GROUP BLOCK Study
DEL New Delhi
SVO Moscow
September intake block, held on deposit in March. Names released in three waves as invitations cleared.
Block 42
Group air travel
A delayed visa should cost
one seat, not the batch.
Group contracts are where most of the money sits and where most of the risk hides. We build the booking so approvals can land out of order, a small number can fall away, and the date can still hold.
GROUP BLOCK Corporate
BOM Mumbai
MUC Munich
Fixed commissioning window. Ten-day name deadline, single purchase order, one held return date.
Block 18
GROUP BLOCK Conference
BLR Bengaluru
EWR Newark
Two outbound waves across two consulates. Fourteen travellers on interview waiver, twelve on slots.
Block 26
Illustrative blocks · composite examples from live accounts
How a block works
Six steps from enquiry
to the departure gate.
The important thing about this sequence is what it does not require early: names, passports or visas. The price is locked long before any of those exist.
- 01 Day 0
Enquiry
Passenger count, route, date window and how firm the date is. We do not need names, and we do not need visas to exist yet.
- 02 Day 1–3
Contract quoted
We go to the carriers holding inventory on that route and come back with a group contract: fare, deposit, name deadline, change and cancellation terms, and the tolerance band.
- 03 On acceptance
Deposit & hold
Seats are held against a deposit. From this point the fare is fixed. Airline increases and surcharge revisions do not pass through.
- 04 T-30 to T-45
Name submission
Names released against the block as visas land. Late approvals are split into a follow-on PNR rather than forcing a re-price of the group.
- 05 T-21 to T-30
Balance & ticketing
Balance settled on the agreed milestone schedule, tickets issued, seat maps and meal preferences loaded for the batch.
- 06 T-3 to arrival
Departure desk
Batch web check-in, baggage briefing, terminal assistance and a live contact through to arrival.
What is in the contract
The terms we put in writing
before you pay anything.
Group air is sold on headline fare and lost on terms. These are the eight lines we insist are explicit on every contract we place.
Minimum size
10 passengers on a common routing
Below ten we book as individual fares and still manage them as one file.
Deposit
Typically 10–25% of contract value
Varies by carrier, season and how far out the block is taken.
Name deadline
Usually 30–45 days before departure
Negotiated later where a cohort’s visa timeline demands it.
Fare protection
Fixed from deposit
Airline fare increases and fuel surcharge revisions do not pass through.
Tolerance band
A small percentage released without penalty
The band is stated in writing before you pay the deposit. We never leave it implied.
Name changes
Permitted within the group policy
A substitution inside a cohort is normal and usually free. We confirm the rule per contract.
Payment schedule
Deposit, milestone, balance
Aligned with your own collection cycle where the carrier allows it.
Baggage
Extra-piece allowance negotiated on student routes
Typically an additional 23 kg piece where the carrier permits it for verified cohorts.
Indicative terms · every figure is confirmed per contract and per carrier
Why it matters
Six things a group contract
should do for you.
Names later, seats now
A group block is held on deposit with a passenger count, not a name list. You lock the price months before you know who is flying.
Fare protection
Once the block is confirmed, airline fare increases and fuel surcharge revisions do not pass through to your cohort.
Split PNRs for late visas
A delayed approval should cost one seat, not the batch. We build the booking so stragglers move to a follow-on flight without re-pricing the group.
Student baggage
Negotiated extra-piece allowances on student routes — typically an additional 23 kg piece where the carrier permits it for verified cohorts.
Staggered payment
Deposit, milestone, balance. Aligned with when your own fee collections land, not with the airline default.
Partial cancellation cover
Group contracts are negotiated with a tolerance band, so a small number of refusals or deferrals does not void the block.
Routes
Where we hold inventory.
We keep carrier relationships on the routes our three desks actually fly. Outside these, we can still book — but we will be shopping the market like anyone else, and we will tell you so.
RU
Russia
- DEL → SVO
- BOM → SVO
- SVO → KZN
- SVO → VOG
Direct services on Aeroflot, plus one-stop routings via Dubai, Tashkent, Almaty and Sharjah for larger blocks.
Russia desk US
United States
- DEL → EWR
- DEL → ORD
- BOM → JFK
- BLR → SFO
Direct services on Air India and United, plus one-stop options via European and Gulf hubs for cost-sensitive student blocks.
USA desk DE
Germany
- DEL → FRA
- BOM → MUC
- BLR → FRA
- MAA → FRA
Direct services on Lufthansa and Air India, plus one-stop routings via Gulf and Turkish hubs.
Germany deskQuestions about group air
What buyers ask before they commit a deposit.
01 Is a group fare always cheaper than individual tickets?
Not always, and we will say so when it is not. What a group contract reliably buys you is certainty: a fixed price, held seats, a late name deadline and defined behaviour when a visa is refused. On a tight student season the certainty is usually worth more than the headline fare.
02 What happens if the group shrinks?
Every contract carries a tolerance band — a percentage of the block that can be released without penalty. We negotiate that band up front for cohorts where refusal risk is real, and we state it in writing before you commit a deposit.
03 Can travellers fly on different dates?
Yes. We commonly split a block into two or three departure waves, which is the normal shape of a student cohort where approvals land over several weeks. The contract is written to allow it rather than penalise it.
04 Do you handle the return leg?
For corporate groups, usually yes — often as a single held return. For students it is normally one-way outbound, since return dates are not known at booking.
05 What about seats together, meals and assistance?
Seat maps are loaded for the batch at ticketing, special meals are collected with names, and wheelchair or unaccompanied-minor assistance is arranged before departure rather than at the counter.
06 Can we book flights through you without the visa work?
Yes. Plenty of accounts use us only for group air, and plenty use us only for visas. The two are priced separately.
Start a file
Give us a count, a route and a date.
We do not need names or passports to quote a block. A passenger count, a routing and a date window is enough to come back with real contract terms.