India’s national carrier, Air India, is enabling its passengers to book and pay for air tickets using their mobile phones.
The airline launched the service in collaboration with Bangalore-based Ji Grahak Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which provides the ngpay mobile-payments application in the country.
The service is available through a free downloadable app, a spokesperson tells PaymentsSource, noting payments may be done through credit cards, debit cards or direct debit.
The app is available for BlackBerry phones and Android-, Symbian- and Java-based devices, according to Ji Grahak.
Once they download the app, customers must complete a one-time registration process by providing his basic personal details, such as name, mobile number, email address, date of birth and address, and payment card information, he says. After they use the app to book and pay for a flight, Air India sends them a text or email message with the details of the flight, a reference number and a ticket receipt.
If the passenger does not have a hard copy of the receipt, he can report at the curbside counter of Air India with the text details, along with a photo ID, and take a copy of the receipt from the counter to enter the airport, the spokesperson says. Indian airports do not allow passengers to enter for boarding unless they carry a hard copy of their ticket receipt along with a photo ID, he adds.
The airline designed the service for passengers from small and midsize cities where Internet access may not be readily accessible and for busy city professionals comfortable with mobile commerce, the spokesperson adds
Jet Airways Ltd., India’s largest private airline by passengers carried, launched a similar service using ngpay last summer (
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