Things to Know while Booking Chennai to Colombo Flights

It is a fact that air travel has revolutionised the travel industry. Now, people can explore far off destinations in extended weekends or in just two-three days that was unthinkable a few decades back. Along with enhanced technologies and changes in the government policies, new strategies and management techniques also helped carriers in increasing their network and services. This led to the emergence of codeshare agreements and alliances. In this article you can read about these practices followed by airlines that have opened a whole new dimension for carriers. For instance, Jet Airways and SriLankan operate Chennai to Colombo flights in cooperation, giving travellers an option to travel via Bangalore and Kochi, which could have prove to be a costly affair for carriers as well as passengers if operated by any one of them.

There are a number of non-stop services also that do not require cooperation from fellow airlines, but it is not possible from other destinations such as Paris or New Johannesburg. Apart from providing a better network linking, these new strategies also allow travellers to get the best value services. Now, they can use their miles or coupons with partner carriers that eliminate the restriction to travel with just one airline.

It is an agreement in which different services providers share services with each other and expand their network without placing additional aircraft in the sky. The cost of procuring aircraft is a costly affair; hence, airlines cannot purchase it every now and then. They sign a document that allows a carrier to cater to their customers on new routes without additional cost. In return, respective airline extends its offerings to other partners. The cost of operation is reduced significantly, that ultimately results in low flight booking charges. This also allows passengers to avail services of different airlines by booking a single ticket. Usually, airlines opt for codeshare partnerships on overseas routes. For example, Air India shares its codes with British Airways for flights from Mumbai, Delhi and other major cities to London. The best part is that passengers also do not need to check-in every time they board the flight. This means they just have to check-in their bags while boarding the flight with Air India and collect their belongings after they de-board the British Airways flight at their final destination.

Airline Alliance

The term alliance refers to a business arrangement between carriers for baggage handling or other flight operations. Unlike codeshare agreement, more than two airlines can be a part of the alliance. Under this, the carrier you are booking your ticket with, may not be directly involved in the flight operation. For instance, a ticket mentioning Jet Airways operated by Etihad means the former one is merely the marketing airline, and the passenger will be travelling on the aircraft operated by the latter one. As the number of partners is high, the bounties are also quite high. This ensures that your miles do not get wasted as they can be accrued and redeemed on making reservations with the partner carriers. There are three such major alliances in the global aviation industry: Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam.

The above information can be quite useful for passengers in booking direct, non-stop or connecting Chennai to Colombo flights.