Yatra.com review

Yatra.com is a price comparison web site run by TV 18, the people who run CNBC TV. Yatra.com is a service for booking air tickets, hotels, car rentals, buses and travel tours. It's targeted at the Indian traveller. You can enter in your place of departure and your destination, with the date range and Yatra.com will throw up a list of air ticket offers for flights available for the specific date.

Booking a flight ticket on Yatra.com

We tried searching for air tickets for flights from Mumbai to Delhi for 3 days later - a one way ticket and Yatra.com returned 84 flights. The cheapest air ticket on offer was for Rs.4498, an Air Deccan flight leaving Mumbai at 20:50 hours and reaching Delhi at 23:10 hrs, with one stop on the way. Air Deccan is a no-frills airline although it may not stay that way soon as Vijay Mallya, the owner has different plans. The airline has been losing a lot of money selling tickets cheap. Just Rs.25 more expensive than Air-Deccan was Go-Air. The most expensive ticket was for Rs.26,506 offered by Jet Airways. These prices are only indicative but a price comparison saves you the bother of visiting the web sites of various airlines to get individual prices of air tickets.

The airlines covered by Yatra.com included Air Deccan, Go Air, Spicejet, Jet Airways, Jetlite, Air India, Kingfisher and Indian Airlines.

A few tips to keep in mind when booking air tickets to get the best deal

1) The class of the flight will make a difference. Economy is the cheapest class. No-frills airlines are less expensive than others because they don't offer the bells and whistles which other airlines do. Some make you even pay for food.

2) Opt for the non-peak timings to get lower prices. A flight that leaves at 9:30 am in the morning will be more expensive than one which leaves at 4:30 am or at 7:45 am, everything else being equal.

3) Book ahead of time to save money. Booking atleast 30 days ahead of time will generally give you a lower price on air tickets. Last minute tickets are usually more expensive.

4) Comparison shopping for air tickets is the best way to go. You can get dozens of offers at once instead of having to visit web sites of various airlines.

5) Look for discount offers and promotional codes. When they're available you can be sure we'll post them here. Bookmark this page!

6) Read the fine print. Some tickets are not refundable because they're cheap and it's not feasible for airlines to cancel them. Yatra.com specifically mentions if a ticket is refundable or not against the ticket offer listing.

7) Book online rather than call up yatra.com or any other agency on the phone. Booking online gets you an electronic record of the transaction. In case of any disputes you have the record to establish the transaction. If you're not comfortable using a credit card, you can use online banking or the COD (Cash on delivery) option. COD seems to be currently available only for Sahara Airlines and SpiceJet Airlines, with Yatra.com.

When you book a flight through Yatra there are fare rules which go with every airline. These rules change a bit depending on the airline. Some tickets are refundable while some aren't. You'll find 'refundable' or 'non refundable' displayed right next to the listing of the flight ticket offer.

Yatra.com charges Rs.200 Per ticket booking as their fee.

Yatra.com charges you a fee if you cancel the ticket. The cancellation policy varies with the airline. You can click on 'fare rules' next to each ticket offer listing to read the cancellation rules. Some tickets are non-refundable. Air Deccan doesn't seem to offer a refund on cancellation. Except for Air India and SpiceJet, the airline cancellation fee is Rs. 500 per sector per ticket. In case of Air India, the cancellation fee is Rs. 300 per sector per ticket. In case of Spice Jet, the cancellation fee is Rs. 600 per sector per ticket. Yatra charges Rs. 200 per booking as cancellation / Amendment service fee from its customers.

Similarly other airlines have their own policies. Do check before you book your flight ticket.

Yatra miles - your rewards for booking flight tickets

Yatra also gives you bonus miles on the lines of 'air miles' which airlines give out to their loyal customers. Against each flight ticket offer you'll find listed the 'yatra miles' you earn. Yatra.com also seems to offer 200 bonus miles on the first purchase made by new customers.

The Yatra Miles Program (YMP) are given every time you buy travel services from them. Whenever you buy, you receive miles (points). When these miles reacg 1000 you can start redeeming the miles. Redemption will be offered from December 2007 onwards.

When you book a flight ticket, if you have over 1000 Yatra miles in your account, you'll be asked if you would like to use them for part of whole of your booking. Your Yatra Miles will then be converted into rupees or whichever currency you're using for booking. If there is any difference, it'll be billed to you. YOu can check your accumulated Yatra miles at any time. The first time you sign up with them and book a flight ticket, your Yatra Miles start accumulating. Currently Yatra.com seems to offer Yatra air miles only on domestic air ticket bookings but they've indicated that this will also be offered with other services such as hotel bookings, holiday packages and car rentals in the future.

Booking a air ticket online saves you from getting a hard copy ticket. YOu can just print out the email confirmation you receive in your mailbox and reach the airport with some ID proof. will give you a PTA number that you need to present at the airport check-in counter of the airline. The airline representative will print and give you your ticket at that time. The ID proof accepted at the airports includes:

• Valid Passport
• Valid Driving License
• Election Photo Identification Card
• Photo Credit Card
• PAN card issued by the Income Tax department
• Photo identity card issued by the employer being government and reputed private sector organizations

In case the passenger does not posses any of the above documents, the passenger should carry any other relevant attested document that contains a recent photograph of the passengers.

You can also get a hard copy ticket delivered to your doorstep. Yatra.com sends all Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, and Sahara tickets to the delivery address provided at the time of booking within 3 business days of the booking. All the tickets are couriered to you without any additional cost.

Mode of payment

You can pay Yatra.com via credit card or use your bank account to make an online payment. These banks offer an online payment facility:

• Bank Of India 
• CitiBank 
• HDFC Bank 
• IDBI Bank 
• Indusind Bank
• Kotak Bank 
• Punjab National Bank 
• State Bank of India

You can also pay cash on delivery and someone from Yatra.com will reach your doorstep with the air ticket.

The COD (Cash on delivery) mode of payment is an option you can use if you're booking air tickets for yourself. You pay for the tickets only when you actually receive it. There is no extra fee charged for this. Yatra.com requires that you provide a landline phone number and email address for this.

This options seems to be currently available only for SPiceJet Airlines and Kingfisher airlines. Only people booking more than 72 hours prior to the schedule departure time of the flight can make use of cash on delivery. You need to retain a copy of the e-ticket and the courier consignment document as proof of payment against COD.

In case of COD if any customer refuses to pay the order or is unavailable at the designated time of delivery, the order is liable to be cancelled and Yatra shall not be liable for the cancellation of the order.

In case of refunds

You need to get in touch with Yatra.com for refunds. The airlines will not directly issued you a refund resulting on cancellation. Visit Yatra.com to know more or to book your air ticket.