MakeMyTrip, one of India’s top travel booking platforms, has rolled out a new tool called Seat Availability Forecast, designed to help train passengers better plan their journeys and avoid the common issue of waitlisted tickets.
The Seat Availability Forecast is a data-driven feature now live on both the MakeMyTrip app and website. It leverages historical booking trends and real-time demand patterns to predict when seats on a particular train are likely to sell out. As users browse trains, the forecast provides a clear estimate of how many days confirmed seats are expected to remain available for a specific date and train. This helps travelers make more informed decisions and reduces last-minute booking stress.
Travel booking behavior shows that around 40% of users book train tickets across multiple sessions, often waiting a few days before finalizing their plans. According to MakeMyTrip, nearly 70% of these users end up with waitlisted tickets, as confirmed seats are often no longer available.
Moreover, the booking window is highly unpredictable. In April 2025, most high-speed trains sold out 13 days before departure, but by May, that number had stretched to over 20 days due to increasing demand. While Indian Railways allows booking 60 days in advance, many travelers delay finalizing their plans, creating a major planning challenge.
MakeMyTrip’s Co-founder and Group CEO, Rajesh Magow, emphasized that the tool reflects the company’s commitment to solving real user challenges through technology and data science. For millions of Indian train travelers, this marks a significant step toward smarter, stress-free travel planning.
"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," company said.