They can only improve with constant consumer feedback; provided they are honest enough to accept it. Some of them are not.

Also the data that is used for drop down is standard & not customised every time, so the problem with airport at Vapi etc.

Keep up the work mate!

My own comparison of these three sites at

http://www.nitinsareen.blogspot.com

http://www.informationmadness.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=751&Itemid=9

I have used it and have found good deals. The good thing about them is transperancy as after the search, all-inclusive prices are shown with detailed break-up. However, customer service is not good as I haven’t got the reply for my queries through e-mail and their phone lines are always busy.

Though I am not a tech savvy person but, as a customer, if I have been kept on hold for 10-15 minutes and then I keep the phone with disappointment,I would be happy if organization calls me back to ask my requirements.

Their website is http://www.ezeego1.co.in

Anyways, was trying to make an online reservation and my general observation was that the tickets online are generally more expensive than buying through a local agent. Besides not all airline options are available and there are price differences for the same itineraries among the different online travel sites.

Was wondering if the Indian online travel sites can benefit from Amazon.com’s online book selling model where they show listings from other book-sellers (mom&pop, individuals, other book stores). Our travel sites could similarly aggregate the offerings of local travel agents. So when you search for a flight and price, the offers from local travel agents should also be listed.

There is great advantage to the first-mover in this space (local travel agents will be quick to jump on to get online exposure) and the travel site can earn a buck just for making the connection.

Food for thought – hope some travel site is reading this

-Unmesh.
Founder, SadakMap.com
SpotMeUrl: http://www.sadakmap.com/spotme/unmesh

I guess u missed out Indiatimes Travel … I must say its worth skipping the effort the most lousy cust service ( the ticket didnt reach me 8 days after booking, luckily i had booked 20 days in advance, 6 rounds of follwo-up calls got me the ticket)

In hotels i think Nivalink.com is the best

Dont never use MAKEMYTRIP.com site.It is obsolutely a fraud site and they dont show responsible towards customer.They even dont have a proper faq’s about cancellation and they dont even take care about cancellation tickets.I lost my hard earned money $1000 .I am not only the vicim of Makemytrip .There are sever other customers are facing the same problem.

As a designer may be I am influenced by their easy to use simple interface. Other portals are somewhat cluttered and not user friendly… dint bothered about refunding/cancellation options…

best part is even my father with very little exposure to website was able to use the website…
full marks to cleartrip…

I would like to ask you if you are starting a new poll than please include Hotboy Sabeer’s Arzoo.com
it would be nice to see which is standing better in providing cheap fares and better services.

bye, Cheerz.
Sumeet.

Travelguru…. Is the right place….to plan your holiday.

Best Deal always..

Cheers
Leena

We are currently the fastest, most comprehensive (14 Airlines, 3 OTAs) and most unbiased travel search engine in the Indian market.

We can confidently claim to have the cheapest fares on any given sector on any given date since between the airlines and OTAs we show fares from, we are bound to found the cheapest options for you within a few seconds.

We show all prices with taxes included, and we dont claim to sell any 99 Rs. tickets because we want consumers to know the absolute price that hits their pockets.

Finally – try it once, and tell us if any other portal can match our prices, speed or usability, for flights.

Great site and community. Check what we are trying to achieve in Birbal.in

Birbal (when launched fully) will do three things for the user:

1) Help search and compare options amongst participating OTA’s and airlines

2) Help the community to discuss and rate (both objective and subjective) Airlines (Domestic and international), Hotels, Places of Interest and Cities.

3) Transfer the user to the service provider (Whether travel sites or airlines) to make a purchase

Travel is being launched first with (airfares and hotels) followed by Consumer Finance,Insurance, Mutual Funds, Telecom, Food, Events, ISPs.

Let me know what you think.

A note from someone who has been travelling around a lot in the last two years and has booked most of his tickets on the net.

While a lot of focus is on the way the websites present content little attention seems to have been paid to their customer service back bone. I have had problems twice with MakeMyTrip where the same fare has been charged twice on my card. (Note that being a frequent user I am aware and make it a point to click only once on their payment link – Problems happen when the expected page does not load!!) The response timelines when such issues are raised are pathetic.

I have had far better service from Yatra. First off, they have not given me reason to complain, the site is more User friendly than any other (Have you tried their price and time filters?? They are a brilliant feature for travellers whose needs are not just to look for the cheapest flights but ones that suit their schedules!) and I find better deals than most other sites. I always check different sites everytime I book and my hit rate for the cheapest ones has been as high as 90% with Yatra!

Cheers,
Raj

Cleartrip is clean. By clean, I mean easy to load and without ads.

Travelguru has VAPI listed in the list of cities (I don’t know whether VAPI even has a airport), but Patna is not mention in the list. I think they are supports of MNS [:P].

thanks for your reply.
one more question…….

what are the important features that a customer will look in a travel portal? or what features make a travel portal interesting or
usable for the customers?