Booking terms and cancellation policy

1. What we do

When you send us a booking request, we book the journey on your behalf. Railway tickets are booked on IRCTC through an IRCTC Registered RSP via an Authorized B2B PSP. Flights are booked with the airline, and cabs with our cab partner. Each ticket is also governed by the operator’s own rules, which we tell you about before you pay.

We book only what you ask for, and only after you have approved the final price and paid. A request is not a ticket: nothing is held for you until you receive a ticket reference (PNR) from us.

2. The price, and every charge in it

Before you pay, we show the total and each part of it. The total you are shown is the amount you are charged; we never add a charge afterwards.

• Railway fare, as set by Indian Railways for your class, quota and travellers.
• IRCTC convenience fee, charged by IRCTC per ticket: ₹15 for non-AC and ₹30 for AC classes, plus GST.
• Our service charge per railway ticket: ₹20 for non-AC and ₹40 for AC classes, including GST. These are the maximums IRCTC allows its agents to charge.
• Airfare, including the airline’s taxes and fees, plus our service charge of ₹150 per flight booking, including GST.
• Cab fare, quoted to you before you pay.

We add no payment-gateway charge. We never charge for checking availability, and we never charge for cancelling a railway ticket.

3. Paying

Payment is taken by Razorpay; we never see your card or bank details. Paying is your go-ahead to book. If we cannot book what you paid for — because the seats have gone, or the fare has changed and you do not accept the new one — you are refunded in full.

4. When a railway ticket can be booked

Authorised agents may not book in the first minutes after bookings open for a date, and may not book Tatkal in the first 30 minutes of its window (10:00 for AC, 11:00 for non-AC). We book as soon as the rules allow. A waitlisted or RAC ticket is not a confirmed berth; we tell you which you are getting before you pay.

For Tatkal bookings and for cancellations, IRCTC sends a one-time password to the mobile number on the ticket. We will ask you for it on WhatsApp at that moment; without it the booking or cancellation cannot go ahead.

5. Cancellations and refunds

Railway tickets. We cancel only on your written request (a WhatsApp message is enough) and with the one-time password IRCTC sends you. The refund is set by IRCTC’s cancellation rules for your class and the time left before departure; we add no charge of our own. We pass every refund to you as soon as we receive it, and in any case within five working days. A confirmed Tatkal ticket is not refundable. A ticket still waitlisted when the chart is prepared is cancelled and refunded automatically. Our service charge and IRCTC’s convenience fee are not refunded once a ticket has been issued.

Flights. Cancellation and change charges are set by the airline for your fare and are shown to you before you pay. Refunds are processed through the airline, which the rules require within 14 working days. The airline’s statutory taxes are refunded even on a non-refundable fare. A credit shell is used only if you choose it. Our service charge is not refunded once a ticket has been issued.

Cabs. Cancellation follows our cab partner’s policy for your booking, which we tell you before you pay.

6. Names, ages and identity

Give every traveller’s name exactly as it appears on the ID they will carry. At least one traveller on each railway ticket must carry an original photo ID on the journey; DigiLocker-issued documents are accepted.

Railway rules require agents to keep a copy of the booking customer’s ID proof, and the written request, for six months. We ask for it on WhatsApp. Aadhaar is optional — a PAN card, passport, driving licence or voter ID works equally well — and if you send Aadhaar, send the masked version with the first eight digits hidden. We never ask for a full Aadhaar number, and we delete the copy after six months.

7. Your data

We use the details you give us only to book and manage this journey. We share them with IRCTC through our agent account, with the airline or cab operator of any other leg, with Razorpay to take your payment, and with WhatsApp to send you your fare, payment link, ticket and updates. You can ask us at any time to see, correct or delete your details, subject to the six-month record we must keep for a railway booking.

If anyone travelling is under 18, the person making the request confirms that they are that traveller’s parent or guardian, or have their permission.

8. Complaints and grievances

Grievance Officer: Dhruv Shah, hello@railroute.in, +91 83699 27133 (call or WhatsApp). We acknowledge a complaint within 48 hours and aim to resolve it within 30 days. You can also contact the National Consumer Helpline on 1915.

9. What we are not responsible for

We are not the carrier. Delays, cancellations, platform or schedule changes and missed connections are the operator’s, and each ticket in a journey of more than one ticket is a separate contract. We will help you with any of them, but we cannot accept liability for an operator’s decision.