Online ticket booking - IRCTC alternatives

codelad

Disciple
Been years since I last booked a train ticket online, and the IRCTC service appears far worse than I remember it from last time, with multiple failed bookings already. And their website is impossible to navigate on Firefox and Chromium (the only two browsers I have access to, right now). Also, the data that they collect is unnerving - nearly on par with a bank's KYC process. To their credit, I received emails promising a refund for the failed bookings - but remains to be seen if the refunds are hassle-free.

Now, Google tells me that I could book tickets from several other services (makemytrip, ibibo, etc.), and I haven't a clue. Would you recommend any of these over IRCTC? Wouldn't really mind paying a little more, for something better.
 
I used to use ClearTrip years ago and the UI was excellent. And then IRCTC made a stupid rule that the final transaction would complete after a redirection to and from IRCTC, which made it cumbersome. Give ClearTrip a try anyway.
 
There is an app 'ixigo' which has good ui and I have booked ticket once through it and seemed to work okay. But imo, all these portals/apps still need an irctc login to book the ticket so you may still need to share all the data. You can give that a try too in case ClearTrip doesn't work out.

But I usually book via irctc's website on phone only and it seems to work as well. Last I booked 2-3 months back and it worked smoothish-ly.
 
If it is the failed transactions that is bothering you, then I think all the transactions have to pass through IRCTC servers. So no guarantee if transaction would succeed using some other site.
And yeah, the IRCTC site has become clunkier.
 
Train booking has become a menace since few yrs now.
Irctc has become so much secure as if one is booking tickets via his swiss bank account and so much time gets lost one even misses his turn for a confirmed birth!

Also, wow even a common man can easily afford AC2 AC1.
AC3 is just a joke now as it is just a sleeper class version in AC thats it!
And after covid one doesn't even know what train he is booking...all are labelled as spl trains etc.
The end user has lost all rightss...nor to book his choice of train nor seats/birth!
 
I booked one last week after a long gap and had no issues. Earlier the only trouble I had was with their tatkal booking/traffic which often resulted in being timed-out/logged-out/failed transactions. Refunds are not a concern. Did notice that I can no longer select window seats (births as well I guess), and that master passenger list is gone? Could'nt find it
 
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I booked one last week after a long gap and had no issues. Earlier the only trouble I had was with their tatkal booking/traffic which often resulted in being timed-out/logged-out/failed transactions. Refunds are not a concern. Did notice that I can no longer select window seats (births as well I guess), and that master passenger list is gone? Could'nt find it
Tatkal is like current gpu scalpers...you either hit the mark or get zero marks! Though now tatkal has improved..
 
Thank you for all the suggestions. Unfortunately, won't be able to take up any - thanks to my paranoia, I don't use mobile payments which rules out app-based options. And since every other option I looked at leads to the same IRCTC service, it's not something I wish to go through again, either. And the IRCTC website itself appears increasingly as an antithesis to everything I look forward to - annoying adverts all over the place, a dreadful dysfunctional UI (at least on the browsers I tried it with), the process itself that feels more like a gamble than a routine task. Overall, a huge waste of time.

Had foolishly volunteered to help book tickets for someone in the family. Will advise them to try booking at the nearest railway station instead. Incredible, how far we have come and yet where we remain in some aspects.
 
Also, wow even a common man can easily afford AC2 AC1. AC3 is just a joke now as it is just a sleeper class version in AC thats it!
As a preventive measure, Govt has already made the fares skyrocket. /s
Tatkal is like current gpu scalpers...you either hit the mark or get zero marks! Though now tatkal has improved..
They have also introduced dynamic pricing in a lot of trains. The thing that hurts me the most is that now you have to file PNR before the train leaves. Like wtf?
 
As a preventive measure, Govt has already made the fares skyrocket. /s

They have also introduced dynamic pricing in a lot of trains. The thing that hurts me the most is that now you have to file PNR before the train leaves. Like wtf?
Fares and money is no more a bar hence I said even a village guy can now book AC2 or even 1.

Dynamic pricing is old now yet simply scalping aka loot by govt. to ensure only ambanis should book some 1k seat at 2.3k or so.
Its a loot altogether..

At one point we got so much frustrated when we actually needed reservation sometime in yr 2k19 and even 2 months advance all trains were full, I drove to Nagpur from Mumbai to drop my family, meet old pals and relatives, roamed to a lot of places/tourist spots around and satisfactorily came back home after 10 days with my family + no luggage hassles no pnr shit no train getting late crap and no upper birth adjustments!
Ha done hell of a bliss time! And I like to drive a lot so covering 840 kms in 17hrs was a great addon to my skills and driving resume..

EOD: Uber exp., complete peace of mind cum adventure cum flexibility and what not!
 
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I just booked tickets on the IRCTC website. I have no complaints.
Booked tickets after more than a year and a half. I desperately need a outing.

I've been using IRCTC for many a year. It's quite a decent site IMO. Never had a problem with bookings, cancellations or refunds.
Maybe because I book well in advance most of the time. Never used Tatkal.

Always used Firefox (with ublock origin) on PC.
 
Even I booked tickets last week for someone. Exp. isn't an issue esp. these days. But few months ago I booked for a particular express train and train turned out to be garibrath when we reached to board it. I wasted 2.4k for seats which actually cost just 1.5k.
Cheating by rail!
Imagine if in place of rajdhani a local passenger train is sent, how red-faced will be the public then?
 
Reviving old thread -
Today, I am trying to book train ticket on irctc and its PITA. Tried FF, Edge and Chrome on lappy and chrome on mobile. The site stops at random places of ticket booking flow like below -

1653137620631.png

Then, I just clicked on Disha icon out of frustration and ooh man, I never expected this. Disha is basically SIRI of IRCTC ;)

1653137400297.png


That scrollbar shows whole conversation. I took it to top after completing the transaction

It was seamless experience and successfully booked the ticket. Just check this feature when ever you guys are free.

Thumbup to IRCTC for this feature
Ja Yes GIF by HOFER Österreich
 
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