Upgrade Rail Ticket to Air Ticket at IRCTC

Convert waitlisted/RAC rail ticket to flight ticket

In a one of its kind move irctc has recently launched a scheme for those passengers who are in RAC or waiting list, to upgrade their tickets to flight tickets at a very competitive price. Through the scheme Indian railway has done the penultimate job of integrating rail, road and air travel for the passengers.

As per the report by Times of India IRCTC has already tied up with a low budget carrier GoAir and sold more than 100 tickets in the past month under this scheme.

The spokesperson for the PSU Sandip Dutta confirmed that another low budget airline SpiceJet has been roped in for the scheme and talk is on for other airlines to bring them under this scheme.

The scheme is very attractive for the passengers as well the airlines. They will get the advantage of irctc's massive numbers as for as passenger handling is concerned.

The scheme for now has certain limitations. The scheme will apply to tickets which have been booked three days before the date of journey, and the flight ticket will be available on the date of train journey or one day after that.

How to Avail the Scheme?

The official website irctc.co.in will be sending emails to those wait-listed passengers who would have opted for the flight up-gradation in case of not getting a confirmed rail ticket. There is no restriction as to which travelling class passenger can avail this scheme. Passengers booking train tickets right from Sleeper to AC can apply for this facility.

Price

There is still a lot of difference in the fare of train and flight tickets, however the low budget carriers have narrowed this gap considerably. The plan is to make airline tickets under this scheme 30-40 per cent cheaper than the normal market rate. The airlines are ready to do so because they will place their unsold tickets with irctc for the purpose. In such a scenario its a win-win situation for passengers as well as airlines. Passengers now have one more option to avoid aborting their trip and airlines will benefit form the 100% occupancy of the seats.

It is to be noted that on an average the seat factor for airlines in India is 70 to 75 per cent. The seats which are empty can now be filled under this scheme.

So folks get ready for your first flight journey in the price of a train ticket, and yes check that your destination does have an airport!