Price drop alert-BOM SEZ (Seychelles) 34k INR return

A return ticket to Seychelles from Mumbai was costing close to 50k post covid. Recently I saw that prices are down to 34k INR, that too for a direct flight on Air Seychelles.

That is a good sign. Hopefully it will drop a bit more to under 30k INR return, a tempting price.

Pre-covid Srilankan used to sell Mumbai-Seychelles via Colombo at a competitive price- long flight but was cheaper.

I am also hoping one stop option via Ethiopia or other middle east/African hubs could be even cheaper, as airlines compete among each other. Will wait and watch. If I spot a sweet deal will plan for 2025.

Mauritius is still high at 50-55k for a return ticket. Hope that drops too, to under 30k as it was pre-covid.

Manta Air suspends BLR DDD flights? (resolved)

Update: Able to see ticket prices now. Might be some temporary issue with the website. You may ignore this post. Manta Air twitter handle also responded and confirmed all is fine. Have left my feedback that 50k is too much.

---------- Original Post ---

Maldive's Manta air had started Bengaluru to Dhaalu Atol (airport code DDD) flight in March and now it looks like flights are suspended.

Shrinidhi Hande had written earlier that the tickets are very pricey- costing 50000 INR for a return ticket between BLR and Dhaalu Atol. May be this is the main reason not many people showed interest in this flight- it the ticket was priced around 20000 INR even I was considering planning a trip to Maldives.

For 50000 INR I can go to Mauritius, Seychelles or Europe, so no point spending half a lakh flying to  a small island in Maldives.

My MAA- Gan island flight several years back was just 12000 INR per person via Colombo. Hope such cheap fares return soon.

Of course adding fire is the damaged relationship between India & Maldives. Indians have started exploring alternative destination to Maldives thus reducing demand for flight to Maldives.

Hopefully those who had booked but their flight cancelled now will get their refund from Manta air. 

Manta Air website apparently not selling ticket to any origin-destination on their network! Not sure what is wrong

What is your thought?

Want to save on domestic flights? Fly via international

 Domestic flights within India are getting very expensive. It is lot cheaper to fly via international hub for domestic destinations

Example one: Guwahati to Calicut:

Domestic flight by indigo via BLR is 11000 INR, 12 hours flying time

If you book 2 international tickets, it costs less

• Guwahati to Kuala Lumpur: 4100 INR
• Kuala Lumpur to Calicut: 3500 INR
• Total: Just 7600 INR

Check screenshots below

Malaysia is visa free for Indians as of now.

It is unfortunate Govt of India doesn't allow flying domestic destinations via international hub. So we've to book two separate tickets, clear immigration etc. Many other countries do not have such restrictions. In Taiwan you can fly from Kaohsiung to Taipei via Hong Kong or Manila or some other international destination.

More such examples will be available if you dig deeper.

Cheap ticket to Baku but with extra visa cost

Tickets to Baku from India cost around 35000 onwards. Indigo flies to Baku via Delhi. Delhi Baku return ticket costs around 30-32k onwards. If we're booking one stop from other Indian cities- say Mangaluru or Mumbai or Kolkata that is another 10-12k taking total cost to 42-45k INR onwards.

Air Azarbaijan flies direct to Baku from Mumbai and costs around 35000 INR onwards for a return ticket. https://azal.az/en/

As I was scouting for a better option, I suddenly came across this on Skyscanner. 24k for a return ticket to Baku felt relatively cheap compared to other options.

However, I tried to check the price on Air Arabia website and it was coming to 50k INR. So when I tried to understand how is it half price I figured out the following

This cheap ticket is made up by Makemytrip by combining Individual tickets.

If we book 4 tickets individually, they cost a lot less.

• Kochi-Abu Dabhi costs 5500 INR one way
• AUH-Baku costs 6500 INR one way
• Baku-AUH is 5800 INR one way
• AUH to COK 6400 INR one way

So MMT is booking 4 separate tickets and offering me a round trip to Baku at about 24000 INR

Very clever of Make My trip and it is very unfortunate that Air Arabia is not offering it directly under one PNR for this price.

While it may appear tempting to book above ticket for 24000 INR, UAE Visa cost will come to haunt you.

A single entry UAT visa costs 7500 INR, one month multiple entry visa costs 14000 INR

For above tickets we will have to clear immigration at AUH twice, so cost of 2 visas or 1 month multiple entry visa will take the total expense to close to 38-40k making it at par with Indigo or Air Azerbaijan options mentioned earlier in the post, minus any visa hassle for transit airport.

UAE allows transit visa for a cheaper price of 50 AED but I don't think that applies if we have tickets in two separate PNRs. Air Arabia won't let you board in Kochi if you don't have a valid visa to enter UAE.

However if you have UAE golden visa, residency, work permit or can get VOA due to US Visa etc then this option will work for you.

Proceed with caution.

Air Asia Calicut to Kuala Lumpur under 8k return

Spotted a sweet deal on Air Asia. You can fly from Calicut in Kerala to Kuala Lumpur and come back in under 8000 INR, which is a good deal, cheaper than flying to Delhi.

Available for few select date combinations in October, November and other months.

Calicut (Kozhikode)-Bali is available for 20k return, which is also decent. You can try other one stop destinations as well.

If you are in Kerala or Mangaluru or nearby it is good opportunity to make use of this offer. You can take a train to Calicut and board from there.

If Kochi is closer to you, try that as well, costs about 3k INR more though.

Air Asia flies from Guwahati: 8k return to KUL

Air Asia has started offering flights from Guwahati. Indians from north east now have an easy way out to international destinations in South Asia and don't have to fly to Kolkata for everything.

Air Asia's pricing seems to be fair. Guwahati-Kuala Lumpur return ticket can be had for under 8000 INR, which is a good deal. A flight to Kolkata or Delhi would cost more.

This is same price as Kochi or even a bit cheaper.

Other destinations such as Bali or Australia etc are also available for fair price. Check for your destination and dates.

Thanks https://webguy.in/ for the tip off.

Alliance Air website has a repetitive bug!

Alliance Air website seem to have an intermittent bug. The website goes blank when we try to select an origin or destination. We can't select anything and can't book tickets. However this seem to get resolved later in the day- when I checked in second half website was working fine, but only to return to same issue next morning.

I am not sure what is the issue. Let us see how long before this gets fixed.

Official website: https://allianceair.in/book You can check it for yourself.

DreamScape in Changi T2

When I was transiting through Changi this month, I asked an information counter guy what is new at Changi in past 6 months (I had last passed through Changi in October 2023)- he asked me to check out Dream Scape.

Dream Scape is a small garden area with a digital roof which plays animation of fishes moving around or other attractions. There are 18 plants on the ground surrounding the area and passengers can walk in between, looking up at the sky and looking below with fishes moving around. The visuals are accompanied by a curated sound of over 100 creatures. Changi calls it "immersive indoor garden experience"

Dreamscape is located towards the end of T2. You can reach T2 for free using inter terminal trains in Changi Airport from T1 or T3

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi)

There are few more attractions but they are all outside transit area, need to clear immigration.

Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) Airport Experience

This post shares my observations at Taipei's main airport, Taoyuan, TPE.

#1 Outdoor observation deck:

Taoyuan airport in Taipei has an outdoor deck for passengers to visit and see the runway up-close. This is before clearing immigration, so accessible to all.

#2 Lots of passenger rest area. 

Usually airports want arriving passengers to leave the airport asap and departing passengers to do check in and enter gate area. But TPE airport has dedicated area accessible to all- arriving passengers, departing passengers who haven't checked in yet. This area has sitting benches, food courts, kids play area etc. Very convenient if you arrive early at airport or not in a hurry to leave the airport.

#3 Mobile data- same price in city and airport

Usually airport shops sell slightly expensive packages to tourists or claim cheapest option is not available right now, forcing arriving passengers to shell more money. Because of this I usually try to skip buying in airport and look for a shop inside city. However I find that price in Taipei's Taoyuan airport is same as city shops w.r.t mobile sim card options.

Even the price of Banana in 7Eleven store in TPE airport is at par with city stores.

#4 One hour away from city by train

TPE airport is pretty far from Taipei. Train to Taipei Main station takes 1 hour and costs 150 TWD (400 INR approx). Taipei has another airport in city but looks like it is not used by international airlines.

#5 No domestic/international segregation

This warrants a separate post. Taiwan is a small country, just some 400 kms from north to south. Though Taiwan has several airports, doesn't look like there is a domestic airline flying to these cities- most options are via an international hub only. This is largely because Taiwan has excellent high speed rail network that can cover 400 kms in 2-2.5 hours end to end- making it useless going to airports away from city, spend 2 hours in airport formalities, 1 hour flying and more time reaching city.

#6 Lego scale model of TPE airport

An emirates A380 at TPE airport

Similar: Almaty airport observations  * Kuwait airport short transit time * 

Bus to Almaty city from Almaty International airport?

While Almaty has city buses, none of them come inside Almaty international airport. Thus if you ask about bus service anyone in airport, they will say NO buses are available and will trick you into paying for taxi.

A taxi to Almaty city from Almaty international airport costs 7000 KZT or 1300 INR while a bus costs only 80 KZT or 20 INR.

Update: I am told bus number 92 leaves from airport. Check for the same.

Here's how you can travel to Almaty city by bus from Almaty international airport.
Step 1: Understand that bus stand is about 500-550 meters away from ALA airport arrival gate. Thus you will have to follow the cars leaving the airport and get out of airport premises. Refer map below or reach Ogarev St bus stop which is bit further from this Qabopit hotel (not sure of exact name)

The bus stop is some 100 meters away from this hotel (Bus stop opposite the hotel is for passengers to arrive from city n get down, don't wait there)
 

Reach the bus stop and wait.

It is hard to figure out which bus to take. Bus stops are supposed to have a display of bus numbers and their routes but some bus stops may not have it. From Almaty airport bus number 79 and 86 go into city center. Depending on where your hotel is located, you can get down at the closest bus stop, plan to take another bus or taxi or walk to hotel.

This website, https://citybus.tha.kz/ to identify bus numbers to your destination.

Paying for bus in Almaty.

Each ride costs 80 Tenge or KZT or just 15 INR or 0.2 USD. 

Buses have a QR code scanning which you can pay online, but I am not sure if this works if you don't have local bank accounts.

Alternate option is to get a ONAY card and load it with some money. These cards are not easy to find. I couldn't find any shop in airport to buy a card. I could find a shop in the city. Thus if you don't have a card and local payment setup, you can pay cash to driver. However cash payment will cost 150 KZT, which is still fine as it way cheaper than paying 7000 KZT to a taxi.

So your payment options for airport to city travel in Almaty city bus:

• Pay 150 KZT to driver
• If any of your friend had an ONAY card from their previous travel to Almaty, take it and use, load after reaching city center for further use
• Try your luck at airport or shops near bus stop if you can buy a new ONAY Card
• You can try your luck requesting any local to buy you a ticket through QR code and pay them cash

Almaty city bus timings: most buses operate from 6 AM to 9 PM. If your flight is outside of this time your options are limited. More detailed post on how to use city buses in Almaty is here

Same while returning: Get to city center, take bus 86 or 79 to airport.

Related: Fly Arystan Experience * Almaty guide & FAQs

Hope this helps.

Almaty Airport observations

Almaty airport is pretty small (I feel it is smaller than our Mangaluru airport).

#1 The airport name boards are both in local language and not English. 

Airports world wide display one board in local language, one more in English, but Almaty airport has both is name in Kazak language (or maybe one in Kazak, other in Russian?)

#2 Very small airport

Almaty airport is very small. Customs area, check-in counters, immigration all 3 are cramped into one hall. The waiting area are also pretty small with just a few gates and shops inside.

#3 Bus stop is 500 meters away

Though there are city buses that ply close to Almaty airport, they don't enter airport premises. Bus stops are some 500 meters from airport. If you don't want to spend on taxi you've to haul your baggage for about half a km.

#4 Despite being small, Almaty airport seem to be handling widebody, 4 engine aeroplanes- saw a plane coming in for landing

Mumbai Jeju for under 30k, March 2025

If you're able to commit to a trip 1 year in advance, Mumbai to Jeju (South Korea) tickets are available under 30k

I feel it is a good deal due to following reasons

• If you are visiting Jeju island alone, it is Visa Free.
• Jeju has several attractions to keep you busy for a week or more.
• If you delay, price will increase- if booking 2-3 months prior, it will cost 60k
• Above ticket is Singapore airline from BOM-SIN- food, bag, entertainment included, Scoot from SIN to Jeju- you will get 1 meal but anything more you've to pay.

I've visited Jeju in 2023, for 4 days. Still a lot left to see, so thinking if I should plan another trip.

Some places: Sunrise Trek * Lava Cave * Mount Hallasan * Seopjikoji Trail * Orange plucking experience * Oedolge Rock * 

Air Asia flies to Almaty, not offering connection from India

Air Asia has started flights to Almaty, Kazaksthan. Almaty is served using Air Asia X A330s to Kuala Lumpur.

While this is good, unfortunately Air Asia is NOT offering one top flight to Almaty to Indian passengers. We can't fly BLR-KUL, KUL-ALA in Single PNR.

Probably Air Asia thinks Indian market is not worth targeting for central Asia- we'll have to fly 4 hours to Kuala Lumpur and then 6-7 hours to Almaty- while alternate options are shorter-2-3 hours to Delhi and another 3 hours to Almaty.

But if offered at cheaper price, Indians may embrace Air Asia to fly to Almaty. India domestic flights are very expensive- flying to Almaty from Bengaluru currently costs 30-35k: 15k for BLR-DEL, 20k for DEL-ALA. Air Asia can certainly beat this price. As of now KUL-ALA return tickets are selling for about 16000 INR on AirAsia. If AirAsia wishes they can sell tickets to Almaty from BLR, COK or MAA for around 22-25k INR which will be good option for South Indians.

Air Asia was flying to Mauritius several years ago. Eventually they cancelled that route to focus more on Asian and Australian long haul destinations.

Let us see how Almaty and Baku routes grow and if Air Asia will sell these destinations to Indians.

Fly Arystan Experience: Delhi Almaty

Fly Arystan is the 4th new airline I flew this year after Kuwait Air, Air Malta and Aegean airlines.

Fly Arystan is an ultra low cost airline in central Asia. Fly Arystan is a subsidiary of Air Asthana. I came to know about Fly Arystan in 2023 when they were offering Delhi-Shymkent (CIT) for 5000 INR one way. But return was costing lot more so I had not booked. Later they cancelled DEL-CIT flight and started selling DEL-ALA (Almaty) flight. I could get a return ticket for about 7400 INR, which was a great deal. It includes only 5 kg cabin bag though. After some deliberation I booked my ticket for March 2024 travel sometime in September 2023. Mangaluru Delhi costs twice that amount on Indigo.

There was a 12k return ticket to Almaty from Delhi with Air Asthana in 2019- I didn't plan that time as it was too cold. Few of my friends went to Kazaksthan last year. I took some time to decide and plan.

March is still cold in Almaty- not as cold as December and Jan but still not summer yet. It is still off season hence airline was selling tickets cheap. For April, ticket price costs twice as much.

Ticket Booking:

There were payment issues booking directly on FlyArystan issues. But I could book easily on Cleartrip. Had to pay a few hundred rupees more. (Cleartrip has to provide for currency conversion, forex charges etc). Detailed post on FlyArystan booking experience here

Check-in

Fly Arystan mandates web check-in. I did web check in and got window seat auto assigned for both onward and return journey. Boarding pass won't be issued after web checkin, as airline needs to check passport and visa requirements. Airport check in would cost extra. There were two guys deployed in Delhi airport to check if passengers have done web check in, if not they would do web check in and give seat number in a piece of paper to passengers. I find this part very odd.

At Delhi airport, there is no fly arystan branding. Everything operates under Air Astana, its parent company branding. Most likely Fly Arystan wanted to save some airport fees and staffing costs by using already existing infra of Air Astana, just like both Air India and Air India express operate under Air India branding.

Then we go to check -in counter, staff weighed my bag which was exactly 5 kgs. (I had prepared for this) A tag was added to indicate that my bag is limited to 5 kgs. I was told not to buy any duty free, as duty free goods are not allowed if passenger exceeds 5kg cabin bag limit.

As my turn came many customers ahead were arguing on weight limit and many were made to pay extra.

Almaty is visa on arrival for Indians if stay is not longer than 14 days. Else eVisa is needed.

Cleared formalities and went to gate. Inbound aircraft came in some 20-30 minutes late and then soon our boarding started. Staff would check weight again not for every passenger but anyone whom they suspected to be heavier.

Aircraft was clean, decent. Fly Arystan using A320s and has nice external branding of a lion logo on the tail. Nothing special or negative about their service. Some red branding inside. As soon as I got to my seat I buckled up and slept, as it was 2.30 AM. Had no mood for food or anything. Woke up just before landing.

Return flight was uneventful too. Managed to take a look at the menu options. Some decent food items are offered at fair price. But it was again a midnight flight and I had dozed off when staff came with trolleys I guess. Could have tried the pizza and coffee if they had asked. Return flight was on-time.

All email communication from Flyarystan are in Kazak langauge. Had to use google translater to understand their email contents. Only final feedback form they sent promptly in English. In flight announcements were in English

Flyarystan schedule doesn't seem to be very reliable- they had DEL-Shymkent flight which they cancelled, Fly Arystan has also cancelled Mumbai-Almaty flight. Delhi-ALA is the only flight they are operating now to India. Hopefully this doesn't get cancelled. 15k seems to be standard starting return fair now. Will have to wait till next off season for cheaper fares I guess. Next option- Indigo and Air Asthana cost much more.

Now AirAsia is flying to Almaty from KUL, but they are not offering connection from India yet.
Indigo and Air Astana are other 2 operators flying to Almaty from Delhi/India- both of them 2x-3x expensive compared to Fly Arystan.

Flyarystan overall feedback
- Basic and decent low cost airline service in clear aircrafts, no complaints
- 5 kg cabin bag allowance will be very less for many people- either learn to manage or pay for extra luggage
- Flyarystan has cancelled BOM-ALA, DEL-CIT and other flights from time to time, so keep a plan B in case your flight is cancelled last minute.
-KC7179, the Almaty-Delhi flight was not possible to track on flightstats. KC7180, DEL-ALA could be tracked. Not sure why one leg is missing in tracker site.

Because the fly Arystan tickets were very cheap I could make a trip to Kazakhstan and explore my 54th country. Wouldn't have spent 25-30k to visit Almaty. (I've to factor Mangalore-Delhi flight cost as well).  

Not planning to fly Flyarystan again anytime soon, but let us see.

More about Kazaksthan in my main blog, www.enidhi.net

Manta Air BLR-DDD for 50k INR return

Earlier I was wondering if the proposed BLR- DDD Manta air service would start or not. Now the good news is the service has started.

Dhaalu atol is a small island in center of Maldives, below Male, but above GAN island. Dhaalu atol has few resort islands around it, whose customers so far had to fly in to Male and then take Manta air flight to DDD. Now they have a direct flight option.

But the sad part of the news is this 3 hour one way ATR flight from Bengaluru to Dhaalu atol in Maldives is more expensive than a ticket to Europe from India. The asking price almost touches 600 USD or 50000 INR. Budget tourists will shy away from this, only rich customers will be able to afford.

570 USD or 50k INR is cheaper than earlier option of flying to Male and then flying to DDD- that used to cost 60k INR. 

The service operates 3 times a week. The small ATR only allows 5 kg cabin bag, but you are allowed 22 kg checked bag. You will have to plan accordingly. For another 25 USD more one way, you can check in 35 kg bag (no increase in cabin bag allowance in Sapphire flex. There is no business class in ATR.

Saddest part is Manta Air has kept the price uniform for whole year. Even if I am willing to book 9 months in advance there is no reduction in price. Airlines usually keep the price cheaper for 6-9-12 month advance booking and start increasing the price once seats fill up. Manta Air doesn't seem to have such plans. Flying next week or next year, same price. 

Malta air BLR-ADD ( an island in Maldives) costs 50000₹ return in an ATR for 3 hours one way... that is Europe ticket price.. would you fly? pic.twitter.com/knDrJMgyuo

— Shrinidhi Hande (@enidhi) February 20, 2024

What do you think? Would you fly? I was willing to book if it was around 20k. At 50k I will wait and watch...

https://mantaair.mv/book is the website to book

Kochi to Bali 16k return on AirAsia sale

Kochi to Bali return ticket is available for 16k on AirAsia sale, without checked bag (another 10k extra if checked bag is needed.

This is the only decent deal I could find in their ongoing sale. COK-DMK return also costs 16k, same as Bali one stop flight.

Chennai Melbourne is costing 35k return

Kochi Manila is 24k return

Current AirAsia sale is nowhere close to what it was pre-covid. I have flown 8k return to Brunei, 16k return to Japan, 22k return to NZ, 20k return to Australia and so on. Hope to find such fares again soon.

Air Asia has also made it very hard to spot cheaper fares - not showing fares of adjacent dates unless we manually click on each of the dates...

RyanAir's unique feature to save time n money

RyanAir is Europe's low cost airline. Ryanair tickets to various destinations cost less that what it costs you to reach airport from city center in bus or train. During my recent trip I noticed one unique feature in Ryanair's Boeing 737 Aircrafts

Ryanair aircrafts carry a built in ladder that is folded and stored under the front door. Once aircraft reaches its destination bay, the ladder is expanded and passengers can start getting off the plane, not having to wait for any ground service.

I wasn't prepared to shoot a video of this, so missed recording video. Took a photo after stairs are expanded and setup.

This feature helps in 2 ways

- saves time- no need to wait for an airport ladder or aerobridge-passengers can start getting off the plane and walk to terminal or board a bus

- Saves money- no need to pay ground service for a ladder or aerobridge

RyanAir aircraft has this only for front doors. Rear door they use regular ground service ladder. My guess is Boeing design didn't have enough space for this ladder under rear door.

Have you seen any other airline adapting this strategy? No one I am aware of.

Aegean airlines experience: Athens-Santorini

I flew Aegean airways for the first time. Once from Athens to Santorini and return. Return was operated by Olympic Air. Aegean is name of the sea near Greece and Aegean airlines connects Athens to various parts of Europe. Aegean is almost 30 years old airline company, with some 70 aircrafts and over a billion euros in annual revenue.

Ticket booking experience:

• I had some issue booking using my India debit card. So I had to take help of a cousin in Europe
• Athns-Santorini return cost me around 90 Euros- bit steep for off season. Ryanair flies similar distance for 20-30 Euros one way. But Ryanair has stopped flights to Santorini. Aegean was the cheapest option for my dates.

The onward journey:

Unlike Ryanair, Aegean doesn't inform in board pass what time gates open and when gate will close. For flight scheduled to depart 9.05 PM, it said boarding 8.35. They actually started boarding by 8.45, there were very few passengers so in about 10 minutes we were done boarding (had to take bus from Athens terminal- they didn't use aerobridge) and flight left almost on time.

I was flying in from Malta and had some 90 minutes gap. Thankfully RyanAir flight from Malta landed 15-20 minutes ahead of time, so I had adequate time to connect. Ryanair dropped us at Gate C instead of B, so I had to walk a lot and clear security one more time,

Web Check in opens 2 days in advance unlike 1 day in other airlines. But I was not allowed to change seat without paying. Got aisle seats allocated for both the flights.

Aegean airline is supposed to be full service airline. Was expecting some food but got only water bottle in first flight. During the return flight got a snacks back (2 cookies) and water.

Both flights were on time

Baggage allowance- Cabin bag was free. No constraints like EasyJet or Ryanair. Checked bag costs more.

Santorini has very few flights off season

Overall the experience was fine. No complaints, no issues. Better food and seat selection option would have been nice.

Santorini airport has limited taxies and no public transport after 5 PM so I walked to my hotel 4 kms from airport. It was a different experience.

Santorini trip planning guide is detailed here.