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More than low fares
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Airlines today are wooing travellers with complimentary cab facilities, discounts on hotel bookings and on-flight auctions
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EXTRA MILE Airlines are looking beyond the low fare mantra
For Rahul. K, a business pro, who is air-hopping across metros in the country, the on-flight auction of shades, shoes and bags makes him choose his regular airline over others. "More than the discount that you bag when you win the bid, it is the excitement of shopping on flight that travellers seem to like," he says. Add to this a pick up and drop from the airport, which will save you time and energy, haggling with a cabbie upon arrival. Or, if you are a visitor to a city, how about checking into a three or five star hotel, on a discounted tariff along with your e-ticket?
Frequent flyers rejoice as airlines vie with one another with a bouquet of value added services as low fares are no more a USP.
"If you look at the Indian consumer today, there are more people who are less than 44 years of age, well-educated, have large disposable income, have global exposure, are hungry for new products and expect superior service. With players raising the bar in aviation with value added services, much like what happened in the telecom sector, the consumer in turn is looking for a great flying experience," explains Girish Shah, head marketing, Kingfisher Airlines.
If tie-ups with Goan resorts for leisure travellers and a Gourmet Guide offering discounts for foodies and other fine dining chains has King Club members flying the King of Good Times, including a complimentary pick up and drop for travellers booking online, the latter, courtesy an online booking made on Makemytrip.com, Spice Jet rolls out an onboard courier window apart from a plethora of other on ground services.
"Travellers can check in the material to be couriered as excess baggage for a nominal sum. They also can log in to the website to make a flight-cum- hotel-cum-car rental booking, and also avail themselves of a 15-30 per cent discount on the hotels in the 13 locations that the airline covers. In about 4-6 weeks time, we are looking at car rentals and insurance, offering a one stop shop to the traveller by tie-ups with local service providers," says Sanjay Kumar, vice-president marketing and planning, Spice Jet.
Air Deccan has added yet another flight from Hyderabad to Tirupati to facilitate `darshan'. There are plans to connect the other metros. While for NRIs, websites such as Travelguru and Makemytrip not only offer a hotel package but also car transfers between airports and more.
"Consumers have become choosy and demanding. Earlier, they had been looking at low cost fare, doing a bit of window-shopping before they bought an air ticket. But now they are looking for value added services," explains Kumar on the new low-fare-deal-with-a-bit-extra trend.
While the upgradation from rail travel to cheap airfares is paving the way for greater leisure travel, the buzzword seems to be the `unique flying proposition', which the rest of the airlines and operators will have to offer as a long-term loyalty programme.
SYEDA FARIDA
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
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