Booking domestic India travel
 

Hi All,

We will be going in March to India to visit relatives and I need to book tickets within India. I live in the US.

When I go on to JetLite's website, the fare comes up in Rupees. Do you know if I can purchase these in dollars. I can certainly have a relative buy them for us In India in our names, but then will they check our US passports? I think if the ticket is paid for, they wouldn't have any problems?

Please let me know if any of you have booked on JetLite or Air Deccan from the US. I know JetAir works, but for some of the segments, the other airlines are coming up cheaper.

Much thanks.

I booked Air Deccan in October from their website. Paid with my Visa credit card, where it showed up as a foreign transaction.

There are some fares in India that are for Indian nationals only. If your relatives got you one of those fares, then you showed up with a US passport, that might be a problem. Just make sure the relative informs them you are Americans.

Thanks, Has anyone booked on JetLite?

If you buy the tickets over a website with a US Dollar credit card, the Rupee fare will be converted to US Dollars by your credit card company, at a very good rate usually, so that is a fine way to purchase them. You may also be able to buy them from a travel agent in the US, again using a US Dollar credit card which will do the exchange rate conversion for you. You could also have your relatives purchase them in India for you under your names using local currency. When you check in for your flight, the airline will check the ticket names against your passport because, like the US, only the named ticket holder can fly on a ticket. However, a ticket can be purchased and paid for by anyone, just make sure you are the named traveler.

The one issue you will have consider if your relatives buy the tickets for you is that you may lose a bit on the exchange rate when you pay them back for the tickets. You will have to pay them in Rupees, and you will have to exchange US Dollars for this. You may not get as good an exchange rate as you would if you bought the tickets with your credit card. While you won't "lose" a huge about on paying your relatives for the tickets, you will lose some. You also may have to exchange a good bit of cash to pay them for the tickets. Bear this in mind. Bring an ATM card or enough cash to make the exchange.

Another issue is that, as noted above, residents of Indian usually get cheaper fares. If you are a non-resident Indian (NRI), you may also qualify for these lower fares. (I am guessing that if you don't already know about the NRI rules, you are not an NRI.) You may want to discuss this with your relatives and see if they can buy you tickets based on the NRI fares. Otherwise, they will have to buy the full-fare non-NRI ticket for you and you will have to reimburse them for this.

I booked Jet on-line, paid by credit card & have received the e-tickets already...so far so good. Our trip is in Feb, so when we get back I'll let you know if we have any problems.

My local travel agent recommended that we buy our tickets in India as they would be cheaper. I had a friend book them for us, collected and paid for them when we arrived and saved about 50%.

I have flown with Jet Lite and they were fine. I didn't book them, but bought a ticket at the airport, having missed my Jet Air flight from Bombay to Calcutta. I paid about 11,500 Rp, whereas my Jet Air ticket had cost only 6,600 Rp.

Thank you all. This is so very helpful. For the airlines, I know I can buy on-line, I will and for JetLite, I will ask my relatives to buy in my name.

Thanks again.

From what I read at IndiaMike, you can also book through MakeMyTrip.com (on the site, click on MakeMyTrip India).