Flight Booking

[Sairam]

Folks,

Let us use this thread to plan for flight ticket bookings. Its a bit
early now, but guess we can plan and look out for agents.

Regards,
Sairam

[Ramcha]

Hi Sairam, 

Shall we ppl have a meet somewhere and then proceed with this stuff.. Be good if we got to know each other better first......:)

[Arjun Sharma]

Hi All:

Nice idea... i am right now working in bangalore... and I guess some of you guys who're still in college might have exams etc right now.. maybe we can fix some weekend when all are free and meet up.::)

Arjun

--
Arjun Sharma S

[Ramcha]

Yeah.. maybe last week of may of 1st week of June :)

[Janani Narayanan]

June 1st week(5th or 6th) sounds good.By then v all will ve our i-20,loans ready and will b waiting for visa interviews.

Regards,
Janani

[Janani Narayanan]

I know an agent who is ready to block air tickets now.He is my frnd's relative.So I suppose v will get the best deal.Let me know if any of you are interested.

Regards,
Janani

[Arjun Sharma]

 I understand that the classes start in last week of August and registration is in August mid. When should we be going there? any of you guys already booked tickets?

--
Arjun Sharma S

[Janani Narayanan]

First week of august should be fine.

Regards,
Janani

[Sairam]

I am in Bangalore right now. Will be in Chennai during Jun 5-6
weekend. Lets plan to meet then.

One of my friend who went last year, booked his tickets with an agent.
He said, he got the most competitive estimate. I will talk to him and
keep you folks updated. Currently in Yatra, the prices are around
38-40K.

Regards,
Sairam

On May 4, 11:11 am, Janani Narayanan <janani.naraya...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> First week of august should be fine.
>
> Regards,
> Janani
>

> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Arjun Sharma <toar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >  I understand that the classes start in last week of August and
> > registration is in August mid. When should we be going there? any of you
> > guys already booked tickets?
>
> > On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Janani Narayanan <
> > janani.naraya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> I know an agent who is ready to block air tickets now.He is my frnd's
> >> relative.So I suppose v will get the best deal.Let me know if any of you are
> >> interested.
>
> >> Regards,
> >> Janani
>
> >> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:31 AM, Janani Narayanan <
> >> janani.naraya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> June 1st week(5th or 6th) sounds good.By then v all will ve our
> >>> i-20,loans ready and will b waiting for visa interviews.
>
> >>> Regards,
> >>> Janani
>

> >>> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Ramcha <ramc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>>> Yeah.. maybe last week of may of 1st week of June :)
>

> >>>> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Arjun Sharma <toar...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>>>> Hi All:
> >>>>> Nice idea... i am right now working in bangalore... and I guess some of
> >>>>> you guys who're still in college might have exams etc right now.. maybe we
> >>>>> can fix some weekend when all are free and meet up.::)
>
> >>>>> Arjun
>

> >>>>> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Ramcha <ramc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>>>>> Hi Sairam,
>
> >>>>>> Shall we ppl have a meet somewhere and then proceed with this stuff..
> >>>>>> Be good if we got to know each other better first......:)
>

[Arjun Sharma]

hey...

iam working on getting the bank docs done. any body know when is the last date before which we need to send the finance docs to gatech? there was no communication from them in that regard

--
Arjun Sharma S

[Janani Narayanan]

Hi Arjun,


There is no deadline as such.But you need to make sure that you have enough time to get your i-20,loan,visa and flight tickets.It normally takes <30 days to get i-20,15 days  max  to schedule a visa interview.So plan accordingly.


Regards,
Janani

[Arjun Sharma]

it may be a silly doubt... still. do we need i20 to book flight tickets/ apply for loan? Is the admit letter not enough to apply for loan?

--
Arjun Sharma S

[Thiagarajan Ramachandran]

I think you do.All banks ask for things like schedule of expenses,college prospectus etc which the i20 has.Have to wait for it.

[Sairam]

Lets keep this thread exclusively for flight details.

Thanks,
Sairam

On May 4, 12:10 pm, Thiagarajan Ramachandran <thiagaraja...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I think you do.All banks ask for things like schedule of expenses,college
> prospectus etc which the i20 has.Have to wait for it.
>

> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 12:23 PM, Arjun Sharma <toar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > it may be a silly doubt... still. do we need i20 to book flight tickets/
> > apply for loan? Is the admit letter not enough to apply for loan?
>
> > On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 12:19 PM, Janani Narayanan <
> > janani.naraya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> Hi Arjun,
>
> >> There is no deadline as such.But you need to make sure that you have
> >> enough time to get your i-20,loan,visa and flight tickets.It normally takes
> >> <30 days to get i-20,15 days  max  to schedule a visa interview.So plan
> >> accordingly.
>
> >> Regards,
> >> Janani
>

> >> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Arjun Sharma <toar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> hey...
> >>> iam working on getting the bank docs done. any body know when is the last
> >>> date before which we need to send the finance docs to gatech? there was no
> >>> communication from them in that regard
>

[Vikram Parth]

go ahead and find out the rates from ur agent

[Sairam]

Any luck on this? I spoke to an agent I knew. He quoted the same price
for Jet Lite as on Yatra.com (39K). For bulk booking and concessions,
he wants the exact number and confirmation with Passport and seat
numbers.

Sairam

On May 4, 1:41 pm, Vikram Parth <vik...@gmail.com> wrote:
> go ahead and find out the rates from ur agent
>
> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Janani Narayanan <
>

> janani.naraya...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I know an agent who is ready to block air tickets now.He is my frnd's
> > relative.So I suppose v will get the best deal.Let me know if any of you are
> > interested.
>
> > Regards,
> > Janani
>
> > On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:31 AM, Janani Narayanan <
> > janani.naraya...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> June 1st week(5th or 6th) sounds good.By then v all will ve our i-20,loans
> >> ready and will b waiting for visa interviews.
>
> >> Regards,
> >> Janani
>

> >> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Ramcha <ramc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> Yeah.. maybe last week of may of 1st week of June :)
>

> >>> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Arjun Sharma <toar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>>> Hi All:
> >>>> Nice idea... i am right now working in bangalore... and I guess some of
> >>>> you guys who're still in college might have exams etc right now.. maybe we
> >>>> can fix some weekend when all are free and meet up.::)
>
> >>>> Arjun
>

> >>>> On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Ramcha <ramc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>>>> Hi Sairam,
>
> >>>>> Shall we ppl have a meet somewhere and then proceed with this stuff..
> >>>>> Be good if we got to know each other better first......:)
>

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

gues its better if we hurry up regarding flight tickets coz the
earlier we book,cheaper d rates are.....neways all of us wil have our
visa and loans ready by august...so why not go ahead and book tickets
for first week of august?

[Sairam Sankaran]

I am planning for Aug 2nd departure. Quite apprehensive right now to book tickets before VI.

 

We had a plan to meet up during Jun 5-6 right? Why not confirm our travel plans then and go forward? Will that be too late?

 

Sairam

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

yea gues first week of june should be fine..but hope the meeting
doesnt get postponed..june 6 is sunday..how about have the meet then?

On May 10, 12:24 pm, Sairam Sankaran <sairam.sanka...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I am planning for Aug 2nd departure. Quite apprehensive right now to book
> tickets before VI.
>
> We had a plan to meet up during Jun 5-6 right? Why not confirm our travel
> plans then and go forward? Will that be too late?
>
> Sairam
>
> On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 11:54 AM, Ramya Gopalakrishanan <
>

[Sairam Sankaran]

I am fine with it

Sairam

[vikram]

june 6th sounds good.. everyone pls give a yes or no reply asap... n
come up with location.. where do we meet???

On May 10, 9:56 pm, Sairam Sankaran <sairam.sanka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am fine with it
>
> Sairam
>
> On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 10:24 PM, Ramya Gopalakrishanan <
>

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

june 6th is fine with me. how about bessi beach...there are a lot of cafes near by...

[nishanth ramesh]

Hi everyone,
I'm ready to meet up anytime in June. Anywhere is fine too..
Nishanth

[Arjun Sharma]

June 6th is fine with me too

-Arjun

[Janani Narayanan]

June 6th sounds good.So in beach @ 5pm?

Regards,
Janani

[Vikram Parth]

yep. perfect. hope everyone is ok with it

[kailash gopalan]

yeah ok....meet ya ppl there:)

[pradeep jawahar]

ok with me too

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

hey guys, the flight ticket rates seem to be spiraling up with every
week.(it has increased by 5 K now to what i saw before in lufthansa)
so i have decided to block my tickets now. if anyone else interested
in traveling along please do let me know. I am going to approach a
travel agent and block tickets in another 5 days. if we decide to book
tickets after VI it may be around minimum 7 to 10 k costlier than what
it is now. plus traveling in groups could fetch us discounts. so plz
let me know soon. i have decided to book tickets for first week of
august.

On May 13, 3:13 pm, Janani Narayanan <janani.naraya...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> June 6th sounds good.So in beach @ 5pm?
>
> Regards,
> Janani
>

[Sairam Sankaran]

I plan to book for Aug 2nd. Anybody planning for the same day?

If we are blocking tickets with an agent, should we pay the full fare now?

I am right now in Bangalore, but will be leaving from Chennai. So unable to check with many agents there. My friend who went last year told me that he got the best deal from Travel Air Madras http://www.travelairmadras.co.in/contact.html

Ramya: Can you pls check with this guy as well to compare the rates?

Thanks,

Sairam

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

hey no u dt hv to to pay d ful fare nw.

[Sairam Sankaran]

ok. Can you pls check with the below travel as well and let us know the fares?

 

Thanks,

Sairam

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

ok wil let u know in 2 or 3 days

[rushi]

K....Jun 6th is fine... we'll meet in Besant Nagar Beach @5pm....
-Rushyanth

[Sairam Sankaran]

I find that right now Air India costs 35K and Air France 39K online. My frind in Atlanta suggests that Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways are good.

Has anyone checked with any agent?

 

And when are you guys planning to leave?

 

~Sairam

[rushi]

@sairam:
I m planning to go in the first week of august....

On May 19, 10:24 am, Sairam Sankaran <sairam.sanka...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I find that right now Air India costs 35K and Air France 39K online. My
> frind in Atlanta suggests that Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways are
> good.
> Has anyone checked with any agent?
>
> And when are you guys planning to leave?
>
> ~Sairam
> On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 10:24 AM, Ramya Gopalakrishanan <
>
>
>
> ramyakrish....@gmail.com> wrote:
> > ok wil let u know in 2 or 3 days
>

> > >>>> > >> Nishanth- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[rushi]

@sairam: i heard that British airways is not reputed in baggage
handling and london's heathrow is too busy an airport...
Air france has 2 stops in between: chennai-bangalore/mumbai-paris-
atlanta
lufthansa operates a 1 stop chennai-frankfurt-atlanta flight...

so as of now, i plan to travel by lufthansa ... wat r ur suggestions
on these observations?

[Sairam Sankaran]

I agree with BA on baggage handling. Lufthansa seems to be the best option. But the cost if rising like anything. Any idea on Jet Airways?

 

Sairam

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

i heard british airways is d cheapest...bt lufthansa is runnin an excess baggage allowance for students specialy...so may b if we can gather a group and try booking tickets wid lufthansa thru an agent, it might get cheaper!!

[Sairam Sankaran]

We already have a group here. Let us get each one's confirmation and proceed with booking asap.

 

Btw is there any advantage with booking thru agent. I contacted 2 agents. Both quoted the same fare as in the website and said no concessions for bulk / student booking. Wondering why they are there!!!

 

Also heard student concessions coming in June.

 

Sairam

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

we do get concessions if we book thru an agent...but abt bulk booking iam nt sure..but we need everyone to confirm asap...i gues around 6 of dem hv confirmed nw...

[rushi]

Yea lufthansa is a bit expensive (rs. 38400)...
lufthansa student offer webpage:
http://www.lhstudyabroad.com/student_offers/overview.html

[Shrutii Sarda]

@ ramya, i am in too.

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

hey shrutii i have spoke to an agent. he said he wil let me know abt d best deals possible tmw. bt we hv to pay d entire amount and book the tickets since blocking is for 72 hours only, i wil be travellin in first week of august.

[Janani Narayanan]

@all,

I had blocked my flight tickets 3 weeks back.Chk the details.

Fare - 39k
Air france with 2 stops (Blore and paris)
Waiting time between connecting flights is 5-6 hrs on the whole
Flight starts at 8pm on august 5th
total travel time - 26 hrs

Since the fares are rising skyhigh,there might b 2-3k rise now.If any of u r interested,I can chk with the agent and let u know abt the current offers he has.

Regards,
Janani

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

u hv blocked ur tickets for hw many days? n wen r u plannin to book it?

[Sairam Sankaran]

Janani: Can you check and let us know pls.

Thanks,

Sairam

[Vikram Parth]

@janani: u have just blocked or already booked??

[Janani Narayanan]

@vikram

I have booked tickets on aug 5.

Whenever an agent blocks tickets,u r given a week's time to confirm the date and it is for free.Once u confirm the date u need to pay 15k as advance payment.

@Ramya

I think ur question is answered.

@Sairam

I ve contacted the agent and was asked to wait till EOD today.

Regards,
Janani

[Sairam Sankaran]

Thanks Janani. Pls keep us posted.

 

Sairam

[Sairam Sankaran]

Just booked my Chennai-Bombay-Paris-Atlanta Air France ticket on Aug 9th. 40K on Air France website

Checkout some more 40Ks available on 5,8,9 Aug

~Sairam

[Vikram Parth]

cool. some us are trying lufthansa. hope it works out!!

[Janani Narayanan]

@all,

Detail from Agent :

1.Ticket is cheapest in Air India for Aug 3rd. other airlines other days are around 45 k it seems.

2. entire ticket amount shd b paid within a week.(from the date of blocking)

On Air India:
 
 1. AI  641 B  03AUG MAABOM HS1  2040   2245  O        E TU    --Chennai-Mumbai
 2. AI  141 K  04AUG BOMJFK HS1  0045   0710  O        E WE    --Mumbai-New York(JOHN F KENNEDY INTL)
 3. AA 4658 O  04AUG LGAATL HS1  1225   1455  O        E WE  --New York( LA GUARDIA)--Atlanta. 
         OPERATED BY AMERICAN EAGLE                          
Fare:40300/-*
 
(*Subject to change without notice)

If any of you r interested ill fwd his contact so that u can block tickets.You can even chk with him on second week of august.

Regards,
Janani

[Sairam Sankaran]

Hi All,

 

I have asked this earlier and still want to bring it up again as I am not clear on this.

 

I am not seeing what is the benefit of booking thru agent. If you see in Yatra.com, AI flights are available for 35K to 40K and Jet Airways for 42K. So what is the benefit we are getting from agents?

Thanks,

Sairam

[Janani Narayanan]

@sairam,

You get to decide on the date in a week's time without paying for the rise in ticket prices if any.Additionally,if u know the agent well,u need not pay the complete fare once u confirm ur tickets.Cancellation charges are minimal if u go thro an agent.

Regards,
Janani

[Sairam Sankaran]

oh ok. got it. Thanks Janani.

[Shrutii Sarda]

@ Janani:

In the flight which you have listed, you will have to change airports
at New York, with baggage transport fare can be quite expensive. And
did you check out the baggage allowance with AA? Air India aloows upto
69 kgs, so thats good. Does the connecting flight also allow upto
much?

On May 26, 1:48 pm, Sairam Sankaran <sairam.sanka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> oh ok. got it. Thanks Janani.
> On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 2:11 PM, Janani Narayanan <
>

> janani.naraya...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > @sairam,
>
> > You get to decide on the date in a week's time without paying for the rise
> > in ticket prices if any.Additionally,if u know the agent well,u need not pay
> > the complete fare once u confirm ur tickets.Cancellation charges are minimal
> > if u go thro an agent.
>
> > Regards,
> > Janani
>
> > On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 2:07 PM, Sairam Sankaran <
> > sairam.sanka...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> Hi All,
>
> >> I have asked this earlier and still want to bring it up again as I am not
> >> clear on this.
>
> >> I am not seeing what is the benefit of booking thru agent. If you see in
> >> Yatra.com, AI flights are available for 35K to 40K and Jet Airways for 42K.
> >> So what is the benefit we are getting from agents?
> >> Thanks,
> >> Sairam
> >>   On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 1:54 PM, Janani Narayanan <

[Shrutii Sarda]

Booked on the following sectors.

Flight 1 Friday, August 06, 2010
Departure: 01:00 Chennai (Madras), India
Arrival: 07:50 Brussels, Belgium - Brussels Airport
Airline: Jet Airways 9W226

Flight 2 Friday, August 06, 2010
Departure: 10:10 Brussels, Belgium - Brussels Airport
Arrival: 12:30 Newark, USA - Newark Liberty International
Airline: Jet Airways 9W228

Flight 3 Friday, August 06, 2010
Departure: 18:00 Newark, USA - Newark Liberty International
Arrival: 20:40 Atlanta, USA - Hartsfield Jackson
Airline: Delta Air Lines DL2843

Total cost: 43K INR
Jet Airways baggage allowance: 23*3 (check in) + 7 kg (cabin) + laptop

[Sairam Sankaran]

Better make sure Newark to Atlanta also allows 23*3 check-in

[Ramya Gopalakrishanan]

hey shruthi:

i heard that if you travel by jet airways you will need to chenge airports. also if you land in someother place in US apart from your destination, you need to pay extra charge for your baggage(i tink 25 dollars per bag), since all the domestic flights in US allow only one baggage. so if 3 baggages r allowed by jetairways, we wil hv to pay extra wen we fly frm newark to atlanta....but otherwise it looks like a gud deal since dey allow 3 baggages!!

[Shrutii Sarda]

@ sairam:

I am allowed to carry 3 pieces of baggage on the first two sectors for
sure. (normal 2 + 1 - some student offer)
When I enquired with a call centre guy this morning from jet, he said
that I can take it on all three sectors, but my travel agent warned
saying I might have to cough up some amount at new york. I still went
ahead coz
1) i dont have to change airports unlike some of the other airindia
and jetairways options on yatra
2) airfrance doesn even allow this much baggage even in one sector so
it would have cost a LOT more, here I get to clear two sectors (I'm
definitely not planning to travel light!! :P But those who are,
airfrance is the best option, pretty reasonable:))

@ ramya: i dont have to switch, refer the flight details on top.

On May 27, 7:04 pm, Ramya Gopalakrishanan <ramyakrish....@gmail.com>
wrote:

> hey shruthi:
>
> i heard that if you travel by jet airways you will need to chenge airports.
> also if you land in someother place in US apart from your destination, you
> need to pay extra charge for your baggage(i tink 25 dollars per bag), since
> all the domestic flights in US allow only one baggage. so if 3 baggages r
> allowed by jetairways, we wil hv to pay extra wen we fly frm newark to
> atlanta....but otherwise it looks like a gud deal since dey allow 3
> baggages!!
>
> On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 5:52 PM, Sairam Sankaran

> <sairam.sanka...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
> > Better make sure Newark to Atlanta also allows 23*3 check-in
>