How to Check PNR Status?

PNR stands for Passenger Name Record and it is associated with reservations. PNR is an acronym and is used by the Indian Railways and other commuting services like airways, seaways and road travel by bus, etc. PNR is a record created for a passenger who has booked their journey. The record is stored in a database of a Computer Reservation System (CRS).

The purpose to assign a PNR to a passenger is to make the details of a passenger easy to fetch with the help of computer database. A PNR number is usually contains 10 digits in it in a variation of 3 numbers at first, followed by 7 numbers.

PNR Status Check

Checking the status of a ticket via PNR is a process to get the full confirmation of the ticket. A passenger must check their PNR status of their ticket before the actual time of travel. In some cases the ticket is cancelled or the train is cancelled due to some reasons.

Ticket Confirmation

After booking a ticket (for example train ticket), there are multiple terms written on the ticket but the actual details are later confirmed. These terms show us the status of the ticket weather the booked ticket is confirmed, cancelled, waiting, etc.

Given below are the terminologies in the example of train ticket –

1. CNF (Confirmed) – If the booked ticket shows CNF, then it means that the ticket has been booked and a seat has been allotted, later the details will be provided by IRCTC or the company.
2. RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) – If the booked ticket shows RAC, then it means that the ticket is confirmed but is available with a waiting list for a birth. In other terms, the booked ticket is confirmed but is half available, i.e., the ticket is available just for a sitting journey but not for a sleeping seat.

The ticket confirms the journey but not the birth allotment. In some cases, the ticket splits into 2 seats for 2 RAC ticket holders.

• WL (Waiting List) – If the booked ticket shows RAC, then it means that the ticket is in waiting list, which means that there are more passengers than the allotted seats in the train. These passengers have booked the ticket. If a person who has a confirm ticket cancels their ticket, then the next waiting person in terms of booking timing will be given priority for a confirm ticket. In some cases, the waiting list can turn into RAC ticket to adjust 2 passengers on a single birth to adjust more travelers in the coach.

What is PNR status?

The PNR status is the confirmation of the ticket’s status from the 3 status codes Confirm (CNF), Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) and Waiting List (WL). Any of these codes show the status of the ticket. There is a status of cancellation if the train has been cancelled due to some reasons.

How to check PNR status?

To check the PNR Status, a person is required to visit the website of their booked transportation department or he/she can do it by an application. For example, if the booked ticket is of Indian Railways, then the person has to visit the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation).

1. First visit the IRCTC’s website https://www.irctc.co.in/nget/train-search
2. Then click the 3 lines (IRCTC Menu)

• Select Trains and scroll and click the PNR Enquiry option

1. Then enter the 10-digit PNR to the tab
2. The status of the ticket will be displayed with live feed of the journey and other essential details

OR directly visit this website https://irctcpnr.org/ for a quick access to PNR Enquiry page.

For flights, the PNR status is different and even have some alphabets in it. The process to check for a flight’s PNR status is very easy it only requires the user to visit any website of their dedicated travel company and the PNR number is to be entered in the PNR enquiry box and the live status will be showed in it. 

Where is my train PNR status?

You can check the current running status of your train to get an estimated time of arrival of your train at the station. There are multiple ways to check the running / live status of the train.

1. Where is my train (whereismytrain.in) – Whereismytrain.in is a live train tracking application / website which provide accurate information of whereabout of a train. The website provides a mobile application from ‘Play Store’ for a smart phone. Then the application requires 5-digit train number and the date of travel.
2. Rail Yatri (railyatri.in) – This website also provides live tracking / spot your train feature in the website with estimated time of arrival and platform number of the station.

Apart from these websites there are multiple mobile applications that provide same features and services.

How to check PNR status by SMS?

This feature of checking PNR status via SMS is only provided by Indian Railways Catering Tourism and Corporation (IRCTC). This is a very friendly feature is available to all type of mobiles and this service is a pan India service, allowing user of different cellular companies to access this service and check their PNR status via SMS.

The process is a very small process, where a traveler is required to send the SMS to IRCTC’s number at 139 or 5676747 with the allotted 10-digit PNR number. After sending the SMS the IRCTC will reply back with the current status of the booked ticket with all the essential details in it.

How to check flight’s PNR status?

Just like train’s PNR status, a flight’s status is also similar but has small digits and it also pertains alphabets and the number of alphabets and digits may differ from company to company. There are different websites and different company’s dedicated applications and website which allows the checking of PNR status and live tracking of the flights.

IRCTC also allows the checking of PNR status through their www.irctcpnrstatuss.com website. 

How to check PNR status of train?

To check the PNR status of the train, the passenger must visit a website that allows the feature of PNR status check for example, ‘irctc.co.in and indianrail.gov.in’ these are the Indian railway’s website that allows the tracking of PNR status. Then the passenger must input the 10-digit PNR code in the PNR search box then the website will fetch all the updated status of the booked ticket.

To know more about PNR status check, kindly refer to the above-mentioned steps.

What is PNR prediction?

This is the latest feature which comes handy in booking and planning a journey. The prediction feature allows the traveler to see the statistics of the ticket that is being booked to provide an idea about the level of conformity of ticket booking.

The computer and the ticket booking system use some codes and performs some code based live searches on the booking of tickets and provide the statistics on the booking probabilities.

The probability and availability of the booking of ticket is usually shown by an encircled number in 3 different colors Red, Green and Yellow. These colors denote the chances of confirmation of the booking. Each class has its own probability color.

• Red Circle – The red-colored circle above a number indicates that there is a high probability that the booked ticket will not be availed as a confirmed ticket, it may go in RAC or WL status. The red circle also means that there is less than 40% chances of getting the waitlisted tickets confirmed.
• Yellow Circle – The yellow-colored circle indicates that there are medium to high chances that the booked ticket will get the confirm status but there is still a chance that the booked ticket may get the status of RAC or WL. The yellow circle also means that there is less than 40-75% chances of getting the waitlisted tickets confirmed.
• Green Circle – The green-colored circle indicates that there is a high probability for the confirmation of the booking. In the green circle probability, it is very rare that a booked ticket goes into the category of RAC or WL status. The yellow circle also means that there is More than 75% chances of getting the waitlisted tickets confirmed.
• The higher the percentage, the higher are the chances of having your tickets confirmed.

What is the validity of Indian Railways PNR Number?

The main validity or the importance of the PNR number remains till the date of the journey or by the time of journey. Apart from the major usage and importance validity of PNR remains up to 9 months from its issue. The PNR number remains in the TDR recorded database for up to a year. After 1 year of the issue of the PNR number, the PNR number is flushed-out from the database of the IRCTC’s computers / softwares, so that the same number can be issued again to another passenger.

How often should you check Train PNR Status updates?

The checking of the PNR status is totally dependent on the passengers, there is no limit on checking the PNR status. The passenger must check the PNR status more frequently if the ticket is in Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) or in the Waiting List (WL), it is advised to check the PNR status more frequently.

Now, the IRCTC has inducted a new feature in their services that provide the status of the ticket 2 to 3 hours prior in some cases 12 to 14 hours prior to the actual time of travel.

To check your PNR status kindly visit the link that is given below -

PNR Status: https://www.indianrail.gov.in/enquiry/PNR/PnrEnquiry.html