I have heard that it is cheaper to buy your plane tickets for domestic flights within India. I would prefer to purchase these tickets ahead of time, since my itinerary is fairly structured. I have noticed that when looking at flights on an airlines website, such as jet airway and kingfisher, these flights are almost twice what a booking service charges, such as makmytrip.com. I did not complete the booking with this service, so perhaps there are hidden charges at the end. If not, why is there such a different price for the same flight and are these booking agencies such as makemytrip.com reputable? The feedback on these booking companies is not positive when I did a search. Has anyone had an experience with these companies. Thanks!

I don't really understand why you need a booking service for flights. Jet and Kingfisher are SO cheap anyway, SO simple to book on their website with 100% safety - why do anything else?

Yup, I know you saw prices at half on that site. I'd like to see those figures before I comment. Give me an example..

Thanks for the quick response dogster. I was looking at the Kingfisher flight from Delhi to Chennai. If I book on makemytrip.com, it will cost $65.26. If I book directly with Kingfisher, it is listed at $136.70. That's a pretty big difference. Have you ever used the airline Jet Airways? The flights I'm looking at for Jet Airway states Jet Konnect. Is this the same situation as American Airline and American Eagle? I'm also looking at SpiceJet. Are all these airlines okay? Thank you for all your feedback. You have been so helpful.

Hi lisa: well, that's interesting costing. But, you know - trying a random date in November I found your cheap fare on the Jet website. lol.

You may have to be flexible, a day either side. Go check the site - you'll be looking for the Special Fares in the left-hand column. If that is blank, click on 'next day'.

But I'll tell you where I'm coming from - even IF that travel site is cool [I dunno either way] you are inserting an unnecessary step into the process. When things go wrong - and they do, all the time - I find it more comforting to know that I can sort it out direct. I'd sooner pay the extra, [if any]I guess.

Dogster's advice: just book this yourself on the net with the airlines. Trust me. Click click click - a credit card number and bingo! Print out your ticket.

This is not really about money, so much as your stress and state of mind in a fairly difficult environment. Let me just mention that it's comforting to ring up the day before and check the booking. Sometimes things change. lol.

Yeah, I fly with Jet all the time. Totally cool. Join Jet Privelege. Jet Konnect is exactly the same except you buy your own sandwiches. Just relax - Kingfisher is great, too. I haven't flown Spicejet. They'll be fine. If you are used to internal airlines in the States or Europe you'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

So, go back to the Jet website and try and track down that cheap fare - it's there - you don't need no travel agent. lol. Report back.

Listen to Dogster, he knows how to get around India. He knows a lot of other things too, but that's another story for another time.

Actually Jaya, my skills only lie in getting around in India in as much comfort, as cheaply as possible. Consequently I am quite expert in booking, then catching, Jet Airways flights. lol.

So, in the true dogster spirit, I feel duty bound to help lisa be an expert, too.

Thanks for the great advice dogster. I think you are right. You get what you pay for and I don't want problems. Sounds like Jaya has some interesting stories about you. Thanks again for giving peace of mind. Lets just hope the fog stays away! Now I'm waiting to book are train tickets.

I would tend to agree with Dogster. I don’t know anything about makemytrip or its reliability. I also ran a random check myself of the makemytrip site against the Kingfisher site for a flight to Udaipur and found only a US$5 fare difference between the two fares (Kingfisher was $5 higher, but that may have been just an exchange rate calculation issue, as Kingfisher’s fares were stated in pounds). So I would keep looking at the sites and see how close you can get on the fares before booking with anyone other than the carrier.

I would agree that I would not want to show up at a Kingfisher, Jet or Indian Airlines counter with a ticket that was not issued by them, and which they may not recognize and therefore may not want to honour. It could be that makemytrip is perfectly legit, but I would ask around and make sure you personally know someone who has used them. You might try looking on flyertalke.com to see if anyone there has used them. And even then the price difference really has to be huge, IMO.

You could wait until you get to India to buy tickets, but really I don’t know that you will find the prices that different for foreigners. If you are travelling in high season, you also run the risk of flights being sold out.

Jet Konnect is the all-economy service of Jet Airways. (Not to be confused with JetLite which is also operated by Jet Airways and used to be Sahara Air; there will be a quiz later…) It is as good as the regular Jet Airways aircraft which has a business class section. As noted by dogster, you have to pay for food, but on the short domestic flights you rarely want to eat anyway (they will give you water). Kingfisher is also an excellent airline and has an all economy service called Kingfisher Red. Spice Jet is pretty good, I would say better than Indian Air, but not as good as Jet or Kingfisher in terms of on-time record and they have had some cancellation issues with flights. I would say the same with Indigo. I don’t know much about Go Air.

Both makemytrip.com & cleartrip.com are very reliable websites.I've used them many times for internal travel in India.They have, at times, been cheaper than booking directly with airlines.Dont ask me how.As suggested above.No harm in comparing both & settle for the best.I can vouch for the safety of transaction on both sites.
They have an system in place for comparing various airline options & offer you the best.For instance Mumbai-Delhi return,the cheapest option the sites could throw up 2 different airlines.
I presume they work out of a small fee around INR100/ transaction and hope for volumes,with payments coming upfront

"...my skills only lie in getting around in India in as much comfort, as cheaply as possible."

That's a good skill set to have Dogster .

P.S. when are you opening your India Tour Guide business???

Catching up on the gossip........

lisasiegel - Dogsters advise was invaluable for one of my trips to India (hi Dogster) snd I agree that you will most likely be pleasantly surprised with the quality and standards of the various airlines. We have used Kingfisher, Jet Airways, JetLite, Spicejet, Air India. With the exception of Air India (which is just OK), the others are very good.

I've been snooping around that site. Of course inquest is correct, it's perfectly fine, full of really usefull stuff. My antennae just went up at that vast price difference.

Jaya, lol: I think there'd be a new travel warning put out if I started Dogster's Indian Tours. But this one would be warning the Governments. Watch out, dogster and seventeen over-excited ladies from Fodor's are on their way... run! Hide!

Next stop on their itinerary: the porn parlour in Jangipur. Then perhaps a cremation or two? A 68 rupee thali for dinner followed by a parade of every Jimmy in West Bengal. Tonight's entertainment? You don't really want to know...

Best we stick to the airlines.

Well, that's 17 customers you don't even have to advertise for and already you're profitable. Not bad for a new business!

Then when the word gets out that you have "17 over excited ladies" our your maiden tour, you will be turning away the over eager male guest by the troves! Why share? Your every travel fantasy is being fulfilled!!!

LOL! My tennis girlfriends would be first in line for dogster tours. I bought all my tickets directly through the airlines. Thanks again. Now it's time to think about hotels, guides and drivers. The list is endless.