For many Pune-based travellers, a flight home or to a business meeting is turning into a calculation of what they can afford to give up. Festive season airfares climbed sharply on several routes, forcing passengers to postpone trips, plan weeks in advance or drop their plans altogether.Dheeraj Reddy, a senior manager at a Chinchwad-based civil engineering company, who travels at least once a month for official work, said airfares on several sectors had increased considerably ahead of the festival. A Pune-Ahmedabad ticket that usually costs around Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,000 has become significantly more expensive, while he recently paid around Rs 18,000 for a one-way flight from Ahmedabad to Pune.“Even on the Pune-Ahmedabad route, the fares have gone up considerably. A couple of days ago, I paid around Rs 18,000 for a one-way ticket from Ahmedabad to Pune. The midnight flights are comparatively cheaper, but the higher fares leave passengers with limited choices,” he said.A similar increase is visible on the Pune-Bhubaneswar sector, where tickets that usually cost around Rs 7,000 are now priced at over Rs 9,000, Reddy said. He added that the situation becomes particularly difficult on routes served by limited airlines, as passengers have little choice but to pay the higher fare.“On some sectors, there is only one carrier operating flights. In the absence of alternative options, passengers have no choice but to accept the elevated prices,” he said.For frequent flyers, the increase is not restricted to the festive season alone. Yatik Varshney, 26, a senior software engineer who lives in Hadapsar and regularly travels between Pune and Delhi, said fares on the route generally range between Rs 7,000 and Rs 9,000 but rise sharply during peak travel periods. During Diwali, he paid around Rs 11,000 for a one-way ticket.Story continues below this ad“Festival-season pricing seems to have become particularly unreasonable,” he said.Although Varshney prefers air travel because it saves time, rising fares have changed the way he plans his journeys. Instead of making flexible bookings, he now tries to book tickets four to six weeks in advance to secure a reasonable fare. However, even early planning does not always guarantee an affordable ticket, and he has postponed some trips when the cost of travelling no longer justified the journey.Varshney said the actual cost of air travel often goes beyond the amount displayed while booking. Baggage charges, seat selection and other additional fees can substantially increase the final bill. Flight delays and cancellations can further add to passengers’ expenses through food, local transport and last-minute arrangements.“Passengers often end up bearing the consequences of disruptions they have no control over,” he said.Story continues below this adTravelling from Mumbai airport instead of Pune in search of cheaper fares is not necessarily a practical alternative either, he added. The additional time, money and effort involved in reaching another city can offset the savings, unless the difference in airfare is substantial.Varshney said there should be safeguards against extreme fare increases during festivals and long weekends. “There is a difference between dynamic pricing and taking advantage of passengers who have limited alternatives,” he said, adding that greater competition and better air connectivity would give passengers more choices.“Air travel shouldn’t become a luxury during the very periods when people need it the most,” he said.For some passengers, however, the rising fares have meant abandoning their festive travel plans altogether.Story continues below this adPurnima Patil, who works in Bengaluru and travels to Pune every year to spend the festive season with her family, has decided not to make the trip this Diwali. She said the flight fares were too high, while travelling by train was not a practical alternative given the long journey and her limited leave. She now plans to visit her family during the New Year instead.