The latest round of discounted airfare offers ended on a satisfactory note on Saturday with airlines reporting ‘overwhelming’ response from flyers.
However, there have been complaints about less number of seats available at the publicised low fares in peak hour flights and non-metro destinations, which have limited flights.
Airlines justified this, stating that it was part of their revenue management strategy. More seats at low fares were offered in flights not in demand, while a dozen-odd such seats were available in other flights.
Executives clarified that the offers were for 30, 60, 90 days apex fares and not for spot fares. Travel agency executives said ‘early birds’ (those who could book instantly) managed to benefit.“The smart people could get the cheap fares. Seats were sold out by the afternoon of the first day of the offer. No amount of inventory is sufficient for a country like India. Low fares were not available in flights which you (people) wanted. Discounts were offered in flights operating in odd hours and where excess capacity is deployed,” said a travel agency executive.
“Sale of tickets at our site went up three fold during the offer period. Plenty of seats were available because the validity of the travel period was up to September-end. Airlines were seen pushing flights which face weak demand. People who visited online travel portals found it easy to book cheap tickets,” said Sharat Dhall, President, Yatra.com
“Our data indicate that Delhi and Bangalore routes emerged as top favourites, however, and interestingly, newer destinations saw strong uptake like Agartala and Srinagar ex-Delhi or Pune-Bangalore,” Indiver Rastogi, COO, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said.
