Decoding “Confirmed Ticket” Guarantees on Travel Apps

Recently, I was booking a Tatkal train ticket for a family member. If you’ve ever booked one you’d agree that trying to get a confirmed Tatkal ticket feels like trying to win the lottery. And I’ve never been particularly lucky with lotteries. As expected, I didn’t get the prize.

While looking for the alternatives, I stumbled upon an interesting offer from a few travel apps – a “Trip Guarantee” on waitlisted train tickets. For a small premium, these platforms promise a refund of up to 3X the fare if your seat doesn’t get confirmed.

On the surface, it sounds like a great deal. But as they say, the devil is in the details. I went down the rabbit hole of the terms and conditions across MakeMyTrip, GoIbibo, and ConfirmTKT. So, before you click that “opt-in” button, let’s talk about what you’re really signing up for. There is also an infographic in the end that summarizes the findings.

How The “Guaranteed” Refund Really Works

The headline “3X Refund” is a clever bit of marketing. You might picture a large deposit coming in your bank account. But that’s not quite how it works. The refund is typically broken into two parts:

• The Base Fare Refund (1X): This is your original ticket fare, which IRCTC would refund anyway if your waitlisted ticket doesn’t get confirmed. It comes back to your original payment mode. However, this refund is for the base fare only. The IRCTC convenience fee, the aggregator’s service charge, payment gateway charges, and the premium you paid for the “guarantee” are all non-refundable.
• The “Extra” 2X (or 1X) Refund: This remaining amount isn’t cash. It’s a platform-specific ‘Travel Voucher’ or ‘Coupon Code’, which comes with its own set of rules – a non-refundable, single-use, non-transferable voucher that expires within a week.

So, you’re not getting a windfall of cash. You’re getting a voucher that locks you into using their platform again, very, very soon. From a business perspective, this is pure genius.

Understanding The Voucher: A Ticking Time Bomb with Rules

These travel vouchers come with a lot of strings attached:

• Use It Quickly or Lose It: This isn’t a voucher you can save for your next big trip. All the platforms I checked give you a very short window to use it, typically just 7 days from the date your chart is prepared. Not only that, but your new travel date must also fall within this 7-day period.
• One-Time Use: The voucher is for one-time use only. If your alternate ticket costs less than the voucher’s value, you cannot use the remaining balance for your next trip.
• Location Lock: You can’t just book a trip from anywhere to anywhere. Your alternate travel must originate and end near your original train route. MakeMyTrip, for instance, allows a 60 km radius for bus/cab and 200 km for flights. You can use it for one-way journey only. (ConfirmTkt doesn’t mention such a restriction).
• The All-or-Nothing Clause: Let’s say you’ve booked tickets for your family of four. If even one of those tickets gets confirmed or moves to RAC, the entire guarantee is void. You get no voucher, not even for the three people still on the waitlist.
• No Guarantees on Your Plan B: The travel aggregators are not responsible for the availability of an alternate mode of transport. So, even though you have a voucher, if there are no seats available for your route within the tight 7-day window, your voucher is useless.
• No Cancellation Before Chart Preparation: If you cancel your ticket before chart prep, you lose the offer; and the opt-in fee isn’t refunded either.

A Breakdown of Each Platform’s Offer

Here’s a closer look at what each platform offers (or skip to the infographic directly).

1. MakeMyTrip: Trip Guarantee

• Offer: A 3X refund on the ticket fare if your waitlisted ticket isn’t confirmed.
• How it Works: You receive 1X of the fare back to your original payment (minus deductions) source and the remaining 2X as an MMT ‘Travel Voucher’.
• Key Conditions:
  • The maximum refund is capped at ₹6,000. If your original ticket was of Rs 4000/- then you get that 4000 (minus deductions) in your payment method and 2000 (6K – 4K) as travel voucher.
  • The voucher expires in 7 days, and your new travel must also be within 7 days.
  • The alternate travel destination must be within a 60 km radius for bus/cab/train or 200 km for flights from your original route.
  • Number of passengers must match the number in the original booking.

2. GoIbibo: goConfirmed Trip

• Offer: A 2X refund on the ticket fare.
• How it Works: You get 1X of the fare back from IRCTC (minus deductions) and the other 1X as a GoIbibo ‘Travel Voucher’.
• Key Conditions:
  • The maximum refund is capped at ₹3,000.
  • The voucher and your new travel date must both be within a seven-day window.
  • The alternate travel route must be within a 300 km range of your original train stations.
  • All names and number of passengers must match the original booking.

3. ConfirmTkt: Travel Guarantee

• Offer: A flexible refund multiplier you choose beforehand: 3X for a flight or bus, and 2X for a train.
• How it Works: You get 1X of the fare back to your original payment mode. The rest (1X for train, 2X for flight/bus) is issued as a ‘Travel Guarantee Coupon’.
• Key Conditions:
  • The maximum refund is capped at ₹6,000.
  • The coupon must be claimed and used within seven days for travel within those seven days.
  • The coupon can only be used for the alternate travel mode you selected when opting in (flight, bus, or train).
  • The number of passengers in the alternate mode of travel must be equal to or less than the number of passengers in the original train booking. Passenger names must also be the same as in your original train booking.

Comparison at a Glance

Here is an infographic summarizing the key aspects of each offer (click on the image for higher res):

In conclusion, I see this as more of a cleverly crafted insurance product than a straightforward guarantee. You’re paying a premium for a chance to get a subsidized alternate ticket, provided your circumstances align perfectly with the many rules. It might just work for you, but it pays to know exactly what you’re buying into.

Photo Credit:

1. Feature Image: Photo credit: Shairyar Khan on Unsplash