Date:04/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/08/04/stories/2005080414320300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Indian Airlines expands flight helpline reach

Staff Reporter

Facility to cover the entire country

VISAKHAPATNAM: Indian Airlines has expanded the reach of its 24X7 flight helpline No.1407 beyond the six metros to make it an all-India facility. Operational only at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad till now, the flight helpline is a one-point, toll-free contact number for customers to find out any information about Indian Airlines--be it departure/arrival time, schedules, fares, seat availability, telephonic reservation, current status or finding details of any new offers.

Passengers now have to dial a single phone number to contact the round-the-clock IA helpline from anywhere in India, that too toll-free when a call is made from an MTNL or BSNL landline or mobile number. A caller has to prefix 1600180 to the helpline number 1407. The toll-free number thus has to be dialled as 16001801407.

For a call made from a non-MTNL/BSNL landline from within the six metros, the caller has to dial 1407. The number has to be prefixed by a three-digit city code (011 for Delhi, 022 for Mumbai, etc., depending upon as to where one wishes the call to land at), if the call is being made from a non-MTNL/BSNL mobile phone or a non-MTNL/BSNL landline, from a city other than the six metros. In all such cases, applicable call charges would be levied.

The IA flight helpline also offers "multi-lingual option'' over and above the regular option of Hindi and English. The facility is available in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and Assamese, with Punjabi and Oriya to start soon. The executive class passengers and members of the "frequent flyer'' programme of IA flying out of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, travelling with only a hand bag, can even tele check-in on the 24X7 flight helpline number up to two hours before the scheduled departure of the flight. The facility is now available in English and Hindi.