Domestic air travel to cost more

Domestic air travel will cost more from the next financial year with the government raising service tax on it by Rs 50 and Rs 250 for domestic and international journeys respectively.

Presenting the 2011-12 budget in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also proposed to tax travel by higher classes on the domestic sector at the standard rate of 10 per cent.

The hike in service tax on air travel would be effective from April one.From then on, the tax on economy class domestic travel would stand at Rs 150 instead of the current Rs 100 and Rs 750, as against Rs 500, for international travel.

Domestic travel on Business or high class would attract a flat service tax of 10 per cent of the fare. This would bring domestic air travel on higher classes on par with international journeys by the same classes, Mukherjee said.

However, there was relief to the Air India as the Finance Minister made a budgetary support of Rs 1,200 crore to the ailing national carrier as additional equity infusion.

This would be the third tranche of equity for Air India, which received Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,200 crore respectively in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets.

A total expenditure of Rs 2,393.88 crore, both plan and non-plan, has been proposed for the Civil Aviation Ministry in the budget.The services being provided within an airport under the 'works contract' for specified purposes was being exempted, the Explanatory Memorandum said.

The value of air freight included in the assessable value of goods for charging customs duties is being excluded from taxable value for levy of service tax under the 'transport of goods by air' service, it said.

Domestic Air Travel

Domestic Air Travel

When traveling by air between Chinese cities, do not use Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz to buy your plane tickets. Why? Because these or other foreign travel companies are much more expensive. Best discounts of domestic China Flights are provided by local companies. It would be much wiser to book through them.

This article will introduce you some China travel companies you can resort to for cheap Chinese domestic air tickets.

There are many those online companies actually but Elong, Ctrip, and Travelzen are the most practical, reliable and can be accessed from outside of China.

Elong

ELong, Inc. (NASDAQ: LONG) is a leading online travel company in China. Headquartered in Beijing, ELong has a national presence across China, and uses web-based distribution technologies and a 24-hour call center to provide consumers with accurate travel information and high quality travel booking services.

Elong has become Expedia’s exclusive affiliate in Asia, working with Expedia’s branches across the globe to bring best travel experiences to customers.

It fulfills domestic and international air ticket reservations in over 80 major cities across China.

Ctrip

Ctrip is also China’s leading flight ticketing service, booking over 2 million tickets monthly with all Chinese and major international airlines.

Complimentary ticket delivery service is provided in over 60 cities throughout China, and Ctrip One Hour Express Ticketing—an industry first in China—provides reliable and fast e-ticketing service to members.

Some Chinese online booking sites don’t accept foreign credit cards, but Ctrip does.

Travelzen

Based in Shanghai, Travelzen uses state-of-the-art proprietary technology and SEBTI’s unparalleled resources to deliver the best possible availability and prices through an intuitive, real-time booking engine offering both domestic and outbound air tickets as well as hotel reservations for hundreds of Mainland Chinese cities including Hong Kong and Macau.

Qunar

Qunar(means “Where are you going?” in Chinese) is a Chinese search engine which can search prices from most travel (airline tickets, hotel) service providers’ websites based on your search query, and you can filter and then purchase such services by clicking the links in the search result. The price on its search result is probably the best price one can find on the Internet.

Many Chinese people just use it to buy domestic air tickets instead of the above three.

However, the website is operated in the Chinese language. If you can read simple Chinese, it would be very helpful for you.

Chinese airlines use the same kind of dynamic pricing systems as airlines in the West, which means prices always seem to be changing in response to market conditions, especially on busy routes.

Therefore it is best to book your tickets for your China tours in advance, 2 months or so will typically guarantee you the best deals. If you wait until a week or two out, you may get a greater discount than you would booking in advance, but it will only be minor (eg,40% 2 months in advance, 50% a week in advance) and at the same time you risk paying full price or something very close to