Excitement surrounds the surge of affordable airfare: Is it easy to purchase?

From now until the end of 2013, travelers have more opportunities to explore various destinations as many domestic and international airlines are offering discounted fares to stimulate both the aviation market and tourism.

Competing for discounts

Mr. Hoang Minh Thang, originally from Nghe An province, recently purchased three air tickets from Vinh (Nghe An) to Ho Chi Minh City for nearly 800 thousand VND with VietJetAir (VJA) airline.

Mr. Thang shared that in November, his family plans to attend his younger brother's wedding in Ho Chi Minh City followed by a trip to Da Lat. Therefore, upon hearing the news in late July 2013 that VJA was offering tickets from 99 thousand VND onwards, Mr. Thang was determined to secure them.

“On the evening the airline released the tickets online, my wife and I both logged onto our computers to hunt for discounted tickets. After patiently waiting for over an hour, we finally managed to purchase three discounted tickets for the outbound flight to Saigon. With this price, we saved over two million VND,” Mr. Thang remarked.

Recently, Vietnam Airlines (VNA) also announced the sale of tickets priced as low as 333 thousand VND for short-haul flights and 666 thousand VND for long-haul flights, applicable for domestic flights from now until April 2014.

For international flights, VNA is offering incredibly cheap tickets for routes where the airline operates direct flights. Notably, flights from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Chengdu (China) are priced at 189 thousand VND (9 USD); to Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore priced at 818 thousand VND (39 USD)…

Without the same fanfare as VJA and VNA, Jetstar Pacific (JP) airline sells discounted tickets every Friday with prices ranging from 199 to 800 thousand VND for domestic routes. For routes from Ho Chi Minh City to tourist cities like Singapore, Phuket (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia)…, ticket prices are significantly reduced. Moreover, the airline even implements a policy where passengers only need to pay for the outbound leg, with the return leg being free.

Not to be outdone by domestic airlines, foreign airlines operating routes to Vietnam such as Air Asia, Tigerair, Malaysia Airlines, Emirates… also launch waves of discounted ticket sales to increase passenger numbers and stimulate the tourism market.

Is it easy to purchase cheap tickets?

Due to the limited availability of cheap tickets offered by airlines, customers must prepare personal information (name, ID card/passport number…) carefully to quickly provide when requested by the airline.

Customers should avoid booking tickets on weekends as prices tend to be higher. Purchasing tickets for night flights is usually cheaper than daytime flights.

Ticket buyers need to make online payments via card. Domestic airlines may accept payment via domestic ATM cards, but international airlines require payment with international credit cards.

Calmly assessing the situation, cheap airline tickets are often released during off-peak travel times. In Vietnam, discounted tickets are sold for flights in April, May, September, and October every year.

“During this time, there are very few passengers, so airlines have to sell tickets at a discount to attract customers. It's better to sell cheap with more buyers than to hold onto higher prices with fewer buyers,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, an employee at a ticket office on Vo Van Tan Street, District 3 (Ho Chi Minh City) shared.

A representative from an airline mentioned that during peak times, the seat utilization rate of airlines reaches 80-90%; whereas during off-peak times, the seat utilization rate is only 50-60%. Therefore, airlines have to allocate a portion of tickets for sale at a discount to attract customers and increase revenue.

Currently, most airlines sell cheap tickets online and buyers must pay with a card. Therefore, to purchase tickets, buyers need to be familiar with the online booking process and comfortable with online payment methods using cards.

Having experienced booking cheap tickets before, Ms. Cao Thuy, an office employee at Hoang Thao Company, mentioned that during the time when airlines announce cheap ticket sales, the airline's website is always overloaded due to high traffic. Therefore, when hunting for cheap tickets, buyers must be very patient.

“Not long ago, VietJetAir was selling cheap tickets, and for three hours, I tried to access the airline's website to book tickets but couldn't get through,” Ms. Thuy said.

Even on the morning of August 8th, when Vietnam Airlines started selling cheap tickets, many people still couldn't access the airline's website to purchase tickets.

From a tourism perspective, Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh, a tour guide at a travel company, mentioned that airlines selling cheap tickets contribute to stimulating the tourism market, especially during off-peak seasons.

“In the past two years, the number of tourists from Hanoi traveling to the South has increased significantly. Previously, tourism was only for the wealthy, but now even those with less money can travel,” Mr. Thanh said.

Mr. Thanh mentioned that purchasing cheap tickets for travel isn't overly difficult. However, travelers need to thoroughly research room rates, expenses, exchange rates, as well as the culture and history of the destination.

Mr. Thanh stated: “Some people think buying cheap tickets is economical, but due to lack of research, they end up spending more on transportation than booking a company tour. There are even cases where lack of understanding of the destination's culture leads to unnecessary incidents”.

Early purchase makes it easier to buy

A representative from Jetstar Pacific (JP) airline mentioned that many people who previously had no travel plans are willing to make plans when airlines offer cheap airfares. Therefore, these periods of cheap ticket sales attract a lot of attention and tickets sell out very quickly.

Some periods of cheap ticket sales last for several days. However, buyers need to note that purchasing early increases the chances of getting tickets because initially, the airline releases a large quantity. As time passes, the number of tickets decreases, requiring buyers to be patient and search diligently to find cheap tickets.

The JP representative also stated that the pricing structure of the airline includes a lower quantity of tickets priced at the ceiling price, accounting for about 95%, distributed from low to high. Super cheap tickets fall within this quantity, being released more or less depending on each phase, based on a balanced revenue and cost plan.

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Source: Travel Guide Mytour