WOW Air Sweepstakes-Win free honeymoon in Iceland

WOW Air is running a lucky draw that could get you an all expense paid honeymoon in Iceland.

Image from WOW Air's Pinterest page

Luckydraw is open to anyone getting married soon.
I checked the detailed terms and conditions- there is no purchase required, there's no hidden tricks or agenda- it looks like a lucky draw. You've to just fill couple of fields giving name of the couple and some interesting things about the couple and that's it.

Only those getting married between November 20th and May 1st 2019 are eligible. I guess if you win they will ask for all the proof. No upload is required during entry.

Travel should be between Jan and May 2019

Rewards include flight ticket to Iceland, luxury hotel stay and some spending money (up to 1000 USD). Winners will probably have to spend some money on Iceland visa, processed through Danish Embassy, who will ask for 2 sets of colour xerox of every passport page :)

What are you waiting for? If you are getting married soon, try your luck. Winner will be announced on December 14th.

https://wowair.in/honeymoon/

Indigo's New Destinations-40+ in past 6 months

While other airlines in India are either struggling or just managing to stay afloat, market leader and cash rich Indigo is rapidly expanding its network. In past 6 months, Indigo has announced several new flights- 40+ of them as much as I could count, including many international destinations.

Indigo now flies to 15 International destinations and some 60+ domestic airports. Below is a quick snapshot of Indigo. Take a look- particularly ones from your city.

#	From-To	Frequency	Lowest fare
1	Bengaluru-Allahabad	Daily	2500+ one way
2	Bengaluru-Hongkong	Daily	12000+ one way
3	Kochi-Male (Maldives	Daily	16k round trip
4	Bengaluru-Male	Tuesday, Thursday	17k round trip
5	Mumbai-Male	5 days a week except Tue & Thu	17k round trip
6	Delhi-Phuket (Thailand)	6 days a week (Except Wed)	20k round trip
7	Delhi-Kuala Lumpur (KLIA2)	Daily	14k + round trip
8	Bengaluru-Kuala Lumpur	Daily	17k + round trip
9	Amritsar-Dubai	Daily	14k round trip
10	Kolkata-Kochi	Daily	5k one way
11	Bengaluru-Pune	Daily	2k one way
12	Kolkata-Singapore	Daily	13-15k return
13	Trichi-Singapore	Daily	13-15k return
14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Bengaluru-Surat Hyderabad-Surat Delhi-Surat Jaipur-Surat Mumbai-Surat Jaipur-Varanasi Mumbai-Bagdogra	Varying schedules, check website
21	Chennai-Kuwait	Daily
22	Calicut-Abu Dabhi	Daily
23	Kochi-Abu Dabhi	Daily
24	Kolkata-Dhaka
25	Kolkata-Johrat
26	Lucknow-Goa	Daily	4000 one way
27	Pune-Lucknow	Daily	5000 one way
28	Doha-Trivandrum
29	Doha-Ahmadabad
30 31 32 33 34 35	Hyderabad-Port Blair Chennai-Surat Delhi-Vijayawada Hyderabad-Vadodara Hyderabad-Indore Hyderabad-Goa	Daily
36	Chennai-Tuticorin	Daily
37 38 39 40 41	Kochi-Hubli  (Hubballi, Karnataka) Goa-Hubli Bengaluru-Hubli Ahmedabad-Hubli Chennai-Hubli

Some of the routes seem to be targeted directly at competition. For Example, GoAir recently announced flights to Phuket and Male from Mumbai & Delhi. Indigo could have possibly chosen a different city to connect to Male- say from Chennai or Hyderabad or Pune etc, instead they've chosen exact cities like Mumbai, Kochi or Bengaluru from where competition already offers flights. (Spicejet flies Kochi-Male, Air India flies BLR-MLE). I read somewhere that their strategy is to bleed out competition by offering lower fares.

Some destinations like Hong Kong are very good move- not much competition and with clear price advantage Indigo can give full service airline like Cathay a run for their money in price sensitive Indian market.

The fares shown above are lowest possible fares, possibly available for a few seats per flight during early months. Regular fare would be bit higher, still competitive and reasonable enough. I did check the fares during some of recent Indigo's sales- they weren't low enough to be called 'Dirt cheap' like I would occasionally spot during Air Asia's Big Sale. So I am still waiting for some tempting fare to materialize so that I can book- not too many new flights from Chennai, so my options are limited, but have my eye on few destinations- let me see how it goes.

In Kuala Lumpur's KLIA2, I was happy to see an Indian Airline among the display board almost fully dominated by Air Asia (AK, D7, FD etc are all various Air Asia subsidiaries)

Indigo has bigger plans- to fly to far away destinations like London etc. But as of now they are limited by the range of their A320 aircraft- it can't fly far away destinations without a stopover. It will be curious to see how Indigo overcomes this- will they order A330/Dreamliner like long haul aircrafts or will continue to manage with A320s forever.

If I can take liberty to suggest few new destinations for Indigo, below would be my choice. What is yours?

1. Yangon, Myanmar from Kolkata/Delhi or Mumbai
2. Vizag-Colombo
3. Sharjah, from any west coast city
4. Chennai-Phuket/Krabi or Chiang Mai
5. Katmandu from some other city other than Delhi- may be Hyderabad/Kolkata etc
6. Bali, with probably 1 stop over Kuala Lumpur

Best wishes to Indigo.

WOW Air slashes rates further- go to US/UK/Canada/Europe for just INR 10999!

Iceland based WOW Air is just weeks from its planned India operations launch. WOW Air is scheduled to begin Delhi to Iceland flights from 7^th December. So far WOW Air had been selling tickets for INR 13499 at its cheapest, to various destinations across its network. Recently airline also extended booking acceptance till October 2019 and announced new destinations like Vancouver.

Today I noticed that WOW Air has slashed its prices further- now one way ticket to most destinations on its network can be had for just INR 10999. This is a dream fare for anyone looking to travel the world. Those who would have paid INR 13499 or more would feel cheated as the fares are now even cheaper and those who didn’t book yet might rejoice they’re saving more. 

If you’re considering a short trip to USA or Europe or UK or Canada, you might wish to try WOW Air.

However couple of things I noted- while onward journey is extremely cheap-just 10999, finding an equally priced return ticket would be a challenge. They are available for less- like 18k or so but you’ve to try multiple date ranges till you find one that works for you or an overall return fare that is reasonable. (or just book one way and fly back on a different airline). You can also try stopover flights. Also the above said ultra low fares are only available for select dates in December 2018, whenever load factor is low. If you’re trying to book for later- say June/July 2019 or so, the fares are significantly higher.

WOW Air is ultra low cost budget airline. Above fare doesn't include baggage or meals-everything is extra. Only one small personal item (like a laptop bag max) is included.

On 7^th December, if you’ve to go to Iceland you’ve to pay 17999, but you can go to Los Angeles via Iceland for INR 10999. Crazy but true. Note that December is winter in most of Europe n US- not the best time to visit, so use your discretion. Also check if you have enough time to process visa for your destination, if you don’t already have one.

December being peak holiday season, if you're not from Delhi, don't come to me if your home town to Delhi flight proves to be more expensive than Delhi to USA flight on WOW Air!

Iceland Air bought out WOW Air recently, so their financial worries are kind of sorted out. Hopefully India operations will begin smooth and good.

One more thing- December 7th is the inaugural flight. Booking your ticket on an inaugural flight of a new route can be both highly rewarding and at times could be risky. Highly rewarding due to following reasons:

1. You will be the first few to experience this new airline/route and can use it to get some social media leverage or brownie point in your peer group

2. Launch flight will get lots of attention- from management, media etc. You may get some goodies bag, senior management may be present, you may get some media attention etc

3. Airline staff may be generous on various rules- like baggage weight limit on the first flight, upgrades etc

But there're risks as well.

• Launch date is announced assuming so many things will fall in place just in time. For example in this particular case, WOW Air needs to get delivery of new planes- A330-900 to operate on Delhi- Iceland route. We don't know if it is on track or not.
• Lots of regulatory approvals need to be secured before launch date
• Lots of other preparations- such as recruitment and training, vendor agreements, infrastructure etc should be in place

If some of the above goes out of control- and say launch flight is delayed by a week to Dec 14. You've planned a 10 day trip with onward flight on Dec 7th and return on 17th on some other airline, if your 7th Dec flight doesn't operate your trip will be in jeopardy. WOW air will give refund or provide free reschedule but your plan goes for a toss. As of now there're no known issues and WOW Air is still accepting booking for 7th December, so we hope everything is on track.

There's no reward without risks, so I would say go ahead and book if everything else works for you. Just keep in mind the small possibility of above problems-Best wishes

Visa free Thailand-Under 15k return ticket options

Thailand has waived off Visa fee for Indians and select other countries for December 2018 and January 2019. This will save you upto 2000 THB or INR 4300 in Visa on Arrival fee that would be charged outside this period.

So if you had Thailand on your mind, now would be the right time.

But there's a challenge. December and January are peak travel seasons. Flight tickets won't be cheap. What you save on Visa fee, you may spend much more on flight tickets if you can't plan well or book last minute tickets.

But worry not. Below I have identified a set of cheap return tickets to Thailand for January 2019 from various cities in India.

Refer screenshots below- from various cities in India- Chennai, Trichy, Kolkata, Bhuvaneshwar, Kochi etc cheap tickets to Thailand (Bangkok DMK or Phuket) are available for under 15k INR. This is a reasonable fare for last minute travel.

Use below as reference, do your own research...

Points to note:

• Above price as available during my research- may change with time
• Convenience fee of Rs 400-500 may apply extra- book on AirAsia website and pay via net-banking to pay much lesser fees (like Rs 90)
• All are budget airlines- food and baggage will cost extra. Only 7kg cabin bag is included in fare.
• Visa fee is waived off as long as you enter before January 31 2019, so it is ok if return date is in Feb 2019. Try different dates till you find lowest fare- you may even find it cheaper than what I have shown above.
• Most low fare tickets are usually no-refund, no date change types. If you're not 100% sure of traveling, you might risk losing all of it.
• Happy journey!

For more tips refer these posts: 

Phuket-Krabi Thailand 7 days optimized itinerary * Offbeat Phuket 3 day Bike itinerary * Plan your visit to Phi Phi Island * Erwan falls and National Park, Kanchanaburi * 

5 things Jet Airways must do to retain passenger confidence

We all know Jet Airways is in trouble. But it is still a going concern and operating its flights. If it were not to get any worse, below are 5 things I think should be done by Jet Airways. I am not big enough to advise an airlines like Jet, but these are some simple courtesies often forgotten and make situation worse- as we've seen in case of Kingfisher. Let me know if you agree.

1. Announce updated schedule promptly

It is now obvious that Jet airways will be cancelling lots of flights- to cut losses, cost and focus on profitability. But what’s not clear is which ones will be retained and which ones will be cancelled.

As a passenger, this information is crucial to me. I don’t want to know about flight cancellation last minute-even if I get refund alternate flights will be expensive. Thus Jet Airways should work to announce their planned cancellations months in advance, so that passengers can re-plan.  This will be a basic courtesy to ensure those who are still trusting the airline are not inconvenienced further.

2. Pay vendors or enter into necessary agreements to avoid cash n carry.

Airlines need to pay fuel companies, food catering companies, airports and other stakeholders- if this payment is delayed, these vendors may put Jet Airways on cash and carry mode- meaning no more credit is available and airline needs to pay for each flight upfront. This would naturally mean more delays, possibly cancellations and further inconvenience to passengers. I don’t want to board a plane and then know that flight will be cancelled as airline is unable to pay the fuel company. Kingfisher had same problems. Jet Airways should do whatever it takes to avoid getting into this situation- it will shake passenger confidence significantly

3. Do Not compromise safety

When money becomes tight, safety precautions often take backseat- shortcuts will be tried such as trying to use a spare part longer than it should be, reduced maintenance checks, extended shifts/extra workload on staff that would cause more stress and may lead to mistakes, pressurizing Engineering to release a plane for operations while it might need some more checks and so on. These shortcuts may result in incidents or even a crash- last thing anyone wants. So Jet Airways top Management should give clear instructions to mid-management not to compromise on any safety/maintenance activities.

4. Find ways to boost staff morale

If staff are not taken care of, they can’t take care of customers. Already we know that staff salary payments are delayed. If not with money, Jet airways should identify ways how staff morale can be kept high. Some possible ways I can think of are as below:

• Possibly offer shares instead of part of salary- equity will be highly rewarding if airline turns around
• Grand extra leaves or free flights or other such benefits where possible, such that it doesn’t cost money to airline and makes the most of reduced workload (with lots of planned cancellations)
• Potential cross training with other partner airlines- like let Jet Airways cabin crew deployed on Etihad flights if they have a shortage or vacancy
• Rewards for those suggesting ways to cut costs, boost efficiency etc

5 Don’t try any super smart tricks to con passengers

Kingfisher, during its last few weeks of operations had a “mystery airline” deal with MakeMyTrip- wherein airline name will NOT be shown till payment is done. Because this mystery fare was cheap, many booked, but had to face extreme uncertainty if their flight will operate as per promised schedule or not. In most cases Kingfisher pocketed the money, cancelled the flight last minute and took forever to refund- if at all they did. Jet Airways should remain honest and straight forward- it is OK everyone knows the airline is in trouble- as long as airline can keep operating is promised schedule to decent service levels, passengers will keep booking. Once the faith in airline is shaken due to massive cancellations, major incidents or other cheap tricks, bookings will drop and it will be very hard for airline to recover the trust.

AirAsia cancels Chennai-Bhuvaneshwar flights permanently

Air Asia India had announced Chennai to Bhuvaneshwar flights earlier this year. But now, within few months, they've been cancelled permanently without much of an announcement.

Reasons not known (airlines won't give exact reasons)- most probably they are unable to sell as many tickets as they hoped to sell and thinking they can use the aircraft to fly somewhere else more profitably.

Flight to Bhuvaneshwar from Bengaluru is still operational. But AirAisa India won't sell one stop flights in India for some reasons best known to them. There could be takers for say Chennai-BLR-Surat or one of the 21 destinations they fly to from Bengaluru but no, you can't book such tickets. Offering one stop flight means airline has to offer free rescheduling in cased of missed connection due to late arrival of incoming flights and make arrangements for baggage transfer from one aircraft to another- probably that doesn't fit well into AirAsia India's interests and operating model.

Chennai doesn't seem to be on the radar of Air Asia India- they cancelled Chennai-BLR flight at one point, reintroduced them later, now Chennai- BBI flight is cancelled. MAA-BBI sector didn't have too much competition- only Indigo had direct flight between Chennai and Bhubaneshwar and their fares were generally bit higher than Air Asia. Now Indigo can afford to increase the price further with competition gone. I never saw Air Asia promoting their flights in Chennai- with just two flights- to BBI and BLR, Chennai domestic travelers probably never had Air Asia on their minds. Anyway we can only speculate. 

Anyway if you happen to have a ticket on AirAsia India's Chennai- Bhuvaneshwar or BBI-MAA sectors you've to now go through their ridiculously complicated refund process- explained earlier in this post. Air Asia India's then CEO Amar Abrol had promised a review but since then he has left Air Asia India and has returned to Malaysia. 8 months and nothing has changed. I believe they don't have any intention to change/simplify this process. While I like AirAsia for their ability to take me to a destination for lowest possible price, I had this refund process.

Chennai-Bhuvaneshwar was the only tickets I had booked on Air Asia during entire 2018, as their other sales were not cheap enough. Probably because of rising crude prices and depreciating currencies they weren't able to offer fares as low as they had offered during big sales in 2017. With crude price and currency situations slightly improving, let me see if the future sales offer any tempting fares. Have a few international destinations and a target ticket price in mind-will book if I see cheapest fares that I had seen earlier.

Air India overstaffed and gone lethargic-Observations

Last weekend I had a short trip to Bikaner. The Delhi-Bikaner leg was with national carrier Air India. Air India is the only carrier flying to Bikaner now, as Spicejet has given up on this route.

I made following observations at the Air India check in counters in Terminal 3 of IGI Airport, New Delhi

• There were about 8-9 check-in counters in the row (one side only that was visible to me) but only 2 were open to Economy class passengers, who are maximum in number.
• Of the two counters, in one counter a passenger had apparently gone to make some payment, hence check-in agent would simply sit and wait- he won’t process other passengers while this passenger is away. (If that passenger goes home to get money, may be the agent would sit idle whole day looking at the passenger’s bag and do nothing)
• The first 3-4 counters were for first and business class passengers- no first and business class passengers were in the area but those counter staff won’t process any economy passengers. (All other airlines often process economy passengers if there’re no premium cabin passengers)
• The last two-three counters were apparently for crew check-in and some other purposes- passengers won’t be processed there as well. Over half a dozen employees wandered around these 2-3 counters, doing nothing.
• Effectively only one counter was available for economy passengers at that time.

Even at the gate, there were 6-7 people crowding the gate, looking important and doing nothing. All other airlines manage the gate with just two staff.

I got a feeling that Air India has too much excess employees who have gone lethargic- they don’t fear losing job, they don’t have any empathy towards passengers or making their life easier and are getting paid for doing almost nothing.

May be it is time for Air India to check if they really need so many staff. Note that my flight was early in the morning-around 10 AM, so may be they all will get busy later in the day- I don’t know, but I feel they do have a room for cost cutting and increasing efficiency.

The flight experience was fine- no big complaints- was a small ATR- outbound flight was on time while return flight was delayed by some 90 minutes.