April Domestic travel - Is it Safe to book Kingfisher or JetLite ?

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Hi,
I have booked international flight ticket from Chicago to Bangalore for April 12. My destination is however Coimbatore so I need to travel from Bangalore to Coimbatore. The only airlines which operate in this route are Kingfisher and JetLite. I heard that both these airlines are running under loss. Is it safe to book my flight in any of these airlines for April 12 or should i book train tickets ? In case the flight get cancelled will these airlines refund money ?

Comments/Suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Praveen
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Quote: My destination is however Coimbatore so I need to travel from Bangalore to Coimbatore. The only airlines which operate in this route are Kingfisher and JetLite. I heard that both these airlines are running under loss. Is it safe to book my flight in any of these airlines for April 12 or should i book train tickets ? In case the flight get cancelled will these airlines refund money ?
Pay with a credit card so that if things go bad, even if the airline can't/won't refund you the credit card company will.
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I wouldn't book Kingfisher right now - lots of financial troubles and unlike US carriers in fiscal trouble, I worry that they will skip out on some maintenance and it will catch up with them. Probably would be fine, but why chance it.

Jet Lite is fine
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Thanks troyb. I will book in Jetlite itself
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For more discussion, please follow as the thread moves to the Airlines of India forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.
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Quote: Hi,
I have booked international flight ticket from Chicago to Bangalore for April 12. My destination is however Coimbatore so I need to travel from Bangalore to Coimbatore. The only airlines which operate in this route are Kingfisher and JetLite. I heard that both these airlines are running under loss. Is it safe to book my flight in any of these airlines for April 12 or should i book train tickets ? In case the flight get cancelled will these airlines refund money ?

Comments/Suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Praveen
avoid kingfisher....

there is nothing wrong with jetlite....book away....
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Quote: I worry that they will skip out on some maintenance and it will catch up with them.
stop worrying....that's not going to happen....
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Quote: I wouldn't book Kingfisher right now - lots of financial troubles and unlike US carriers in fiscal trouble, I worry that they will skip out on some maintenance and it will catch up with them. Probably would be fine, but why chance it.
The DGCA (Indian Aviation Regulator) is inspecting their planes and maintenance daily... There is no chance that Kingfisher will be able to get away with skimping on safety...
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Welcome to flyertalk, praveen. I would avoid booking on Kingfisher for the foreseeable future unless you have no other reasonable alternatives.

One caveat about booking on Jetlite (S2) in your case is that they will not honor the baggage allowance for international passengers unless the entire trip is booked on the same PNR. So in your case, you may be asked to pay excess baggage charges if your checked luggage exceeds the domestic allowance (20 kg).

On the other hand, Kingfisher seems to honor the baggage allowance of the international carrier (though I have not read any recent reports of this).

I would give thought to train or car options for the relatively short trip BLR-CJB.
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Quote: On the other hand, Kingfisher seems to honor the baggage allowance of the international carrier (though I have not read any recent reports of this).
Recentish report: In October 2011, my mom flew HYD-BLR (Kingfisher), BLR-CDG (Air France) and had no problem checking in two pieces on her first leg.
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Nevermind
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Quote: Recentish report: In October 2011, my mom flew HYD-BLR (Kingfisher), BLR-CDG (Air France) and had no problem checking in two pieces on her first leg.
october is when jet changed their baggage policy so not quite sure what the other airlines are doing now....
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