tip off. If you spot such killer fare, do let us know. I think the key here is to check oneway fares as well and not limit oneself to searching return tickets.

Vistara Economy Lite fare without meal now makes sense

I had earlier written about Vistara's Economy lite fare, but have an updated opinion based on recent observations.

September 19 Update:
Now I see that fare difference between Economy Lite and Economy Standard is growing further- like Rs 500 to 600 on longer duration flights. If the difference is significant, I think Economy Lite is a good choice. You can save this amount, buy some food for 200-300 rupees and still save a bit.

Above: Free snacks we got on standard economy fare during a short haul flight (between Chennai and Kochi). A sandwich, 2 cookies and a 200ml water. If the fare difference is significant enough, I would happily skip above snacks, save a few hundred on ticket fare and buy one of these- Upma for Rs 150 or Noodles/Biriyani for Rs 200 etc

So decide based on the gap in fare and your preference of food- fine with their standard meal/snacks or you'd like to buy something instead..
----------------- Original Post -----------------------------------
Vistara was (and is) a full service airline, which implied meals and baggage are included in the ticket price. However, recently Vistara has made a change and has introduced a new category, called Economy lite.

Economy lite is being offered as a freedom fare under the promise that those who don’t want to pay for the meal can save some money. Last week, when I checked, Vistara economy lite fare was visible on very select sectors- Economy lite fare was Rs 210 cheaper than Economy standard. By paying Rs 210 less, you miss the meal (or snacks on short flights) and some other restrictions such as you also don’t get to change travel dates, or buy an upgrade or anything else.

Of course cheaper fares are welcome, but I personally feel Vistara’s new category with Rs 210 less than standard is not worth it. Due to following reasons

• It seriously compromises Vistara’s brand position as a full service airline
• Will be awkward for cabin crew- now they have to carefully skip serving meals to those who have purchased lite ticket. This gets complicated if passengers change seats inflight. More time to check boarding pass/their manifest before serving, collect cash from those who want to buy and so on.
• Rs 210 savings is not significant enough. If it was Rs 500 or 1000 less and say without check in bag allowance then the fare would have been more tempting to those who don’t have check in bag. Otherwise I think most would pay Rs 210 extra and prefer the benefits of standard fare + a meal.
• Now it is more complicated for travel agents and others- they should be careful to book their guests on the standard fare and not lite, so as not to upset them without a meal.

Note: It is not fixed that all lite fares will be cheaper by exact 210 rupees-may be more may be less.

Economy Lite is not available on all the sectors all the time. It is being rolled out in a phased manner I guess, or the airline is experimenting with select sectors to check how customers like this new fare category. This week, I checked multiple origin-destination combinations. I couldn’t see any lite fares. I guess they are rethinking their strategy/pricing. I put a tweet to Vistara- they promptly responded showing me that Economy lite fares were available for Delhi-Mumbai sector on Aug 30th.

Many airlines in the world are trying this bare bone pricing structure- even British airways has tried something similar, but they haven’t eliminated meals to save money-would be awkward on a long haul flight. Instead the ultra low cost seat usually comes without check in bag. Indigo and Spicejet already have a cabin bag only fare- I think that will be more appealing to those who travel lite.

Vistara is also planning international flights by end of 2018- will be curious to see if pricing and if lite fares will be offered.

I have my first flight ever with Vistara next month- looking forward to the experience. (They started Chennai operation only Feb 2018)

Are you able to see Vistara lite fares on any routes? Does saving Rs 210 and skipping the meal excite you? You think it is a good idea or do you prefer a cabin bag only fare? Let us see how this Vistara's lite fare sustains/if it gets popular.

Mihuru.com review: book flight ticket now, pay later!

I saw Mihuru's ad on facebook and spent some time understanding their model. Mihuru allows you to book your flight ticket by paying only a portion of the amount and pay the balance before travel date. This is useful if you don't have all the cash upfront but don't want to pay interest on loan.

What is the savings advertised by Mihuru? How can I save with Mihuru?

• Assume a flight ticket from Chennai to Dubai, for a travel date 1 month from now costs INR 15000
• If you had the entire amount, you can pay now and book..
• But what if you don't have 15000 right now. If you wait for 2 weeks till you have 15000, ticket price might have gone up to 18000. That is 3000 extra. Now you've to may 3000 more. 
• With Mihuru, you can book when it was at 15000, by paying only say 5000 or 6000 + a one time service charge and pay the balance within next 1 month. Thus you don't have to pay the extra 3000 just because you didn't have enough cash. Assume you've paid a service charge of 300 for Mihuru, you still save a net 2700. 

Note that this is hypothetical- while ticket prices generally increase closer to travel date, the % of variation depends on lots of factors- sometimes savings will be more, sometimes less or none. You've to take that gamble. If you feel price will definitely increase, you desperately want to travel but don't have enough cash right now (but sure of being able to pay within next few weeks) then you can try Mihuru and hope to save.

What if I have a credit card?
Credit card gets you upto 45 days depending on your date of transaction n billing cycle to pay. So for near term bookings credit card holders may not need Mihuru. But what if you're booking 4-6 months in advance? In such cases even credit card holders can try Mihuru if they can't pay entire amount within 45 days.

What happens if I book but don't pay the balance?

• You will lose the initial amount you have paid- Mihuru will probably use this amount to pay as cancellation fee to airline and limit their liability
• Paylater is a legally enforceable concept. So Mihuru can pursue the balance payment through various legal means
• Mihuru assigns a credit limit to you based on your financial strength- so if you don't have strong financials you will anyway not able to book expensive tickets- this reduces the risk for Mihuru

Some limitations to be kept in mind

• While booking will be done once you make initial payment, ticket will be issued only after full payment. This means you will not have ticket with you for visa processing, seat selection, web checkin or other needs
• Mihuru scheme is applicable only for flights originating in India
• Mihuru service can be availed only if your travel date is minimum 30 days away. Can't be used for immediate travel. This is obvious as there has to be some time for you to pay the balance.
• Mihuru is limiting their risk to maximum 50000 per passenger- this means you can't book a more expensive tickets- like tickets to Europe, US and such long haul flights easily cost more than 50000
• Mihuru will need access to your bank account- they would review how much balance you have, how much is your regular credits (like salary) and assign a credit limit to you. Depending on your bank balance your credit limit could be as low as 5-10k or maximum 50000 (I think it could be higher- one should be able to book multiple tickets- say for family)
• Note that any change/cancellation will incur Airline fee + Booking agent fee + Mihuru service charge- this will be an extra expenditure compared to booking directly on airline website.
• I am not sure if Mihuru can be used to book ultra low fare no-cancel, no-refund tickets- for example, I book AirAsia sale tickets years in advance and face a risk of losing 100% if I can't travel. I don't think I can offload that risk to Mihuru- they will recover entire amount from me if I don't pay the balance.

How does Mihuru make money?

Mihuru Terms of Service says users will have to pay a one time service charge. The exact amount is not known, but probably a few hundred per ticket. This forms their main source of revenue on each transactions.

Some additional possibilities are
-May be ticket price/convenience fee will be slightly more than what it costs to book directly with airline or other travel websites with offers (Example Easemytrip doesn't charge convenience fee, which is about Rs 400 savings per ticket or cleartrip regularly runs promo that can save a few hundred rupees per ticket). I couldn't check for myself as Mihuru account creation needs me to reveal my bank account details which I didn't want to. Those expecting to save a few thousand may not notice or don't mind paying a hundred or two extra
- May be a small commission from airlines?
- They are well funded- may be they are not focusing on profit right now- once they have enough users and transactions they can bargain with airlines or offer premium services etc to make more money

About Mihuru
Mihuru is a Mumbai based startup, who got some USD 150k seed funding recently. I think the idea is great- an untapped market- enabling more people to travel/save while traveling. I wish them all the best. Will be interesting to see how positively traveling public adapt this concept.

Another company worth checking out is AlpFly- they take a lump-sum amount upfront and promise say 10 tickets at a fixed price. But there're lots of hidden terms and conditions- do check my review here

Dubai return ticket for 13k n other updates

FlyDubai has return tickets to Dubai for about 13k, for select dates in October 2018

If you’re thinking of a visit to Dubai, it is a good chance to book. 13k for return trip is reasonably cheap- it is 1k more than what we paid in April but still a decent amount, as normal low fare is about 14-15k.

Also to be noted that FlyDubai has started operating about 10 flights from Terminal 3 in Dubai (most flights operate from Terminal 2). I don’t know if there’s a visa free transit facility between the two terminals- else it will be an expensive proposition. Do check your flights. The changes are apparently made for better collaboration with big brother emirates.

For example, FlyDubai is starting new flight to Zagreb, Croatia but this flight operates from T3, so it is not possible to book Chennai-Dubai-Zagreb. Read more here

Doesn’t look like an optimal arrangement to operate from 2 different terminals and 2 different airports in Dubai- doesn’t allow optimize connecting passengers. But I am sure FlyDubai bosses know this and have better reasons to do what they are doing.