Now, board a flight for unconfirmed train ticket

IRCTC have entered into a tie up with both SpiceJet and GoAir. The partnership enables a train traveller, who is on the wait list to cancel the train ticket and get onto a flight of either airline by paying a small incremental fee. The partnership started one month ago, and in that time all tickets passed on by SpiceJet and GoAir have been sold to wait-listers.

There are some conditions are some eligibility criteria for this railway-to-flight upgrade. Only those railway tickets which have been booked at least 3 days prior to the train departure are eligible, and for availing the upgrade the railway tickets must be cancelled at the specified website. The flight ticket will be available only for the day of the scheduled train journey or a day before. No exceptions. The airlines are not obliged to reserve a fixed number of tickets to be made available for this railway to flight upgrade. The incremental fares (over the price of train tickets) are not fixed and will vary depending upon the route and the season.

This will definitely be a win-win situation for both, the passengers and the airlines. It is however not known whether these airlines will give some sort of commission to IRCTC or not.

Expressing his views on this tie-up between IRCTC and the airlines, Subhash Goyal, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators said that this plan will not only be beneficial to the passengers but also to the businesses of IRCTC and SpiceJet.

“I think that more and more affluent people who like to travel by railways, but are put-off by unavailability of train tickets in this peak season will not resort to travelling by luxury buses and cars now. This is because of the fact that they will now be able to upgrade to a flight (at a discounted rate) in case their waitlisted railway ticket is not confirmed in time.”, he added

Expressing his views on this tie-up between IRCTC and the airlines, Subhash Goyal, President of Indian Association of Tour Operators said that this plan will not only be beneficial to the passengers but also to the businesses of IRCTC and SpiceJet.