Passengers unable to get a reserved train ticket on IRCTC can now upgrade to domestic flights from GoAir and SpiceJet on the same route at a competitive price. Unsold tickets on domestic routes covered by SpiceJet and GoAir will be available to wait-listed railway passengers.
“GoAir has already started giving us their inventory in the last one month, we have sold around a hundred tickets.” said Sandip Dutta, public relations officer at IRCTC, speaking to HuffPost India. SpiceJet has yet to give their inventory to IRCTC, and is expected to start doing so in July.
Dutta said that the tickets will be available at a cheaper rate than the normal airfare and the last-date dynamic fare offered by that particular flight. “For example, if you booked a Delhi-Mumbai last-minute flight in SpiceJet, it may cost 6-7,000. If you go through our website, it may cost you around 4-4,500.“ he said.
According to Dutta, the prices are not fixed on the basis of sector or ticket availability. “We just pass on to the customers, who are railway passengers, the prices which are being given to us by the respective flight.” he said.
The service does come with a few conditions: Wait-listed passengers must be still on the wait list after the chart is prepared, and are sent mails by IRCTC, following which they need to cancel their train ticket as per normal procedures. Passengers then need to visit air.irctc.co.in, where they can book tickets if they are available.
The option for the flight will be only on the date of the actual travel of the train, or a day after. Another catch for the wait-listed ticket passengers is that their date of booking has to be three days or more prior to the date of travel.
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