Do EMIs Ensure That You Get Cheap Air Tickets?

You do not have to pay your flight tickets cost at one go anymore. While the EMIs, also called the equated monthly installments, were generally associated with the buying of a range of products, it is for the first time that the Indian aviation market has seen their introduction on a wide scale. The EMIs are now being offered by some of the airline companies as well as the travel agencies for their customers, who do the bookings with them. But, do the EMIs really give you cheap air tickets?

The basic purpose of EMIs is to make the payment of flight tickets convenient for the people. Though the offering of cheap air tickets is lucrative in itself, the EMIs further ease the payment of these fares and opens up the latent demand for travel. This latent demand exists among those sections of people who have constraints of money to pay in one go. For people who are travelling with groups and families and whose travel expense will be more in absolute terms, this provides an opportunity to pay at a later date, even after the travel has taken place. Also, the salaried people can pay from their monthly salary. The airline companies and the travel agencies can benefit from the increase in their customer base.

Generally, the total value of the EMIs comes to be a bit higher than the cheap air tickets otherwise on offer, without the EMIs. The increase in price is attributed to two main reasons. One is the processing charge which is levied for processing the demand for the installment amount and the second is the tax component which goes to the government coffers. While it is quite reasonable to assume that the processing charges are genuine since there is definitely a cost involved in the payment of these charges, there is nothing to prevent the agencies and airlines to charge more on the air tickets. So, the customers need to evaluate from their own standpoint whether they are okay with paying somewhat higher amount to get the EMI facility or they want to save this sum by paying in one go.
Even the airlines and the agencies cannot go to unreasonable levels in hiking the charges in EMI schemes due to the competition factor. In a highly competitive market condition, an unreasonable hike would not only put off the customer but would even negate the efforts done to provide the cheap air tickets.