Early bird benefits are high

PUNE: This is the age of discounted air fares and low cost airlines, where the early bird benefits are high.
The travel bug has bitten Indians hard and seeing the opportunity, tour operators have whistled up interesting offers. For the cost-conscious Indian, they have begun to offer cheaper, discounted fares, using the apex and superapex (sapex) fares offered by international airlines.They have gone a step further and begun to book for the internal leg of their international tours on low cost airlines. This is being done in countries like Australia or regions like South East Asia and is set to be offered in the US, too.
"Low cost airlines from the US, Australia and New Zealand are tapping the Indian market. We believe that by the next year, the fares for a single round trip to SE Asia could be as low as Rs 10,000. Currently, we are offering a fly free programme to destinations in Europe and SE Asia," Sandeep Joshi, director, Guardian Holidays Pvt Ltd, said.
Having bought tickets six months ago, the tour company has been able to get apex and sapex fares. He pointed to airfares for SE Asia his company is offering, between Rs 20-25,000, while to a European destination, using sapex, is priced at Rs 25,000 (taxes extra). Apex fares to Europe are in the region of Rs 29,000 (taxes extra) while regular fares are at Rs 41,000 (taxes extra).
"Apex fares are now at par with train fares. This is a new trend, which emerged in the past year," Mona Pande, managing director, Travelogue Tours and Travels Pvt Ltd, said. While enthusiastic about the emerging trend, she sounded a note of caution against heavily discounted tickets, because of the risk element.
Concurring, Shubhada Joshi, director, Girikand Travels Pvt Ltd, added that it meant using a credit card to pay for the ticket. Which effectively ruled it out for a large tour operator. She, too, sounded a warning note.
"We discourage the use of highly discounted tickets, which could be 30-50 per cent lower than the normal, because of the fine print. We recommend our passengers opt for the middle level kind of discount, between Rs 5-6,000 of the normal fare. Of course, with charters coming, everything could change," she said.
A combination of discounted tickets on the big international airlines with low cost airlines for the domestic sectors of their respective countries is catching on. Ms Joshi attributed it to Internet booking; Mr Sandeep Joshi of Guardian, to the costs.
While all of them agree that India is the target destination for aggressive selling by these airlines, it has not yet begun.
People who book these apex fares however, need to keep in mind that having booked so much in advance, should they cancel, they get only a 50 per cent refund. And tickets have to be bought against apex fares, they cannot be blocked.
Booking on the Internet, with individual travellers looking for deals, is not a new thing. When it comes to tour operators doing that, it is time to take note. Especially since some of these groups are as large as 40 people.