The practice of asking a travel agent to book an airline ticket is flying out of the window. A significant number of Indians now book their tickets directly with the airline, indicating a push towards the trend that prevails in the West, said a survey carried out by an online travel portal.

"Air ticket booking in India is increasingly becoming a supplier-direct market, as is the case in more developed travel markets. Sixty-eight per cent of Indians interviewed said that they book directly with the airline, perhaps knowing that this is where they will get the best deal/price," said the survey. But these flyers do their research before buying tickets as 74% said it was 'very important' to use a flight search price comparison site. "A good 64% visit 3 to more than 5 sites while shopping for flights. Only 6% are brand loyal to one website, while another 35% shop at 1 to 2 sites," said the survey.

The survey, carried out by TripAdvisor among 1,700 respondents across various age groups, looked at air ticket booking practices of Indians.

Among the various ancillary fees that are part of flying, the most despised was the seat selection fee followed by extra payment for check-in baggage. About 32% of the respondents also said that they dislike paying for in-flight food and beverages. When it came to spending time on board, sleeping was the clear favourite with 62% respondents opting for it followed by reading, with 54% indicating this pastime.

For domestic bookings, Indians are not last-minute buyers, though they may not buy a ticket months in advance. "For domestic flights, 55% of Indians make the actual booking within 3 weeks of the flying date, while 20% do it a month in advance. However for international flights, a significant chunk of 61.21% book between 1 and 3 months in advance. However, 16% book only 2-3 weeks in advance," said the survey.

Discount sale offers have their followers, with 45% of the respondents saying they have bought flight tickets on sale. "Indicating Indians' famous price sensitivity, a good 20% say that they are willing to even change their destination or travel dates if tickets are on sale," it said. However not all flyers are convinced and view sale offers with a certain degree of caution as 35% respondents said that they don't buy during these sales as the final ticket price, after payment of various charges and taxes, turns out to be much higher. As for booking a flight, 52% said that they have used a smartphone to book a ticket. "Only 9.22% respondents said they had not used their smartphone to do some flight-related activity, 72% had researched flights, 60% had checked in and 52% had booked," said the survey.