Air India offering upgrades using OptionTown (again?)
This isn't the first time an Indian airline has used OptionTown to provide add-on benefits to fliers. Kingfisher used it to sell potential upgrades to business class, that would have otherwise been unused seats. SpiceJet uses OptionTown to sell a variety of options, like multiple booking, empty seat, preferred flight and flexible flying. Several international airlines also use OptionTown, but none of them are the big names - naturally.
This also isn't the first time Air India is using OptionTown - they attempted it in 2010 (about the same time as Kingfisher), but then something happened pretty soon, and AI stopped option upgrades. It now seems that they have resumed their offers for upgrades using OptionTown. I haven't tried this yet, but it seems to only be for international segments as of now.
[Updated] Domestic upgrades start at Rs 4,675, but I'll reserve comments on these till I see the full list of destinations and costs, before commenting on their value.
International upgrade options seem to cost upwards of Rs 15,200 (Singapore) and go up to almost Rs 68,000 (New York). These seem to be for a single segment.
Here are the relative prices of economy and business class, both for one-way and return trips, for a sample itinerary of DEL-JFK on 22 May 2014, return on 30 May, 2014 (which is as random as it could get, I suppose!).
It would clearly make sense to use OptionTown in a case like this, though I'm not sure who in their right minds would book a one-way in Business class for Rs 159k, when you can book a return trip for Rs 200k.
In the case of this return itinerary, it doesn't make sense to use OptionTown because the additional Rs 138k (Rs 68k x 2) for options would cause the total ticket price to exceed a fully paid Business Class ticket.
Given the above, I'm not really sure of when someone would want to use this upgrade option. However, the above is only one itinerary for DEL-JFK for a specified set of dates. It is very likely that prices are quite different on other sectors and other dates, which may then make the upgrade option worth the while and money - provided you're happy flying AI.
Do let me know if you use OptionTown for upgrades, and what your experiences are.
This also isn't the first time Air India is using OptionTown - they attempted it in 2010 (about the same time as Kingfisher), but then something happened pretty soon, and AI stopped option upgrades. It now seems that they have resumed their offers for upgrades using OptionTown. I haven't tried this yet, but it seems to only be for international segments as of now.
[Updated] Domestic upgrades start at Rs 4,675, but I'll reserve comments on these till I see the full list of destinations and costs, before commenting on their value.
International upgrade options seem to cost upwards of Rs 15,200 (Singapore) and go up to almost Rs 68,000 (New York). These seem to be for a single segment.
Here are the relative prices of economy and business class, both for one-way and return trips, for a sample itinerary of DEL-JFK on 22 May 2014, return on 30 May, 2014 (which is as random as it could get, I suppose!).
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| One-way fares |
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| Return fares |
In the case of this return itinerary, it doesn't make sense to use OptionTown because the additional Rs 138k (Rs 68k x 2) for options would cause the total ticket price to exceed a fully paid Business Class ticket.
Given the above, I'm not really sure of when someone would want to use this upgrade option. However, the above is only one itinerary for DEL-JFK for a specified set of dates. It is very likely that prices are quite different on other sectors and other dates, which may then make the upgrade option worth the while and money - provided you're happy flying AI.
Do let me know if you use OptionTown for upgrades, and what your experiences are.
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