Sunday, October 30, 2011

Train ticket on waiting list? Simply fly with it!

Train ticket on waiting list? Simply fly with it!

Portal scheme helps people fly after paying nominal fees on train tickets

 
Getting a confirmed rail ticket is one big challenge for passengers during holiday season

Swati Gore, 35, a resident of Sanpada, had booked two train tickets to Delhi to visit her in-laws during diwali. But her name was on the waiting list and the wait was killing. "While checking out the airfare on various travel portals, I came across this website Via.com, where we learnt that our train ticket could help us fly," says Gore. "I immediately entered my PNR number and paid Rs499 as upgrade charge per ticket and got a flight ticket for Delhi," says she.
Like Gore , railway passengers tired of waiting for their tickets to get confirmed on the waiting list can avail of this service by paying the required upgrade charges. "This saves us from the last-minute hassle and confusion at the railway station when our ticket may or may not get confirmed," says Gore.
Every year, 45 million passengers travel by domestic airline in India while millions travel by Indian railways. "Out of this, one lakh train passengers are on waiting list while 30-40,000 airline seats go empty as seat occupancy in airlines is 70-75%," says Vinay Gupta, chief executive officer (CEO), Via.com. "So to bridge this gap between demand and supply we came up with this feature of flight upgrade," says he Thus, according to the flight upgrade feature a railway passenger on the waiting list has to go to Via.com, enter his railway PNR number, email id and mobile phone number. People from the portal will then call him up and inform of the availability of the flight and the upgrade fee he needs to pay. This will be highly beneficial to passengers during holiday season like Diwali or summer vacation. And also those who prefer to pay extra money to get their railway ticket confirmed to their agents.
For instance, for an AC-Tier II train ticket for Mumbai-Delhi or Bangalore-Delhi the railway fare is Rs2,600 approximately. "The passenger has to pay an upgrade fee of Rs499 on this route. Thus, he gets a flight ticket for Rs3,000 and he no longer has to wait to travel," says Gupta.
However, the upgrade fee depends upon the sector travelled and the airfare on the availability of flight seats. The person has to pay the transaction fee online or they can also go to the 20,000 travel agents or Via outlets in 2,400 towns and cities across the country.

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