Buying International Travel Tickets

What is the better option to book a Flight; by a Travel Agent or online booking?

Buying a Ticket had always been annoying for me. My first airline travel tickets were provided by company, I was working for. But things changed when I started working independently and I had to manage all my booking myself.

To buy my first International Ticket was a tedious experience. I checked different online internet websites to compare the prices but I was still skeptical about services of internet companies. My friend advised me to go for the cheaper option between Online and the Travel agents. I checked many travel agents and many websites and at last I found the cheapest option with a Local Travel agent. He offered me the best price which was almost INR 6k lower than the price offered by the Internet Companies.

After a year, I faced the same situation. But now the prices offered by the same travel agent and Internet company were same. I decided to go with Travel agent to maintain the relation. But travel agent tricked us, he increased the price while booking, providing reason that price had fluctuated. The hike in price was INR 3k. We believed him and paid the rate quoted by him. While returning to home, I checked the rate online and found that there was no change in the price on Internet. I called to him to clarify and he said that the internet price does not include the Airport fees; this was his second trick.

Another year passed and I had to travel again on same route. We used the same methods to compare the prices between internet companies and Travel agent. Travel agent quoted higher price and he provided the same reason that internet price does not include Airport fees. I initiated a online chat with internet company and clarified my doubts and booked my first online Ticket. Besides I got points of purchase which was another benefit. Travel agents always wanted cash payments. I started liking internet companies.

I registered on the website of internet company to become a member. I thought that, more discounts will follow by getting a membership. Another year passed and I had to book tickets again. I checked the prices online and clicked "Book Now". To my surprise the price of ticket was revised citing the low availability and new price was INR 35k more than previous price. I decided to abandon the booking and wait for a day to continue booking. Next day, I initiated chat with representative; they gave me a better price and I decided to book offline with their help. But while booking they also cited the reason of price fluctuation and increased the rates by INR 4k. I was in hurry so I gave permission and later paid the quoted price by my Credit Card.

After booking was done, I checked the prices again on internet for same dates and found it lower than my booking price. It was surprising for me. I checked the price again after half an hour and it reduced again. Attached are the snapshots of both the prices.

I felt that behavior of internet company is same like the Travel agent. Their initial offered price was lower and when I decided to go with them, they increased the prices citing fluctuation reason. Both of them were following the same pattern in behavior.

I googled to know the pricing methodology of airlines. It was very surprising to me that Internet companies use various methods to quote a price and prices vary based on User's Travel and Search history. Means internet company can offer a low price for a new user and a high price for a member who is registered with company; company knew customer's travel history and purchasing power, which is used to quote the prices. Moreover, once customer shows faith on company, the prices can be increased in minutes while we search, decide and press "Book Now" button. Websites install cookies on our system, which keeps track of all our online flight search and prices offered. Moreover the policy of "bait and switch" was new to me to know about.

In the end, I understood that we should not rely on a particular agent or internet company but always check with many to compare the prices.There are always good deals available to grab. 

Further Reading: http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/mcgee/2013/04/03/do-travel-deals-change-based-on-your-browsing-history/2021993/

"Peru" is difficult to Access

"Peru" is difficult country to access for me. Consulate of Peru rejected my Business Visa Request twice. Both the times it brought me disappointment but a lot more on second time because the reasons given are illogical; looked like they did not like my passport.

First Attempt - January 2012: I was working in Mexico and my employer wanted me to visit Peru for a month to help out Peru team. Documents were arranged, consulate was contacted and file was submitted. Normal processing time for Business Visa was one week and after waiting for a week, I was informed that company missed to add a important piece of paper and visa was not approved. Disappointment does not end here, but they put a black annoying stamp on passport mentioning "ANULADO" in big words. The rules also mention that I can not apply visa again for next six months. My boss was angry with me; he said why did not Tourist Visa was applied for a short trip?

                                                   Annoying Stamp on my Passport
Everyone asks reason for this stamp whenever I apply visa of any country or I pass the immigration even in my home country.

Second Attempt - December 2014:

Almost two years had passed; I was working in Bolivia this time. "Peru" popped up again, my visit was planned for one month on a Business Visa. I was careful this time so took every precaution in documentation. Documents were arranged with extra care; legalization from immigration and Notarized Invitation letter from Peru gave me a hope of success.

Visa was applied and processing time was three-four days. I was confident but Consulate informed me that they need more time because of ghost of annoying stamp on my passport. Two weeks later they refused me politely and reason was given that "because it was rejected in Mexico so Lima officials did not approved my Business Visa". Disappointment!!

I decided to apply for Tourist Visa to visit Machu-Picchu. Let us see what happens!!

Flowers not Delivered. shopping.indiatimes.com provided bad service.

It was my wife's birthday and I decided to gift Fresh Flowers. Googling gave a lot of options to deliver fresh flowers. Many websites popped up and so brought up confusion. Google also have the solution for this dilemma. A quick check of "ranking" of websites helped to find out bigger players in this business. But the bigger players only provided services in big cities. A simple option to enter Postal Pincode, showed reach of companies and my city was not covered by so called big players.

One of the website was quick to start online chat. As soon as I opened the website, executive initiated chat, asking for preferences and suggestions. I finalized the flowers and started to process the order but Paypal could not complete the transaction. A thought came in my mind to do a quick check for credibility of website. A simple query on google resulted in many reviews and feedback written by customers. Website did not delivered package many times or delivered wrong package. Feedback mentioned that Customer Care executive were not so supportive and emails and phones got unanswered for complaints. I put question about this behavior to the Chat executive and she closed the chat and disappeared. I thanked god for saving me from crooks.

I continued my search and found that shopping.indiatimes.com have options to deliver flowers at my city location. Indiatimes is a reliable name in market so I thought that there is no need to do further probe of the credibility. I selected the flowers and put the order and date of delivery. My imagination showed me prospective happiness on my wife's face.

Flowers were not delivered on expected date. I send a query to know the status of my package which was not answered. After three days there was an update that package has been dispatched and consignment number will be issued soon. It was disappointing to see such a late dispatch of package. Anyways, I do not have options but to wait. Website showed that package was delivered next day but no such delivery happened. I raised the issue of non delivery and asked for refund of my money. Website registered the issue, apologized for non- delivery and informed that they will arrange delivery. I pushed for refund and they refunded me the entire amount after more than a month.

Here is chronology of events:

November 19: Order Date
November 20: Expected Order Delivery Date
November 24: "Order Delivered" But no such delivery happened
November 26: Case Opened
December 6: "Case Resolution Date" but no such resolution happened
December 27: Money returned and Case Closed

Customer Service Rating: Lack of proper communication with customer. No proper feedback mechanism. Overall the rating is "poor"

They returned my money after a long followup so they are honest in money terms.Attached are my order details:

Indian Food in Bolivia

Indian Food in Bolivia

There are Indian Restaurants in Bolivia. I was craving to eat Indian food and found the destinations in Santa Cruz and La Paz. The Name of restaurants in both city was Taj Mahal, coincidentally!! The owners were different, one was owned by Sindhi Businessman and other by Punjabis. 

I am a Vegetarian so my experience is about Vegetarian Food only.

Santa Cruz: Taj Mahal Restaurant

Only two Vegetarian options in Main Coarse and I tried both of them. Food was delicious but have to tell them to keep oil low while frying. 

Location: Near CineCenter, On the road Connecting Las Americas and Cine Center.

Ambience is good. Many options for Non Veg lovers

Must Try: Kulfi in dessert

La Paz:Taj Mahal Restaurant

Typical Punjabi restaurant with  Punjabi flavor. Also have South Indian options in Menu. Many Veg and Non-Veg options.

I ordered Dosa once,  it took lot of time to cook and that too had Punjabi Taste. I decided struck to their specialties next time. Punjabi Dal Makhani is delicious, Mutter Paneer is yummy, Bangan Bharta, Alu Paranthas, Chapatis and Nan makes you feel like home.

Location: San Miguel, Sur de La Paz

Ambience is good. Many Veg and Non Veg options

Must Try: Mango Lassi

Accommodation in Ajman, UAE

Accommodation in UAE: An Experience of Living in Ajman/Sharjah in year 2008/2009

Finding Accommodations and Getting Driving License makes life difficult in UAE. I lived in Ajman/Sharjah for two years in four different accommodations. I was a bachelor working as Engineer in a Company.
Property agents preached these rules to us for Bachelor accommodations:-

i) Bachelors are not allowed to live in Society marked for Families and there is no Bachelors Accommodations in decent locations
ii) Bachelors can live in Industrial Areas which face frequent Electricity/Water supply Issues
iii) Contracts between Builder and Tenant will be authorized by  Municipality; without authorization it is not a valid contract. There is no Taxes in UAE but this authorization costs 5% of yearly Rental value, which is huge sum. More than the tax, I paid in my home country.

We were four bachelors working together in the same company. We found a 2BHK accommodation  and Builder committed us to get authorization from Municipality. It was before the recession hit the World Economy so Rents were very high. We agreed for a AED 46k yearly for that apartment, which included the overhead costs of cleaning etc. Builder charged us the 5% of this amount for authorization. But to our surprise that authorization never happened. Rent is charged Quarterly in UAE. Tenant will pay the security, four post dated Bank Cheque to Builder for a years payment. Any cheque bounce is crime, same as other countries so once the agreement is signed it is difficult to come out of it. My friends told me that the security deposit is rarely paid back by builder.

In seventh month the builder informed us that Municipality is not authorizing the contract and there is a crackdown happening on bachelors living in these building so we have to vacate and move to other place. Later we understood that it is a kind of game that builders play. There was no such crackdown happening but real thing was that, Rent has increased and Builder was able to get more money for that apartment and in absence of contract we have nowhere to complain.

We found another apartment but more expensive than previous. We moved in new apartment and after three months, we can feel the impact of Recession. Rent prices had reduced, many peoples have left there cars on Airport parking and fled with their family. But damage had done to us, we do not have options to switch.

After these bitter experiences, I understood that it is better to find the sharing apartments on Monthly basis rather than sign a Contract with Builder.