Intern Flights reservation
 

Hello,
I’ll travel to India with family (2 adult 2 child 13 & 16 y)from 31 March till 15 April 2018.
How much time before I’ve to book the internal flights ? A month before, a week before ?
Thanks to all
Abdelaziz

I would book now. We took three internal flight several years ago on Jet Airways, and I booked via the phone, using their toll free number. I used their phone system to put in my credit card number. After I booked, the fares went down, so the agent refunded the difference, minus a small service fee. I am assuming Jet has the same refund policy now, but you could certainly ask. If so, you are definitely better booking now.

Also, the planes are relatively small, so you don't want your flights to be sold out, especially when you need four seats. All it takes is a couple of large tour groups, and then the plane is full.

Here's some additional information.

I've just returned from a month in India, during which we took 8 internal flights. Seven of these were with Jet Airways, and one with Indigo.

Without exception, the Jet Airways flights did not depart on time. EVER! This could present a problem if you have a connecting flight. On the plus side, all of the Jet Airways connecting flights were also late in departing, so we didn't miss any connections, and I was told that Jet Airways would hold the a connecting flight for a late arrival of one of their aircraft.

In contrast, the one Indigo flight we took left exactly on time, and we noticed in all the airports (as we waited for our late Jet Airways departures) that all Indigo flights seemed to be leaving on time.

On a couple of our Jet Airways flights (I can't remember which ones), we had what I would consider EXTREMELY hard landings (the kind elicited gasps from most of the passengers and would probably require reporting to the FAA if they happened in the U.S.).

While our aircraft didn't seem particularly small, on all of our flights, the passengers were packed in like sardines (3 across on each side of the aisle). The seat pitch was very small, and the flights were uncomfortable.

And finally, pay close attention to the weight of your checked luggage (15 Kg per bag). We were very careful about this, except for our last internal flight with Indigo. We were transferring to our United flight home (which has a much higher weight allowance), and my wife packed a bit more in our checked luggage. Cost us INR 600 for 2 Kg overweight.

Hope this is helpful.

To add to what others are saying, we book our domestic flights almost a month ago that's the time to get the best rates. The domestic flight tickets have now become very competitive and these companies come up with so many schemes regularly. Try looking at the fares almost couple of months before and then book. There are multiple ways now to book a ticket like online, over phone or contacting some agent. Indigo at the moment operates maximum internal flights and are usually on time as well.