I do all my air bookings at Makemytrip.com, because I find the site is easy to navigate, user friendly, and reliable. I always find something new everytime I visit the site and it is always something that i had felt would help the person using the site to book tickets. This time too I used the site to book the air tickets for my wife and self for our journey from Chennai to Toronto.
My wife was booked by Air Canada from Chennai to Toronto and back. Just a month before her scheduled departure, I was shocked to see that her itenerary did not exist on the website. I called Makemytrip on the landline and was informed that Air Canada had cancelled their flights to Chennai - maybe because of the economic slowdown and low traffic. I was very upset at first but must now give credit to Makemytrip.com for booking her on Lufthansa on the same ticket, at the same good price that I had got on Air Canada.
I was booked on Emirates from Chennai to London via Dubai and on Air Canada from London to Toronto. I have a frequent flyer card for Emirates and admire the professionalism of this airline everytime i travel by it. Both the flights, from Chennai to Dubai and Dubai to London departed on time. The check in and other formalities were perfect. The service on board was very good and the latest aircraft ensured that we had good inflight entertainment during the journey. Dubai is always a treat to watch. A small sheikdom transforming itself into a major tourist and business destination. Dubai airport puts nearly all Indian airports to shame. Emirates, along with the other Gulf airlines like Qatar, Air Arabia, etc., are slowly but surely eating into the market share of the Indian carriers. Can our government stop this from happening by having market friendly policies?
Air Canada from London to Toronto was professional, but the service was not as good as Emirates. I guess most people working for Emirates are on a work permit that can be cancelled at any time, and that helps the Emirates bosses to keep employees on their toes. This is not to belittle the professionalism of Emirates but to put things in perspective.
2 comments:
Since the travel agent controversy, I have always wondered whether it is not cheaper to buy tickets directly from the airline than going through a site like makemytrip.
Also now there are just one or two cheap fare airlines so searching for good fares isnt such a problem.
There are various classes even within the economy class and you cannot get the cheapest tickets with the airlines - they will always quote the higher class in economy, whereas travel agents can give you the deals. Legally, airlines that are IATA members are bound by IATA rules and cannot underquote, but then there are always loopholes. This is wrt international ticketing. Makemytrip and yatra.com are good travel sites - from my experience.
Domestic too, at times, one can get cheaper ticket with these travel websites.
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