International passengers are forced to pay through their noses to get an air ticket to reach home during festival seasons and vacations with airlines, both low-cost and full-service ones, hiking the fares every peak season.
Already, the airfares to various West Asian countries from the State and vice versa have been ruling exorbitantly high. What’s more, now there is no a major difference in the fares of low-cost and full-service airlines, though the low-cost no-frills airlines were meant to offer affordable budget travel.
In some cases, fares on a good number of low-cost international flights are either equal to or higher than those on full-service airlines. For instance, a Delhi-Dubai full-service airline ticket on Etihad Airways is available at ₹11,538 on July 30 whereas the low-cost Air India Express and IndiGo charge ₹13,428 and ₹15,516 respectively on the route the same day. A Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai flight of Air India with one stop on the same day will cost ₹11,849 while a budget Air India Express ticket costs ₹26,649 on the route the same day.
K.V. Muralidharan, president, Kerala Association of Travel Agents, said when budget airlines were started one or two decades ago, a low-cost airline ticket was available at half the fare of full-service ones. But now there is no major difference between their fares and often tickets on low-cost flights might cost more, said Mr. Muralidharan.
Everything extra
For no-frills flights, the passenger pays the price of the ticket only and will have to pay for services like food and beverages. On the other hand, the ticket of a full-service airline includes the price of the seat, in-flight entertainment like food, beverages and so on, and up to a certain limit of baggage.
In the new scenario, those opting for low-cost flights will end up paying more if they opt for extra facilities like in-flight food, seat selection, and more luggage, say experts.
In addition, airlines like the Air India Express has recently stopped free snack boxes distributed to passengers, replacing them with luxury gourmet dining on international routes with a tag of ‘affordable price’.
