Air ticketing
Anyone can
sell you a seat.
The cheapest fare on screen is often the most expensive one you can buy — once the connection fails, the bag costs extra, and the change fee lands. We book the fare that survives contact with the actual trip.
Popular routes & fares
Some of the routes our desk books most. Tap one to start an enquiry — we’ll come back with the fare that actually survives the trip.
Popular domestic routes
Delhi–Mumbai, Bengaluru–Delhi, Mumbai–Goa, Delhi–Srinagar and more.
Popular international routes
Delhi–Dubai, Mumbai–Singapore, Delhi–London, Bengaluru–Bangkok.
Lowest fare deals
Current advance-purchase and off-peak fares on high-demand sectors.
Business travel offers
Corporate negotiated and SME programme fares with softer change rules.
What you're actually paying for
Anatomy of
an air fare
Several things hide inside one number on a booking screen. Only part of it is set by the airline's pricing, and some of the rest can come back to you if you cancel — which is why "non-refundable" is rarely the whole story.
| Code | Component | What it is | If you cancel |
|---|---|---|---|
| BASE | Base fare | The airline's actual price for the seat, set by fare class. This is the only part that genuinely varies between agents. | Per fare rules |
| YQ/YR | Carrier surcharge | An airline-imposed charge, historically for fuel. Treated as part of the fare, not a tax, so it follows the fare rules. | Per fare rules |
| K3 | GST on air travel | Goods and Services Tax on the ticket. Shown separately so your company can claim input credit — which is why the invoice must carry your GSTIN. | Per rules |
| UDF | User Development Fee | Levied by the airport operator, collected by the airline on their behalf. Nothing to do with the carrier or with us. | Usually refundable |
| PSF | Passenger Service Fee | Security and facilitation charge at the departure airport, again collected on behalf of others. | Usually refundable |
| FEE | Our service fee | What Tripgation charges for building, issuing and standing behind the ticket. Stated as its own line on every quote. | Stated upfront |
Statutory taxes and airport charges are often recoverable even on a non-refundable ticket, subject to the airline's cancellation charge and the fare rules on your specific ticket. Many travellers never ask for them — we file it as a matter of course.
Inventory
Six kinds of
fare, one of
them is yours
A public search shows you one of these. We check all six against the same trip and tell you which wins — including when the answer is the one you could have booked yourself.
Published fares
The same fares you see on any booking site. We will happily book one if it is genuinely the best answer, and we will say so.
Corporate negotiated
Airline agreements tied to your company's volume on specific routes. Usually a discount plus softer change rules, which is often worth more than the discount.
Consolidator & net fares
Contracted long-haul inventory not shown in public search. Restrictive by nature — we check the rules before recommending one.
SME programmes
Most major carriers run small-business schemes with no volume commitment. Very few small companies are enrolled, because nobody tells them these exist.
Group fares
Ten or more travelling together. Names can usually be finalised later, and deposits hold the seats at a fixed price.
Multi-city & open-jaw
Fly into one city, out of another. Frequently cheaper than two one-ways, and almost never surfaced by a standard round-trip search.
An honest comparison
When to use us,
and when not to
For a Delhi–Mumbai hop next Tuesday, book it yourself. The difference shows up on everything more complicated than that.
Booking it yourself
Fine, and sometimes the right call- Direct, simple, point-to-point — genuinely quick
- You accept the fare rules as displayed, unread
- A schedule change arrives by email at 1am with a link
- Cancellation goes into a queue with everyone else's
- The GST invoice is your problem to chase
- An unused ticket quietly expires
Booking through the desk
Worth it when the trip has moving parts- Fare rules read before ticketing, and summarised in plain language
- Connections checked against real minimum transfer times
- Schedule change handled before you see it, with options attached
- A named consultant on the reissue, and a duty officer at 3am
- GST invoice issued correctly against your GSTIN, first time
- Unused tickets tracked and applied to your next booking
When it goes wrong
The part you're
really paying for
Booking a flight is easy. Rebuilding one at 2:40am from a terminal in a country the traveller has never visited is the job.
We see it before you do
Schedule changes, cancellations and equipment swaps land on our queue, not just in your inbox. On a cancelled flight, the rebooking usually starts before the traveller has cleared security.
The duty officer can act
Nights, Sundays and public holidays are covered by someone with authority to rebook and arrange a hotel without waiting for office hours. Approval is reconciled afterwards.
You get options, not a status
Two or three concrete choices with cost and arrival time against each, so the traveller decides in one message instead of five.
The claim gets filed
Where a delay or denied boarding triggers compensation under DGCA rules, we file it. Most travellers never claim, and airlines are content with that.
Corporate air programmes
For companies
without a travel
department
Policy at the point of request
Grade-wise cabin entitlements, advance-booking windows and fare ceilings applied when the request is raised — not discovered at reimbursement.
Approvals that route themselves
Out-of-policy requests go to the right approver automatically, with the in-policy alternative and the price difference shown alongside.
Unused ticket recovery
Cancelled non-refundable tickets usually retain residual value for a limited period. We track them by traveller and apply them. For most SMEs this alone covers our fee.
One reconciled invoice
Consolidated monthly billing with GSTIN, cost centre and project code against every segment. Finance stops matching card statements to boarding passes.
Duty of care
A live record of who is where, so you can answer that question in an emergency in minutes rather than by calling around.
Quarterly savings review
Spend by route and carrier, missed savings, policy leakage, and our own service failures. Read it before renewing us.
Before you fly
Six checks that
prevent most
bad mornings
- Passport valid at least six months beyond your return date, with two blank pages
- Visa or transit visa checked for every country you touch, including layovers
- Name on the ticket matching the passport exactly — no initials, no nicknames
- Web check-in done 48 to 24 hours ahead, depending on the carrier
- Two hours before a domestic departure, three before an international one
- Power banks in cabin baggage only, spare lithium batteries never in the hold
Get a fare
Send us a route. We'll show our working.
Quote back within a working day, with the fare rules summarised and our fee on its own line.