Flights to india are expensive, do deals exist?

We always thought fares between Canada and India will subsidize after summer, but fares continue to be expensive, and deals rarely available. However, we continue to help our customers save thousands of dollars and here we describe all our methods!

Consolidator Fares

The simplest option is, approach a travel agent who is a consolidator. Earthyan has a relationship for all round trip travel beginning and ending in Canada. A consolidator fare is basically a way for airlines to discount tickets through dedicated travel agencies, and the savings can be drastic, upwards of 15-20%, on Economy Class tickets and they continue to rise for Premium Economy and Business Class tickets.

The biggest challenge with these consolidator fares are that an airline will refuse to talk to you as a customer and their conditions are typically more restrictive than other fares. So, if you encounter any travel issues, the airlines will re-direct your concerns to the consolidator, and unless you have a strong relationship with your travel agent, you might be caught in the middle, between an airline who won’t help, and an agent who won’t talk to you.

Customer Example: One of our customers booked through a consolidator fare originating in India. In Canada, they learnt that their flight was cancelled, and rather than the agent working with the customer for alternative options, the agent automatically accepted the new flight, and they went from a one-stop to a three-stop flight to India. After requesting assistance from Earthyan, we made sure our customer was aware of the rights, and when the agent in India realized they are no longer communicating to just a “regular” customer, the agent was forced to admit their mistake, and re-book them on their preferred flights without any cost to our customer.

Air fares between US/India can be significantly cheaper, sometimes on the same flight, in comparison to flying between Canada/India. 

The reason is simple, the US is a larger market, so there is more competition. If you want to fly from Canada to India, your options are quite restricted. Once you open up the market to/from USA, you have access to thousands more different options and you are more likely to find a deal for a flight to India.

There are challenges with this approach, there is a cost and time component to travel to the USA, that needs to be taken into consideration prior to purchasing a flight.

Customer Example: One of our frequent flyers, he had an upgrade certificate to use on his flight from Vancouver to Delhi. However, the fare that was eligible for the complimentary upgrade was much cheaper if you started your journey from Seattle. We helped the customer book a ticket form Seattle to Delhi, via Vancouver, and we also created a luxury travel experience and a mini-vacation in Seattle for a cost cheaper than flying from Vancouver to Delhi. With the complimentary upgrade, he did it in Business Class as well!

Quick Tip: Flights from Seattle to Delhi can be cheaper than flights Vancouver to Delhi, even though it’s on the same flight numbers, except you originate in Seattle, rather than Vancouver.

Traveling on Separate Tickets

In many situations, airlines might be fully booked on one side of your journey but relatively empty on the other side of your booking.

For example, Air Canada might be sold out from India to Vancouver in January 2023, but have relatively fewer bookings in December 2022 from Vancouver to India.  

By opting to fly the entire journey on Air Canada, you will be subject to more expensive fares because seats are sold out in January 2023.  

Alternatively, you might realize that Cathay Pacific is quite empty in January, so rather than do one round trip ticket, you could instead do two one-way tickets, one ticket from Vancouver to Delhi on Air Canada and another ticket from Delhi to Vancouver on Cathay Pacific. 

Your biggest challenge with this approach is that the baggage allowance will be different on each ticket.

Customer Experience: Most recently we helped a customer fly Air France on the way to India and Singapore Airlines on the way back. That represented the most optimal deal for our customer. That’s because Air France was sold out from India to Vancouver and Singapore Airlines was sold out from Vancouver to India. Together, they represented a great deal for our customer.

Fly from Dubai, Bangkok or Cairo 

Fares can be drastically cheaper if you decide to fly from or to Dubai, Bangkok or Cairo.

Your only concern with this approach would be to ensure you travel to early enough that you don’t miss your connecting flight. By missing your connecting flight, you will lose all the money spent on the ticket and have to buy a new ticket. You will also have a different baggage allowance on each booking, so you should either factor in the cost of extra baggage, or travel with the lowest common baggage allowance.

Customer Experience: There are many customers who we discovered flying through Bangkok or Dubai, would be significantly cheaper such that we arranged a complimentary vacation in that city prior to their travels to India. It was almost like, buy a ticket to India and get a free vacation in Bangkok deal!

Waldorf Astoria, Bangkok

Fly to Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai or some other city

In a similar idea as flying through Dubai, Bangkok or Cairo, occasionally you will see fare discrepancies between different cities in India. This is even more important if you are traveling to a tier 2 city in India.

Fares to Mumbai might be different than fares to Delhi. However once again, if you find yourself in this situation, you need to be cautious of the changing baggage allowance across different flights.

Customer Experience: We had a customer fly from Canada to Gujarat. For a cheaper price than their economy class booking, we got them a savings of over $1,000, and flew them in Premium Economy and Business Class on their entire journey from Canada to Gujarat.

Earthyan is an expert in leveraging credit card points for your destination. Credit Card Points can represent a huge cost savings opportunity to fly between Canada and India, and typically, most of our customers are able to do it in Business or First Class as well. 

Flights to India can be had as low as 125,000 Airline Points to India, all the way up to 220,000, round trip. Contact Earthyan to see how we translate your rewards to experiences that save you a lot of money!

Customer Example: We got a lead who was suspicious of our work in the credit card space. She was looking to fly from Canada to India to Singapore and back to Canada again, and flights were coming out in the $4,000 range for Economy Class travel. After a quick consultation, the Earthyan team arranged for her to fly from Canada to India to Singapore for just $135, and that too in Business Class. From Singapore to Vancouver, we found a $900 fare. Together, she saved nearly $3,000 and we upgraded her travel to Business Class on the way to India and Singapore!

If you do not have any credit card rewards, reach out to Earthyan to setup a complimentary 15 minute consultation session to walk through how we help you acquire credit card points cheaply, and ultimately redeem it for travel experiences that only the top 1% can afford! After that, our consulting fees are C$50 or INR3,500 per hour.

Quick Tip: Award Tickets are best booked 8-12 months prior to flight departure, or less than 30 days prior to flight departure

Confused?

Our travel experts are your best source of guidance to determine the best way to travel between Canada and India.  

Flight Only Support

We charge a C$30, US$30 or INR2,500 non-refundable consultation fee for supporting you during your travels. We guarantee the lowest publicly available pricing, and if you find a price lower than our quote for the exact same flights, we will refund our service fee. The service fee is waived if you also purchase a supporting hotel, cruise, train or vacation package.

Luxury Hotels or Cruises

We have exclusive partnerships with top hotels and cruises of the world. Reach out to your concierge to access exclusive deals only available through Earthyan. No service fee is applicable for hotels, cruises or trains, or vacation packages.

Vacation Planning

Contact us if you want to leverage our expertise to plan your complete vacation experience. We partner with hotels, cruises and airlines across the world, including all luxury brands, to transform and upgrade your entire vacation.

Contact Us Today

Contact us by setting up a meeting to speak with our vacation consultants on creating the perfect travel experience for you!

Mailing List

Sign up for our mailing list, hosted by our very own in-house travel expert, Moli Aggarwal. Moli has had the privilege of flying millions of miles in the comforts of Business or First Class. From Singapore Airlines Suites, Cathay Pacific First Class, Lufthansa First Class, Air Canada Signature Class and United Business First, Moli has flown across many diverse airlines. In addition to that, Moli has had the privilege of staying at the world’s finest hotels, including Four Seasons Beverley Hills, Ritz Carlton New York, Shangri La Toronto, Peninsula Hong Kong, all through his experience as a travel hacker.

Credit Card Consulting 

Our consulting fee is C$25 per 30 minute session, which is refundable if you apply and get approved for a credit card within one week after the consultation session. Or, you could sign up for our free mailing list that walks you through in greater detail the different strategies available to further achieve your travel goals!

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