MakeMyTrip adds 'seat availability forecast' feature to ease train bookings

Travel booking major MakeMyTrip on Monday launched Seat Availability Forecast, providing a predictive view of when seats on a selected train are likely to sell out.

The Gurugram-headquartered firm said its data shows that nearly 40 per cent of users book train tickets across multiple sessions, often over several days.

Among these users, close to 70 per cent end up booking waitlisted tickets, simply because confirmed seats are no longer available by the time their plans firm up.

Reserved train tickets in India open for booking 60 days ahead of departure. However, most travellers only finalise their plans much closer to the date, MakeMyTrip stated.

"With demand patterns varying significantly from week to week, the window for confirmed bookings keeps shifting. In April, most high-speed trains were sold out around 13 days before the departure date. By May, due to rising demand, they were typically booked out more than 20 days before departure," the NASDAQ-listed company said.

For travellers, this means that even when they know which train they want, they often don't have a reliable sense of how long seats will remain available, making timely planning harder, it stated.

The new feature is now live on both the MakeMyTrip app and website, embedded within the train booking flow.

"We are focused on our mission to anticipate and address the nuanced needs of Indian rail passengers. Seat Availability Forecast is a result of that effort, rooted in data science, built to be seamless, and designed to solve a real planning challenge for millions of users. It is a strong addition to our rail stack, which helps make train travel more predictable and less stressful across the board," Rajesh Magow, Co-founder and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip, said.