Cheap tickets? Apex fares come at a higher price

Mumbai: If you think Indian airlines have restored the apex fares to January levels in response to civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s tough talk last week, look again.
For one, the so-called apex fares—cheaper tickets offered for booking in advance—never made an exit. Worse, they have now gone up—the apex fares come at a higher rate than earlier with additional clauses and only for routes not longer than 750km, such as from Mumbai to Goa.
Last Monday, airlines raised their fares by Rs1,200-2,000, not including taxes and surcharges, and withdrew promotional fares such as Re1 and Rs99 tickets, after nearly two months of unsuccessfully trying to get back passengers.
Two days later, after Patel criticized the fare hikes and said the government would take action if reports of cartelization proved right, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, the country’s largest private airline by passengers carried, announced Rs300 fares on tickets booked at least 30 days in advance, but only for certain short routes that don’t see much traffic. Its low-fare carrier JetLite (India) Ltd has offered tickets at Re1. The offers end on 30 April.
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd is also offering Re1 fares for tickets booked 30 days in advance on short routes such as Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Srinagar.
Full-fare airlines such as National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, which runs Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Paramount Airways Ltd hiked fares ahead of the March-July season that typically sees more air travellers.
Airlines websites and travel agents say all the airlines are maintaining their apex fares, but by raising the levels. For instance, Air India has changed the advance booking window to 10, 20 and 30 days from 7, 14 and 21 days, respectively. These changes have resulted in 2-40% increase in apex fares, agents said.
Low-fare Go Airlines (India) Pvt. Ltd, too, has widened the booking window on its apex fares.
Delhi-based SpiceJet Ltd, another low-fare carrier, on 13 February announced an apex fare scheme with tickets as low as Re1 (base fare) for booking 30 days ahead of the date of travel.
15/02/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2009