Punctuality is the differentiating criterion for Indian carriers, not the cheap air tickets

What makes IndiGo a more successful carrier than the other airlines in India? Why do people prefer some airlines more than the others? Are cheap air tickets the main criteria for booking the flights which people consider as important? Well, it is true that the lowest air fare plays a significant role in the decision making process while buying the air tickets but, at the same time, there are certain other elements which are held to be important. These other factors could also make a person take to the relatively dearer tickets rather than the lowest air fare of the airlines. One of these factors is of punctuality.

Punctuality refers to the ability of the airlines to take off and land at their scheduled times under normal circumstances. This is one of the main reasons why people would still prefer to fly with an airline rather than one which is offering cheaper air tickets. Business travelers or vacation travellers, all value their time and would not like to waste it in delays and cancellations. For this reason, people would prefer to fly with the airline which has a past record of adhering to the flight schedule, save the conditions which are not under their control and which lead to the delays.

Indian carriers have this rather irritating tendency to delay the flights and there are a number of reasons responsible for it, the main among these being the inadequate infrastructure of aviation. However, the inefficient ways and means of the airlines are also responsible for these delays and cancellation which cause extreme inconvenience to customers, even making them miss important business tours. For this reason, the airlines which have a history of operating punctually are preferred for travelling rather than the lowest air fare, which is considered to be the main criteria for cheap air tickets booking. 

What do your cheap air tickets include?

When you buy a flight ticket, you pay a price for some set of services which the airlines will provide you. What are these services for which the airline issues you the tickets? Well, taking you to the destination is definitely the main purpose and since you would be using its seats for seating and fuel for flying, the ticket would definitely include the charges of these services. In the earlier days, the price of one ticket would also buy you complimentary meals, allow for some free hand-held and check-in baggage to be taken on board and even provide you free in-flight entertainment. Of course, there were certain charges which were levied as extras but these formed a minor part of the overall airline revenue.

The present day airlines, and chiefly the low-cost carriers, which work on the premise of providing cheap air tickets to the customers, reduce the prices of their flight tickets but charge you for all small things which are offered free on other airlines. So, you might end up paying more for some special location seats, buying more leg space, buying meals, carrying even a single kilogram of luggage and for most of other things. Add to it the surcharges and taxes and the total cost of flight becomes too higher than your expectation. You might wonder that if you have to end up paying for all these things, then what do the prices of cheap air tickets include?

The trend of providing low cost air ticket booking and charging for everything else which has been initiated by the low cost carriers but is slowly being adopted by other airlines as well. But, airlines do not describe what are these prices meant for? If the extras are required by people in-flight and these are being charged for separately, then cheap air tickets is actually a myth since the cost of total travel will increase.