Travel Fare Wars

travelguru.com is the latest entrant in online travel booking. But it is not the last. cleartrip.com is on its way. Sify has recently acquired a travel portal and Sify services are due to be launched in June. So, as consumers are we going to have it all? Not sure!

Most of these portals offer the lowest fare (*Conditions Apply). But the fact is that these portals cannot offer you rates lower than that offered by low-cost carriers like Air Deccan or GoAir.

A couple of days back, out of curiosity I compared the rates in travelguru and makemytrip, for Mumbai - Coimbatore for 30 May. travelguru offered Rs 3200+ as the best rate, while makemytrip offered Rs 3800 as the best rate. Then, I checked Air Deccan for the same date in the same sector. And the offer was Rs 1200.

Interestingly, both travelguru and makemytrip says that they book tickets for Air Deccan. But both did not list Air Deccan in their offer. I do not know what arrangement they have with Air Deccan. But the bottom line is that for domestic travel (without hotel bookings, etc), it is better to approach the low-cost carriers directly to get the best rates.