IRCTC brags about ‘lowest’ convenience fee on air tickets, but what is it?
Listing out benefits for making bookings on Air IRCTC, the online ticketing platform said travellers can avail exciting benefits like the lowest convenience fee of ₹50
PremiumThe Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Friday took to Twitter to convince travellers for booking their flight tickets via its platform air.irctc.co.in.
Listing out benefits for making bookings on Air IRCTC, the online ticketing platform said travellers can avail exciting benefits like lowest convenience fee of ₹50.
“No matter which part of the world you're flying to, #book your #flight #tickets with #IRCTCAir and #avail exciting #booking #benefits like lowest convenience fee of ₹50 & #air #travel #insurance worth 50 lac. Info: https://air.irctc.co.in #FlyAt50 #StaySafe (sic)," it said.
In an accompanying photo post, IRCTC mentioned that users will not have to pay any “hidden" charges while using the platform and that it is the government authorized agency for LTC ticket booking. Users can also get a 5% value back on booking with IRCTC SBI Card Premier.
In an accompanying photo post, IRCTC mentioned that users will not have to pay any “hidden" charges while using the platform and that it is the government authorized agency for LTC ticket booking. Users can also get a 5% value back on booking with IRCTC SBI Card Premier.
|#+|
What is the convenience fee?
A convenience fee is charged by IRCTC as a form of the service fee from users who use its internet ticket booking platform to book train or air travel tickets.
IRCTC used to charge a convenience fee of ₹20 plus tax per ticket for non-air-conditioned (AC) travel classes, and ₹40 plus tax per ticket for air-conditioned class tickets till 22 November 2016.
For nearly three years after that, this fee was withdrawn by the ministry of railways to promote digital transactions.
It was restarted on 1 September 2019 with a charge of ₹15 plus goods and services tax (GST) per ticket on booking of non-AC tickets and ₹30 plus GST for AC class tickets.
Passengers making online payments via Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) or Unified Payments Interface (UPI) had to only pay ₹10 plus GST per ticket for non-AC class tickets and ₹20 plus GST for AC classes.
In 2019-20, IRCTC earned ₹352 crore from convenience fee while in 2020-21, it earned ₹299 crore.
"Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!" Click here!
