Platform7

After confirming my ticket for the onward journey, it was time to hunt for return tickets. I travelling just before Christmas, and hence fares were rising quite fast. I opted for a Sunday night flight from Kochi - and my options were Jet Airways, Indigo and Air Asia - and Air Asia was the cheapest among the lot. This particular flight sells quite slow - probably because of its unearthly arrival time at Bengaluru. Without thinking further, I booked my seat on this flight and chose a window seat (as usual) on the port side. With the SpiceJet turmoil leaving me confused, I quickly checked the refund policy of the Air Asia ticket I held. Thankfully, the ticket was not promotional and was refundable, although I'd get very little after the deductions.  But then, SpiceJet came out of their mess partially and gave me the confidence that my trip was on. Once it was confirmed that the trip was on, I added a meal to my ticket - I was sure I'd be hungry on that flight.

December 21, 2014:
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Searching for air-fares has been a favorite pass-time for me since some time now. The third saturday of every month is a fixed holiday for me. I was expecting the dates for an examination that I had to appear, and was scheduled for December - I wanted to get a confirmation on those dates before I booked tickets for my monthly visit to my hometown. As soon as the confirmation dropped in, I got on to hunt for tickets - that being a weekend before Christmas meant whichever mode I select, I had to book it well in advance. I searched for air fares on various travel websites, and also on airline websites. I found a cheap ticket on SpiceJet - finally booked a ticket after applying a coupon on a travel website.

As the journey came closer and closer, news about SpiceJet being in a financial mess surfaced giving me mini heart-attacks very often. Things seemed all okay as the flight I was booked on seemed flying regularly. This particular rotation wasn't cancelled or rescheduled as part of …

It was an interesting experience searching for tickets for my return journey from Pune. The conference I was attending was getting over on Sunday in the afternoon, and my presentation was scheduled for Sunday morning. Since I decided to go for the conference quite late, my options were quite limited. While browsing on different ticketing websites, I came across a low fare ticket on Air India - the good ol' Maharaja of Indian skies. I quickly cross checked the rates on the Air India website, and confirmed the rates did exist. I hadn't flown on Air India for quite some time, and I haven't flown an Airbus A319 as well. Booking on this flight was a no-brainer decision. The departure time from Pune (1535hrs) was a bit of worry though - the program ends only at 1330hrs. I decided to book the ticket after I checked the distance between the conference venue and the airport.

November 30, 2014:
While at the conference venue, I booked for a cab pick-up at 1300hrs. With the airport ju…

A conference in Pune. Attending conferences and making paper presentations are often a part of my profession. I sent in an entry for the paper presentation and it got approved. I was undecided whether to go or not until a few days before the conference when a senior person in my department encouraged me to attend the program. After confirming my registrations, it was time to hunt for tickets and accommodation. I booked a room using a famous travel portal (which I later cancelled and rebooked in a different hotel) and then began the hunt for the travel tickets. I hadn't still decided whether to attend the entire conference or only the main part of it - and hence I first booked my return ticket. Then the search for the outward ticket started - I had two options - Indigo and Go. Since I had never been on Go, I selected a Go Air Flight to Pune, departing at 0545hrs on November 29, 2014.

The day prior to my journey was quite busy, and I reached home quite late. Some guests at home mea…