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The cancellation of 60 Air India (AI) flights on the US-India route has disrupted holiday plans for many, including students headed home for their winter break. The reduced services has led to a surge in fares of other airlines, with economy-class prices rising by 15 per cent to 20 per cent and business-class fares seeing an unprecedented 100 per cent increase.
The steepest fare hikes are observed in the second half of December, a peak travel season when thousands prepare for holiday trips.
“A round trip to San Francisco, for example, which usually costs around INR 3.5 lakh in business class, has now jumped to touch INR 7 lakh. International airlines like Emirates are quoting even higher prices.
The economy class tickets have also soared from the usual INR 1.5 lakh for a round trip to INR 1.8 lakh,” said Abdul Majeed Faheem, chairman of the Travel Agents Federation of India (Telangana and AP Chapter). “The real impact on bookings due to these price hikes will be clearer as we approach the peak period in the latter part of December,” he added.
More than 2,350 US flights had been cancelled Thursday and another 2,120 flights for Friday were scrapped, according to flight tracking website FlightAware, while passenger railroad Amtrak canceled dozens of trains through Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for tens of thousands. Another 8,450 flights were delayed on December 22, including more than one-third of those operated by American Airlines , United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines .
The impact of the cancellations has particularly left students troubled, many of whom planned their trips months in advance. Meenakshi Parvathi, a graduate student at Columbia University, who had saved for over months to afford her trip to Hyderabad to spend winter holidays with her family is crest-fallen. “I did everything to avoid the December rush, and was set to book in the first week of November,” Meenakshi shared. “Last month, my round-trip fare was around INR 1.5 lakh, but I was waiting to save up the full amount. Now, the price has surged to about INR 2 lakh,” said the graduate student.
“Their partner airlines too are fully booked, and postponing dates isn’t feasible for many of us. We only get a week or, at most, 10 days off during the holidays — changing the dates isn’t a realistic solution,” said Keerthi Takkellapatti, a Hyderabad-based tech professional. “Also, the refund process takes time. Else, we could have used the same funds to book ourselves on another flight,” he added.
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