The famous social media groups where Indians in London interact with each other, are currently overflowing with queries, requests and discussions of how UK-India round trip and individual flights are getting cancelled all of a sudden. The bigger issue is the skyrocketing price of economy class tickets that are now on sale which is almost the price of a ticket for two adults and a child in normal times.
Most of these customers who were planning to visit their families during the festive season have not been home in two or three years. Many had taken leaves which they now have to either spend staying back in the UK, or book scarily overpriced flights anyway because they have no other option. There’s also a major concern regarding refunds and cancellations, where some airlines are returning less than half the original sum paid while booking. However, there are a few airlines that are helping customers in either rescheduling or refunding full prices, but of course, after hours of time spent over customer care calls. Asian Voice spoke to travel agents/experts and British Indians who shared their side of the story.
What do the travel experts say?
Explaining the reason behind the spike in ticket prices, Jaymin Borkhatria of Southall Travel UK said that restricted capacity available on non-stop services and services via the Middle East could be the main reason why there’s a sudden splash. Addressing the consequences of cancellations, and refund rules (since many flights have been cancelled) and whether airlines are refunding full amounts, Jaymin told Asian Voice, “The full refund is available if your flights are cancelled, the cancelled flights would be almost 25% plus or minus.”
But what about those who are looking for alternative options and do not wish to cancel their visit, especially during the Christmas holidays when ticket prices are anyway high? “Most customers don’t wish to refund but there may not be available on alternate services on the same day,” he told us.
Speaking about the reduced frequency of flights, Jaymin listed two factors: i) Bubble agreements between India and connecting Countries. ii) As Airlines restart, there is a limiting factor of availability of crew. Reacting to what this rise in rates mean for the travel and tourism industry, Jaymin told the newsweekly, “Travel and Tourism would probably be more expensive in the short term due to these post-pandemic restrictions and also in the longer term due to rising cost to Airlines. If customers book ahead they can still access reasonable prices.”
Heena Bhudia of Travel Pack told Asian Voice, “Flight prices have increased due to reduced capacity across all airlines. Airlines could not justify keeping planes that were not being used for months on end, as they still have to pay parking fees, security and maintenance for these aircraft while they are not flying and have no income. Many returned leased planes and retired older aircraft from their fleets. Hence reducing their fleets, routes, staff and capacity to account for the reduced demand. Flight prices are determined by supply and demand, if more people want to fly but the capacity is reduced the price will naturally increase. She mentioned that most airlines are providing refunds. Some will receive full refunds if the flight has been cancelled by the airline or a partial refund if they were not able to utilise the return flight. However, customers need to bear in mind a partial ticket refund does not mean a 50% refund. The airport taxes and fees out of the UK are high and make up the majority of the ticket price. “Over the last 19 months thousands have flights have been cancelled to worldwide destinations including India,” Heena said.
Talking about giving alternative options to her customers, Heena added, “The airline set the flight prices, therefore we can not control that element but we can advise what dates have slightly reduced prices near the client’s original dates. Ordinarily, we would have advised clients to travel before the 10 December to avail significantly cheaper flights.” Commenting on reduced flight frequency, she added, “It’s difficult to answer that question as it is dependent on Covid-19 worldwide and travel restrictions which can change at any time. However, we hope capacity will start returning to normal within a year. Airlines need to recruit staff, arrange more aircraft, liaise with airport authorities to increase routes and frequency.” Explaining what this means for the travel industry, Heena said, “The rise in rates will make it less affordable for some individuals to travel, hence they will not travel or instead of two holidays in a year they will now reduce to 1 holiday. Travel agents and tour operators will see a reduction in bookings after a very challenging 19 months. The above is all dependent on Covid-19 and travel restrictions imposed by the UK and the corresponding government in this case India. This is very fluid and can change instantly.”
Speaking to Asian Voice, Rob Burgess, the editor of frequent flyer website headforpoints.com, said: “Whilst we don't normally recommend spending Avios or Virgin Points on long-haul economy flights, it makes sense when cash fares are this high. Unfortunately, BA has no any Avios seats to Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore in any class before Christmas, although there is a lot available after that. Seats can often appear at short notice, however, so it is worth checking regularly using a tool such as seatspy.com. If you have Virgin Points, Virgin Atlantic has a sprinkling of Premium Economy and Upper-Class reward seats to Mumbai and Delhi in late November but nothing in Economy until after Christmas. For anyone looking at Pakistan, Virgin Atlantic has a lot of seats in all classes available before Christmas on the Manchester to Islamabad route. If you don't have your own points, a friend or relative who does could book a ticket in your name.”
Refund doesn’t cover even half the cost of tickets
Chethana Satish who booked tickets outbound tickets for Etihad and inbound for Emirates via a third party told us, “We had booked our tickets from London to Bangalore 2 months back from third party service provider lastminute.com. Suddenly last week got a mail saying my inbound flight was cancelled and when I tried rebooking got to know all Emirates flights are cancelled. “There was no other option given other than a refund and that too for only return ticket refund. Though I had paid the ticket price as one journey, the amount I got was decided by them and it was less for a return ticket. My service provider charged £100 for no fault of mine though the flight was cancelled by the airlines. “I'm stuck now as I have my onward ticket still on and had to book for return with sky-high prices. Other than this we have to pay for all the tests. It’s really stressful as nothing is certain now. We are desperate to meet family back home, it has been close to three years now and these uncertainties are quite stressful. Further speaking to the newsweekly, she argued that the amount that airlines are refunding is the same as the price that was paid while booking when the refund and cancellation are rather more costly for the customer who is paying a stupendously high amount to rebook tickets.
Chethana added, “There should be some guidelines for this. No one questions the airlines while they are behaving at their will and wish. Booking a flight and planning a trip has become a nightmare especially considering the sky-high prices during school holidays. We need to plan way ahead for a good price and if we do it these uncertainties are killing us. The amount we spent was £1950 for 3 tickets and the amount got back was £700 in total for all the three tickets. It hardly covers the cost of one ticket at today’s price.”
Losing pre-booked holidays Kiran Kumar ManneI booked British Airways London to Hyderabad flights on 1st September 2021 for 3rd December 2021 and return on 3rd January 2022 for about £2500 for two adults and a kid for one way. Speaking to the newsweekly, Kiran said, “Initially, they cancelled the return flight and there is no alternate provided due to non-availability. I rebooked Air India for the return journey. Now they cancelled to flight too. “I have to lose some of my pre-booked holidays due to this. The prices skyrocketed due to demand making it unaffordable if. My whole family is travelling. It’s hard to get to customer service after waiting for a minimum of one hour every day. They say that they can’t provide the refund for the breakdown of return cancellation and the back-office will deal with it. “They said only after I finish my journey and call them back they will be able to issue a refund. I only visited India for a week in 2019 and since then pandemic hit and haven’t got a chance to go. This journey is really important to me as we have both health and family appointments.”
Trip cancelled until April
Aurorupa Dhar was planning to visit India this December. “Looking at the price rates and quotes that I received from Southall Travels, it's not worthwhile for me to pay that amount for a two-week trip to India. I am now planning to travel in July with better airfare,” Dhar told us. An executive at Southall travels helped her with two options - £2000 for a direct flight, and £1500 for a connecting flight for economy class. But she eventually decided not to go and has pushed her plans to April 2022.
Heathrow’s actions are jeopardising post-Brexit Britain
According to Telegraph, Sir Richard Branson and the former British Airways chief Willie Walsh have set aside their long-running feud to mount a joint attack on the owners of Heathrow, accusing the airport and its shareholders of greed that is damaging the economy. The group claims that Heathrow’s actions are jeopardising Boris Johnson’s hopes of establishing post Brexit “Global Britain”. Documents revealed by The Telegraph in September revealed Heathrow’s plans to increase landing charges by up 90pc from next year. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has subsequently rejected Heathrow’s demands but signalled it is willing to accept increases of up to 56pc. They reported that BA, Virgin Atlantic and IATA said Heathrow’s owners - which include the sovereign wealth funds from Qatar, China and Singapore - must inject billions of pounds into the airport rather than ask passengers to foot the bill for its “extreme use of debt”. It is also being speculated that Heathrow’s gross debts have ballooned to more than £20bn after racking up multibillion-pound losses during the pandemic. It does, however, have cash reserves to last until February 2023. Starting with November 22, Indian travellers fully vaccinated with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be able to travel to the UK without the requirement of mandatory self-isolation, British High Commissioner Alex Ellis said on Tuesday. The vaccine has been approved for emergency use by WHO.
