When do budget airlines announce promotion for India bound flights?


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behyx

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Jun 15, 2002
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I suppose only Jetstar asia has got flights to India right? From experiences in the past years, when do they announce promotion tickets to India?

I'm planning a trip there end of this year, wonder if there will be promotion in Nov/Dec time.
 

maybe by august, they will announce it.

going in december... its the extreme cold season there.. i mean in the northern side. :)
 

glennyong said:
maybe by august, they will announce it.

going in december... its the extreme cold season there.. i mean in the northern side. :)

Thanks ;) Will take note to check their website during Aug. It's just round the corner :)

Well I love cool-cold climate. I still can't stand tropical heat after nearly 24 years of living in Singapore! I can even perspire in 2 degree celcius.

And moreover I'm really scared of cockroaches :rolleyes: So winter months will be good :)
 

behyx said:
Thanks Will take note to check their website during Aug. It's just round the corner

Well I love cool-cold climate. I still can't stand tropical heat after nearly 24 years of living in Singapore! I can even perspire in 2 degree celcius.

And moreover I'm really scared of cockroaches So winter months will be good

yah... winter u will see lesser human activities up north to what i understand. :bsmilie: but as usual, the water buffalos will be around...:bsmilie:

;) i think i will go around next year jan. to meet up with old friends there.. :bsmilie: :bsmilie:
 

alternatively, check with some tour agencies, i read on the classifieds that some of them are offering a 3rd or 2nd person flies for free to india!

so yah..... good luck. airlines like Air India or Biman Bangladesh is good if u wanna try flying with preview of india.. :bsmilie:

the first 1hr of ur flight will be hell. followed by 4hrs of nightmare, and if theres delay, theres another 2-3 hrs of imaginable terror... (bad experience :cry: with Air India...)
 

haha! thanks bro for the insights.

Basically mine will be a 1 month long backpacking trip. So delays and such are fine with me. Hopefully it's a minimum of 8hrs, so I can claim insurance. Hehehe...

Being a solo backpacker, I doubt the 2nd/3rd person travels for free is not applicable for my case.
 

i see. so which part of india do u wish to visit then ?? :)
 

hey! don't know if you ve seen popagandhi.com , with travel tales from someone who loves india.
 

glennyong said:
i see. so which part of india do u wish to visit then ?? :)

Northeastern part. Jodphur is a must-go, and if time permits, I'll cross over to Pakistan.
 

igpenguin said:
hey! don't know if you ve seen popagandhi.com , with travel tales from someone who loves india.

Hey bro, thanks for the link! Will check it out when i have time :)
 

igpenguin said:
hey! don't know if you ve seen popagandhi.com , with travel tales from someone who loves india.

She happens to be on this forum..

:)

I fly Jetstar a lot. Go subscribe to their newsletter and you'll be informed everytime there's a promotion. They don't spam you.

For Nov/Dec, I think by mid Sept should know the promo rates. Which part of Nov/Dec are you looking at? Coz it's high season, everything will be pretty ex (incl. airfares).

Jetstar only flies to Bangalore now so you'd have to plan to fly into Bangalore one-way. Coming back, you can buy the return ticket from wherever'll be your last destination in India (Bombay, Delhi, Kolata, Allahabad, you can fly back from there — even Singapore Airlines — for very cheap).

Any particular reason why you wish to visit Jodhpur? I liked it, but it was quite blah compared to the rest of Rajasthan. Bundi, and Jaisalmer, for example, have much more to offer.

Since you have a fair amount of time now, be sure to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of getting around India. Trains (very impt!) and budget airlines. I pretty much learned everything I needed to know from Indiamike.com.

Let me know if you need any help with itinerary or planning or destinations... I'm quite an India-nut :) Going back in a few weeks, after coming back from a 2 month trip. :)
 

behyx said:
Northeastern part. Jodphur is a must-go, and if time permits, I'll cross over to Pakistan.

By the way, Northeastern part: do you mean NE India proper? Assam, Orissa, Shillong, Arunchal Pradesh? They're quite off the beaten path, very few people go there. NE Indians are look more Burmese than Indian, and also speak different languages. I'm headed there in a few weeks to do a story.
 

Thanks Skinnylatte,

It's very lovely info there :)

I'm probably looking to mid-nov to mid-dec, provided that doesn't clash with my assignments.

Actually do you think it's easy (and safe) to get a one-way ticket from any parts of India back to Singapore? If I'm gonna do so, it will be rather last minute! But around how much will the price be? Just give me a rough estimation. :)

I love the blue architecture of Jodhpur. I love to explore different country/culture architecture. I've seen some pictures of Jodhpur, and I even have dreams about that place - walking down the street with the blue houses beside me!
Care to explain why the rest of Rajasthan. Bundi, and Jaisalmer have got much more to offer?

I'm not very familiar with the map of India yet, but Jodhpur and the huge area around it will be where I will travel (basically the entire state there). And if i'm not wrong, going NW direction will land me in Pakistan. I actually haven't come out with a detailed plan yet .. hehehe
 

One way ticket back from Mumbai, for example, is about 10K-11K rupees, on either Jet Airways (not Jetstar, Jet the Indian company), Air India, Thai, or Singapore Airlines. Inclusive of taxes. That's about 400 dollars. It'll definitely be easy to buy a ticket back when you're in India, even if it's last minute. There're travel agents everywhere, and flights everyday!

I think it's the same in Delhi and Allahabad. So the cheapest one way back will be from Kolkata (I believe it's in the range of 8000 to 9000 rupees). I hear it's quite cheap to fly back from the far south (aftere all that's where TT Durai got his SQ tix from!) but I don't think you will be headed there.

So if you add it all up... Singapore-Bangalore via Jetstar is about $200ish usually, incl. taxes. Then add another 400 to come back. Return tickets from Singapore in Dec can cost between $800-1000 because it's high season. By doing what I suggested, what you're actually buying is the flexibility of not having to loop back to any place in particular (trust me it can be quite hard to get train tickets on the days you want during the season), which can waste a lot of time and effort. Buying a open-jaw ticket from Singapore (flying into one place and flying out of another) is also quite expensive. But if you want to find out about airfares to India on conventional airlines, try calling Mustafa Travels (at Mustafa Centre), Ramesh Travels (Peninsula), or International Indenting House. These are the agencies that most of my Indian national friends use.

Jodhpur is nice... but it's really just a big city in that part of Rajasthan. That sort of architecture is found throughout all of Rajasthan, with the old havelis and all. Jaisalmer, for example, is really spectacular. It's a desert city, and you can go out into the desert, living inside the Jaisalmer Fort is really special. I have also heard good things about Ajmer. I think it's inevitable that you will pass through Jodhpur at some point, for transport connections if you're in the area, but in terms of the awe factor that Rajasthan can have, it doesn't have as much as the other places. (Jaipur is Pink City and Jodhpur is Blue City... I don't remember seeing so much blue in Jodhpur though!) Udaipur is really beautiful. If you're still keen on going to Jodhpur I can recommend you fantastic guesthouse (with AC and toilet and really nice furnishing), with a good host. Think I only paid $14 for it. The highlight of Jodhpur for me was the food.. the hotel owner drew us a little map of local food, and we went around drinking THE BEST LASSI (I drank it 4 times a day) in the world for 50 cents, wonderful samosas for 20 cents, and really really good Indian ice creams for 20 cents.

For some photos of Jaisalmer, take a look at my post. I also have a short write up on Jodhpur here.

From your posts so far it looks like you're magnetically drawn towards Rajasthan... which is really beautiful! Don't know if you can cross into Pakistan from that side, though, you need to go further up to Amritsar I think. How long do you have to travel for? It's a really long way from Bangalore, unless you're going to fly domestically.

Cost-wise, I spent less than $2000 for nearly 2 months in India (incl. my airfare). I travelled entirely by trains (AC class with beds) and buses, slept in nice-ish hotels, ate good food. A lot of people I know can spend half of what I spent... and get by :) However, you have to keep in mind that Nov/Dec is going to be more expensive. A hotel I paid 400Rs for, for example, is going to cost you 1500Rs.
 

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