Desperately want to go on that dream holiday to Europe, but can’t afford even the Rs 60,000-plus excursion fare on the Delhi-London sector? Don’t give up, there’s hope yet. With the winds of liberalisation blowing in, innovative forms of airline ticketing, as practiced in the US for instance, are making their way into India as well. What’s called an APEX return ticket on the Delhi-London-Delhi sector could now cost you just under half — Rs 32,200 if you fly Air India as compared to Rs 60,270 for the normal excursion ticket. Here’s how it works. First, APEX doesn’t stand for numero uno, even though the attractive fares sure make it that — it’s short for Advance Purchase. Second, the way the scheme works, the earlier you can confirm the date of your flying and buy a ticket, the larger the discount you get over the prevailing ticket price. So, let’s say you plan to fly out on the 5th of May (that’s 21 days from today) from Delhi to London and back, your best bet is to tell your travel agent that you want an APEX ticket instead of the normal excursion one, and you’ll get hefty discounts (see graphic). Is there any fine print you should be aware of? Yes, there is. First, when you book your ticket, you have to actually buy it. (In a normal ticket, your agent can do a booking whereas the ticketing can take place later). Second, you have to be very sure of your plans, and your ability to stick to them. Because the penalties on making changes are very steep, and may in fact make the exercise quite futile — your APEX ticket could prove to be more expensive than the normal one. So let’s say you decide you want to change the date, from May 5 to May 8. On a normal ticket, subject to the availability of a seat on that day, there’s no real problem, apart from the grouchiness of your travel agent. On the APEX ticket, however, you generally end up paying Rs 5,000 for this. Or let’s say you don’t show up for the flight. Again, you’ll be out of pocket by Rs 5,000 on the APEX ticket. And if, God forbid, you decide you don’t want to fly out after all, you’ll have to pay a cancellation charge of a whopping 50 percent. But maybe you aren’t such an early bird after all, and you can’t freeze your plans three weeks in advance. Well, lucky you, several airlines have a not-so-early-bird APEX plan as well. The discount comes down by around ten percent or so, but still remains pretty substantial. In the case of an Air-India Delhi-London-Delhi flight, the 7-day APEX fare is Rs 37,800 as against the regular excursion fare of Rs 60,270. In this case, you have to buy your tickets at least seven days before flying out. The charges for No Shows and Date Changes are the same as for the 21-day APEX, but the penalties for not flying are less in the case of some airlines. Air France, for instance, charges just 10 percent of the ticket value in the case of the 7-day APEX as against 50 percent for the 21-day APEX. Air India, though, levies a 50 percent cancellation fee even in the case of the 7-day APEX. Right now, only Air-India and British Airways are offering APEX fares, but Air France and Lufthansa are all set to introduce this shortly. The introduction of these fares, decided by the airlines recently may, of course, have a lot to do with the fact that with global flying once again picking up, fares have also been raised on most routes. In the domestic sector, Sahara is the only airline that’s planning such a APEX scheme. Apart from benefiting travellers, the APEX structure helps airlines as well, as it allows them to get a more uniform passenger load through the year — since the cancellation charges are quite high, passengers tend to stick to their schedules and so airlines don’t have to face the problem of huge last-minute cancellations or no-shows. APEX fares also help make the process more transparent as the discounts you get on the listed price will be clearly defined. Says Alan Briggs, general manager (South Asia) of British Airways: ‘As part of the airline cartel, we have come up with this option basically to discourage cancellation. The airlines know the exact position in the market and thus have gone for this.’ According an Air-India official, airlines will have a grip on no-show factor which was quite high ranging from 15-20 per cent for some airlines as passengers ticketed would not turn up at the airport and the seat would go vacant resulting in loss to the airline, since no penalty is charged. Virgin Atlantic also plans to take a decision on introducing apex fares soon. Neha Lidder, marketing manager of Virgin Atlantic says: ‘We are still holding discussions on this matter. Post-September 11, the airline industry needs to experiment various things for its revival. Apex fares is basically being looked at a short term measure.’ President of Travel Agents Association of India, Jahangir Katgara said: “Relatively good discounts are being offered here and will help airlines fill seats. But the Indian market needs to be educated on this. For example, the cancellation charges range between 20-50 per cent and also rebooking fee will be quite high. Overall, it is basically a short-term measure for the holiday season that begins now.” SPIC Travels’ chairman Subhash Goyal, however, disagrees. ‘This is certainly not in the interest of the consumer as the seats are limited. The airlines have also hiked fares as the sector is recovering and the Apex is just a bid to please the government.’ The travel agents can bicker, but for the tourist the relevant question is: how long will this last? No one’s saying yet, but the consensus seems to be that it’s just for a few months. So, fly out now.
