Ticket to India

Hana

Hi,

I have been looking for a good ticket price to India this May from LA or NYC to Bangalore or Bombay. Can you recommend some travel agents or websites, plz?

Thanks.

Merchant

What's a "good" price for you? If you can fly roundtrip to India from the US for $1,000-$1,300, you've done well. There are sometimes slightly better deals from ticket consolidators (check for a travel agent listing in an Indian immigrant neighborhood), but you're not saving a whole lot of money. Flying to India is expensive . . .

iyou

look in your local asian grocery store for a local asian newspaper; they're everywhere, and inside you'll usually find travel agents who specialize in India and other asian distinations. They always have the best deals.

__________________
.
.
.
--May a moody baby doom a yam.

shere

I know you are based in the US but I will share my experience.

I flew twice to India last year and I found the Indian travel agents in the UK were no cheaper than buying my tickets online. In the past I have bought from agents and not really enjoyed the experience as sometimes they change the dates you request and you only learn about this when you go to pick the tickets up.

The only "cheap" tickets were on the ex Soviet bloc airlines (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan etc etc) and for these you have to usually go via an agent.

For EU airlines (KLM, Lufthansa, Virgin, BA etc) the prices online were better than buying from the agents plus with the option of e-tickets I did not have to waste time going to the agents and knew straight away what dates were available.

crvlvr

websites:

http:// www.mobissimo.com
http://www.makemytrip.com/

or call Naresh Lalwani at 212 935 4825 xtn 28.

do let us know when you find your best deal.

Travelingbhat

both web sites didnt quote a fare that I received through a consolidator for my client.

I think there are some good reasons to still check a travel agent who specializes in INdia tickets only as she/he can get better deal than web sites or with airlines directly.

I got a fare of $1300 including taxes for SEA TO MAA April 10-28th for my clients and when i plugged in the same data into the sites it did not bring up Malaysian as an option.

I no longer sell consolidated air tickets to india but it might be worth checking out some of these travel agents listed on
www.planetguru.com - price will vary on service and airline so buyer beware.

I also recommend booking with a credit card even if there are fees associated with it so you have a fall back.

Archana

concoran

I usually get my tickets from Wita Travels, based in SF Bay area.
http://www.witatravels.com/contactus.asp

Disclaimer : I am not associated with them in anyway. It's just that I do not live in or near Bay Area, and find it easier to deal with an agent who is prompt in sending tickets.

Hana

So I have bought a ticket to India: New York (JFK) to Dehli for a total of $920 with Kuwait airways. I got the ticket from MPR Travel.

45 days to go still Can't wait...

sticky

makemytrip had fares starting at $699

http://flights.makemytrip.com/Flights/FareSearch.aspx?A=VV&JourneyTy pe=R&Cabin=E&StartDate=12&Star tMonth=4&StartYear=2005&Return Date=26&ReturnMonth=4&ReturnYe ar=2005&FromCityCode=NYC&FromC ityName=New%20York&FromAirport Code=JFK&FromAirportName=NEW%2 0YORK%20-%20JFK&FromCountryCode=US&ToCi tyCode=DEL&ToCityName=New%20De lhi&ToAirportCode=DEL&ToAirpor tName=DELHI&ToCountryCode=IN&A dult=1&Child=0&Infant=0&Senior =0&Student=0

__________________
->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->->

Flashpackers: Backpackers doing it in style.

Hana

Yes, and the ticket price is $879 after taxes. Plus, for the date that I want to fly, the rates are higher. But it is an excellent website, sticky.

atongchan

makemytrip may look like a nice site, their fares might actually be a little lower, however unless you are *absolutely* clear with the operators on chat, you will run into problems.

their customer service and the majority of their operators (and I've sadly had to deal with a few) are abysmal.

I don't wish to rant, however I briefly will share the MMT experience. I had purchased a ticket in March for June-September 2005, explicitly asking what the fee would be if I extended the ticket to December. Thus informed, I purchased and have been in India since June. Then last week I sought to make the change to December and was informed my ticket was valid for only FOUR MONTHS, though I was not informed at purchase nor did the fare rules appended to my ticket note this.

So I urge you if you do use them (and I'm now wary of using them) that you ask EVERY question.

My status now is basically fighting with them daily, being promised callbacks with none arriving. Although they have checked the chat logs and explicitly acknowledged it was their error not to inform me at purchase, they are dragging their feet, delaying, refusing to change my ticket until they are certain the airline won't charge them for extending the ticket.

Customer service, in truth, has been serviceless. And I still await a change, though my original departure date is in less than 2 days.

They have now decided that if the airline doesn't extend my ticket, then the responsibility of MakeMyTrip, in spite of acknowledging *their* error, and in spite of the fact that I would *not* have purchased the ticket had i known it would be unextendable through december, they take NO RESPONSIBILITY for their mistake.

NO customer service in other words, and NO accountability even if it's their error.

At any rate beware makemytrip, beware any price that looks cheaper than the rest, there are likely to be hidden 'costs' either in stress or in money.

ammadas

I know right now that british airlines is running a deal right now from newyork to mumbai round trip for $1330 and thats a pretty good deal for a major airline