UPI vs Credit Card vs Debit Card vs Net Banking — Paying for Flight Tickets Online in India (2026)
By Kabir Malhotra (Kabir Malhotra writes about how Indian travel buyers actually pay — UPI vs credit card vs forex card surcharges, reward-point math on the top travel credit cards, RBI tokenisation, EMI-on-flights and the small fees that compound across a year of bookings.) · Published · 9 min read
Which payment method actually costs you the least when you book a flight ticket from India in 2026? We break down convenience-fee math, reward-point yields on HDFC Infinia and Axis Magnus, zero-cost EMI rules on MakeMyTrip and EaseMyTrip, refund SLAs by method, and the RBI chargeback window you should not forget.
Why the payment method on a flight ticket matters more than you think
Most Indian travellers spend hours optimising their flight fare — comparing IndiGo against Air India Express, watching for a 500-rupee drop on a Tuesday afternoon, juggling stopovers to save 1,200 rupees. Then, at the very last step of checkout, they pick the first payment option that loads and pay a convenience fee they barely register. That last click is doing more financial damage than people realise.
On a 25,000-rupee return ticket from Delhi to Bengaluru, the payment-method choice can swing your effective fare by 700 to 1,500 rupees once you add convenience fees, lose card reward points, and absorb the slower refund cycle. For a family of four on an international booking of 1.6 lakh rupees, the spread can comfortably cross 5,000 rupees in pure transactional cost, with another 4,000 rupees of foregone reward points if you used the wrong card.
This guide breaks down the four major payment rails Indian travellers use on online travel agents (OTAs) like MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra and Ixigo, as well as on airline direct sites — UPI, credit card, debit card and net banking. We will look at convenience-fee surcharges in 2026, the reward-point math on the cards that genuinely matter (HDFC Infinia, Axis Magnus, American Express Platinum Travel, AI SBI Signature, MMT ICICI Credit Card), zero-cost EMI mechanics, refund timelines under RBI's harmonised turnaround time (TAT) framework, fraud protection rules, and the chargeback window you have if a booking goes wrong.
Surcharge and convenience fees by payment method in 2026
The single largest direct cost difference between payment methods on flight bookings is the convenience fee or merchant surcharge the OTA layers on top of the fare. These are not standardised across platforms, but the patterns in 2026 are reasonably consistent. Here is a representative breakdown for a 25,000-rupee domestic booking on a mainstream OTA.
- UPI (PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, BHIM): Zero convenience fee on most OTAs in 2026, since RBI and NPCI continue to mandate zero MDR (merchant discount rate) on UPI person-to-merchant payments below 2,000 rupees and have kept the structure broadly neutral for travel merchants. Some OTAs add a tiny 5 to 15 rupee processing fee, but most absorb it.
- RuPay credit card: Effectively zero MDR on RuPay credit-card UPI transactions up to specified limits, so several OTAs route RuPay through UPI rails with no surcharge.
- Visa or Mastercard credit card (non-AmEx): Surcharge between 1.0 and 1.8 percent of the booking value. On 25,000 rupees, that is 250 to 450 rupees.
- American Express: Surcharge between 2.0 and 3.0 percent on most OTAs, occasionally waived during airline direct-site campaigns. On 25,000 rupees, expect 500 to 750 rupees.
- Debit card: RBI capped debit-card MDR at 0.4 percent for transactions above 2,000 rupees on PoS, but online OTA pricing varies — typically 0.5 to 1.0 percent, or roughly 125 to 250 rupees on a 25,000-rupee booking.
- Net banking: Flat 10 to 25 rupees per transaction, sometimes scaled to 0.5 percent on premium private banks. Effectively the cheapest non-UPI rail.
The takeaway is simple. If you have no card reward to chase, UPI or net banking are the lowest-cost ways to pay. The moment you have a high-reward credit card in your wallet, the calculation flips. See our full booking guide for OTA-by-OTA fee comparisons.
Credit-card reward math: when the surcharge is worth paying
This is where most travellers get it wrong. They see a 400-rupee surcharge on a credit card and assume UPI is cheaper. In reality, the right premium travel card earns enough reward value on the same transaction to net you 600 to 1,500 rupees of value after the surcharge. The math is rail-specific.
- HDFC Infinia (Visa Infinite): 5 reward points per 150 rupees spent. Each reward point redeems at roughly 1 rupee on Smartbuy flight bookings (sometimes higher) and 0.30 to 0.50 rupees on cashback. On a 25,000-rupee flight booking, you earn approximately 833 points, worth about 833 rupees on Smartbuy redemption. Net of a 400-rupee surcharge, you are still 400 rupees ahead, plus you get airport-lounge access and Club Marriott Silver.
- Axis Magnus (Burgundy variant): 12 EDGE Reward points per 200 rupees spent on travel, with each point worth 1 to 1.5 rupees on partner-airline transfers. A 25,000-rupee ticket earns roughly 1,500 EDGE points, worth approximately 1,500 to 2,250 rupees on Vistara, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer or Marriott Bonvoy transfers. Even after a 400-rupee surcharge, the net value is comfortably positive.
- American Express Platinum Travel: 5x Membership Rewards on travel. On 25,000 rupees, you earn around 1,250 to 1,500 MR points, worth 800 to 1,200 rupees on airline transfer partners, plus AmEx Travel Online credits. Surcharge is higher (2 to 3 percent or 500 to 750 rupees), so the net is thinner but still positive on premium routes.
- Air India SBI Signature: 4 reward points per 100 rupees on Air India spends, redeemable for AI miles at 1:1. A 25,000-rupee Air India booking earns 1,000 miles, useful for upgrades or short-haul redemption.
- MakeMyTrip ICICI Credit Card: Up to 6 percent MMT Black points on flights booked via MMT, redeemable for future bookings. Effectively a 1,500-rupee voucher on a 25,000-rupee ticket if you redeem within the validity window.
The cleanest rule of thumb: if you hold a premium travel card and the OTA surcharge is 2 percent or less, paying by credit card almost always nets you ahead. If you only have a basic card with 1 reward point per 100 rupees (worth 0.25 rupees each), UPI wins easily. For a deeper card-by-card breakdown, see our travel credit cards guide.
Zero-cost EMI on flight tickets: what is real and what is not
Zero-cost EMI is one of the most heavily marketed and most misunderstood features on Indian OTA checkout flows. The short version: it works, the math holds, but the eligibility rules are narrower than the banners suggest.
In 2026, MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip and Yatra all offer zero-cost EMI on flight bookings above a threshold — typically 15,000 to 20,000 rupees — across most major bank credit cards (HDFC, ICICI, Axis, SBI, Kotak, Bajaj Finserv). The structure works like this: the OTA gives you an upfront discount equivalent to the bank's EMI interest, the bank charges you EMI interest as normal, and the two cancel out. Net cost to you, in theory, is zero.
The catches are non-trivial. First, GST is charged on the interest amount even if the principal interest is rebated, so your true cost is 18 percent of the interest, which on a 25,000-rupee booking with 6-month EMI works out to roughly 130 to 180 rupees of unrecoverable cost. Second, the upfront OTA discount is sometimes given as future-booking credit (such as MMT Wallet) rather than as a reduction in the principal, which means you only realise the value if you book again within validity. Third, prepayment or foreclosure of EMI typically attracts a foreclosure fee of 2 to 3 percent of the outstanding, which can erase the entire benefit if you change your mind early.
Where zero-cost EMI genuinely shines is large international bookings. A 1.4 lakh-rupee Mumbai to London family ticket on 9-month no-cost EMI on an HDFC card lets you spread 15,500 rupees per month with effectively no extra cost beyond the GST sliver, while still earning reward points on the full 1.4 lakh purchase. For families with predictable monthly cash flows, that is a cleaner way to fund a once-a-year international trip than draining a savings account.
Refund timelines: how fast you actually get your money back
The RBI's harmonised turnaround time framework (issued in 2019 and tightened progressively since) gives Indian consumers fairly strong refund SLAs for failed and reversed transactions. For flight cancellations and OTA refunds, the regulatory framework is overlaid on airline and OTA processing time, which together determines the wall-clock refund window. Here is what to actually expect in 2026.
- UPI refunds: Typically 1 to 5 working days back to the originating bank account, often same-day for cancellations processed within the airline's free window. UPI refunds are the fastest in practice because the credit goes directly to your bank account without an intermediary.
- Credit-card refunds: 5 to 10 working days for the refund to reflect as a credit on your card statement. Importantly, the refund first reverses the original transaction and then reflects in your statement at the next billing cycle, which can feel longer than the actual processing time.
- Debit-card refunds: 5 to 12 working days to reach the bank account. Slower than UPI because of the card-network settlement loop.
- Net banking refunds: 5 to 10 working days, broadly similar to debit cards but with slightly more variability between banks.
OTAs add their own processing delay on top — typically 2 to 4 working days for MMT, EaseMyTrip and Cleartrip, and longer for less-automated platforms. Airline-direct refunds (for example, booking on indigo.in instead of via an OTA) tend to be 1 to 3 days faster because there is no OTA-airline reconciliation step. If a refund is delayed beyond the RBI TAT framework, you are entitled to compensation of 100 rupees per day of delay — a clause most consumers never invoke but is enforceable through the RBI Banking Ombudsman.
Fraud protection and 3DS2 authentication
Indian payment regulation is among the strictest in the world on online card fraud, and the rules have tightened further through 2024 and 2025. Every online card transaction now goes through 3D Secure 2.0 (3DS2) authentication, which adds a step-up challenge — typically an OTP, but increasingly a biometric or risk-based silent approval — at the issuer level before the transaction completes.
For flight bookings, this means a few practical things. First, your transaction will not go through without an OTP or biometric confirmation, even for repeat bookings on the same OTA. The RBI's card-on-file tokenisation rules from 2022 mean that OTAs can no longer store your full 16-digit card number — they can only store a tokenised reference issued by the card network, which is bound to that specific merchant. This is why MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip and others now prompt you to "tokenise" your card after the first transaction. Tokenisation does not skip the OTP step, but it does mean a fraudster who breaches the OTA database cannot use your card elsewhere.
Second, the RBI's zero-liability rules give you strong protection if your card is misused. If you report unauthorised use within 3 working days, your liability is zero (provided the breach was not due to your negligence). Between 4 and 7 days, liability is capped at 5,000 to 25,000 rupees depending on card type. Beyond 7 days, the bank can impose limited liability per its policy, though most major Indian issuers extend zero-liability windows in practice.
Third, UPI fraud protection is different. There is no chargeback mechanism for UPI in the same sense as cards — once you authorise a UPI payment, it is treated as a push payment and is hard to reverse for a merchant dispute. NPCI does run a UPI dispute resolution mechanism, but it is geared at failed-transaction reversals (where money debited but transaction failed), not at "I want to dispute this merchant" scenarios. For high-value flight bookings, this is a real argument in favour of credit cards over UPI.
Dispute resolution and the 60-day chargeback window
If a flight booking goes wrong — the airline cancels and refuses refund, the OTA disappears with your money, or the ticket is never issued despite a successful payment — the path back to your money depends entirely on which rail you paid through. This is, in our view, the most under-appreciated argument in favour of paying by credit card.
Under the Visa, Mastercard and RuPay chargeback rules adopted by Indian issuers, you have 60 to 120 days from the transaction date (depending on dispute reason code) to raise a chargeback dispute through your card issuer. Common applicable reason codes for flight disputes include "services not rendered" (the flight never operated and refund was denied), "credit not processed" (the airline confirmed cancellation but the refund never came through) and "fraudulent transaction". Once you raise the dispute through your issuer's customer-service line or app, the issuer files the chargeback with the card network, which forwards it to the acquiring bank of the OTA or airline. The merchant has 30 days to respond with evidence; if they cannot, you get a permanent credit.
The chargeback mechanism is genuinely powerful. It is the reason that even seasoned travellers who could pay by UPI deliberately use a credit card for large international bookings or for tickets on smaller, less-established airlines. The MITC (Most Important Terms and Conditions) of every Indian credit card explicitly lists chargeback rights, and most issuers (HDFC, ICICI, Axis, SBI Cards, AmEx) handle chargebacks within 21 to 60 days of dispute filing.
For debit cards, chargeback rights exist but are administratively weaker — many Indian PSU banks treat debit-card disputes as service complaints rather than network chargebacks. For UPI, as noted above, there is no equivalent chargeback. For net banking, the dispute path is through the bank's grievance redressal mechanism, escalating eventually to the RBI Banking Ombudsman, which can take 90 to 180 days. Plan accordingly.
BBPS is for utility bills, not flights — clearing up the confusion
One persistent confusion in Indian payment forums is whether the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) applies to flight bookings. The short answer is no, and it is worth being clear about why.
BBPS is a unified bill payment platform operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (NBBL) under RBI authorisation. It is designed for recurring bill-pay categories — electricity, gas, water, mobile postpaid, broadband, DTH, insurance premiums, loan EMIs, FASTag recharges, education fees and a few others. Each category has a defined biller onboarding process, and the system is engineered for high-volume, low-value, recurring transactions with strong dispute resolution.
Flight tickets do not sit in any BBPS category. Flight bookings are one-off retail purchases of a service, paid through standard card or UPI rails directly to the airline or OTA merchant. There is no BBPS biller code for IndiGo or Air India because flights are not recurring bills with a defined billing cycle.
Why does this matter? Because some Indian travellers ask whether they should "pay through BBPS for better protection" on flight tickets, perhaps confusing BBPS with the BBPOU (Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit) dispute mechanism. The answer is that BBPS protections do not apply to flight purchases, and the relevant protections come from card network chargebacks (for credit and debit cards), NPCI UPI dispute resolution (for failed UPI transactions only) and the RBI Banking Ombudsman (for systemic complaints against banks). The cleanest mental model: BBPS for your monthly Tata Power bill, card or UPI for your IndiGo ticket.
The OTA-by-OTA payment landscape in 2026
Different Indian OTAs have meaningfully different payment economics. Here is a quick snapshot of how the major platforms structure their checkout in 2026.
- MakeMyTrip: Supports UPI, all major credit and debit cards, net banking, and the MMT Wallet. Convenience fees on credit cards run 1.5 to 2.0 percent; UPI is free. MMT ICICI Credit Card holders get up to 6 percent back in MMT Black points. Card-on-file tokenisation is mandatory for repeat bookings.
- EaseMyTrip: Famously zero convenience fee on most domestic flights paid by UPI, debit card, net banking or RuPay. Visa and Mastercard credit cards attract 1.5 percent surcharge. Zero-cost EMI is available across major bank cards on bookings above 15,000 rupees.
- Cleartrip (Flipkart): Surcharges are similar to MMT. The platform's tight Flipkart integration means SuperCoin earn-and-burn is possible on flight bookings, which can effectively reduce net cost for Flipkart-active users.
- Yatra: Targets corporate and SME travel; payment options include corporate cards, credit lines and standard retail rails. Convenience fees are broadly in line with MMT.
- Ixigo: Aggressive on no-convenience-fee UPI checkout and good integration with Paytm Postpaid for instant credit-line use.
- Airline direct (indigo.in, airindia.com, akasaair.com): Generally lower surcharges than OTAs (since the airline absorbs MDR), faster refund processing and direct disputes with the carrier. Lose out on OTA reward layers like MMT Black points but gain control on refunds.
The rough rule of thumb in 2026: pay direct-to-airline for tickets above 50,000 rupees where you value refund speed and dispute clarity, and use the OTA reward stack (MMT Black + credit card) for mid-value domestic tickets where the points actually add up.
A decision framework: which method to use for which booking
Here is the framework I use personally and recommend to readers, based on booking size, urgency and risk profile.
- Small domestic booking under 10,000 rupees, low risk: Pay by UPI. Zero fee, instant refund if needed. No reason to take the card-surcharge hit for marginal reward points.
- Mid-value domestic booking, 10,000 to 40,000 rupees: If you hold HDFC Infinia, Axis Magnus or a premium card, pay by credit card. Surcharge of 250 to 700 rupees is more than offset by reward points worth 500 to 1,500 rupees. If you only have a basic card, stick with UPI.
- Large international booking, 50,000 rupees to 3 lakh rupees: Always credit card. Reward points are meaningful (1,500 to 6,000 rupees of value), zero-cost EMI is available, and most importantly, you have a 60 to 120-day chargeback window if the airline collapses or the booking goes wrong. For a long-haul flight bought 4 months in advance, this protection is genuinely valuable.
- Booking on a smaller or unfamiliar airline: Credit card, full stop. The chargeback protection is the cleanest insurance you have if the carrier suspends operations.
- Travel for work, reimbursable expense: Whatever your finance team accepts. Some employers reimburse credit card surcharges as part of the fare; others do not. Check before you book.
- International travel where you also need forex: Coordinate with your forex card strategy and remember the TCS implications on foreign travel when you exceed the 7-lakh threshold.
The single most important habit is to actually check the price at checkout with two or three payment options before clicking pay. On most OTAs, switching from credit card to UPI takes 10 seconds and surfaces the surcharge clearly. Make that 10-second check a routine — over a year of bookings, the saving compounds into a comfortable amount.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a convenience fee on UPI flight bookings in India in 2026?
In most cases, no. UPI continues to be exempt from MDR for person-to-merchant payments, and major OTAs like MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip and Yatra do not charge a convenience fee for UPI payments on flight bookings. A small number of platforms may add a 5 to 15-rupee processing fee, but this is rare and clearly disclosed at checkout.
Which credit card gives the best reward value on Indian flight bookings?
For domestic flights, HDFC Infinia (with Smartbuy redemption) and Axis Magnus (with airline-partner transfers) deliver the highest effective reward yield — typically 3.0 to 6.0 percent of the booking value. For Air India loyalty, the AI SBI Signature card is the best fit. For MakeMyTrip-heavy bookers, the MMT ICICI Credit Card offers up to 6 percent in MMT Black points. American Express Platinum Travel is strong on international bookings but carries higher surcharges.
How does zero-cost EMI on flight tickets actually work?
The OTA gives you an upfront discount equivalent to the bank's EMI interest, and the bank charges interest as normal on your monthly EMI. The two cancel out, leaving you with effectively zero net interest. However, 18 percent GST on the rebated interest is still payable, so a small unrecoverable cost remains. Foreclosure attracts a 2 to 3 percent fee on most cards.
How long does a flight ticket refund take to credit back to my account?
Refund timelines vary by method: UPI refunds typically reach your bank account within 1 to 5 working days, credit card refunds appear on your statement within 5 to 10 working days, debit card refunds take 5 to 12 working days, and net banking refunds take 5 to 10 working days. OTAs add 2 to 4 working days of internal processing on top, so the wall-clock wait is usually longer than the rail-level SLA.
Can I raise a chargeback if my flight is cancelled and the airline refuses to refund?
Yes, if you paid by credit card. Under Visa, Mastercard and RuPay rules, you have 60 to 120 days from the transaction date (depending on reason code) to raise a chargeback through your issuer. Common reason codes for flight disputes include 'services not rendered' and 'credit not processed'. The issuer files the dispute, the merchant has 30 days to respond, and if they cannot provide evidence, you receive a permanent credit. UPI does not have an equivalent chargeback mechanism.
Is paying by UPI safer than credit card for large flight bookings?
Not necessarily. UPI is safe in the sense of transaction-level security (PIN, biometric, real-time authentication), but it lacks the dispute resolution and chargeback protection that credit cards offer. For large international bookings or tickets on smaller airlines, credit-card chargeback rights are a meaningful insurance against carrier failure or merchant fraud. UPI is excellent for low-value, low-risk bookings.
What is RBI card-on-file tokenisation and how does it affect flight bookings?
Since the 2022 RBI tokenisation rules, OTAs and airlines can no longer store your full 16-digit card number. Instead, they store a tokenised reference issued by the card network (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay), which is unique to that specific merchant. This is why MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip prompt you to tokenise your card after the first transaction. Tokenisation reduces the risk of mass card-data breaches but does not skip OTP authentication.
Does BBPS apply to flight ticket payments?
No. The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is designed for recurring bill-pay categories like electricity, gas, water, broadband, mobile postpaid and FASTag recharges. Flight tickets are one-off retail purchases and are not part of any BBPS category. Flight payments go through standard card, UPI or net banking rails directly to the airline or OTA merchant, and dispute protections come from card network chargebacks, NPCI UPI dispute resolution or the RBI Banking Ombudsman, not from BBPS.