Now, consider this: a return ticket to Srinagar will cost you around Rs 24,000 to 25,000.

Why? Seats booked.

In normal times, the same ticket costs Rs 5,000. But with bookings going full, airlines are cashing in.

The earliest booking on the Chandigarh-Srinagar flight of the Kingfisher Airlines (the only airlines connecting Chandigarh to the Valley) is not available before a week’s time.

The two and a half hour air journey, with a stop in Jammu, is in demand primarily because of the summer season and the upcoming Amarnath Yatra.

This has forced many to reconsider visiting the Valley this summer and head to international destinations in the same amount. But others, like Amarnath pilgrims, are forced to pay the hefty fare.

Airlines point to booking system

Kingfisher Airlines justifies the hike citing the booking system and different ‘fare buckets’ in the same aircraft.

“The closer you book a ticket, the costlier it would be,” Prakash Merpuri, general manager, corporate communications, Kingfisher Airlines, said. “This system exists at other domestic airlines also.”

When pointed towards the rates being hiked five times, Merpuri said he would look into the matter.

The Kingfisher aircraft has 66 seats demarcated according to different fare slots.

Normally, the seats with cheaper fares are booked first and the rest are booked closer to the date of the travel.

The airlines’ booking staff said hardly any seats were available in the lower fare brackets in the entire month of June.