Sorry ! Alexa can’t book your flight tickets in India — not yet

Preeti Soni and Prabhjote GillJun 29, 2019, 10:33 IST

Amazon launched new flight booking service some time back and Business Insider gave it a shot.
Analysts suggest that flight booking service can be a huge step up for Amazon Pay, which got a total infusion of ₹12.5 billion for its India division in 2018.

Amazon unveiled new flight booking service last week and Business Insider gave it a shot.

The e-commerce giant is looking to become the one-stop destination for all of its users needs with skills that can support every aspect of the user’s lifestyle. The strategy is similar to Alibaba and Tencent in China. Analysts suggest that flight booking service can be a huge step up for Amazon Pay, which got a total infusion of ₹12.5 billion for its India division in 2018.

Amazon’s entry in the travel industry is going to threaten a number of local players in India including the biggest player of the Indian market, MakeMyTrip that now has a market cap of $2.5 billion. But how does it work?

Let’s jump on to my experience. Read on to see what made Amazon stand out from the others in its new flight booking service

First up, I haven’t used Alexa before.

Prabhjote Gill has been using first generation Echo Dot for a year. “How can I fly to Mumbai,” she asked Alexa, which suggested to navigate WikiHow to help with that.

We then realised to make certain things work you have to install the requisite alexa skill. So she searched for the ‘flight finder services’ in Alexa’s skill store.

While ClearTrip does show up as an option when you open the Amazon India skill store, the 1st generation Echo Dot doesn’t support country-specific settings.

We, instead, installed the KAYAK skill on Alexa and created an account on the travel website so that the skill could be synced with the Alexa app.

Alexa was able to ascertain the flight price and timings from flights from Mumbai to Delhi using KAYAK but the figures were in dollars, which isn’t optimal for the Indian user.

According to Amazon’s statement, currently Alexa cannot book flight tickets. However, using Goibibo Alexa skill you can find out information about the cheapest flight fares.

Then I went to another friend who has Alexa Echo, third generation. His Alexa was able to find out information about flights with details on the departure and the respective prices, but the figures were still in dollars. And even if Alexa helps you add the ticket to the cart you cannot make payments.

The payment system in India can be tricky as it requires two-step verification. Users have to input their card details, generate an one-time-password (OTP), input that password and only then will a transaction be complete. The OPT is meant to avoid any digital theft in the system.

Then, I tried booking from the website itself.

Sorry! Alexa can’t book your flight tickets in India — not yet

See Sorry! Alexa can’t book your flight tickets in India — not yet >>

Alexa, didn't turn out to be that useful than expected. I used to think I’d end up doing everything using my voice but in reality, It requires a lot of intervention and a handy touch screen to finish the task.

I logged into my Amazon account to look for options manually and searched for flight options from Mumbai to New Delhi. Fortunately, I am Amazon’s prime member. Hence I am entitled to most of the benefits the site has to offer.

Fortunately, I am Amazon’s prime member. Hence I am entitled to most of the benefits the site has to offer.

I set up the filter settings to search for refundable, non-stop and flights after 6pm as per my requirements

Like everybody else, I love to get cashbacks and to my surprise Amazon was offering higher returns than what others were offering for the same flight.

The discount started from ₹250 and went upto ₹2,000 — the highest I have seen on domestic flights. Paytm also has an offer of 100% cashback but with a condition that every 100th customer will be eligible. The chances of that seemed minimal.

^{Credits:Amazon}

I chose the best suitable evening flight. I then moved on to the other two sites to check on the prices and there wasn't much difference. Even the cancellation policy wasn’t very convincing.

I filled in all the passenger details and proceeded with the payment process. It took me approximately 15 minutes to browse the flight options, compare it with others and book the flight tickets.

The Verdict

Let me be honest, I expected Alexa to add the tickets to my cart but I was disappointed because I couldn’t do so. However, I was happy the way Amazon is capturing the market by offering huge discounts to its prime members. Everything else was adequate including the options available, the price of the tickets, and the cancellation fee. Most importantly, there was no hidden or extra charges levied. Keeping all this in mind, Will I go back to Amazon for booking my flight? Yes, definitely, even if it’s just for the discounts it is offering. Amazon India holds 30% share of e-commerce segment in the country and has made a lot of noise earlier with a range of offers it provided for its prime consumers starting from huge discounts in its mega sale during Diwali to now allowing its users to get groceries within 2 hours.

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