Fixed departure meaning
"Fixed" refers to the dates and the plan, not the price. The agency decides in advance that, say, a 6-day Char Dham Yatra leaves on certain dates in May and June. Each date has a fixed number of seats, set by the coach, the hotel rooms held and the guide. Travellers book seats on a date, and everyone on that date follows the same days, stays in the same hotels and shares the transport.
Common examples in India are Char Dham and other yatras in season, Ladakh and Kashmir in summer, Rajasthan from October to March, and group tours to Dubai, Thailand or Europe in the school holidays.
Fixed departure or customised tour
A customised tour, also called an FIT, is built for one party: their dates, their hotels, their pace. A fixed departure is built once and sold many times.
| Fixed departure | Customised tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Set by the agency, published before anyone books | Whatever the customer asks for |
| Itinerary | The same for everyone on the date | Built for this one family or group |
| Price | Per seat, from a published price list | Quoted for the whole trip, once |
| Travellers | Strangers sharing a coach, a guide and hotels | One party travelling together |
| Changes | Few: an extra night or a hotel upgrade at most | Anything the customer wants |
| Suits | First-time travellers, pilgrims, solo travellers, seasonal routes | Families, honeymooners, anyone with fixed ideas |
How a fixed departure is priced
Prices are per seat, and a departure usually has a few of them:
| Seat price | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Adult, twin sharing | The headline price. Two adults in one room. |
| Adult, triple sharing | Usually a little less per person, with an extra bed in the room. |
| Single supplement | Added on top for a traveller who wants a room alone. |
| Child with bed, child without bed | Priced from what the child uses, not as a fixed share of the adult price. |
| Add-ons | Flights from another city, a better hotel category, an extra night before or after. |
The price depends on how many people travel, because the group costs are shared. With made-up figures: a coach that costs ₹60,000 for the trip is ₹3,000 a seat when 20 people book, and ₹6,000 a seat when only 10 do. That is why a departure has a minimum group size, and why an operator may cancel or merge a date that does not fill. A date that runs whatever the numbers is called a guaranteed departure.
Some dates cost more than others, such as a festival week or a long weekend. Price those dates on their own rather than raising the whole season.
Seats, bookings and payments
- Seats are limited by what you hold. A 20-seat coach and ten rooms means 20 seats, however many people ask.
- A booking amount holds the seat. The balance is due some days before the date, so you can pay hotels and transport before the group leaves.
- Hotels release unsold rooms. Rooms held for a group usually go back to the hotel on a release date, so know how many seats are really left before that date.
- A traveller list per date. Names, ages, phone numbers and room sharing, for the driver, the guide and every hotel.
- Cancellation terms by date. The closer to departure, the less is refunded, since your own costs are committed by then.
Why agencies run them
You write the itinerary and negotiate the rates once, then sell the same trip on many dates. A departure gives you something to post and send before anyone has asked, and group rates are often better than rates for one room. The cost is risk: unsold seats on a coach you have paid for, and rooms you must fill or release by a date. Most of the work is counting seats, chasing balances and keeping the traveller list right.
Fixed departures in Triplli
In Triplli a fixed departure is one of your trip templates put on every date it leaves, each date with its own seats. You type its seat options and choices, like Mode of transport or Hotels, with your prices and costs, and its payment terms. Every booking you confirm takes its seats and the seats left count down on their own, and each date has a traveller list to print. On every plan, a departure can have a page in your colours where customers ask for seats; nothing is booked until you confirm it. See fixed departures in Triplli.
