Since budget airlines enter the aviation market, they have been dominating the air travel scene. This is good news for all travellers. They provide affordable airfares for budget conscious travellers and at the same time force the premium airlines to lower their airfares to compete with budget airlines.
The Singapore market is currently dominated by budget carriers such as airasia, jetstar and scoot. Other budget players fly to Singapore from their own countries as well. Jetstar and scoot hub in SG while airasia has tried unsuccessfully for years to establish a hub in SG, likely to protect the home carriers from eroding their profits.
Anyway, I have taken all 3 budget carriers several times, to regional countries such as m'sia and as far as china. Though their airfares are usually lower than premium brands, there are certain things to look out for when booking them.
Budget carriers nickel and dime. When you first book a seat, you are essentially only guaranteed a seat on the plane. Nothing else. In most cases in asia, you can bring on a hand luggage. That's it. If you want to check a bag, you have to pay extra. If you want to eat, you got to pay too. As a result, there are a list of amenities that budget carriers will entice you to add on and the airfare suddenly become more expensive.
For example, jetstar has the starter fares while scoot has the fly, fly-bag, fly-bag-eat fares to cater to different needs. Before clicking the payment button, it is wise to reflect on the final cost and check that it is still overall lower than what premium airlines charge. Sometimes, it can be more than them, in that case, just go with premium airlines.
One more thing. After entering the payment details, if the costs again increase, that will be due to the credit card processing fees. Premium airlines usually absorb these fees while budget airlines simply pass on to consumers. There is no way to eliminate these fees amounting to as much as $20, but there is a way to offset them. Jetstar and scoot offer payment via axs machine in SG for a lower fee of $6.
However, scoot holds regular promotions on tuesday mornings. Sale fares paid during this time cannot be paid by axs. Only by credit card, thus incurring the $20 fee. This makes the promotion slightly less attractive. I learnt about this when making my booking my return flights to guangzhou on scoot. The axs option was not there when making payment. Nonetheless, I still booked as the final fare still turned out cheaper than the next cheaper option.
Recently, I have booked jetstar inaugural flight to Okinawa and scoot flight to hong kong. Both have encountered schedule changes. Fortunately, the options are laid out clearly in the jetstar website under manage bookings. The changes are free of charge. Jetstar will assign new flight timings to you. But I'm able to change to other flight options if I choose to.
The Singapore market is currently dominated by budget carriers such as airasia, jetstar and scoot. Other budget players fly to Singapore from their own countries as well. Jetstar and scoot hub in SG while airasia has tried unsuccessfully for years to establish a hub in SG, likely to protect the home carriers from eroding their profits.
Anyway, I have taken all 3 budget carriers several times, to regional countries such as m'sia and as far as china. Though their airfares are usually lower than premium brands, there are certain things to look out for when booking them.
Budget carriers nickel and dime. When you first book a seat, you are essentially only guaranteed a seat on the plane. Nothing else. In most cases in asia, you can bring on a hand luggage. That's it. If you want to check a bag, you have to pay extra. If you want to eat, you got to pay too. As a result, there are a list of amenities that budget carriers will entice you to add on and the airfare suddenly become more expensive.
For example, jetstar has the starter fares while scoot has the fly, fly-bag, fly-bag-eat fares to cater to different needs. Before clicking the payment button, it is wise to reflect on the final cost and check that it is still overall lower than what premium airlines charge. Sometimes, it can be more than them, in that case, just go with premium airlines.
One more thing. After entering the payment details, if the costs again increase, that will be due to the credit card processing fees. Premium airlines usually absorb these fees while budget airlines simply pass on to consumers. There is no way to eliminate these fees amounting to as much as $20, but there is a way to offset them. Jetstar and scoot offer payment via axs machine in SG for a lower fee of $6.
However, scoot holds regular promotions on tuesday mornings. Sale fares paid during this time cannot be paid by axs. Only by credit card, thus incurring the $20 fee. This makes the promotion slightly less attractive. I learnt about this when making my booking my return flights to guangzhou on scoot. The axs option was not there when making payment. Nonetheless, I still booked as the final fare still turned out cheaper than the next cheaper option.
Recently, I have booked jetstar inaugural flight to Okinawa and scoot flight to hong kong. Both have encountered schedule changes. Fortunately, the options are laid out clearly in the jetstar website under manage bookings. The changes are free of charge. Jetstar will assign new flight timings to you. But I'm able to change to other flight options if I choose to.
In this case, I have chosen to route via osaka and taipei on the way back to singapore. The advantage is this flight leaves okinawa in the afternoon, as compared to the early departure of 8am for the direct flight. There are no additional costs involved.
After selecting my new flights, there is a new window to confirm my selection before it is updated.
For scoot, it is a similar process. My original overnight flight from singapore to hong kong was actually cancelled. I was accomodated on the next day flight, which would put me in hong kong late.
Fortunately, I was able to call the call centre and rebook my flight. From online, I was able to find out other alternative flight schedules within 7 days as specified below. After that, I called and asked to change the flight option. Do check that the extras which was paid for earlier such as check in baggage and seat assignments was included in the new flight arrangements.
Yup, so now my flight itinerary is confirmed. I'm hoping for bid for a reasonable upgrade!
