LTC Air Ticket Booking — Agents, Rules & the End of LTC-80
LTC-80 no longer exists. Here is what replaced it: the three authorised agents you must book through, the cheapest-fare rule, and the concession that lets non-entitled employees fly to the North East until September 2026.
Is LTC-80 fare still applicable? No.
LTC-80 has been abolished. It was a concessional fare offered by Air India when Air India was a Government of India PSU. Air India has since been privatised and is no longer a government PSU, so the LTC 80 scheme offered by the erstwhile Air India is no more in existence — confirmed by DoPT O.M. No. 31011/12/2022-Estt.(A-IV) dated 29 August 2022 and repeated in the DoPT LTC FAQs of 1 July 2025. Any "LTC-80 fare list" still circulating online is obsolete. What replaced it is not a special fare at all, but a booking channel rule: you must book through one of three authorised agents, at the cheapest fare available.
The three authorised travel agents (ATAs)
DoPT has notified exactly three Authorized Travel Agencies for booking air tickets on LTC. Booking anywhere else — the airline's own website, or a private aggregator like MakeMyTrip, Yatra or Cleartrip — can get your claim disallowed.
Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited
A Government of India PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and the agency most departments default to. Its government-employee travel portal is separate from its ordinary commercial site — use the govemp portal for LTC.
govemp.balmerlawrietravelapp.comAshok Travels & Tours
The travel division of ITDC (India Tourism Development Corporation), a Government of India enterprise. Useful if BLCL has no counter or servicing office in your city.
www.attitdc.inIndian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation
The air-booking arm of IRCTC — note the air.irctc.co.in subdomain, which is distinct from the familiar rail-ticketing site. Convenient if you already hold an IRCTC account.
www.air.irctc.co.inBook under "LTC", not "Corporate". DoPT specifically warns that while booking through an authorised agent, employees must ensure the ticket is booked under the category of LTC only. The agents also mark the word "LTC" on tickets issued for LTC journeys. A ticket booked under the Corporate category is a common and entirely avoidable cause of claim trouble.
LTC air booking rules at a glance
| Rule | Position |
|---|---|
| LTC-80 fare | Abolished — no longer in existence |
| Where to book | Balmer Lawrie (BLCL), Ashok Travels & Tours (ATT) or IRCTC only |
| Which fare | Cheapest, or within 10% of the cheapest in your 3-hour slot |
| Advance booking | At least 21 days before travel (advised) |
| Booking category | "LTC" — never "Corporate" |
| Agent service fee | None — all three agents charge nothing |
| Airline cancellation charges | Payable by you, as per airline policy |
| Break journey by air | Not allowed (connecting flights excepted) |
| Helicopter travel | Not permitted on LTC |
| Higher / lower class | Higher → restricted to entitled class; lower → actuals |
Special Dispensation Scheme — flying free of your entitlement, until 25 September 2026
Air travel on LTC is normally restricted to Pay Level 12 and above. The Special Dispensation Scheme is the exception: in relaxation of the CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988, non-entitled employees may travel by air in Economy class to the North East Region, the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, the Union Territory of Ladakh, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands — whether availed against All-India LTC or in lieu of Home Town LTC. Reimbursement is restricted to the actual air fare for the direct journey, or the fare entitled under the scheme, whichever is less.
The deadline matters. The scheme was extended for two years with effect from 26 September 2024 and runs until 25 September 2026. DoPT has clarified that the outward journey may be started just before the midnight of 25 September 2026 and still qualify. If you are a non-entitled employee who has been meaning to see the North East or the Andamans on LTC, this is the window — and whether it is extended again is not yet notified.
Two clarifications worth knowing: Sikkim counts as part of the North Eastern Region for this purpose, and children under five of non-entitled employees — whose air fare is normally not reimbursable — are covered on the segments where air travel has been allowed under the scheme.
Sourced from the DoPT Office Memorandum F.No.31011/07/2025 PP.A-IV dated 1 July 2025 — Frequently Asked Questions on the CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988 — and the O.M.s cited within it. Rules are amended from time to time; confirm the current position with your DDO or on dopt.gov.in before booking.
What actually replaced LTC-80
A lot of employees still search for an "LTC-80 fare list", expecting a published table of concessional fares. That model is gone, and it is worth understanding why, because the replacement works on a completely different principle. LTC-80 was a product — a specific discounted fare bucket that Air India, then a government PSU, made available to government employees on LTC. When Air India was privatised, the government lost the ability to require it.
What replaced it is a process. Instead of a concessional fare on one airline, you may fly any airline in your entitled class, but you must book through one of three government-owned agents, and you must take the cheapest fare available in your time slot, or one within 10% of it. The saving to the exchequer is produced by competition and by the fare cap, not by a negotiated discount. For you as an employee the practical difference is that there is no longer a fare table to look up — there is only the agent portal, showing the cheapest option in your slot.
The mistakes that get LTC air claims rejected
- Booking outside the three agents. The single most common and most expensive error. A ticket bought on the airline's own site or a private aggregator can be disallowed outright — you will have flown at your own cost.
- Booking under "Corporate" instead of "LTC". The portals offer both. Only one of them produces a ticket marked "LTC".
- Taking a convenient flight over a cheap one. If a cheaper flight existed in the same three-hour slot and yours was more than 10% above it, expect a query.
- Breaking the journey. Staying overnight somewhere en route, other than for a connection or lay-over, is not permitted by air.
- Booking before leave is sanctioned. Airline cancellation charges are yours to bear; agent cancellation charges are reimbursed only for official exigencies.
- Late booking. Under 21 days is not an automatic rejection, but it invites scrutiny of why a costlier fare was taken.
Pair the flight with a near-free stay
LTC reimburses your travel fare only — never accommodation, local transport or food. That is precisely the gap the Central Government holiday homes fill, at rates starting around ₹150 a night for an employee. If your destination has no holiday home, a Touring Officers' Hostel usually does. Book the stay the moment your leave is sanctioned — the holiday home window opens 60 days before check-in for serving employees and clears within hours at peak stations, which is often earlier than you would think about flights.