Buying Indian air tickets (for an Indian resident) from the USA?

I have this situation. I want to pay for air tickets for an elderly
relative who lives in India and thus qualifies for rupee fares.

However, the sites I am familiar with (in particular Cleartrip) won't
let me charge it to my US-issued credit card.

I realize that specific airlines (eg, Spicejet) will let me buy such
tickets. However, this trip has segments on several airlines, and I'd
rather do this via one agent/portal.

Does anybody know of orbitz/travelocity like portals in India where you
can actully pay for and buy tickets? They can be etickets, or paper
tickets couriered to an Indian address.

All help appreciated.

Don't bother with India. The place is pre-historic, so is their way of
dealing with others.

A few months ago my girlfriend and I decided to give it a try. Indians
had been telling us that there are lots of new airlines and getting
around is easier than my last nightmare with Indian Airlines.

Turned out, we couldn't even buy any tickets for domestic travel we
wanted to do there.

All airlines and travel agencies I tried only take credit cards issued
in India.

What our Indian friends had neglected to mention is that their
relatives buy tickets for their travels within India!

I thanked God from the bottom of my heart for this early sign, decided
to leave India to the more rustic, and visit Thailand and Singapore
instead. Best decision ever!


RPS wrote:

: I have this situation. I want to pay for air tickets for an elderly
: relative who lives in India and thus qualifies for rupee fares.
:
: However, the sites I am familiar with (in particular Cleartrip) won't
: let me charge it to my US-issued credit card...

Alex wrote:

Don't bother with India. The place is pre-historic, so is their way of
dealing with others.

So you suggest the person, in the post you quoted (before changing the
subject line), should forget about getting a ticket for his relative in
India, just because YOU can't figure out how to buy a ticket from
outside the country?

Mike Hunt postmaster@localhost wrote:

: Alex wrote:
:
: Don't bother with India. The place is pre-historic, so is their way of
: dealing with others.
:
: So you suggest the person, in the post you quoted (before changing the
: subject line), should forget about getting a ticket for his relative in
: India, just because YOU can't figure out how to buy a ticket from
: outside the country?

I am the OP you are referring to. To be fair to Alex, I understand his
frustration. So far I have found no way of buying this ticket for my
relative; all web sites appear to have black-listed all credit cards
issued outside India. I may have to ask a friend or relative in India
to buy the ticket and then owe them the money. I guess, in the end,
that is the Indian way.

On Jan 27, 3:58 am, RPS wrote:
I have this situation. I want to pay for air tickets for an elderly
relative who lives in India and thus qualifies for rupee fares.

However, the sites I am familiar with (in particular Cleartrip) won't
let me charge it to my US-issued credit card.

I realize that specific airlines (eg, Spicejet) will let me buy such
tickets. However, this trip has segments on several airlines, and I'd
rather do this via one agent/portal.

Does anybody know of orbitz/travelocity like portals in India where you
can actully pay for and buy tickets? They can be etickets, or paper
tickets couriered to an Indian address.

Low-cost airlines are not usually available on sites like Orbitz and
Travelocity. As far as I know, Jet Blue, Southwest etc. can't be
booked on those sites, and neither can Ryanair or Easyjet in Europe or
Air Asia or Dragonair in East/Southeast Asia. It's not unique to
India.

RPS wrote:
Mike Hunt postmaster@localhost wrote:

Alex wrote:

Don't bother with India. The place is pre-historic, so is their
way of dealing with others.

So you suggest the person, in the post you quoted (before changing
the subject line), should forget about getting a ticket for his
relative in India, just because YOU can't figure out how to buy a
ticket from outside the country?

I am the OP you are referring to. To be fair to Alex, I understand his
frustration. So far I have found no way of buying this ticket for my
relative; all web sites appear to have black-listed all credit cards
issued outside India. I may have to ask a friend or relative in India
to buy the ticket and then owe them the money. I guess, in the end,
that is the Indian way.

chuckle. Reminds me of... the USA! Many sites will not accept your card if
you are from outside the USA. I end up using Travelocity as they do accept
foreign cards, although you have to sign a disclaimer that you are actually
american.
I can't fly Southwest for this reason, for instance.

It's not just the Indians.

ditto trying to use Priceline. If you have a non-USA card, fuggedaboudit.


--
ant
Don't try to email me;
I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy

ant wrote:

: chuckle. Reminds me of... the USA! Many sites will not accept your card if
: you are from outside the USA. I end up using Travelocity as they do accept
: foreign cards, although you have to sign a disclaimer that you are actually
: american.
: I can't fly Southwest for this reason, for instance.
:
: It's not just the Indians.
:
: ditto trying to use Priceline. If you have a non-USA card, fuggedaboudit.

All good points. We only feel the thorn that we happen to step on, but
the world is rich in thorns. :-)

Like Travelocity here, there might be an exceptional site like that in
India, that would be good enough for me, but I haven't found it yet.
Any pointers greatly appreciated.

RPS wrote:
Mike Hunt postmaster@localhost wrote:

: Alex wrote:
:
: Don't bother with India. The place is pre-historic, so is their way of
: dealing with others.
:
: So you suggest the person, in the post you quoted (before changing the
: subject line), should forget about getting a ticket for his relative in
: India, just because YOU can't figure out how to buy a ticket from
: outside the country?

I am the OP you are referring to. To be fair to Alex, I understand his
frustration. So far I have found no way of buying this ticket for my
relative; all web sites appear to have black-listed all credit cards
issued outside India. I may have to ask a friend or relative in India
to buy the ticket and then owe them the money. I guess, in the end,
that is the Indian way.

Between what cities and what dates?

Also, have you check with Indian agents in the US?

RPS schrieb:
I have this situation. I want to pay for air tickets for an elderly
relative who lives in India and thus qualifies for rupee fares.

However, the sites I am familiar with (in particular Cleartrip) won't
let me charge it to my US-issued credit card.

Would it be a problem for your relative to pay in cash and to get $$
from you later while at destination? Would that be a legal problem?

Regards, ULF

Ulf Kutzner wrote:

Would it be a problem for your relative to pay in cash and to get $$
from you later while at destination? Would that be a legal problem?

OK, that particular person lives in a village and not able to handle
such transactions. I do have other relatives I could ask. The problem
here is the way Indian families work, or at least ours. :-) The last
couple time I asked them to buy something for me, they refused to take
money later. That may be nice, but it also makes it difficult to ask
them again, except when sums involved are very small. That's why I
prefer to handle this myself.