The Hub and Spoke System

When the airline industry was deregulated in the year 1978, a period of intense competition for passengers began. among other things, airlines were pressured to increase the number of cities they served, without increasing fares. However to add new point to point flights, an airline needed to invest substantial funds to buy new aircraft. To solve this problem, the airlines adopted a route system called "The Hub and Spoke System".

Under this system passengers are transported to an intermediate point, called a "hub" to board planes to their final destinations. To understand the hub and spoke system, imagine a bicycle wheel with numerous spokes leading from the hub or center. The wheel's hub is the major city in where passengers can board flights to various destinations. Each spoke is a route from the hub to one of these different destination points.

The hub and spoke system enables an airline to serve the maximum number of passengers while still maintaining a competitive fare structure. a flight that requires passengers to change planes at the intermediate point between the original boarding point and the final destination, with no stopover allowed is called a "connection". A point to point flight that does not require a change of aircraft is called a "direct flight", regardless of the number of stops.

The airport terminals where passengers board airline flights are leased by the airlines. Thus in most cases all the flights operated by a particular carrier take off and land at the same terminal. If a connection involves different carriers, the passengers must change terminals to board their continuing flights. One important benefit of the hub and spoke system is minimizing the number of inter-terminal connections

Minimum Connecting Times

The shortest time that the passenger needs to go from one flight to a connecting flight is called the minimum connecting times.Standard minimum connecting times (MCT) is managed my (IATA) International Air Transport Association. because it differ from airport to another so you can access the IATA official website and know how many hours or minutes should be your connecting time for your forthcoming connection flight, as they are shown alphabetically.

But normally and to be in the safe side, when you make your booking you need to have minimum 1:30 hour as connecting time when you are connecting from domestic flight to another one, but 2:30 hours whenever you have an international sector in your whole journey.

The Validity

(I) Validity of tickets:
a ticket is valid for one year from the date of issuance if no portion of it has been used. therefore travelling must commence no later than 12 month after the date of issuance of the ticket. when travel commences the validity is extended to 1 year from the date of commencement of travel (except in the case of special fares). if the ticket is subsequently reissued the original validity is maintained.

(II)Validity of fares:
Normal OW/RT/CT - One Way, Round Trip,Circle Trip - fares are valid for completion of the transportation, 1 year after commencement of the journey. Special fares are valid as stated in their respective rules.

(III)Counting of days:
The day of travel or the day ticket issue is not counted in respect to the validity. Travel on the last flight coupon of the ticket must commence before midnight of the expiry date shown on the coupon.

Economy or Coach Class

More number of seats on the airplane you will find them in economy class. seats are set to each other with narrower than those in first and business class cabins.

Drinks and meals are served at no extra money or charge, even though alcoholic drinks usually must be bought.

On short distance journeys passengers in economy class probably served a lighter snack and not a complete meal, whereas in first or even in business class may be is served by a complete meal.

By and large choosing the class that you would like to travel on is up to your needs and preferences and your financial standard.

Also economy class is called as Coach class in order not to be confused, and usually you can assign your seat in the airplane and check-in online - most airlines are giving this facility - in order to save time when you check-in at the airport.

Business Class

Business class is located between the first class and the economy class in terms of comfort and level of service. business class was first introduced in year 1970 for these people who wanted upgraded service and more comfort that they could receive from economy class, but without paying the cost and the price of the first class.



It was called business class for the (frequent traveler or business and work voyagers). this compartment is not available on all flights. business is available on most long distance domestic and international flights

Business compartment is somewhere directly behind first class. The seats are wider than in economy class. there is as well a choice of meals, but not like first class for sure. like first class there are also individual check in counter and lounge for business class paxs=passengers at the majority of airports all over the world.