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Need Booking Help on Indian Airlines - IC

Need Booking Help on Indian Airlines - IC

Old Jul 24, 2007, 10:33 am
  #1  
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Question Need Booking Help on Indian Airlines - IC

Im having a hard time figuring out how to book an Indian Airline flight.

Im looking to book the direct BLR-MLE on 16th of December coming back MLE-BLR on 23rd of December.

ITA and other sites quote a fare of 427.50 USD with a fare code of WE3M.

However, these sites cant book it and keeps telling me to book it on ICs website. But every time I go to their website it seems it wont let me book International flights.

How do I book this flight?
Do I call Indian Airlines in India?
Is there still Fare Discrimination for foreigners?
Is this the cheapest fare?

Thanks for the input.


Drew
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Old Jul 24, 2007, 10:42 am
  #2  
cpx
 
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you could try:
http://www.indian-airlines.nic.in/scripts/op_gsas.aspx

or talk to a local travel agent.
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Old Jul 24, 2007, 11:46 am
  #3  
 
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Originally Posted by KL808
Im having a hard time figuring out how to book an Indian Airline flight.

Im looking to book the direct BLR-MLE on 16th of December coming back MLE-BLR on 23rd of December.

ITA and other sites quote a fare of 427.50 USD with a fare code of WE3M.

However, these sites can’t book it and keeps telling me to book it on IC’s website. But every time I go to their website it seems it won’t let me book International flights.

How do I book this flight?
Do I call Indian Airlines in India?
Is there still Fare Discrimination for foreigners?
Is this the cheapest fare?

Thanks for the input.


Drew
The IC website (will be merged with AI's) doesn't show any foreign destinations. http://www.indianairlines.in/home.asp

You can call them, or if you have a company or individual sponsoring you, they can arrange the ticket, as there *still* appears to be fare discrimination for foreigners, especially when they see your foreign credit card!

Thus, book through a TA. If you need one, PM me, and I can direct you.

ITA usually gives you the cheapest fares, although not always some special airline website internet-only fares, like LH and SK might have online...
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Old Jul 27, 2007, 5:54 am
  #4  
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We had the same problem booking IC flights earlier this year - in fact the lowest fares we could find were via IC's website (much cheaper even than what our TA could do and we have a really good one).

In the end we simply called the IC GSA in Australia and the ticketing was done over the phone (even for an 'internet fare') and we got our tickets the next day. Couldn't have been easier.

Looks like IC has GSAs in most countries (details via their website).

Regards

LME ff etc etc
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Old Feb 2, 2009, 11:14 am
  #5  
 
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Question

I came across this old link and have some questions on the very low internet fares offered by IC for domestic routes in India.

1. Will they accept my US based credit card for online payment?

2. If not, how do I get these net fares? Someone mentioned contacting a IC GSA in the USA, is this any (India focused) travel agent or someone else?



Yes, I know about the lack of service on IC from experience so prefer not to go off on that tangent in the above questions. Thanks in advance for all your help.
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Old Feb 2, 2009, 12:49 pm
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by miles_navigator
I came across this old link and have some questions on the very low internet fares offered by IC for domestic routes in India.

1. Will they accept my US based credit card for online payment?

2. If not, how do I get these net fares? Someone mentioned contacting a IC GSA in the USA, is this any (India focused) travel agent or someone else?



Yes, I know about the lack of service on IC from experience so prefer not to go off on that tangent in the above questions. Thanks in advance for all your help.
I just did some checking (though ended up booking on KF) and there doesnt seem to be any discrimination on price in Rs vs USD.

You can check on the website and pick different currencies and they will quote in rupees and then convert to dollars in the next line.
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Old Feb 3, 2009, 9:22 am
  #7  
 
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I've had better luck myself using cleartrip.com or travelocity.co.in. Cleartrip usually has lower prices I've found - I've booked that exact flight above from BLR-MLE for < 200 USD.
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Old Feb 3, 2009, 9:25 am
  #8  
 
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Looking now, I can actually get cheaper fares on Cleartrip than on the IC website in some cases. YMMV.
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Old Feb 3, 2009, 7:09 pm
  #9  
 
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Originally Posted by BobbySteel
I've had better luck myself using cleartrip.com or travelocity.co.in. Cleartrip usually has lower prices I've found - I've booked that exact flight above from BLR-MLE for < 200 USD.
Thanks!
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Old Feb 3, 2009, 10:24 pm
  #10  
 
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Use a third-party agent website.
The fare increment for a ticket in the same bucket will generally only be a few rupees more, and very often you'll find a better fare on another airline or a bucket that IC aren't booking through their own website.

http://www.cleartrip.com is one of the best for Indian international and domestic routes.
dogtanian is offline  

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