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Bargaining for a good fare

Larissa Fernand

For a lot of people, the most expensive part of flying abroad is the airfare. Accommodation and food, too, burn quite a hole in the pocket, but then you can always put up at a cheap place or stay with friends or family. So, if you are planning to fly overseas, ensure that you get a good deal when you book the flight ticket. After all, you are paying dearly for it. Might as well make it work to your benefit.

• A cheap way to get to see an additional place (other than your destination) at no extra cost is to opt for a stop-over. On long-haul flights, airlines tend to fly via their base. For example, if you are flying to the United States and you opt for British Airways, you will get a stop-over at London. Incidentally, you will also get a stop-over at London if you fly on Air India. If you would rather stop at Frankfurt, then Lufthansa is the better bet. Another choice here will be Delta, an American airline that stops over at Frankfurt. Just ensure that the stop-over is en route so that the mileage is the same.

• Opt for an excursion ticket if you are going for a short-holiday. An excursion ticket is the cheapest you can get and it is valid for a time period varying from two months to six months, depending on the airline and the destination. It could be cheaper than an economy class ticket by around Rs 25,000 to around Rs 40,000. The only thing to remember is that you return home within the validity period of the ticket. If not, it will expire and you will have to book another ticket to get you back.

• Never book a ticket directly from an airline. You will never get a discount. Airlines do not offer discounts across the board, but only to travel agents and general sales agents (GSAs). GSAs operate in cities where the airline does not have its own office. Shop around for a travel agent. Various agents will pass off different portions of the discount. See who offers the best deal. If you are travelling in a group, ask for a group discount, which could be pretty substantial.

• Airlines divide the year into 'high season' and 'low season' depending on the tourist traffic. The high season is generally from April 11 to September 14 and December 12 to February 1. The hike in airfares during this season is around Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. You make a tremendous saving on the airfare if you manage to fly before or after these days. If you are travelling during these days, see if you can shuffle your itinerary by just a day or two and get a cheaper ticket in the bargain.

• Read the fine print of heavily discounted tickets. Checking the validity dates carefully is just one aspect. Consider what happened to a traveller who flew aboard a Lufthansa flight a couple of years ago. He managed to get a special discounted ticket for Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago. He reached Frankfurt and a few days later went to catch his connecting flight to Chicago. Unfortunately, he could not board the flight. Lufthansa did have daily flights to Chicago, but had a code-sharing agreement with United Airlines on certain days. This meant that the Lufthansa passengers were flown on the other airline. No problem, except that they did not permit passengers on this discounted ticket to avail of the code-sharing programme. The traveller had to spend another day in Frankfurt till he could board a Lufthansa flight.

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