Two airlines announce ticket sale, extra baggage allowance on UAE-India flights
Dubai: Indian expats looking forward to travelling home this summer can avail cheap tickets on at least one airline which has announced fares starting from less than Dh300 excluding transaction fees.
Air India Express [AIE], the low-budget carrier of India’s national airline Air India [AI] on Thursday started a five-day sale of tickets on UAE-India route.
The booking period is open from February 6 to 10 and the tickets purchased during the sale can be used for travel between February 6 and October 24 which includes the summer holidays when ticket fares to India usually skyrocket.
The attractive fares to Indian destinations announced from various UAE emirates start with Dh269 from Sharjah, Dh279 from Dubai, Dh289 from Abu Dhabi, Dh299 from Al Ain and Dh299 from Ras Al Khaimah.
Fares are all inclusive, but transaction fees are applicable, according to the airline. The fine print adds that conditions apply.
The south Indian destinations included in the sale are Kochi, Kozhikode, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore and Tiruchirappalli.
Towards north, the destinations include Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Varanasi, Mumbai, Pune and Surat.
From Dubai to Kolkata, fares start from Dh500 for travel validity from February 17 to March 30 during the sale ending on March 30.
From Dubai to Indore, the starting fare is Dh430 till February 29 during the sale ending on February 29.
Return offer
In the return route, from north Indian destinations to Gulf countries, the airline is offering fares starting from Rs.6999.
This is applicable to flights from Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Varanasi to Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
The airline has also announced a sale from all four airports in Kerala (Kochi, Kozhikode, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram) to Gulf countries during the same period.
Keralites form the highest group of Indian expats in the Gulf countries with more than one million estimated to be living in the UAE alone.
The return rates from Kerala to the UAE are starting from Rs5999 to Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain and Rs6499 to Ras Al Khaimah.
Fares to Oman and Kuwait start from Rs6999, to Qatar from Rs8499, to Bahrain from Rs8999 and to Saudi Arabia from Rs.9999.
Extra baggage allowance
Meanwhile, Air India has announced extra free baggage allowance with immediate effect on many UAE-India routes till March 25, a period which covers the spring break trips to India.
Business class passengers can carry 50kgs of free baggage and economy class passengers can carry 40kgs on the following flights during this period.
Dubai- Mumbai (AI 910, AI 912, AI 984), Dubai-Kozhikode (AI 938), Sharjah-Kozhikode (AI 998), Dubai-Hyderabad (AI 952) and Dubai-Chennai (AI906).
On the Dubai-Kochi route, the offer is applicable only from February 16 to March 25.
