• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Oct. 11 Now you can search, book and buy your airline tickets via SMS. Kingfisher Airlines has tied up with PayMate to introduce a SMS-based service that will allow customers to search, book and pay for tickets on the mobile without any manual intervention.

The ‘FlyBuySms’ service will not require a registration, or the downloading of any application. The service will work on any handset model and operator. The customer will incur premium SMS charges of about Rs 2-Rs 3 for the service, said Mr Ajay Adiseshann, Managing Director and Founder, PayMate.

The first step for a customer using the service is to search for tickets by sending an SMS in the format ‘KING <From City> <To City> <Date of Travel>’ to 5667711. Details of all Kingfisher Airlines flights on the sector, with departure time and best available fares, will be received.

For bookings, the customer will have to reply to the SMS with the preferred flight option and guests’ name.

After selecting the flight details, the customer can buy the ticket by authorising payment via SMS with his PayMate PIN. Non-PayMate users can pay with their credit card through an automatic IVR (Interactive Voice Response) callback. The customer will get a confirmation of booking details via SMS.

Mr Adiseshann said, “Considering the rapid proliferation of mobile handsets in the country, the cell phone will emerge as the premier device for conducting transactions. With the introduction of the Kingfisher Airlines-PayMate offering, customers will no longer be limited to internet bookings or bookings via travel agents.

“It will be a truly anytime-anywhere experience targeted at anyone with a mobile handset. The simplicity of using SMS and the convenience of the mobile medium will make it a compelling ticketing channel.”

In order to make booking of tickets a simple process, the airline has resorted to online selling, home delivery of tickets, selling through bank ATMs and Reliance Web Worlds.

“FlyBuySms is a first-of-its-kind service in India through which a Kingfisher Airlines ticket can be booked anywhere, anytime. This will enable guests to access Kingfisher Airlines at their own convenience and in real-time,” said Mr Vikram Malhotra, Head-Marketing, Kingfisher Airlines.

More Stories on : Airlines | Online Marketing | M-Commerce

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Kingfisher, PayMate tie up for SMS-based ticketing service

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line