Paid after the seat hold expired: who gets the seat?

transcript

Ananya's UPI app takes nine minutes. Her seat hold lasted eight. One of her seats now has someone else's hold. Then her money arrives.

First, what a hold really is. Not a lock. A state, with its hold id and expiry on the seat. Past the expiry, it counts as free at the next check. No waiting for a sweeper. And a seat can only be sold with the same hold id.

The saga tries to sell hold h1. But H7 carries another hold id. So the sale fails, cleanly. No seat sold twice. So it tries to hold the same seats again. Still free? Held, then sold. Taken? The refund goes out automatically, keyed on the booking.

Ananya gets a clear message. Those seats were released after 8 minutes. And her refund is already on its way. Nobody has to ask.

Why 8 minutes? Long enough to pay by UPI, or a card with an OTP. Short enough that abandoned seats come back while people are still browsing. Big on-sales use 5. The queue behind is long.

The hold id is the capability to sell. So a late payment can never take a seat twice. Every rupee ends in a ticket, or a refund.

Full breakdown in the lecture.