TBO vs Riya vs EaseMyTrip Agent: How to Compare B2B Portals in 2026
By Vihaan Patel (Vihaan Patel covers the intersection of travel and digital payments — Indian OTAs, airline-direct booking flows, UPI vs credit-card surcharges, RBI tokenisation rules and the booking-funnel mechanics that quietly cost (or save) you money.) · Published · Last updated · 11 min read
Don't pick a B2B portal by who shouts loudest. Score TBO, Riya Connect and EaseMyTrip on the eight things that actually move your margin — inventory breadth, instant ticketing, wallet terms, markup control, GST invoicing, refunds, API and support — using a framework you can run on any two or three portals.
Quick answer
There's no single 'best' B2B portal in India — the right one depends on your booking mix. The smart move isn't to ask 'TBO or Riya or EaseMyTrip?' It's to score two or three portals against eight criteria — inventory breadth, instant ticketing, wallet and credit terms, markup control, GST invoicing, refunds and reschedule, API and white-label, and support — using your own monthly volumes. Most agents end up running two portals, not one: a broad aggregator for reach plus a sharper source for the sectors they sell most. This guide gives you the scorecard.
Stop comparing brands. Start comparing criteria.
Every B2B portal's homepage says the same four things: lowest fares, widest inventory, instant ticketing, 24x7 support. If you pick on marketing copy you'll end up disappointed within a month. The portals that win for you are the ones that line up with what you actually book — your top ten sectors, your average ticket value, whether you do more domestic or international, how much you lean on group and series fares.
So before you read another feature list, write down your own numbers. Roughly how many tickets a month? What's your domestic-to-international split? Which carriers do you issue most? Do you sell holiday packages and visas alongside air, or just flights? A portal that's brilliant for an international-heavy agency can be mediocre for someone selling mostly metro-to-metro domestic, and the other way round.
Then judge every portal on the same eight criteria below. Don't trust a demo that only shows you the happy path — a slick search screen tells you nothing about how a refund or a name correction actually behaves three weeks later. Ask to see the messy cases.
The eight criteria that decide your margin
Here's the framework. Score each portal out of 5 on each line, weight the lines that matter most to your business, and add it up. Boring? Yes. It also stops you from signing up for the portal with the best sales rep instead of the best fit.
- Inventory breadth. LCC and full-service carriers, domestic plus international, and — critically for the trade — access to series fares, group fares and fixed departures, not just live published fares. More sources in one window means fewer logins and better odds of the cheapest seat.
- Instant ticketing. Does the PNR confirm and the ticket issue on the spot, or does it go into a 'on request' / manual queue? For walk-in and phone customers, instant issuance is the difference between closing the sale and losing it.
- Wallet and credit terms. Is it advance-deposit only, or is there a credit line? How fast do top-ups reflect (IMPS/UPI/NEFT)? What happens to your balance on a cancellation — instant credit back, or a wait? See our explainer on how agency wallets and deposits work.
- Markup control. Can you set your own markup and commission rules — by sector, by agent, by sub-agent — and have it flow into the customer-facing fare automatically? If you run sub-agents, this is make-or-break. See adding markup and commission in a B2B portal.
- GST invoicing. Does the portal produce a clean, GST-compliant invoice with the right SAC, your GSTIN and the airline's, so you can claim input tax credit and stay audit-ready? Messy invoicing costs you real money at filing time.
- Refunds and reschedule. How long do refunds take to hit your wallet, and how painful is a date change or spelling correction? This is where portals quietly differ the most — and where a bad one bleeds your time.
- API and white-label. If you run your own website or app, can you plug in the inventory via API, or get a white-label booking site branded as yours? See flight booking APIs for agents.
- Support. Real humans, fast, when a PNR breaks at 11pm. A dedicated account manager and a working escalation path beats a chatbot every time.
How to score the three big names — without inventing facts
Let's be honest about what we can and can't claim. Commission rates, deposit minimums, exact fees and current promos change constantly and differ by agency tier — so verify those on each portal's own dashboard and your signed agreement, not from any blog (including this one). What's fair to say is what each platform broadly is, from their public material as of 2026:
- TBO (Travel Boutique Online / tbo.com) positions itself as a global travel distribution platform with a deep multi-country supplier network spanning air, hotels, holiday packages and ancillaries, plus APIs and white-label options. Its public materials emphasise global hotel inventory at scale, local-currency payments and post-booking management. Strong fit if your mix leans international and hotels-plus-air.
- Riya Connect (b2b.riya.travel) is the B2B platform of the long-established Riya group, presenting itself as a multi-product portal (flights, hotels, rail, bus, visa, insurance and more) for a large base of Indian agents, including NDC air content from multiple airlines. Fit is broad, with strength for agents who want many travel products under one login.
- EaseMyTrip for Agents (agents.easemytrip.com) is the B2B/agent arm of the listed OTA EaseMyTrip, offering LCC and GDS air content, agent registration and a white-label programme, riding on a large consumer brand. Fit suits agents who value a recognisable consumer-facing brand and straightforward air ticketing.
Notice what I'm not doing: no 'TBO gives X% commission', no 'Riya's deposit is ₹Y', no 'EaseMyTrip is #1'. Anyone who hands you those numbers from memory is guessing. Pull them live. For a structured way to think about consolidators generally, see our pieces on consolidator fares and net fares vs published fares.
A criteria scorecard you can copy
Print this, or rebuild it in a sheet. Score each portal 1–5 per row, multiply by your weight, total it. The 'Why it matters' column is the part most agents skip — and it's the part that protects your margin.
| Criterion | What to check (live, on the portal) | Why it matters to your P&L |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory breadth | LCC + FSC, domestic + international, series / group / fixed-departure access | More sources in one window = cheaper seat found, fewer logins |
| Instant ticketing | Auto-issue vs on-request queue; time to PNR confirm | Closes the sale while the customer is still on the line |
| Wallet / credit | Advance vs credit line; top-up speed; refund-to-wallet time | Your working capital is literally parked here |
| Markup control | Per-sector, per-agent, per-sub-agent rules; auto-apply | Decides whether sub-agent margins are clean or manual |
| GST invoicing | Correct SAC, both GSTINs, ITC-ready format | Bad invoices cost you at filing and in audits |
| Refunds / reschedule | Refund TAT; date-change and name-correction flow | Where most of your post-sale time leaks away |
| API / white-label | API docs; branded booking site; markup passthrough | Lets you sell under your own brand and scale online |
| Support | Account manager; escalation path; response time on a broken PNR | One rescued booking pays for a lot of 'meh' months |
Weight the rows to your reality. An international-heavy agency weights inventory breadth and refunds; a sub-agent network weights markup control and wallet; an online seller weights API and white-label. Same eight criteria, different totals — that's the point.
The tax fine print every agent must get right
Whichever portal you choose, the tax mechanics sit on your head, not the portal's. Two things to keep straight as of 2026 (and please confirm both with your CA — rules move):
- GST on your air earnings. An air travel agent charges 18% GST on their earnings/commission, not on the full ticket fare. The trade commonly uses the deemed-value method under Rule 32(3): a deemed value of 5% of the basic fare for domestic and 10% for international, with 18% GST applied on that deemed value. Whether that method beats charging GST on actual commission depends on your numbers — that's a conversation with your accountant.
- TCS on overseas tour packages. As of Budget 2026, TCS on overseas tour packages is a flat 2% from 1 April 2026, and the earlier threshold slabs were removed. If you sell international packages, that 2% is collected and deposited correctly through your books.
These are not portal features — they're your compliance. A good portal makes them easier by spitting out clean GST invoices; it doesn't do your filing. Rules change every Budget, so verify with CBIC notifications and your CA before you quote anyone. Our deeper write-up is at GST and TCS on air tickets for travel agents.
One portal or two? (Most successful agents run two)
Here's the open secret of the trade: very few agents survive on a single portal. The economics push you towards two or three. A broad aggregator gives you reach across hundreds of sectors and post-booking convenience. Alongside it, agents keep a sharper source — a consolidator or an airline-direct login — for the handful of routes they sell every single day, where a slightly better net fare on volume adds up.
That's not disloyalty, it's just margin. If 60% of your tickets are on five sectors, owning the cheapest source for those five matters more than any one platform's overall breadth. Run the eight-criteria scorecard on your top two candidates, pick the better all-rounder, then add a specialist for your bread-and-butter routes.
If you're still building your base, a few foundational reads: airline-direct vs B2B aggregator, IATA vs TIDS, and choosing a B2B flight booking portal.
Where FlightGPT Partner fits — honestly
I'll position this straight, not as a sales pitch. FlightGPT Partner is FlightGPT's B2B portal at agent.flightgpt.in. The pitch is simple: one login that aggregates series fares, group fares, fixed departures and wholesale/net fares across IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet, with an agency wallet, GST invoicing and white-label options — so you don't keep a separate login per airline and per fare type. On the eight-criteria scorecard, it's built to score well on inventory breadth (multiple suppliers merged per flight), wallet (advance-based agency wallet with ledger), markup control and GST invoicing.
It is one strong option, not the only one. If your mix is international-and-hotels-heavy, a global aggregator may outscore it on breadth; if you live on a recognisable consumer brand, that's a different priority. Run the same scorecard on FlightGPT Partner that you'd run on anyone else. The honest case for it is consolidation — fewer logins for the four big Indian carriers and the series/group fare types — plus a clean wallet and white-label path. Compare it on the merits.
You can explore carrier fare structures while you evaluate: IndiGo fare types, Air India fare types, Akasa Air fare types and SpiceJet fare types. Browse live route examples on routes, or read more from the blog.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the best B2B portal — TBO, Riya or EaseMyTrip?
There isn't a universal best. The right portal depends on your booking mix: domestic vs international split, top sectors, ticket volume, and whether you sell packages and visas alongside air. Score two or three portals on the eight criteria — inventory breadth, instant ticketing, wallet/credit, markup control, GST invoicing, refunds/reschedule, API/white-label and support — weighted to your own numbers. An international-and-hotel-heavy agency and a domestic-metro agency will land on different winners.
How many B2B portals should a travel agent use?
Most established agents run two or three, not one. A broad aggregator gives reach and post-booking convenience; a sharper consolidator or airline-direct login covers the handful of routes you sell daily, where a better net fare on volume adds up. If a large share of your tickets sits on a few sectors, owning the cheapest source for those sectors often matters more than any single platform's overall breadth.
How much GST do I pay on my air ticket earnings in 2026?
As of 2026, an air travel agent charges 18% GST on their earnings/commission, not on the full fare. The trade commonly uses the deemed-value method under Rule 32(3): a deemed value of 5% of basic fare for domestic and 10% for international, with 18% GST on that deemed value. Whether that beats charging GST on actual commission depends on your numbers — confirm the right method with your CA, since rules change with each Budget.
What is the TCS on overseas tour packages now?
As of Budget 2026, TCS on overseas tour packages is a flat 2% from 1 April 2026, and the earlier threshold slabs were removed — so the same 2% applies regardless of package value. This is a collection-and-deposit obligation that flows through your books, not a portal feature. Verify the current position with CBIC notifications and your CA before quoting clients.
What should I check before signing up for any B2B portal?
Don't judge on the search screen — ask to see the messy cases. Confirm live, on the portal and in your signed agreement: deposit/credit terms, top-up speed, refund-to-wallet time, instant vs on-request ticketing, whether markup rules apply per sub-agent, the GST invoice format (correct SAC, both GSTINs), and the support escalation path. Never trust commission percentages, fees or 'rankings' quoted from memory in any article — pull them from the dashboard.
Where does FlightGPT Partner fit among these portals?
FlightGPT Partner (agent.flightgpt.in) is one strong option, positioned around consolidation: one login aggregating series, group, fixed-departure and wholesale/net fares across IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet, plus an agency wallet, GST invoicing and white-label. It tends to score well on inventory breadth for the big Indian carriers, wallet and markup control. Run the same eight-criteria scorecard on it that you'd run on TBO, Riya or EaseMyTrip, and compare on the merits — it's a contender, not the only choice.