National airline Air India is going against the grain of normal airline pricing policy.
It will begin offering ‘hefty’ discounts for last minute domestic travel for unsold seats.
Travellers could snag a discount of 40% if booking just a few hours before departure, rather than being subject to high airfares as the departure time looms.
"Generally, an emergency leads to the last-minute demand. Such a traveller is faced with very high ticket prices. So, for the domestic sector, the national carrier has decided to make a very last moment inventory of available seats within three hours of departure," the airline said.
"These would be sold at a hefty discount, normally exceeding 40% of the selling price."
The last minute discounted bookings can be made at Air India ticketing counters, online or via the AI mobile app.
It will be ‘a big boon to last-minute travellers,’ the airline said.
However it may be too last minute to be effective.
Giving just a three-hour window to make a booking, get to the airport and check-in on time leaves little room for error, especially in view of India’s notorious traffic congestion in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
With the shutdown of Jet Airways and grounding of Boeing Max jets in India, overall seat capacity has been squeezed sending average airfares higher.
