There are 8 cities from Keralam in the top 50 cities in India by GDP. This is the most from a single state (tied with Maharashtra). This confirms the idea that Kerala is in fact one big city. I also believe this demonstrates that we don’t need to focus on developing mega-cities, which have huge environmental impact, to drive economic growth.
As the title goes. Let's settle this for good. Post your ways to save on AI.
I'll go in first.
You’ll always hear “book 3 months early,” but it’s not that rigid. For domestic flights, prices usually look fine around 3 to 6 weeks before departure. For international, more like 8 to 10 weeks. From what I’ve seen, fares don’t really move much in the beginning. They start going up only when seats begin to fill. So unless it’s a peak date or something popular, you’ve got a bit of a window to work with.
Day of week really matters! tuesday and wednesday mid day flights are most of the times cheaper than friday evening or sunday night. if your dates are flexible just shift by a day, the savings are good enough to afford a pint at the airport :3
Book directly on AI instead of agents. otas sneak in convenience fees, and REFUNDS become a nightmare if anything goes wrong. Trust me, nightmare is the word. only time i use otas is when they have a stacking wallet code that beats the direct price.
Theres an app on playstore called “Tripozo”, im not sure about iOS. Apple folks can check. So that app has helped me save on convenience fees a lot of times. The UI looks shady but the app is legit. MODS, im not promoting them, just a heads up.
Air India’s own offers tab on the site is criminally underused. Tata Neu app gives neucoins back on every booking since ai is tata now. and i lurk on coupon aggregator grabon in search of missed offers. last month stacked an axis code with tata neu cashback on a blr del ticket, paid 4725 for what was listed at 5800.
List of Air India Coupons:
GRABAIR300 GRABAIR1000 FLYAI AIRSAVEAIR GRABAIR AISAVER UPIPROMO BOBAIFLY
flying returns membership is free and actually useful now post tata. even base tier gets free seat selection on ai express. fly 6 to 8 times a year and silver pays for itself in lounge access alone. no reason to not enrol.
I personally never pay for seat selection at booking. Just pick a free seat during the web checkin. window seats are almost always still available unless you're flying peak or want a window seat.
If you're doing a multi city trip like del bom goa del, book it as one multi city ticket not three one ways. through fare is cheaper. saved around 3k on a recent trip doing this.
AI express now has cabin only fares. for a 2 to 3 day trip just travel light and skip the checked bag fee. saves 600 to 1500 every sector.
The incognito thing is half real. won't directly change ai's price but if you've searched the same route 6 times the algo does bump you. clear cookies or open private window before you finalise, costs nothing to try.