Just like anyone who flies regularly, we equally hate convenience fee on flight booking. Recently we booked a family trip for 7 and the convenience fee asked by the airlines was, wait for it, Rs.3500 for return tickets. That’s just insane. However, thankfully there are still a few sites that either don’t charge a convenience fee or can help you circumvent it.

1. HDFC Smartbuy

Update: HDFC Smartbuy now charges a convenience fee. However, it still seems to be pretty low compared to other sites. Thanks @Soum for letting us now (via comments). If you have a HDFC Diners Card, there is no convenience fee when booking on https://www.hdfcbankdinersclub.in/ 

This is the simplest, no-nonsense site to book flight tickets with zero convenience fee. You need an HDFC account or a card or PayZapp to use this site though. It not just waives off the convenience charge, you can also get a discount of Rs.200 by using the code FLYHDFC. HDFC card is anyway one of the fastest way to earn free flights.

2. PayTM with Offers

PayTM charges a convenience fee. However, with several promo codes, you can earn cashback more or less equal to the convenience fee charged. Tip: In some cases, you can save more by splitting your booking into multiple orders.

3. Easemytrip with code EMTNCF

The convenience fee is waived off when using the code EMTNCF on booking. However, in case of cancellation (even partial) the convenience fees of Rs. 250 per passenger per sector will be applied. I also don’t like it but it’s an option.

4. IRCTC Flights

IRCTC charges Rs.59 (Rs. 50 + Rs.9 GST) as convenience fee plus card processing fee (Free for UPI and few more payment options). In most cases the total fee would be much lesser than what you pay on other sites.

5. Directly at the airlines booking office.

Yes, most airlines don’t charge a convenience fee if you book or pay at their offices. Mostly found at the airports. So if you happen to be near one, just walk in and book.

6. International Sites

Booking on an international site can not only help you save on convenience fee but also might help get better rates. Especially for International flights but even domestic flights are cheaper on sites from other countries at times. You can use a service like skyscanner to check for rates on most of the sites and then take a call.

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6 Comments

  1. **Good investment by EaseMyTrip on agents, convenience fee is inclusive at** EaseMyTrip – Flights, Hotels and Bus (http://easemytrip.com/) , they do not mention it separately, they are just being tricky here. Just compare the price of same flight at same schedule, you will get the truth. Seems to be all the paid agents of Easemytrip are waiting here for prey…

    New tricks here is, making statement mixing some lie with some truth and voila!

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