SpeedFreak

Well flights go tech all the time all over the world but leaving that aside if SpiceJet cancels they will offer you a refund or offer to rebook you on an alternate "SpiceJet" flight.

What air India does in case of tech or other reason for cancellation they will offer you a refund or offer to rebook you on a different flight of a different airline. (Eg jet airways) In my experience air India will endeavor to get you to your destination no matter what though you may be a few hours late.

Not sure what jet airways does.

Couple of years back my cousin did a lot of traveling on go air and they would randomly cancel flights due to less load and offer rebooking on later flights. Don't think those many cancellations happen now though for that reason.

iahphx

Thanks. I'm trying to get a handle on the risk of flight cancellation. For exmaple, US airlines tend to fly about 99% of their flights. Would an airline like Spicejet be at about that level, or less?

SpeedFreak

http://dgca.nic.in/reports/seat-ind.htm

This is the latest statistics for all airlines. I think this answered your question perfectly.

PVDtoDEL

Yeah, it's the same airport, but different terminals. They are about 10 kilometers away IIRC, so 20-30 minutes without traffic in a taxi. With bags, etc., it's a massive headache, although not nearly as bad as intl-domestic connections at BOM.

Airlines of India also operate most flights 98%+, but that statistic only accounts for cancellations within 24 hours of departure. Spicejet in particular has not been able to maintain schedule integrity recently, with many schedule changes being made without warning 2-3 weeks before departure. Another deceptive thing about the statistics is flights can be delayed by many hours, but they will still show as operated.

I would not recommend being on the last flight of the day when connecting to an international flight.

The LCCs will rebook you onto the next flight on their airline (probably too late) or offer a refund, while the FSCs (AI I am familiar with, but I'd imagine 9W is similar) also would do things like reroute you on another airline or put you up in a hotel in the case of irregular operations.

Flyfromscratch

Most airlines in India have very good records in these matter.. here are the things you need to consider:

1. If you are flying a LCC (Spice OR Indigo) and in the off chance they do cancel their flight, they might be more inclined to offer you a refund than book on another flight with the same airline, or another airline..

2. If you book with a FSC (AI or Jet, or Jet Konnect also)- they would make some amount of effort to book you on another flight rather than give you a refund.. the reason I include Jet Konnect here, even though they are an LCC, is because, they belong to the Jet Group, so if you tell them that you have an international connection, they will be more accommodating..

3. And lastly- but the most important point - Flights do get cancelled in India, just like any where else. Even though they do mostly have good record, but flights do get cancelled.. you bigger worry should not be that whether you would rebooked or a refund.. you actual worry should be, if you are flying an off sector like Varanasi -Del, and your flight gets cancelled, and there is no flight to Del after your flight, even if the airlines rebooks you, that might make you miss ur international connection.. so you might want to consider returning to Delhi a day in advance, to factor in such a scenario.. or don't book the last flight out of any city, to allow yourself the option of switching flights at the last minute..

ashishp

I think it is $600 if you are flying to india or AI/LH and $800 if you are flying to india on some other airline: this entitles you to 7 flights.

With a iten on a circuit type trip, individual tickets might be more expensive. DEL-HJR alone is $130 to $150!

The JAI-JDH-UDR-IXU flight used to be a popular "circuit" flight in the IC days so I used it as an example. DEL-VNS-HJR-DEL is operational as AI405/406?

SpeedFreak

Not sure of the flight Number but yes this one exists and also extends to Agra, I think thrice a week.

A2A

OP if you book spicejet this weekend, you are going to get tickets for Rs. 2000 ($40).

iahphx

Is it a systemwide fare sale this weekend? That's a pretty good price, but most of the short hauls I've been looking at (2 months in advance) see to be in the $55 to $60 range. Since I'm a family of 5, though, it would be enough of a savings to accelerate my trip planning.

A2A

on most, not all. spicejet.com, goindigo.in and goair.in are your friends.

tarheelnj

Remember also that for all airports in India, you'll need a printed copy of your reservation/itinerary (must have your name on it). Otherwise you won't get into the airport.

If your plans change (inluding as a result of cancellation), make sure you get a new paper copy of your reservation.

Keyser

no printed copy required anymore....just show them a copy of your reservation on your phone or tablet....

AJLondon

While this is fine for say DEL or BOM, I would still be very wary at the smaller airports though! Had issues at ATQ last week with the iphone reservation. Thankfully I had a printed copy as backup.

Keyser

no problems in jai yesterday....

rsh913

umm... i am not sure if i'd agree with that number. According to BLS the numbers are all over the map depending on who you fly...

http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/press_releases/dot002_13

Spicejet though has had a higher cancellation rate or delay rate than normal...

http://dgca.nic.in/reports/rep-ind.htm

Click on flight cancellations on the left side..