Elainee

Anybody know how to get Business Class on Air India for NYC to Bombay for less than quotes on Expedia or other big internet sources? Want to go in December so planning now. Many thanks!

BeachBoi

I wud suggest an airline ticket consolidator, there are many in NYC.Also,I am assuming you are in NYC or close---try to find a travel agent who specializes in travel to India.A lot of times they can go directly to AI and get a good fare.Might be cheaper even if you do have to pay them a fee.But a lot of the foreign carriers still pay agents commissions so you might not even pay a fee.HTH.
S

Elainee

Thanks for the reply. I have called a few consolidators who advertise in NY Times and so far they have not done much better fares. I am just looking for "best price" on business to India for Christmas on any airline. It's just too far for us to fly coach, but I hate to spend so much on the tickets. Not easy!

tweetexT

You can also try to get consolidator fares for KLM. I always use NWA-KLM to go to India via Amsterdam and if you are flying to Bombay, you will probably be on an NWA plane from Amsterdam. You can fly coach to Amsterdam and then get a business class ticket. I have done that many times. Amsterdam airport is a fun place and there are showers to freshen up before boarding the next flight. Makes a big difference in how you feel when you have had a nice hot shower after sitting on a plane for 7 hrs. By the way, business class service on NWA is EXCELLENT. They use the new 747-400s series to fly to Bombay and these are nice planes. I have also flown on KLM to Delhi and those are OLD 747s and their service does not even come close to NWA's service. Try and get a seat in the upper deck if you can. Sometimes travel agents buy tickets from consolidators in Germany or Holland for these flights. Such cheap fare business class tickets are not returnable but if you have to cancel for some reason, the ticket will still be valid for 1 year.
Have fun in Bombay. Dec is a nice time to go.

sandi

Elainee - Also in the NYTimes Sunday Travel section there are ads for Business & First Class tickets only. Check those out and see what they can do for you.

But I can't believe that consolidators can't do better than Expedia. Have you checked "Cheap Tickets" - I've often found them to have better prices than Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz.

Another option - do a "search" for India Tour Operators and something from those results might produce a company that only offers reduced fare tickets to India.

NoFlyZone

The reason low priced consolidator fares are close to retail is that those fares for the Holidays sell out early in the year. All the discount seats have been sold weeks ago.

There's such demand that waiting until June for Christmas, to certain destinations, is real tough.

Elainee

Thanks all for the info. I can get ff business on NWA but for mega points. I am so glad that Tweetext gave his recommendation. I took NWA to Beijing business and it was good but they did not use the 747-400's. I will try to book the upper deck. Maybe they will allot more seats I and will be be able to get ff tickets without needing to use double points. NY to Mombai in coach is for someone younger than I am.

Andre

TweetexT,

Do you have any names of consolidators in Europe for the NWA flights from AMS to Mumbai?

I would be very interested!

Thanks
Andre

sandi

Elainee - check the following website:

www.skylinkus.com

they specialize in discounted Business and First air only, but tickets have to be booked through a travel agent.

At least you can get an idea of what the cost would be.

anujay

Elaine and others who want to travel to india , try going to india on Air - India. They have good business class , I have flown 15 times to india in last 10 years by business class. Generally I paid 2500 to 3000 USD per trip. Try Indian travel agents. Goto any Indian grocery store pick up India Abroad news paper. It has lot of agents names and numbers. I generally buy tickets from a different agent each time on CREDIT CARD . Never pay cash even though its bit more expensive. Good luck

Elainee

I did go to my local very good Indian
"supermarket". Got several names of travel agent relatives and friends. So far they have come up with nothing better than I could do on Expedia or the Air India site. Maybe it's too early for Christmas vacation bargains or maybe as was suggested on this thread, it's too late. But I will keep trying. Thanks to all who responded. I'll happily fly Air Indian (which we have flow before and it is the only airline that ever upgraded me trans-Atlantic from coach to business...I had a terrible cold and I think they were trying to keep me from infecting the whole plane...but it was great!!!) I just do not want to pay more than 3K.