[QUOTE=GUWonder].


Plenty of non-citizen Indian residents -- Russian, Turkish, Egyptian, Somali, Afghan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Israeli, French, Brazilian, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Mexican citizens (amongst others) -- legally avail themselves to the local air fares without showing proof of residence in India. QUOTE]


why these countries? I'm Indian born and raised, american citizen(lived here since I was a teenager). When I was in India a few years ago they didn't question me anywhere when I bought and flew on local price tickets. Makes me think I should have paid those fares for my non Indian wife (white). I didn't see any special markers on those tickets. Does the airline actually keep the premium on these tickets or the govt.?

[QUOTE=GUWonder]

The dual-pricing (i.e., resident rates vs. non-resident rates) set-up existed even before the Indian government existed and is not limited to government entities. [QUOTE]

What do you mean? Did the british colonists do this also?

I know persons in India from those above countries who are residents of India and who avail themselves to the local rates as they are entitled.

In India, the presumption often has been "he/she looks Indian then must be Indian resident". The "foreigner" premium on the tickets is kept by whatever entity is charging that premium. Foreign spouses of "residents of India" who are classified as residents of India also may avail of the local rates. However, you and a spouse may be challenged to demonstrate residency. (It happens far less often than it used to but is a case of YMMV.)

Two things:

1. Firms in India before India's independence from Britain also had dual-pricing in play in transportation and in other areas of commerce.

2. Some private firms in operation before 1947 (and some private firms even now) have/had dual-pricing in play.

That is, the dual-pricing set-up existed in India before an independent Indian government existed; and dual-pricing is even in play with some private firms even in the absence of government regulation.

Actually, some airlines do not charge differential pricing. The govt allows different pricing but does not require it.

If you travel in places such as Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, etc. you'll see these different price structures for residents and non-residents universal. At an expensive South African safari for example, visiting from US we were paying about 5 times what the local Afrikaner family was paying. It is institutionalized. No point in blaming the govt. This was a private operator doing this.

Came across some pics of Kingfisher stuff for a BLR-IXE 200-mile flight:

Amenity kit
http://img273.imageshack.us/img273/6...f047e91km8.jpg

Amenity kit 2
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1...889851fgp5.jpg

Meal 1
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6...4ecea51db7.jpg

Meal 2
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/7...5183ed0hp8.jpg

Kingfisher going Skyteam?
 

So after the news article about a possible FFP partnership with Delta, I just got this email that has the KLM, Air France and Kingfisher logos on the same banner. Is Kingfisher heading to Skyteam? Or just partnering with a bunch of airlines a la Jet Airways?



From: [email protected]
Subject: King Club Special on Air France ##Promotion##

Royal offer for King Club members
Amazing rates on Air France from India: Fly to Paris from INR 20 900, to Frankfurt & Munich from INR 15 675, to London from INR 18 050, to New York & Houston from INR 31 350!

As a Kingfisher King Club member, you can benefit from great web offers on www.airfrance.com/in from now until the 15th of December 2006:

- Book a business class ticket and stay in a Paris hotel for 2 nights free of cost (incl. room and breakfast).

- Book an economy class ticket and receive a free gift voucher worth up to INR 1000.

Remember after you have made your booking online to send us an email at [email protected] with your King Club card number as well as your postal adress in India, in order to receive your gifts.

For more information on this offer please send un an email at [email protected].
More Info

Free lounge passes

Enjoy access to our lounges prior to departure. This service is offered free of charge prior to boarding of the flight, regardless of your class of booking.

In Delhi & Mumbai,
You will be given your lounge invitation when you present yourself at check-in, at the international airport.

In Bangalore,
Contact the Air France desk at The Leela Palace Kempinski. You will be pre checked-in while you use the Royal Club lounge. Air France will then transfer you to Bangalore Airport.

This offer is valid until 15th December 2006 for online bookings only on www.airfrance.com/in
Book your flight

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With our Double Miles promotion, you receive twice the amount of Miles on your frequent flyer card "Flying Blue" when you book your travel on Air France.

Register right away and, as a new member, we' ll also give you 3,000 Welcome Bonus Miles on your first flight within six months.

This offer is valid until 15th december 2006.



Book now!


More flights from India!

Together AIR FRANCE and KLM are offering 42 weekly flights from Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Flight timings are adjusted to give passengers the most convenient connections in Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schipol airports to the Air France KLM destinations around the world.

Discover all our special fares and promotions to Europe and North America on www.airfrance.com/in.

Special offers!
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Avoid the stress of queuing during check-in at the airport. All you need to do is identify yourself online, choose your own seat, drop your bags at the express check-in counter at the airport and you are ready for take off!
More on E check-in


Our website: www.airfrance.com/in. Telephone: Delhi: 011 23466262 ; Mumbai & Bangalore: 1800 11 00 55; Chennai: 044 28554894 / 4899 / 4916 Please visit our website to find the Air France reservation office near you.
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*General Conditions: please visit www.airfrance.com/in for our general Conditions of travel.

Hope they do join and wake up Jet and AI. ST does need some classy airlines in the line-up.

Losing money but great customer experience
 

I keep wondering if IT is a vanity/prestige project or is really a sound business idea over the long-term. The experience is great, the costs seem high, so how do the fares appear low quite often.

I would have assumed it was some magic, but many press reports seem to indicate that IT is losing money (may be not as much as Air Deccan).

For now, I am not complaining. They have decent capacity now, with enough frequency on key routes to support business travelers and the product is fairly good (though I find the pitch in coach not worthy of Kingfisher experience).

Sooner or later some of the Indian carriers are going to collapse. A lot of them seem to be living on rather twisted financial packages related to airplane "acquisition".

It does make Skyteam to partner with IT. AI seems to be headed to Star. 9W has relationships with OW partners and S2 with American. If Skyteam wants to tap into markets beyond gateway cities, they need codeshare partners or FFP partners. Kingfisher, with its newly added First Class is definitely well positioned. For now, there does not seem to be a strategic fit - more a tactical fit.

How is it that 9W has more relationships with OneWorld partners than 9W has with SkyTeam partners? (On the FFP front, I thought 9W had much more to do with SkyTeam carriers as of more recently than with OneWorld carriers.)

I'd guess that Skyteam people probably knew that 9W was discussing code shares with AA.

Just like EK, 9W has some sort of partnership with almost every major airline...
not sure where they are headed though.. but I'd like to see them with *A :)

How did this thread get off on a 9W tangent? Can we return it to being about Kingfisher?

recent Kingfisher F experience
 

I'll take that lead... I just flew them the day before yesterday between Delhi and Hyderabad in first. This has to be the best option out there for flying around India, by a factor of 10 or more! From the service you get the moment your car pulls up to the terminal, to the escorts to the plane, the the great seats, to the escort out of the airport, this airline really delivers.
Meet/greet at the curb: Knowing how inexpensive labor is in India, it's not a surprise how many employees this airline has to make sure things are easy for you (in what I would call some of the worlds worst airports). I pulled into terminal 1A in Delhi and within seconds, 2 nicely dressed young men had my bags and itinerary and were leading me into the chaos of the terminal. They took me to the lounge (this is the only thing that needs help, too smoky for me), sat me down with a beer and took care of everything. They checked on me a few times and came back an hour later to take me to the plane, and escorted me thru security and to a car that shuttled me out to the plane (non-F passengers took a bus). My handbag was carried up into the plane and I was escorted into my seat (2A).
Seating- The seats are manual (non-elec) controlled, but there is great pitch and good recline. For comparisons- the recline and pitch blow the doors off (1) most asia "regional" Biz (like TG 777's) and (2) US F. The seats compared favorably to SQ's regional Biz on a 777-200, the recliner style seats (not lay flat). The seats are new and in great shape. I kicked back and really relaxed for the 2 hour flight.
Service onboard- It's true, the flight attendants on board are hotties. While the escorts in the airport are all young men, the FA's are all young women, mostly size zero if you get what I mean. Service was great, anytime I wanted something it was delivered instantly, not surprising given there were only 3 of us in a cabin of 16 (?) seats. They hand out an amenity kit and nice headphones for the A/V system (9 inch monitors for each seat, ok programming but not great) and served a full dinner. The meal was one of the better I've had on a plane, but that b/c I really like Indian food and it's really easy to just heat up for a plane meal (unlike some of the more elaborate dishes some carriers try to pull off).
Escort out- I landed in HYD a few minutes late, but still with plenty of time to my connection to singapore on SQ. I mentioned that I hadnt been in the HYD airport in a while and that I was unsure how to connect to SQ and my two escorts said they could take me all the way to the gate for the SQ flight! So they grabbed my bags, led me out thru the chaos outside the terminal and up the stairs to the chaos of the departures terminal. They breezed thru every step of the process (it was clear they knew most of the guards at security) and even helped me BS around the one carry on rule (by temporarily pulling out my laptop and jamming my briefcase into the outside pocket of my rollerbag). They took me all the way to the lounge that SQ uses near the gate. They looked like they won the lottery when I handed them about $10US each for their help.
As I mentioned earlier, in India you cannot beat this airline. Between the comfort of the planes and the great service helping you avoid the chaos of India's airports, this airlines does everything right. It wasnt cheap, I paid about $400US of a one way. I'm sure I got ripped though as I bought the ticket 18 hours in advance in desperation to get home. I'd be interested in seeing how they compare to Jet Airways for R/Trip airfare on this and other routes. If similar I would take Kingfisher over Jet (I have flown Jet many times and it's fine but KF has the edge by a wide margin). The funniest part about this experience is that I had just flown regional Biz on TG and SQ the last week (SIN-DPS-SIN on SQ and SIN-BKK-DEL on TG) and was pretty let down, particularly by the crappy TG planes, service and food. It was surprising to see an Indian carrier offering such a superior product to TG and something that pretty much matched SQ. Too bad Kingfisher doesnt fly to BKK and SIN, if they did I think we'd see an improvement in the TG and SQ regional planes.