When Bilal Saeed, an Indian expat living in Deira, tried to book tickets to spend Eid Al Adha with his family back home, he was shocked by the steep rise in airfare. According to him, the usual fare to Mangalore ranges from Dh500 to Dh700.
“I tried to book a ticket on June 12 for a flight on June 14, but it was Dh2,200. It was too expensive for me so I decided to just celebrate Eid in Dubai,” Saeed said.
“I tried to book a ticket again on June 16, and I noticed the airfare for the next day had dropped to Dh700,” added the 33-year-old marketing executive, who then travelled to his home town with a discounted ticket price.
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“We had earlier planned to sacrifice goats on June 17, but we postponed it to June 18 just in time for me to reach home,” said Saeed.
As Eid Al Adha approached, many residents found themselves grappling with exorbitant airfare prices. The increase in airfare tickets during the days leading up to the festival celebrated on June 16 led several residents to delay their trips home and celebrations with their families.
Eid Al Adha is a time for joyous family reunions and significant religious rituals, and it saw a shift in travel patterns this year. With airfare prices soaring nearly 400 per cent from June 13 to June 16 as compared to previous months this year, many residents opted to postpone their travel to June 17 and June 18 when ticket prices dropped significantly.
A similar situation was faced by Fahim Ammar. “When I was constantly checking for deals online, the airfare exceeded my budget. I kept searching for a deal until June 15. On June 17, I decided to check again and was happy to see that the ticket price had dropped significantly,” said the Indian expat working at a logistics firm in Dubai who got a ticket to Mumbai at Dh565.
Fahim said that the Eid Al Adha is celebrated for over three and half days in his home town, with the first day of the festival celebrated on June 17. “I offered my Eid Al Adha special prayers in Dubai on June 16 before reaching my home on June 17. I had two and half days of Eid Al Adha to celebrate with my family,” said Ammar.
According to Islamic tradition, the ritual of animal sacrifice, which is central to Eid Al Adha, can be performed on the first, second, third, and the fourth half day of Eid. Consequently, those who flew on June 17 and 18 had no choice but to delay this significant ritual to later days, ensuring they could still observe the customs fully despite their postponed travel.
The airfare even to African countries had also dropped significantly compared to June 13 to June 16. Likewise, the ticket prices to Cairo dropped significantly on June 17 and June 18, according to Egyptian expats.
“I had a total of 9 days of holidays including my comp off. I had to cancel my plans to celebrate Eid Al Adha with my family in Al Obour near Cairo, because of exorbitant airfare. But on June 17, I received a call from my mother. She said that our neighbors have arrived and the flights were cheap,” said Ahmed Najar, a resident of Al Nahda in Sharjah.
“When I checked the airfare, it had decreased to nearly 60 per cent. When I wanted to travel on June 14, the airfare was Dh1,200. But I secured a ticket on Air Arabia on June 18 at Dh520,” noted the 40-year-old Egyptian expat.