Govt Employees Should Book Cheapest Air Tickets: Govt Shares Tips To Save Money While Booking Air Tickets

In a bid to go light on expenses, the Ministry of Finance has introduced changes to some instructions related to flight bookings made by government employees.

Government officers will now have to lock the cheapest available fares while booking air tickets and that too at least 21 days prior to the date of travel. Also, any cancellations made within less than 72 hours of travel date will have to be justified to higher authorities, as per the finance ministry.

New Air Ticket Booking Norms for Government Authorities

In a bid to cut on government expenses, a lot of new changes are being made, like the concession provided to senior citizens for traveling in Indian Railways have been removed, which has helped the government generate an additional revenue of over Rs 1,500 crore.

Similarly, to further cut down on expenses, the finance ministry has directed government officers to choose the cheapest fare available while booking flight tickets for entitled travel class, and make the said bookings at least 21 days ahead of the travel date and Leave Travel Concession (LTC).

Authorities are asked to book one ticket for each leg of the travel journey and are endorsed to book the tickets even if approval of the tour programme(s) in focus is at the time under progress.

Authorities are also advised to stray from making unnecessary and careless ticket cancellations. In this regard, any air ticket cancellation made within less than 72 hours of travel date will need to be explained/justified.

“Employees are to choose flights having the Best Available Fare on their entitled travel class which is the Cheapest Fare available, preferably for non-stop flight in a given slot at the time of booking,” as per office memorandum of the Department of Expenditure.

Additionally, it has been made mandatory for government authorities to buy tickets/book tickets only from three authorised travel agents, including:

• Balmer Lawrie & Co, 
• Ashok Travel & Tours, and
• IRCTC.

“Employees are encouraged to book flight tickets at least 21 days prior to the intended travel on tour and LTC, to avail the most competitive fares and minimise burden on the exchequer,” the memorandum added.