Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A Marketing Stunt of Some Travel Websites



I am very sad today. The reason behind this is that I could not go to Mumbai on April 1 in one of my best friend’s marriage. We were friends from six year. However we used to talk on phone but still we were very good friend. But I am not writing this blog to tell you about my pain. I am going to tell you about some of my experience which I faced due to my effort to go to Mumbai. Here I am going to discuss one of the irritating things regarding airlines I faced.

First of all, I booked my train in Paschim Express from New Delhi to Mumbai. But the waiting list was very long and I could not get reservation in the train. That is the reason why I could not go to Mumbai. I thought other about other alternatives as well. At present spending Rs. 5000+ on airlines is not feasible for me. Still I decided to consider some airlines which offer low fares.

It is quite obvious that airlines cannot reduce their costs more than a certain limit as they have to pay several taxes. But still I was shocked to see the marketing stunts of websites offering air tickets which are even cheaper than a box of sweets. About four or five years back I listened in some news that some airlines are offering Delhi to Mumbai travel in just Rs. 1/-. I know those who are reading this blog will laugh to read this. And, they are very true and I support them.

Let us come to the point I was searching for the low cost airlines. I read about several similar plans in some sites, as mentioned in news some years back. For instance, Bangalore to Mumbai in Rs. 1/- airfare, Delhi to Mumbai in Rs. 251/- and so on. This was really unbelievable for me, but still I was thinking that if airlines were so cheap then why I should go through train in which I shall had to spend whole day . A popular website namely Yatra.com is promoting it in attractive style. Its wording is “It’s Hard to believe but Yatra.com brings Rs. 1 airfares from Delhi to Mumbai. Book your Domestic Flight tickets with Yatra to avail this tempting offer.”

I explored several other sites and found several similar offers. When I started exploring them first thing I found is that the air travel on low rate is available only on some specific days under some special offers. But that is not the major thing. As I told imparting taxes is necessary for airlines. So these offers were like Rs. 1/- + taxes. Do you know how much are the taxes? These are 2300+. So, total fare is 2500+.

Now here major thing I think is that isn’t it like making the people fool. I am not saying that the cost of Rs. 2500/- is high according to air travel. Of course it is low and I congratulate the airlines for them. There is no doubt that instead of paying 5000+, one is required to pay on 2500+ which is half than the original cost of the air tickets. But my major concern is about common public whom these websites owners are attracting by giving vague statements. Whatever is the total airfare should be transparent from the first page. But on these websites we get the ad in the manner as they are offering the air tickets just by getting a coin or Rs. 1/-. After exploring the website, disappointment comes in the hands. Some people still have to think several times before spending Rs. 2500+ on a travel. If there is some transparency then people will waste time on such schemes only if they are able to pay the amount. Rs. 2500 means 2500, there is no meaning whether it is tax or something else. The entire amount one has to pay from his or her hard earned money. I request the websites only to make it clear whatever they are offering.