Last day to book air tickets with INR 500 & INR 1000 cash

Update: The last date to book tickets with old currency notes has been extended to November 24, 2016 2359 Hours.

Like a lot of you would have noticed, the Indian Government discontinued high value currency notes of INR 500 and INR 1000 denominations as of November 9, 2016. However, to avoid inconvenience for urgent travel, the notification stated that those who need to travel can still book tickets with the old currency notes at any airport office of airlines in India. However, tonight will be the last day this will be allowed to work.

All the airlines are working overtime at the airport counters to issue tickets, and some like Air Asia India have also poked some fun to make it an excellent sales opportunity. Have a look here:

Here is how you can buy at the airports with your cash:

  • All the airlines are offering tickets against cash. But you cannot buy ancillary services such as seat selection and meals with cash.
  • You will need to provide identification of all the passengers for whom tickets are being booked.
  • These tickets are supposed to be non-refundable. However, if an airline did issue you a ticket which was refundable, they will only pay out via an account transfer to your bank.
  • For tickets over INR 25,000 you will need to produce your PAN card as well.

What can you buy?

If you have confirmed plans, you could buy tickets for the dates you want to travel. Otherwise, Jet Airways sells onefare passes, where you can buy coupons, but can select your sectors later and book your tickets. These are available in Business Class as well as Economy class. Air India has a similar concept called Super Saver Coupons I believe.

Just in case you don’t want to queue up at the bank to exchange your notes, here is a different place to get to put them to use. Are you going to be booking some air tickets in cash today?

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About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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