Earlier, people practiced the habit of booking flight tickets via travel agencies and agents. Now, this practice is not followed by many as a majority Indians book their airline tickets directly with the airline. This indicates a push towards the trend that exists in the West, states a survey that was conducted by an online travel portal, TripAdvisor Survey.
The flight ticket booking in the country is becoming a supplier-direct market like the more developed travel markets. 68 percent of Indians who were interviewed state that they book the flight tickets directly with the airline. Perhaps, they do so as they know that they will get the best price or deal from the airline, states the survey. These flyers do extensive research before booking tickets as 74 percent of them said it is very important to make use of the flight search price comparison website. Also, 64 percent of them visit 3 to over 5 websites before booking tickets. Only a small fraction of 6 percent is loyal to a particular website, and the other 35 percent shop at 1 or 2 sites.
The survey was carried out among 1,700 respondents of different age groups and looked at thee flight ticket booking practices of people in India.
Of the different ancillary fees that are included in the flying, the most detested one is the seat selection fee that is followed by the additional payment for the check-in baggage. Around 32 percent of them said they hated paying for the in-flight food and drinks. 62 percent of them said sleeping on board was their favorite and 54 percent said reading was their favorite activity on board.
Almost 45 percent of the respondents claim that they purchase flight tickets when there are discount sales. In fact, 20 percent of them are willing to change their travel dates or destination if the tickets are available in sale. Around 35 percent of them do not buy flight tickets during sale as the overall ticket price might change due to many charges and taxes.
