One-way airfare to Canada costs students 10% of total course fee

One-way airfare to Canada costs students 10% of total course fee

Non-Acceptance Of RT-PCR From India Forces Detour

Parth.Shastri@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:12.07.2021 

Parents of Hansal Khatri, from Ghatlodia were in for a shock when they started checking availability of flights to Canada. “I have admission in a PG diploma course for business management at a university in Canada for Fall semester (starting September). I need to be there by the last week of August,” he said. His entire course fees is Rs 20 lakh while current one-way airfare by carriers such as Air India is Rs 1.75 lakh to Rs 2 lakh – accounting to 10% of total course fees.

“The tickets were costing between Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000 in January this year. While it was still costly, we justified it due to Covid conditions. But air fares rising three times is too much when majority of passengers during this time are only foreign-bound students,” said Amit Khatri, his father. “As he has already secured admission, we have no option but to shell out the money, but it is not fair," the father felt.

It’s not just students – even regular passengers are bearing the brunt. Naranpura resident Subhash Ghonchala said a one-way ticket for his daughter-inlaw from Ahmedabad to Toronto, Canada on July 5 cost Rs 1.77 lakh which was three times the normal price of Rs 70,000.

It’s not just students – even regular passengers are bearing the brunt

Covid has pushed up travel costs

More than money, my daughter-in-law and her baby had to go to Toronato via Belgrade in Serbia where there was a stay of 2 nights and one day to get RTPCR test done. So, she went from Ahmedabad to Toronto via Mumbai-Frankfurt-Belgrade-Frankfurt- Toronto,” said Subhash Ghonchala .

Sanket Patel (name changed), 21, said he had deferred his travel to Canada due to the second wave in May. “My visa expires in December. While I’ll still wait a month to get the economic deal, what if third wave starts or Canada changes its rules? There’s a strong buzz there would be relaxation in some categories announced in the last week of July, but it’s always a gamble,” he said. “Getting the visa was a great feeling, but it’s now turning into desperation.” Travel and visa consultant Sabina Advani said Covid-19 specific sanctions imposed by countries have pushed up travel duration and cost of travellers.

“Countries like Canada do not accept Indian RT-PCR reports mandating travel via third countries for RT-PCR reports. For the US, currently there is a 14-day quarantine in a third country hotel. We are hopeful of Maldives and Dubai opening post July 15 which would be preferred by Indian travellers due to easy availability of Indian food,” says Travel and visa consultant Sabina Advani .

Due to these rules, travellers are going via Mexico, Belgrade and Armenia currently where 14-day quarantine stay with meals pushes the ticket price to upwards of Rs 1.75 lakh on confirmed flights.

Sameer Yadav, a citybased student visa and immigration consultant, said that there are a few sites offering cheaper tickets. “But often the travellers are not going for it – the chances of flight cancellation are high. Currently there are no direct flights to Canada, and most are taking detours. While the cancellation amount comes back, it cannot help the students who have to reach Canada in a time-bound manner,” he said.