Flying to India with kids? Emirates is cheaper than ‘budget’ airlines

There’s good news and bad news for travellers hoping for a ‘budget’ vacation this year.
First, the bad news: the so-called budget carriers are not really offering any bargain deals, even if you book weeks in advance and despite the ‘inaugural discounts’ being offered by some of the budget carriers to some of their destinations.
For instance, what a budget carrier flaunting a one-way airfare of Dh350 or whatever from Dubai to New Delhi is not telling you is that, once you add the taxes, and seat-selection charges, and meals, and baggage fees, what you might end up paying for the trip could be multiple times the single-sector airfare being advertised. Seriously.
The good news (yes there is some): the UAE’s full-service airlines, the Dubai-based Emirates and the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, may just work out to be cheaper for you, especially if you are travelling with kids.
How? Firstly, the so-called budget carriers operating from Dubai do not seem to make a distinction (when it comes to airfares and taxes) between a child and an adult.
An occupied aircraft seat, for them, is an occupied aircraft seat – be it an infant, a child, a teenager or an adult.
On the other hand, full-service airlines do make that distinction, and an infant’s ticket is usually priced at just about 10 per cent of an adult’s ticket, while children (two years and above until 12) pay 70 per cent of the price of an adult’s ticket.
28/06/12 Vicky Kapur/Emirates 24|7

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2012