Air India now selling multi-flight ‘Maharajah’ packages

Air India has started selling ‘Maharaja e-SuperSaver’ packages – offering a bundle of domestic flights for a fixed price.

Air India’s Maharaja e-SuperSaver packages are now on sale

The cash-strapped national carrier’s latest idea to steal business from its domestic rivals is the Maharaja e-SuperSaver – a bundle of domestic flights on sale for a fixed fee.

The product consists of either a four- or eight-flight e-ticket, with packages currently only being sold through Air India’s authorised travel agents. It’s not currently possible to buy online or at the airline’s own sales offices.

The key features of the packages are:

• Passengers can travel on any Air India-operated domestic flight in business class, and most routes in economy (though some are excluded)
• Flights on Alliance Air and codeshare flights cannot be booked
• First sector confirmation is mandatory, while the rest of the e-coupons can be kept open for future bookings
• Unlimited date and sector changes are permitted up until two hours before departure
• A 30kgs baggage allowances is included for economy packages, while business class gets 40kgs
• Packages are on sale until December 31, 2021
• Economy flights can still be upgraded at the airport using the ongoing Get Upfront promotion
• All flights are eligible for miles accrual

Ticket validity is six months for the four-flight packages and 12 months for the eight-month packages – but only for packages sold before October 15, 2020.

After this date, travel validity is three months for the four-flight packages and six months for the eight-month packages. In all cases, ticket validity is counted from the date of the first flight taken.

ote that the following routes are excluded in economy: Leh to Chandigarh, Dehradun to Mumbai, Delhi to Imphal, Dehradun to Bengaluru, Delhi to Kozhikode, Bengaluru to Chandigarh, Bengaluru to Guwahati, Delhi to Kochi, Kannur to Delhi, Delhi to Coimbatore, Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi to Port Blair, Chennai to Varanasi.

How expensive are Air India’s Maharaja e-SuperSaver tickets?

Customers can choose to buy either four or eight e-coupons, with a choice between an economy or business class package. The pricing is as follows:

• Four flights in economy costs INR 18,400 while a package of eight is on sale for INR 36,000
• A business class package costs INR 44,000 for four flights, or INR 80,000 for eight flights.

With all packages, government and airport taxes are charged as extra. Packages are non-refundable if partially redeemed, while INR 5,000 is chargeable as a penalty for refunds on totally unused e-Super Savers.

Summing up

Unless fares are consistently high on the routes you use, I don’t consider these prices low enough to warrant tying up money with Air India for months at a time.

Air India economy flights on routes like Mumbai to Delhi are routinely available for less than INR 4,000 – making the package of four flights at INR 18,400 look distinctly unappealing.

Business class packages are more tempting, with each flight in those packages costing an average of around INR 10,000. Depending on the route you are interested in, this could be a money saver.

What do you make of Air India’s Maharaja e-SuperSaver tickets?