How to save money on air travel within India?

During last year, while planning our family vacation, we realized that, if we follow some simple rules; then we can save substantial amount on flight tickets in India. This article covers this aspect of Managing money prudently – Save money prudently!

Saving money by booking tickets on Tuesday & Wednesday

Some of you might be aware about this fact that, if you book air ticket during week-ends or on Monday/Friday; it costs you more as compared to booking air ticket on Tuesday and Wednesday. Always, do not forget to check prices on Tuesday and Wednesday for all your air ticket bookings within India on various web sites of Aggregators and also individual air lines web site. You can easily save up to Rs. 4000 by doing this, based on the distance and city where you are travelling. At times, the price of air tickets on the website of Airlines is cheaper than the Aggregator web sites like makemytrip, cleartrip and ezeego and also the convenience charges of airline website is generally less than Aggregator sites.

Frequent Flyer/Loyalty programs

A frequent-flyer program (FFP) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program to accumulate points (also called miles, kilometers or segments) which may then be redeemed for air travel or other rewards.

Registering for the FFP are as easy as logging on to their websites with your email ID. Air India now asks for KYC documents, though.

If you are a domestic flier, Jet Privilege would be the best to choose. Even for international, Jet has a whole lot of code share partners, with whom you can keep earning miles, so it's great!

The advantage of Air India Flying Returns is that they are part of Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance in the world. And a good status on FR can mean some pretty good perks on other Star Alliance, most importantly lounge access internationally even when flying economy! You can also earn and redeem miles on Star Alliance members.

Caveat 1:  If you don’t use airlines’ website and instead use cleartrip, makemytrip etc you may not be shown the option to enter your frequent flyer number while booking tickets. Then you will have to remember to tell the airline’s agent during check-in so they credit you the miles or you can even call the airlines customer support.

Caveat 2: After you rack up miles, the airlines can change up how many miles you need to fly to a destination.

Use following links to check these popular Frequent Flyer Programs.

Jet Airways - https://www.jetprivilege.com/rewards-program

Air India - http://www.flyingreturns.co.in/html/index.php

Vistara - https://www.airvistara.com/trip/clubVistara#undefined

Air Asia - https://www.airasiabig.com/in/en

Spice Jet - http://www.spicejet.com/SpiceClub.aspx

Travel Credit Cards

If you are a very frequent traveler, then you should look for a credit card that rewards you in travel miles for spending money on the card.

Here are some credit cards for you:

American Express MakeMyTrip Credit Card

·         You can earn 2 PAYBACK Points for every Rs. 100 spent. Additionally, get multiple PAYBACK Points across more than 50 PAYBACK partners.

Citibank Premier Miles Card

• Earn 10 Miles for every Rs 100 spent on all airline transactions.
• Earn 10 Miles for every Rs 100 spent on travel & stay booked on exclusive website www.premiermiles.co.in and with our select partners.
• Redeem the Miles across over 100 domestic and international airlines.
• The PremierMiles Card comes at an annual card fee of Rs 3000.

HSBC MakeMyTrip Platinum Credit Card

• MakeMyTrip discount vouchers of Rs. 5,500
• 5 Reward points per Rs. 100 spent at MakeMyTrip
• Get 1.5 points per Rs. 100 spent at other merchants
• Reward points can be redeemed for a host of vouchers including MakeMyTrip vouchers

HDFC Travel Credit Cards

There are multiple credit cards with good offers available from HDFC Bank.

https://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/credit_card/cards-ataglance

Travel Website Promotions:

Download the apps of these websites to get notified of offers run by them or the airlines.

Cleartrip Offers

MakeMyTrip Offers

GoIbibo Referral Offer

https://www.goibibo.com/refer-earn/

·         Refer as many friends from the goibibo mobile app, using your customized referral code

·     As soon as your first friend signs up on Goibibo Android or iOS app, you will be notified regarding the same

·     When your referred friend signs up on Goibibo, you get Rs. 300 goCash+ and your friend gets Rs. 300 goCash+

Travel Deals on FreeCharge.in

When you recharge your prepaid phone, FreeCharge gives you travel deals and coupons from travel websites.

www.freecharge.in

Following are some additional secret tips to save your money:

·        While booking your Flight ticket, if you are using any app like goibibo, makemytrip, Yatra make sure you clear the app data. The reason is airlines track that data and they simply hike the prices because they come to know you're going to book anyway.

·         Always go to coupon duniya or coupon guru where you will find some discount coupon codes which will benefit you.

·         Refer and earn makemytrip, goibibo so that you will get referral money which you can use while booking.

·         Book early is the most important thing if you want your ticket at the cheapest rate.

·         Do not check the fare again and again as it will increase within few minutes if you do so.

·         Have a look on easemytrip since they do not charge any convenience fee and can save few hundred rupees.

If you save money on your flight tickets within India, which could be in Thousands based on above ideas, you are potentially creating additional funds for you, which you can use for food and shopping while you are on family vacation. This will add more fun to your family vacations!