Why ticket fare from Airline website is higher than that of Travel websites like yatra, makemytrip.com?

Anyone know how to use the Cheap airfare websites?

• I have never planned a trip by flight before. Usually I go by train and as far as one rail service is concerned, I look in their website for the timetables or train departure/arrival schedules and when I see a time and day in which I want to travel I call the rail service and tell them that I want to reserve a ticket for say, the 6:00 am to Baltimore and they will take down my name address (etc) and this way they will hold the ticket for me at the train station for a few days until I come over and pay for it so as to use it for getting on the train. I cannot buy the ticket over phone because I don't have a credit card. But also, if I decide to cancel, I merely do not go to the train station to pick up the ticket and I won't be penalized for it. Now, my question to anyone whom has ever used the air flight websites for cheap fares, is it done the same way? I mean, I think that there are various web sites for low-price air fares and if I see a price for a flight that I want, do I call email , or somehow contact the website and pay through them? or do I call the airline directly and tell them that I heard that there is a flight for say, 1:00 pm to Orlando and tell them I want to reserve the ticket and have them hold the ticket for me until I come to the airport and pay and get the ticket, ( which I may not use for a few days by the way). Is that how it works? I heard that the cheap flights websites do not exactly work for the airlines whose lower-fare flights they post on their site and if you buy the ticket through the website you do not have the option of getting your money back if you cancel and/or you may have to pay by credit card only, not go to the airport and pay cash there to pick up the ticket ( as I have done with rail service). Can anyone provide information about how to use the cheap flight webistes? How to pay for tickets through them? Also as I mentioned, is it possible to just look up the information about inexpensive fares on the sites but instead of booking through the website, call the airline company directly and ask them about the flight that you heard about and arrange to pay for the ticket that way? Do they penalize you for canceling? Do you have to tell them if you cancel? Info please. I am not sure if I understand it all exactly.

• Answer:

  It is very different from how you book your train tickets. When you "book" an airfare, you have to pay for it up front. Unless you buy a very expensive redundable airfare or fly Southwest Airlines, you will get nothing back if you decide to cancel. (On Southwest, the money goes into an account that you can use for future Southwest travel.) Usually, I look on the low airfare websites - enter my airports and dates - and then go to the airline's website, do the same search, and book the ticket there. It's a pretty straightforward process - just a few clicks, and you've bought the ticket. The closest option to how you currently buy your train tickets is United Airlines's FareLock service. When you go to book an airfare on their website, you can pay a small fee (anywhere from $1-$50) and have them hold the ticket for 3-7 days for you. Instead of calling the airline and saying "yes, I want to fly after all", you just bring up the confirmation email and buy the flight on your computer.