The brains behind Bula Flights, a new and totally-local flight booking engine, say transparency and trust are the cornerstones of the new platform.
Frequent travellers will be familiar with Expedia, Skyscanner and their cousins, but Bula Flights is Fiji’s first locally developed flight search, comparison, booking and holding system.
The platform is proudly Fijian owned and was developed in-country as part of the Lodhia’s Travel Services (LTS) group. While LTS’ core business is supporting corporate and personal travellers, it realised there was a gap in the market.
Bula Flights’ Pritesh Chandra notes, “We had been looking at people coming into the agency, asking multiple questions from multiple options …and then going away to consult. And by the time they come back, they have lost that seat.
“We want to take that whole stress out.”
Currently Bula Flights is set up for international travel out of Fiji. Results for multiple airlines, baggage options and departure times are displayed in a single stream for easy viewing. Flights can be held for 24 hours free of charge. It can be used on both mobile and desktop devices and allows for payments through cash, bank transfer, credit cards, M-PAiSa and MyCash.
Users barely have to type any information into the site. Upload a scan or photo of your passport biodata page, and the data will be extracted and entered into the required information fields. The passport data is saved securely and can be deleted by the user at any time.
All correspondence is also housed within the site, so emails, itineraries, flight changes and booking confirmations can be accessed in the one place, without wading through multiple email accounts or messaging platforms.
The focus on transparency is a response to the perception that ‘flights are too expensive’, Chandra says..
He demonstrated how the Bula Flights platform shows exactly what proportion of an air ticket fare is taxes; that is “how much the airline will get, and how much the government will get.”
There is no additional fee for using the service. Bula Flights is paid directly by airlines for bookings they generate.
Chandra says the platform also eliminates false urgency, which preys on customers’ fear of missing out by posting opaque prompts around how many seats might be left on a flight.
“What you see is exactly what you pay- no hidden fees, no service charges, and complete price transparency.”
There are plans for expansion, with Chandra listing a rewards system, from upgrades to business lounge and exit row access, plus accommodation deals and a smart travel planner to enable the booking of accommodation and transfers at your destinations, as possible extensions of the service.
