Air India alert! Now, get 'hefty' discount on these tickets

Air India today announced that it will offer "hefty" discounts on last-minute bookings. The national carrier has decided that in the domestic sector, available seats booked within three hours of departure would be sold at a "hefty" discount. The price of tickets booked in the last minutes normally exceeds 40% of the selling price of the ticket. The Air India decision comes as a big respite for passengers reeling under the impact of exorbitant fares since the grounding of Jet Airways.

According to a report by news agency PTI, an airline official had earlier said it would offer a flat 50 per cent discount on last-minute bookings.

As per the decision, then the national carrier will sell its "very last moment inventory” within three hours of departure at a "hefty discount". The carrier, however, didn't quantify the discount customers will get for last-minute bookings. 

The decision to offer the last-minute discount was taken at a commercial review meeting of the airline at its headquarters on Friday, the national carrier said in an official statement. 

While generally, customers have to pay over 40 per cent or more for the last-minute bookings over the average fares, the demand-supply mismatch following the grounding of Jet Airways had made the difference between the last-minute tickets and general tickets much higher.

The national carrier said that the last-minute travellers, especially those travelling for urgencies, can now book tickets at a much cheaper level.

You can book the tickets from Air India counters, on its website, on the mobile app, or through agents.