Yahoo Fare Chase India Vs Rediff Fare Search

Accidently i reached Yahoo India homepage. In last 2-3 years probably i might have used yahoo  india homepage 10-15 times. As nor do i have a yahoo email account or any interest in using their search engine. As i had reached the page i wanted to see whom they had partnered for providing travel content/deals. I knew about global site alliance with lonely planet but nothing indian specific was in news.

On clicking Travel bumped into yahoo india’s new application Fare Chase. Which is pretty similar to Rediff Fare Search we have reviewed before. The difference is Yahoo fare chase shows more accurate pricing as compared to rediff fare search.  To understand why search is better lets look at yahoo fare search functionality.

What i could understand by looking at the application. Once you select the airport and dates  you wanna fly. The site runs an screen scraping utility to search airline website  for the fares and return results back to the user. Though the tool didnt work fine for me as i was checking fare between Delhi – Gorakhpur. It also showed me fair for Delhi – Agartala. Now i dont know why was that did the computer think agartala was the nearest airport??

Anyway once you click go it takes user back to original airline site from where fare was scrapped.  This is a good utility for travellers as AIRLINE WEBSITE FARES AND TRAVEL PORTAL FARES MAY BE DIFFERENT AT TIMES.

I like rediff fare search utility better as they have 90 days fare analysis utility which is very handy. So many times it has helped me plan my holidays.

Consolidator Fares – How do they work in online enviornment

Consolidator fares are basicly large bulk volume fare purchased directly from airlines. They are seeing new light of day with comming in of Internet. As now the fares can be constructed from consolidator’s database and checked for availability on airline systems via GDS or airlines websites directly. Companies like cfares.com run search on travel wholesellers database to find the cheapest fare and help users get real cheaps deals with price guarantee.

In India the concept of consolidator fares is still not familiar with most of the travel agents hence any company willing to enter this segment will be required to educate the market first. In indian market we are yet to see travel portals going low to attract more customers on listed internet fares of airlines. Though would not blame travel portal for this due to lack of air suppliers/airlines on domestic front.  India has around 200 aircrafts in total playing on domestic routes. Whereas singapore airlines got 400 alone. Their is a huge gap which need to be covered and industry has to mature further. But growth strategies for all these travel portals lie with airline strategies and willingness to go to second tier cities.