Chennai-Penang return 11k -July 8-17 2019

Looking to go somewhere next month?
While last minute bookings to various destinations are usually expensive, there's a cheap ticket available to Penang, Malaysia on Air Asia

If you can leave on 8th July and return 1 week later, return ticket to Penang from Chennai is available for INR 11200+320 convenience fee (net banking)= Total around INR 11500. (No bag, no meals)

Few other destinations in Malaysia- Lankawi, Kuala Lumpur are also available for similar price range.

This is a good price for last minute travel because tickets to Kuala Lumpur itself cost 12-15k if booked late. Being able to visit Penang for same price, that too with a week to spare is a good deal. Ticket prices are much higher for all other adjacent dates.

Note that during an Air Asia big sale Penang return ticket could be available for less-around 8000-9000 INR return. But for that you've to wait for next sale, book months in advance and risk losing it all if you can't travel.

What could be AirAsia India's International Strategy?

Air Asia India has completed 5 years of operations and 20 aircrafts fleet. They are now eligible to fly international and reportedly looking to do so soon. In this post, I am taking liberty to express my thoughts on what could be Air Asia India's international strategy. Of couse Air Asia group has its own set of experts and advisors- they don't need me to guide them. But as a flyer, as an airline blogger and industry observer, enthusiast, I am just sharing my thoughts on what might work very well for them.

Points to consider:
1. I am assuming AirAsia India will stick with short haul fleet of A320 (not more than 6 to 7 hours flying) and very unlikely to buy an A330 or A321 XLR kind of medium to long haul range aircrafts
2. Air Asia Malaysia and Air Asia Thailand already have strong coverage in South East Asia. Assuming Air Asia India doesn't intend to compete directly with them- rather aim to grow overall as a group.

So where could Air Asia India fly internationally?
Below is what I am thinking

#	Potential destination	From	Rationale
1	Kathmandu, Nepal	BLR, DEL, CCU	Parent AirAsia group has stopped flying to KTM from KUL Good passenger traffic between India and Nepal
2	Middle East (Doha, Sharjah, Bahrain, DXB/DWC)	BLR, MAA, BOM, COK	Capacity crunch after Jet collapse Good passenger traffic
3	Vietnam/Cambodia	BLR/MAA/CCU	No direct flights between these India and Cambodia/Vietnam
4	Chiang Mai, Phuket, Penang/Kota Kinabalu	BLR/DEL/MAA Or CCU	Avoids competing with AirAsia MY and TH- good potential for direct flights
5	Mauritius /Seychelles	BOM/COK	Popular tourist destinations not flown to by other budget airlines Can feed from AirAsia Malaysia

Why Nepal?
Nepal gets most of its tourists from India. Today most of the flights to Nepal are from Delhi, very few from Kolkata and just one from BLR and few other cities. Offering direct flight to Nepal's Kathmandu or Pokhara from AirAsia's hub cities like BLR or Delhi or even Kolkata will ensure good traffic- even AirAsia Malaysia or Thai AirAsia can feed passengers to these destinations from various cities in Asia (that could be a 2 stop flight- say from Manila to Kathmandu via KUL and BLR) but if pricing is right, there will be some takers.

Middle East:
Middle East is ever popular destination for Indian carriers, because of large population of Indians living there and their attraction as tourist destination. Doha is currently facing a capacity crunch. Dubai and other destinations are under served too. Couple of flights to this region will give the airline a foothold into Middle East market and they can expand later if all goes well. Even parent group can feed in to these flights as they don't fly directly

Vietnam/Cambodia:
No airlines fly direct between India and Vietnam/Cambodia. Thousands of passengers take one stop flight via Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore. A direct flight will definitely get a plane full of passengers each day and will be good for both countries.

Secondary destinations in Thailand and Malaysia
Chiang Mai, Phuket, Penang, Kota Kinabalu etc can be served directly instead of forcing tourists to take one stop flight.

Mauritius/Seychelles - two popular island countries- only Air Mauritius flies direct while for Mahe it is always one stop flight. No low cost airlines fly here- Air Asia was serving MRU with A330 but they stopped after sometime. Might be good idea to extend into African shores.

Of course Air Asia India may also chose to play it safe by flying first to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok DMK, strengthening Airlines dominance on these routes. (Thai AirAsia and Air Asia Malaysia operate out of these destinations to all over South East Asia and beyond)- By flying more to DMK and KUL Air Asia India could initially simply feed into the parent group's international network. But from a passenger's point of view, Air Asia is already serving these destinations, so they won't feel anything new about Air Asia India's international flights.

What do you think? Which destinations AirAsia India should fly to once they get clearance for international flights?

Vistara is also looking to begin International operations soon. My guess is Vistara will focus more on destinations that can help optimize revenue along with their partner airlines- like SQ etc

Manipur politician with aircraft as his symbol

A politician with aircraft as his symbol

Spotted this somewhere in Imphal- a local politician seeking votes with aircraft as his symbol. The symbol seems to be impeccably crafted, including clear sharklets, rudder and ailerons and APU exhaust.

The poster is for Kodompokpi gram panchayat election. His name is Shri Thokchom Nandkumar. (as translated by Anuj Bhudkar)

First line in the script is Manipuri (Mayek script) while rest of the poster is in Bengali (Manipur was using Bengali language till 1970, the migration to new local language script is still in progress, again as briefed by Anuj Bhudkar.

Not sure if he won the election. Best wishes to him.

Stay inside Kolkata Airport-affordable retiring rooms

Kolkata Airport has affordable retiring rooms for transit passengers. Check the poster below- call the number upon arrival if you're interested. Doesn't look like you can book in advance- can check-in subject to availability upon arrival.

For other places to stay around Kolkata Airport, check this post

Destination Alert-Fly Direct to Chittagong Bangladesh from Chennai

US Bangla Airlines is operating direct flight between Chennai and Chittagong. If you're looking for a new country to explore or destination to visit, you might want to try this.

Chennai-Chittagong direct flight ticket would cost you about 22000 INR minimum when planned a few months in advance. (Do try for other dates). However the irony is, same aircraft will be flying onwards to Dhaka and tickets to Dhanka from Chennai is around 20k INR or about 10% cheaper than flying to Chittagong.

This is again because of competition. US Bangla Airlines is the only airline servicing Chennai and Chittagong directly. But those flying to Dhaka have lots of other options- Srilankan, Spicejet, Indigo, Air India, Thai Airways, Malindo etc. So it is possible to get cheaper tickets to Dhaka.

Chittagong is  known for ship wreck industry and has a bunch of tourist interests to explore- such as museums, lakes etc. Chittagong is closer to Manipur and Mizoram and Myanmar.

Above: US Bangla Air Chennai to Chittagong direct flight fares

Below: Same day, same aircraft- Chennai to Dhaka one stop via Chittagong is cheaper

It is possible to get a Chennai-Dhaka return ticket for about 15k INR or less on Spicejet or Indigo via Kolkata if you are lucky. Even Srilankan sometimes offers 15k return ticket during their sale.

US Bangla Air flies to Chennai (3x weekly) and Kolkata (daily) in India. They do fly to few other international destinations such as Doha, China, Malaysia etc but don't seem to be selling tickets to these destinations from India.

US Bangla Air doesn't have best of the safety records. Last year one of their planes crashed in Kathmandu [Details] and the airline was criticized for older aircrafts and poor maintenance. Of course it won't be fair to judge an airline just because of one crash. Do use your discretion.

Of course you can also enter Bangladesh from various land borders in North East.

Bangladesh Visa for Indians
I have a separate post on Bangladesh visa for Indians here- Bangladesh visa is free if you're residing in Mumbai/Delhi/Kolkata/Agartala. Needs you to visit in person, wait in line, submit passport and collect after a week. If you're in other cities, you've to either travel to above cities or avail service of an agency. No evisa, no visa on arrival for Indians.

For booking, refer their website: https://usbair.com/welcome

Thanks to Kartik Murali for the tip off.

Kolkata Airports colourful baggage belt

Watch a short 1 min video of a very colourful baggage belt at Kolkata Airport- very creative, sponsored by Nerolac Paints India.

Similar:
Mumbai Airport's creative interiors * Frankfurt Airport's casino baggage belt *  Kolkata Travel Guide *

Vistara using Oxo biodegradable plastic for inflight meals

Air Vistara is using Oxo-biodegradable plastic in its in-flight meals. Probably the first airline in India to do so. Plastic usage, particularly single usage plastic is proving to be a deadly practice taking earth towards extinction much faster than anyone thought. Thus slowly the awareness about dangers of plastic is coming up- individuals and corporate have started doing whatever they can to avoid/reuse or reduce usage of single use plastic.

Airlines serve 100s of meals per flight. A meal in a full service airline may include a tray full of main dish, a water bottle, a set of spoon, fork and knife (metal in some airlines, mostly plastic) sealed in a plastic pouch, some bread/bun/fruit pieces, some packets of butter, sugar, creamer, sauce and such supplements etc. Not everyone may need each of these but airlines can't keep customizing the trays so they have to serve a standardized set to be able to serve swiftly to large number of passengers.

Some airlines are seriously resolved to avoid plastic onboard. Australia's Qantas, world's oldest airline to operate continuously, has started operating Zero waste flights. Other airlines have resolved to do their bit and are in search of alternative package materials/options to serve on board without compromising on hygiene, time and of course money.

Good to see Vistara using Oxo-Biodegradable plastic. Now, what is this Oxo-Biodegradable plastic?  These are plastics made from certain type of polymers which are better at disintegrating than conventional plastic. Oxo-biodegradable plastic is said to degrade and decompose within a duration of 2 to 18 months, depending on factors like thickness, environment and other parameters. If waste management of oxo-biodegradable plastic can be handled effectively, it can cause a lot less damage to the environment.

More details on Wikipedia

From what I noted, only the spoon cover and a few other items on the meal tray were oxo-biodegradable. There is still the small water bottle, yogurt cup and other things which appear to be conventional plastic. However, still it is a good initiative to begin with.

If you want oxo-biodegradable plastic for your business, you may possibly connect with this company - Chirag Industries, who have supplied them to Vistara. (chiragind99@gmail.com)

Other Vistara Posts: Vistara Premium Economy Experience * Vistara Lite Fare * Vistara Customer care now takes 1 hour *  First Flight with Vistara * 

Win free tickets on FlyDubai

To celebrate their 10th anniversary, FlyDubai is offering 10 free tickets on its networks. To win you need to share your FlyDubai story on this website: https://comeflydubaiwithus.com/ before July 25th.

Submit your story and hope to be lucky. All the best.

Also read: Dubai trip with FlyDubai * Dubai from window seat * FlyDubai 737 Max * 

NDTV to build airport near your home

Want an airport next to your home? Try NDTV

NDTV is offering cheap flights to New York from various localities in India, even if the locality doesn't have an airport. NDTV's location based ad display logic seem to take any location, generate a click baity title and display the ad, even if it means stupidity.

For an airport near your home, try your luck on NDTV.com

For the airline advertiser, NDTV picks up location from IP address, generates a cheap flight ad from that location to big cities like New York, London etc and tempts users to click. Once you click the ad it takes you to a generic page which will have no reference to the original cities shown in the ad.

Least they could do is to locate nearest major airport and display ads for fares from that airport. Anyway try telling that logic to NDTV.

Anyway, recent news is that NDTV's Pronoy Roy is under investigation for money laundering

Flying to Europe via Doha is cheaper than Flying to Doha!

India to Doha route is in high demand and has very little capacity. Between Chennai and Doha, only Indigo and Qatar offer direct flight (or even one stop for that matter). Due to high demand and limited supply, even Indigo is able to command a high return fare of 26000-30000 INR for the 4 hour flight. (whereas flight to neighboring Dubai, Abu Dabhi etc can be had for around 15000-18000 INR)

So with high demand and limited seats, airlines are going for the kill. While Indigo is charging 26-30k INR without food, full service airline Qatar is charging 45000 INR+ for a ticket from Chennai to Doha and back. Qatar being full service airline, their pricing includes meals, entertainment, comfort kit (blankets etc), miles and a possible upgrade opportunity, however remote it may be. Most business travelers would also prefer only Qatar over Indigo, so Qatar Airways wouldn't have problem filling their A330s or B777s on India-Doha route despite the higher than usual fares.

A diplomatic fight with UAE means you can't fly to Doha via Dubai or Abu Dhabi either using other Gulf Carriers, further limiting options.

But then, the irony of this demand-supply game is that now it is lot cheaper to fly to some other destination via Doha, than fly to Doha itself. For example, yon can fly to Paris via Doha for 10% cheaper than what it costs to fly to Doha. Refer screenshot below or check for yourself on airline website for any random date.

Doha-Paris is 2x the distance and time compared to Chennai-Doha. If flying distance/fuel were the basis of pricing, Doha Paris should have been 2x Chennai-Doha. But airline pricing doesn't necessarily follow such logic. It is all driven by optimization- how best they can make maximum money. This is because passengers flying to Paris have dozens of options- they can fly with Etihad, Emirates, Air France/KLM flights, Air India and various other airlines. So Qatar Airways needs to keep Paris price competitive to win Indian customers.

As per this Mint news, Qatar has asked Indian Government for permission to operate more flights between India and Doha. Qatar was also keen to invest in Indian airlines or start an India subsidiary- but these things take years to materialize.

What does this mean to you?
Option 1: Avoid flying to Doha for the time being
Holiday to Qatar can wait a bit till situation improves. For 30000-45000 INR, you can visit Europe, Africa and lots of places around the world. (even USA for 50k if you are lucky)

Option 2: Sky skipleg- You can book a ticket to Paris and get off at Doha- but return journey could still be expensive. Plus you can't do this if you have checked bag. Most airlines treat this method as illegal and may penalize passengers for it. (Lufthansa dragged a passenger to court).

Skipleg is also tricky because of Visa requirement- you will need Schengen visa to be issued boarding pass at origin, you will need Qatar visa to enter Qatar (or be eligible for Visa on Arrival- say due to US visa)- all these efforts may not be worth unless you already have all visas and are very desperate to save a few thousand rupees. It is better to play by the books than trying to scam the system and risk getting caught.

Option 3: Take longer route- Mumbai-Doha is a bit cheaper as there're more flights, compared to other cities that have limited flights to Doha. This would mean longer travel n more inconvenience,but may save you 5 to 10 k if you've to travel anyway to Doha in your own money.

Hopefully if Spicejet or AirAsia India or Vistara also begin some flights to Doha situation may improve. Let us know your thoughts on this.

Vistara Customer care wait time now almost an hour

Vistara has been expanding rapidly by using Jet Airways aircrafts and Mumbai airport slots. But looks like the airline hasn't invested in expanding support infrastructure proportionately. Trying to reach Vistara customer care is now a real pain, as wait time is easily 30-45 mins during day time, 10 to 15 minutes during non peak hours if you're lucky.

When Jet was operating, if you select business class or first class option in IVR, you could have got hold of a human customer care staff quicker- Vistara doesn't seem to care- even if I select Business Class option you still have to wait like everyone else.

If Vistara is unable to deal with large volume, they should do the following
-Provide a sequence number to the caller and an approx wait time- if I am #5 in line and wait time is 10 mins, I might wish to hold. if I am #50 and may take an hour, I will call back later
-Provide call back feature-allow support staff to call back customers who waited for several minutes and disconnected

Yes, lot of things can be done on the website, but many things can't.
Example:

1. Chennai-Kolkata flight cancelled, I need to be re-routed for free via Delhi- can't be done online, need to call customer care
2. Missed providing Club Vistara number during booking (booked via easemytrip)- no provision to add it later. only option is to claim missing miles after the trip- but this could spoil my upgrade probability during the flight- so I would rather have it attached before the flight. Need to call customer care for this- not possible otherwise
3. Website doesn't seem to be selling one stop flights- Like Chennai-Kolkata via Delhi.
4. Lots of problem scenarios (like cancelled flights, missed baggage etc) aren't automated and need to be assisted by customer care alone.

So unless everything can be done online in self-service mode, there will be dependency on customer care. Vistara need to hire more people and use better technology to deal with increased call volumes, which are proportionate to new flights added.

Update:
Vistara has responded as below. The changing market conditions could be cancellation of Chennai-Kolkata, Chennai Port Blair and other flights

Let us see how situation improves in near future. Haven't had the need to call Indigo, Spicejet or Air India customer care- so not sure how bad is the situation there.

Spicejet Sale- some good deals

Spicejet has an ongoing sale- there're a few decent deals- not super cheap but decent considering current scenario. Check and book if the price is tempting to you or you've to go to the destination. Additional 450-500 Rs convenience fee will apply on airline website- you might be able to save it if you book on easemytrip.com

These are not super cheap
The Chennai-Port Blair price is similar to what Air India was charging 6 months ago- I have a 5200 INR return ticket booked in Feb for travel in Aug- I get a meal extra there in Air India. So Spicejet's 5200+500 convenience fee is not really cheapest, but under the circumstances good fare.

I had booked a  Kolkata -Dhaka return fare for 7800 few months ago- now same itinerary costs about 8.5k+ convenience fee

Chennai-Kochi cheapest I have seen is around 2200 INR.

But then if you have some plan and prices are good, you can consider as it may not get more cheaper in near future.

India to Sydney on Malindo air for 10-13k one way

Bengaluru, Kolkata and Kochi people, act NOW.

Malindo Air is launching its service to Sydney, Australia from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia starting August 14, 2019. This will be a one stop flight via Bali, Indonesia.

The great thing is, if you book now, you can fly all the way to Australia for just INR 10600 one way. That is cheaper than low cost airlines.

Malindo is a full service airline and for this fare you will get lots of extra benefits
-Entertainment onboard
-Meals included
-USB Charging
-Slightly more comfortable seating
-Comfort kit (pillow, blanket and earphone etc)
-Transit through a more comfortable KLIA 1 instead of KLIA2
-A remote possibility of upgrade to business class (if flight is full)

But note that being one stop flight via Bali, this will take a few hours more. Flight will be on a B737 and not a wide body aircraft other airlines use on this route.

Note that the lowest supersaver fare doesn't include checked baggage. If you need it, you have to pay another 2500 INR more to book under Economy Value, which is still a great fare.

Similarly priced tickets are available to Sydney from other cities- Cochin, Mumbai, Chennai etc- a few thousand more. Even if you've to take a domestic flight from your city to Kolkata to fly out of Kolkata it is very good deal.

Return:
At this moment I am unable to spot a similarly priced return fare from Sydney. Malindo website is not showing any return flight option, not sure why- may be they are still trying to fix the price or decide something else. You'll have to wait for sometime till Malindo opens up return flights, or book your return ticket on some other airline such as Scoot, AirAsia etc.

AirAsia has one way fare Sydney to Kolkata for about 13k, which is very good (Bags and meals extra). Entire round trip you can have for under 25k INR

Alternatively you can extend your trip to say Bali on some other airline, return to your city on Malindo

Read all my Australia posts here

Malindo Air (codeshare with Batik Air) Chennai-Kuala Lumpur experience

Last month we flew to Kuala Lumpur from Chennai on Batik Air flight, codeshare with Malindo Air.

I had last flown with Malindo air two years ago to Bali. You can read the previous review here. In this post I will detail the recent trip experiences.

Booking
Our trip was sponsored by Malindo Air and Malaysia tourism, so we didn't book the tickets ourselves. However it is very easy process- head to MalindoAir.com . Web check-in was not available for our flight as it was operated by Batik Air.

Tracking:
Flight stats.com was not recognizing our flight number OD9112 when I made an attempt to track our flight status. But soon I figured out I could track using ID 6019, Batik Air's flight number. Flightaware works for 9112 but I had to use MXD9112. Our inbound flight was few minutes ahead of schedule

Comfort Kit
Batik Air provides a pillow, a blanket per seat. Earphones are often provided on demand (this was the case during onward journey, probably because most people want to sleep) or by default (during the return trip). A hand wipe could be considered in my opinion.

Meals:
Meals onboard Batik air includes a bowl containing a main dish and a supplement. Unlike Srilankan or Qatar Airways, Batik Air doesn't serve an elaborate plate which would also include some fruits, desert or bread items along with main meals packet. Malindo and Batik Air serve similar meals.

You need to ask for drinks.
Malindo doesn't serve alcoholic drinks onboard- fine with me as I don't drink them anyways. They serve water/7up or Pepsi after the meals. But somehow, crew wouldn't ask me if I needed a drink. On both onward and return flight this happened:

I was sitting in the middle row. As the crew arrived with drink cart, person sitting next to me proactively asked for what they wanted and they were served. I was waiting to be asked "Sir, would you like anything to drink"- but that never happened. Since I didn't ask myself, crew assumed I didn't want anything and proceeded to next row. I should have probably asked myself like almost everyone in the flight did, but my European manners thought me to wait till being asked to serve- unfortunately that never happened. I can understand being left alone if I was asleep. But I was right there, wide awake, tray table open- even if I didn't want any, I thought it is basic courtesy for the crew to ask if I would like anything. I understand I am not the most handsome person around who could command extra attention, but I thought it is basic courtesy not to rush and wait till being asked to serve. As the crew went to next row without serving me, I pressed the call button to draw their attention, but it was ignored. May be instructions to them was not to stop serving to attend call buttons- which is fair enough- you don't want the crew running around attending secondary requests while people are still waiting for their meals and drinks. Crew came to me 20 minutes later after serving everyone- by that time I had lost interest and asleep. I explained I was not served- she said sorry and offered to bring it for me, but I had lost interest.

I don't want to blame the airline or staff fully- probably their behavior is tuned by the repeated experience with passengers- most of us don't have any patience till being asked to serve, as ask upfront what we need. So probably Batik air crew assumed if a passenger doesn't ask for it, he doesn't need it.

Space


Entertainment
Good thing about Malindo is back of the seat entertainment. Other competition airlines- Air Asia and Indigo which fly this route do not provide any entertainment. Malindo's collection of movies was great.

Baggage
Malindo now allows about 25 kgs check-in bag per passenger. Note that there's a super saver fare without check-in bag provision.

Pricing
Malindo's pricing for Indian Market is very competitive. Naturally it is a bit more than low cost airlines like AirAsia or Indigo, but for the extra buck you get a lot more- below is a quick list of what you get for the extra money, compared to low cost airlines.

What you get extra in Malindo air vs Indigo/AirAsia/Scoot
1. Check-in baggage allowance- 15 to 30 kg depending on fare type and route (Note: No baggage allowance in Super Saver fare type)
2. In flight entertainment
3. USB Charging
4. Access to more comfortable KLIA with better facilities  (Read: KLIA 1 vs KLIA2)
5. Meals and beverages
6. Business Class option and a remote probability of free upgrade
7. Loyalty points for your flight
8. Comfort kit (pillow, blanket etc)

You can check this post for comparison between Air Asia and Malindo Air on several points.

Network/Coverage
Malindo has a pretty good coverage in Asia region. In India, they fly to Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Kochi, Varanasi, Delhi, Trivandrum and Mumbai (Some cities only 3x weekly).

In Asia Malindo flies to 50 odd destinations covering China, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and more. You can check Malindo Air network map here

Similar: Scenic Bali from Malindo Air window seat * 

View of Grand Canyon and Las Vegas landing

Here's a short video I shot from the window seat of Southwest flight from Austin to Vegas. Just under 2 minutes, shows Grand Canyon from above and the Las Vegas town as we land.

Watch directly on Youtube here

Air India loses in an year what Jet n Kingfisher owe in their lifetime

Livemint report says Air India's FY 19 loss could be around 7600 crores. This is one year's loss. Almost same as what Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines owe to banks over their lifetime- around 8400-9000 crores.

So while we all crib how public sector banks lost taxpayers money funding private airlines, isn't running Air India under such massive loss is like wasting money on one Jet Airways and one Kingfisher each year?

What is the way out?
Privatization isn't working- Airline is capital intensive industry without a guaranteed path to profitability, so many are reluctant to risk

What happens if Govt decides to shut down Air India?

• Lakhs of jobs will be lost
• Ticket fares will shoot up as Air has about 15% market share in India and a significant number of international flights each day. We are already seeing price rise after Jet Airways crisis. Another airline going down implies Indigo will have near monopoly- they already have 50% market share, will rise to corner two third of the market.
• All current loans and outstandings may have to be written off as there's no way to repay the loan if airline is not operating
• India's reputation will suffer a setback for not being able to revive its national airline.

So it is a tricky situation- would you like to see some part of your tax money going towards covering Air India's losses, so that you continue paying less for your tickets or would you risk paying 2x-3x more per ticket each time you fly? Government is not going to reduce our taxes if Air India stops flying- they will use the money to fund some other loss making PSU- like BSNL or India Post etc.

Best way is to work towards making Air India profitable- bringing in a more capable management and giving them freedom, improving quality of service to regain customer confidence and other measures like cutting costs and focusing on more profitable routes. That is easier said than done- we can only wait and watch..

Similar: Air India's Lethargic staff - observation * Air India direct flight to Copenhagen * 

Costa Rica Airport Tax breakup

Costa Rica's SJO airport had this display, explaining how the tax paid on our ticket is distributed.

Juan Santamaria International airport is well connected to mainland USA as well as South America. However on the day of my departure from here my SouthWest flight had a massive delay

Vistara shuts Chennai-Port Blair for Bombay

After closing Chennai-Kolkata, Vistara has axed another destination from Chennai, Port Blair.

From now till August, Chennai-Port Blair service is discontinued. After August, we don't know. Kolkata Port Blair service is operating as of now. Need to see if they axe it next!

This decision is to make more aircrafts available for newly acquired Mumbai slots. Vistara will have 3x daily flights to Mumbai instead from Chennai and flights to various cities from Chennai.

So Chennai people can go to only Mumbai or Delhi on Vistara. No other destinations for now. Vistara is not selling one stop flights to other destinations on their network, via Mumbai or Delhi, for reasons not known.

Vistara silently cancels Chennai-Kolkata flights

Vistara has silently cancelled its twice daily Chennai-Kolkata flight, without any formal announcement, either to passengers or in media.

The reason is not known, but most likely this decision was taken to free up aircrafts to be deployed at Mumbai. After Jet Airways collapse Vistara along with other airlines got Jet Airways slots in Mumbai and to make full use of these slots they needed aircrafts. Since flights from Mumbai are more profitable, I think Vistara decided to cancel some of the flights which were less profitable- I guess Chennai-Kolkata is one of them.

Vistara's recently added additional flights from Mumbai. Mumbai Chennai was not a consideration.

However, recently Vistara is said to be taking possession of about 4 B737s of Jet Airways and once they are inducted, Vistara is likely to operate one daily flight to Chennai along with few other cities like Varanasi.

Why no formal announcements when airlines withdraw a route
No one wants bad publicity. If a route is cancelled, usually only affected passengers are informed few days prior to their flight- so that refund can be delayed as much as possible and with little time and alternate options left, passengers can be forced to accept whatever alternate airline throws at them. So as a passenger we need to be alert to regularly check if all our future flights are as per plan. In this particular case I believe Vistara wants to resume Chennai-Kolkata service once they have maxed out their Mumbai slots and have a spare aircraft. So airline doesn't want to scare passengers with route closure news.

Vistara had also stopped Chennai-Kochi flight last year. In essence the step motherly treatment towards Chennai continues. But then, aviation is a brutal business. Airlines need to put their assets where they can make maximum money. There's no room for sentiments and emotional thoughts. Optimization is the key- some how Chennai airport/passengers aren't able to command much attention.

What to do if you had a flight on the cancelled Kolkata- Chennai or Chennai-Kolkata route?
Don't wait till official communication from Vistara, which may come only last minute.
Call the call centre, you have following options
Option 1: Ask to be re-routed- via Delhi or Port Blair or Mumbai- this could now cost you one full day instead of original 2-3 hours. Do this if you're flying in June. If you wait till last minute there's a risk that alternate flights may get full and your options will be limited.
Option 2: Take full refund- if you'd booked cheap ticket before Jet airways collapse, this can cost you dearly as prices have shot up on all other airlines. Unless you're not keen to execute the trip, you're probably better off with option 1. If you have seen a cheaper/similarly priced alternate flight or if your trip is sponsored by your company and you don't care about ticket price, this could be good option for you.
Option 3: Wait and Hope- if your travel is few months away- say August or September, it might be worth waiting for a month- May be Vistara will reintroduce MAA-CCU if they get more aircrafts.

One small respite is Air Asia announcing Chennai-Kolkata route.

Read: Vistara Premium Economy Experience  

Malindo Air begins Varanasi flight from July

Malindo Air is commencing flights between Varanasi and Kuala Lumpur from July 18.

By extension, Varanasi flyers can book to various destinations on Malindo's network in South East Asia- to Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia etc.

This is a great news because not too many international airlines are flying into Varanasi. Only Buddha Air, Thai Smile and Air India express operate international flights out of Varanasi to Kathmandu, DMK and Sharjah respectively. Now with Malindo, a lot more destinations can be accessed one stop via KUL, which earlier required two stops.

Srilankan used to fly to Varanasi from Colombo but they've now suspended direct flight.

Frequency: 3 times a week- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Approx fare:  (Super saver fare without checked baggage)
VNS-KUL- about 15000 INR return
VNS-DPS (Bali)- about 25000 return
Timing: 2210 hours departure

More details on Malindo official website

Related: Malindo wants to fly to Seletar * Bali view from Malindo window seat * AirAsia vs Malindo  

AirAsia launches Chennai-Kolkata- hope it sticks

AirAsia has announced Chennai-Kolkata once a day flight from June 2019. Kolkata is 3rd destination AirAsia India is serving, apart from Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

I am hoping this route sticks. Last year, AirAsia India cancelled Chennai-Bhuvaneshwar flight after operating it for just a few months, probably due to low patronage. I had two trips planned to Bhuvaneshwar and had to cancel both, as I had booked return ticket for just INR 2998 and next best option on Indigo was costing INR 6000+ . Air Asia had refused to re-route me via Bengaluru that time.

At present return ticket to Kolkata from Chennai costs about INR 8000. It is not super cheap-lowest I had seen between Chennai and Kolkata is about INR 4999 return ticket during Vistara sale earlier this year, but then, after Jet Airways collapse, most sectors in India are experiencing high fares. Leisure travelers can probably delay their trips a bit till pricing cools down a bit.

At present Indigo has about 7 daily non stop flights between Chennai and Kolkata. Other airlines have about one or two flights a day only. So AirAsia is not at any big advantage with only 1 daily flight at the moment. Also Vistara has suspended 2x daily Chennai-Kolkata flight, so Air Asia should have enough customers.

I am hoping Air Asia India's Chennai-Kolkata flight stands the test of time and doesn't get cancelled soon like what happened with the Bhuvaneshwar one. Let us wait and watch.

Right now I don't have any temptation to visit Kolkata, but if I can get a return ticket for under 4000 INR during a sale, I might just book one.

From Kolkata Air Asia India flies to Bhuvaneshwar, Bagdogra, Delhi, Guwahati, Ranchi, Vizag etc, but at this moment, Chennai passengers are not allowed to book one stop flight to these destinations via Kolkata. This could be due to timing-Chennai-Kolkata passengers arrive at midnight so expecting them to stay overnight at airport for next day onward flight may not be fair.  Air Asia is now selling Chennai-Goa via Bengaluru, Chennai-Hyderabad via Bengaluru etc.

AirAsia India has completed 5 years of operation, flies about 164 flights a day and with 20 aircrafts, now eligible for international operations.

eNidhi Kolkata posts: Kolkata trams experience * Sundarbans visit planning * Skywatch Hooghly special * Exploring Kolkata using public transportation * Kolkata Bishnupur by train * Kolkata botanical gardens * Birla Mandir Kolkata * Writer's building * Central Park * 

Free Luggage storage facility near KLIA

What to do if you're transiting through Kuala Lumpur or have checked out of hotel very early and need a spot to keep your bag for a while?

Kuala Lumpur's main airports- KLIA1 and KLIA2 do have baggage storage facilities, but they are not free. In KLIA1, baggage storage is at level 3, at the left most extreme once you arrive and exit the customs area.

Baggage charges are not cheap- for a standard cabin baggage, fee is about 18 MYR per day. (that is 4.5 USD or INR 300). For bigger bags the fee also multiples- refer below table.

 Baggage and locker charges at KLIA 1

So what to do if you've bags and don't want to carry them around or pay hefty fee at the airport baggage counters?

Solution-Take them to MOP- Mitsui Outlet Park, which is a shopping complex near KLIA and offers free luggage storage.

Mitsui Outlet Park is a shopping complex few kms from KLIA1 and KLIA2. Mitsui outlet operates free shuttle buses every 20 minutes from KLIA1 and KLIA2.

Take free shuttle to Mitsui Outlet Park- buses look like below and you can easily spot the display where to wait at airport arrivals to board the bus.

Once at Mitsui Outlet Mall, look for the flight check-in centre

 Inside, at the concierge desk, you can keep your bags for free. You'll have to fill a form like below.

Note: You need to collect your bag before 9.30 PM same day.

Once you drop the bag, you can spend some time exploring the Mitsui Outlet Park mall, have some food, go back to KLIA and take a bus/train to other places of interest like Putrajaya or KL Sentral etc.

Visiting Mitsui Outlet Park adds about 2 hours to your plan- waiting for the bus, reaching there, exploring the mall, return, going again to collect bag etc. But since you'll be saving lots of money otherwise to be paid for baggage storage, it is a good option to consider.