Airline Web sites offer the best bet in fares

Mumbai: If you thought you were getting the best bargains for air travel on portals like Cleartrip, Yatra, Makemytrip and so on, think again. This may seem tough to believe but airline Web sites are actually offering the best deals.
The chances are that you could get a ticket Rs 150-Rs 400 cheaper or, with a great degree of luck and timing, even close to Rs 2,000!
While fares are largely a function of demand and supply, the transaction/service fee levied by travel agents is resulting in cheaper deals on airlines’ Web site.
For instance, a ticket on an Indigo flight from Mumbai to New Delhi booked on its Web site for March 8 is available for Rs 2,123 (inclusive of taxes and surcharges), which is Rs 150 lower than the figure of Rs 2,273 on travel portals.
The cheapest fare on Air India’s Web site between Mumbai-Hyderabad is Rs 2,272 against portals, which hover around Rs 2,500 for the same date. Similarly, a ticket on Kingfisher Airlines between Mumbai-Bangalore is available for Rs 2,800 against around Rs 3,000 on portals.
The comparison holds good for tickets on other routes and other airlines with some exceptions, of course.
Interestingly, these deals are not happening only during promotional offers but even otherwise. Cleartrip.com’s Vice-President (Marketing), Mr Noel Swain, said that airline fares were changing dynamically. As some have shifted to transaction fees model, the addition reflects in the final ticket price.
However, Makemytrip.com disagrees with this observation.
07/02/09 Shubhra Tandon/Business Line

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2009