Category: GDS concepts

In this lesson, we will learn how to read fare rules for a selected fare. This is a very important lesson as the reading of fare rules is vital whether you are reissuing a ticket or if you want to cancel a reservation. Knowing how to access rules is also important while providing quotes to a client and any misinterpretation of a fare rule or applying an incorrect fare rule can result in debit memos or losses. We will show you two simple ways through which you can learn how to check fare rules when you are booking an itinerary and another way is when you are checking for a fare rule using the fare quote display command.

I) Checking for fare rules using Fare Quote display command.

This command is one of the commands using which you can check for fares (without taxes just base fare) and fare rules. This command can be used without selling or confirming seats, the second type of command which we will be discussing in this chapter requires seats to be sold and will display fare rules for the fare type or booking class of the booked or sold seats. Fare quote display commands displays fares and rules for specified airline or all airlines between two cities. So first we will see how to check for fare rules using the fare display command. We are checking fare display and fare rules for Dubai to London for any date of travel on British airways.

Step 1- Enter fare quote display command to check fare display between two cities and specifying the requested airline.

FQDDXBLHR/ABA

Above command will display all fares between Dubai to London on BA only.

Now assuming we want to check fare rules for N class of booking with Fare basis NNXC00S2 which is on line number 11 then we will use the following command.

Step 2- Observe the fare display and check what fare basis or fare class you are looking for and check fare notes for the line number on which the fare basis is displayed.

FQN11 

Fare quote notes and 11 is for line number 11 on fare display. Once you enter the above command fare quote notes or rules pertaining to fare basis on line number 11 of fare display will be shown.

Now you can choose whichever rule you want to check for. Every rule corresponds to two-letter code like PE for penalties, MN for minimum stay requirements, etc.  To check what each of these rules specifies we can either enter a follow-up command or simply click on the highlighted pink codes to display the contents of the rule. But here we will use the follow-up command.

Step 3 – Display the rule from the list of rules using the below follow up command

FQN11*PE

When you enter above command the system displays fare rules for fare basis on line number 11, since we specified further for penalties hence penalties for this fare basis will be displayed.

This is a slightly lengthy method of checking fare rules but is quite useful when displaying fare rules for the past dated fares. The next method for checking fare rules is quite popular and is easy to use and you all would be using this method for checking rules than the first method.

II) Checking for fare rules when working on an itinerary or in a pnr.

In below example, We are booking a flight for Mr.Williams from London to Dubai and he needs to know fare rules in case he needs to change or cancel. So instead of using the FQD command, we will use below command which is much quicker and easier.

Step 1 – Use the normal fare pricing command for the booked itinerary.

  FXP or FXX 

Step 2– Use the Fare quote notes command , Since we want to check fare quote notes for TST number 1 we will have to specify FQN1 if we had to check for TST number 2 we would have entered FQN2.

FQN1

FQN1 will display all fare rules related to the fare selected, Now if you observe since this was a return airfare selected there are two fare basis KLEESGB1 for onward and T2ASPGB1 for return and each of these fare basis has a different set of fare rules. Hence to check fare rules for Fare basis in 1 we will have to enter command FQN1-1 and similarly to check fare rules for Fare basis number 2 we will enter command FQN1-2.

As you see above FQN1-1 display all fare rules pertaining to that fare, like Rule application, Maximum stay, Sales restriction, Seasonality, etc. But most common fare rule that we will have to check frequently is penalties rules. Next step we will see how to enter the rule paragraphs.

Step 3-  In this step, there is a slight change and the command almost remains the same but please note you cannot enter this command directly unless you have entered above two commands in sequence. Here we want to check for penalties paragraph for fare basis number one hence we enter below command.

FQN1-1*PE

Now if you see upon entering this command Penalty paragraph is displayed you can read this paragraph specifying how much are the charges in case of changes and cancellations and if you notice this is page 1 of 13 and there are 13 pages in penalties you can scroll down or up by using MU (move up command) or MD (move down command ) to see more. In the above extract of penalties paragraph, it mentions Changes permitted – changes are permitted without any cost as it does not specify penalties, below it mentions Charge GBP 150 for no show, Which means if the passenger is a now show charge GBP 150 but he cancels before check-in time no penalties.

Now suppose you want to check fare rules for Fare basis number two then we will use the same command but specifying which fare basis are we checking for.

FQN1-2

To explain this command, 

FQN1 — Fare quote notes for TST number 1 and “-2” is for fare basis 2 in TST number 1

Once you enter this command below set of fare rules are displayed.

Again to check for a particular fare rule of penalties use the same entry which is

FQN1-2*PE.

Now here if you notice the penalties paragraph states changes Charge GBP 100 and No show Charge GBP 200 hence we will go with IATA ruling of applying the most restrictive fare and will advise the traveller penalty for changes as GBP 100 and no Show as GBP 200. Supposedly if there were 3 fare basis for an itinerary we would have used FQN1-3. This covers our lesson on how to check for fare rules. Before changing a reservation or cancelling a reservation make sure you use these commands to check and advise the fare rule.

In the next lesson first, we will see how to cancel a reservation.

In this lesson, we will see how to cancel a reservation in Amadeus. Cancelling a reservation is a simple process and involved a single command to cancel a reservation but one must ensure that they check fare rules before cancelling and remember to save the pnr after cancelling the itinerary. Below we will discuss steps to cancel a reservation. Assuming we have already checked the fare rules we will begin the process of cancelling a reservation.

Step 1 – Command to cancel the whole itinerary.

XI

Once you enter the above command both the itineraries will be cancelled. This was a reservation for Dubai to London and back. However now once you enter above command the reservation also needs to be saved.

Step 2-Saving the pnr.

Once you cancel the reservation now you can save the pnr to ensure cancellation of the reservation is recorded on the pnr. This step is essential and has to be followed after the XI command.

RFTA

ER 

or 

RFTA; ER

Now if you observe above image you will notice the itinerary does not show in the pnr now as the same has been cancelled and saved. Next, we will learn how to cancel a specific segment from an itinerary.

Now suppose you have a confirmed reservation as below and you want to cancel only one of the itinerary then we will use below command. The XI command cancels the entire itinerary however below command cancels only the specific itinerary which you want to cancel.

In below example we want to cancel the flight departing on 15th of December so it can be changed to the new date. But for changing a reservation we need to cancel and rebook. To cancel the specific segment or itinerary we use the following command.

XE2

Here XE stands for XE2 cancelling the element on line number two. Like wise if we had to cancel element number 3 we would have entered the command XE3.

Now if you notice above process you will see once you enter the XE2 command  we have to follow up with saving the reservation so cancellation is recorded. Hence we save the pnr and only one segment or itinerary for 15th Jan remains active in the PNR.

Now below is a scenario where you have to cancel only specific segments but are not in sequence. Here we will use “- ” and “,” to cancel specified segments.

Now if you observe above image there are 6 segments in this itinerary and we only need to cancel the EK segments from the itinerary which are on line number 2,3,4 and 7. We cannot use the XI command as entire itinerary will get cancelled. Hence we will be making use of following command insted.

XE2-4,7

OR 

XE2,3,4,7

Comma strings the segments like 2 and 3 whereas the hyphen sign is used for cancelling segments 2 to 4 ( 2,3 and4) .

Here since we had multiple segments in the itinerary and wanted to cancel only specific segments from the PNR we entered the command to XE2-4,7. This command cancelled elements from 2 to 4 and element number 7. 

This concludes our lesson on cancellations, next we will see how to issue tickets and how to void tickets.

In the previous lesson, we have seen how to quote fares for an itinerary using various commands in Amadeus but all those commands gave you best fare for the booked itinerary or for the booked airline only. In this lesson, we will learn how to check for the lowest fares across all airlines for a route. This command is a revolutionary command which has changed how one used to check for lowest fares and has also helped the majority of online travel websites. In this lesson, we will learn about the FXD command.

Suppose you have a traveller who is looking to travel from Dubai to Calgary in the month of January and wants to return a month later. You know where Calgary is but don’t know via which cities to book him or how will he get the cheapest fare since there are a number of airlines which operate between these two cities. This is where the FXD command becomes useful, this command searches for the lowest possible fare between the two cities on all airlines and displays results in ascending order of fares from lower to higher. This command can be used within an itinerary or outside an itinerary. Below is the command we will use to display fare between these two cities using the FXD command.

FXDDXB/D15JANYYC/D15FEBDXB

Here FXD – is the basic command to display fares between city DXB (Dubai) followed by “/”  then “D” indicator for onward date of travel (15JAN) then the destination YYC (Calgary) and then again “/”  followed by “D” indicator and date of return travel and final destination.

Once you enter the above command a list of itineraries between these two cities are created and are displayed in ascending order from lower to higher fares.

Now if you observe the above image you will notice the FXD command has displayed more than 50 itineraries in less than a minute between Dubai and Calgary starting from AED 5075 to AED 7425.  The first recommendation is on DL and KL via AMS which has a fare of AED 5075 and next recommendation is on BA with WS via London (LHR) and Vancouver (YVR) which has a fare of AED 5125, Since entire 30 recommendations won’t fit on one page you need to use the MD or MU command to navigate all 30 recommendations. The display is very self-explanatory and you can simply follow the instructions to book the displayed itinerary. However, there are certain points that you need to vary of like always check the layover times and fare rules for the itineraries recommended since the system displays the least expensive fares it may not consider factors such as flexibility of fares and practical layover times to take a connecting flight.

Below is how you can select a fare and book an itinerary.

If you observe the above image we simply follow the instructions to book the desired itinerary recommendation 1 by entering the command shown in the display (FXZ1) and an itinerary is created. Now you can enter the name of the passenger and other necessary fields to complete the PNR or If you have entered the name command and then entered the FXD command it is easier to create the PNR. 

If you observe FXD command gives you several options to book the itinerary and one of those options is to book and create TST but if you have not entered the name field you won’t be able to store TST. In the example below we have entered the name field and post which we have entered the FXD command. 

Since we had entered the name command it is easier as you can use te FXU1 option to book and create TST. If you see below once we enter the FXU1 command TST is created and all we need to do is enter the rest of the commands to create a PNR. 

If we all recollect steps to create a PNR are “PRINT” since we entered name command and the itinerary is created by using FXD command the only other commands we need to enter are the phone field command, Received from command and ticketing time limit command.

If you see the above image by Using the FXD command we can create the PNR instantly. (most travel websites make use similar faring commands to get the best fares for an itinerary).

So far we have learnt how to use FXD command while looking for a fare, how to create a PNR using FXD command and now we will see how to use FXD command when in a PNR.

Now suppose your client is looking to travel from Dubai to Riyadh on a oneway trip he asked you to check an itinerary on Emirates and you booked the same but before confirming he needs to check if this is the cheapest ticket for those dates irrespective of airlines. It would be a tedious task if you keep on checking for each and every airline. Here you can use FXD command. When you enter FXD command in a confirmed itinerary the Amadeus system would search for the cheapest fare on all airline for the selected itinerary without entering the whole FXD command.

Now if you observe above image we did not enter the whole FXD command mentioning dates and sectors we had a PNR with itinerary but wanted to check for any cheaper fares. The fare that we have booked on Emirates has a fare of AED 1540, now you can see that there are several cheaper options available you can recommend your client these alternate options. 

Suppose your client has selected option 3 on SV (Saudi airlines). You can simply follow the instructions below the recommendation and book the selected itinerary.

As you can see in the above image, we follow the simple instructions and rebooked the itinerary on lower fare.

FXD command can also be used to display oneway fares or open-jaw fares when the return destination or return origin is different, etc. You can check the help pages on FXD which has more variations on this command. (HE FXD)

In this lesson, we will learn how to quote for Fares in Amadeus. This lesson will cover how to quote for the fare for an itinerary, how to quote cheapest fares for a booked itinerary and how to get best fares for a route. We will start with the simplest first. 

How to quote fares for an itinerary.

To quote fares for an itinerary in Amadeus we use the FXX command.

FXX

This command will display the fare for the sold class of booking, This command won’t give you the cheapest fare for the itinerary. In case the fare is not available for the class of booking sold then the system will return with a message that no fare available for the booking class. Hence it’s not recommended to use this command unless you are looking for a fare on a particular class of RBD only.

Now if you observe above image you will notice we wanted fare on “R” class so command FXX was used which displayed the fare for the same class. 

FXX only displays fare for a certain itinerary however if you want to save that fare to create a TST for your pnr you need to enter the FXP command. This command saves the fare for the chosen itinerary. This command is useful when a passenger has specifically requested for a particular class to be booked in spite of lower fare being available, this happens when a traveller is looking for a particular type of fare which allows him to change or cancel without too many penalties. In above case lower fare was available but since “R” class of RBD/Booking allows more flexibility we booked the same. 

Below is the command to save fare for the booked class.

FXP

Now in case if one wants to know the lowest fare for the itinerary then there is a slight variation to the command. 

FXR

This command displays the lowest fare for the itinerary. Even if you have booked on a higher fare this command will display the lowest fare possible for the itinerary.

If you notice above the system has rebooked the itinerary for the Lowest economy class fare. Now suppose if you wanted to know the lowest business class fare or lowest First class fare for the itinerary then in that scenario we can use the same command with slight variation as below.

FXR/KC

If you notice the above image the class of booking booked initially was “K” which changes to “I” automatically after we use the FXR/KC command.

Now if you want to know the best first-class fare for the same itinerary then we can use below command with similar variation but we will use /KF instead of /KC.

FXR/KF

If you notice the above image the class of booking booked initially was “I” which changes to AI” automatically after we use the FXR/KF command.

Now that you know how to check for Airfares in Amadeus next we will learn a few more commands which will be used on daily basis.

The FXB command is used to get lowest fare for the booked itinerary on the same airline. Like FXR this command will get you the best fare but unlike FXR command FXB command saves the fare and creates a TST in the PNR for the itinerary. Below we will show you how to use FXB command for an itinerary.

FXB

In the above example, we have booked an itinerary on Y class which is the highest economy class fare. Since we do not know the lowest class of booking to get the best fare for the booked itinerary we will use the FXB command. 

You will notice above once we use the FXB command the itinerary which was in Y class is rebooked in K class which is the lowest fare for the itinerary. FXB command not only rebooks the itinerary is the lowest fare but also stores the TST automatically now we need to simply save the change and itinerary will be rebooked and TST will be stored as displayed in below image.

Next, we will learn how to use the FXA command or Fare quote alternate command. This command is used when a single booking class has different types of RBD or fare basis. There are some airlines which offer more options for a certain type of fares like fares with baggage, without baggage, fares with flexibility without flexibility, etc. In the below example on KLM airlines, you will notice that airline offers several types of fares in a booking class and when you do a normal FXB or FXR command the fare with baggage is not displayed and the lowest fare is displayed. 

In below example we see we priced an itinerary using normal fare command however the system by default priced the lowest fare but without any baggage, Sine this airline offers a lite fare without baggage which is the lowest fare the system by default picks up the lowest airfare. However many travellers actually prefer to have baggage included in the fare especially when travelling internationally. Hence to select the fare with baggage we will now use the FXA commad.

FXA

Once we use the FXA command for the itinerary you will notice that system displays three different types of fares for the same itinerary and same booking class but if you notice carefully Fare basis is different for all three fares offered. The most expensive fare is generally the most flexible but here in this example we will select fare number 2 which is AED 2930.

To select the requested fare you can simply click on the cursor or enter the command FXU02 for selecting fare number 2 or FXU01 for selecting fare number 1.

Here since we are looking for Fare number 2 we clicked on fare number 2 and fare for AED 2930 is selected and TST is priced with 1 piece of baggage. Now if you notice the fare and fare basis both have changed but booking class is still the same.

The final step is to save this fare and TST will be created as shown in the above image. 

Next, we will see how to use FXL command this command is one of those commands which won’t be used quite frequently as it does not consider availability while booking and a TST cannot be created using this command. This command will show you the lowest fare for an itinerary irrespective of fare being available or not.

FXL

If you notice the above image you will see the itinerary is booked on M class of booking which has higher fare but when we do an FXL command the lowest fare possible for this itinerary is displayed. FXL command gives you the lowest fare without considering the availability of the fare. Hence when we try to save the TST for this fare the system rejects the same and no TST is saved. 

This completes our lesson on how to quote for fares on Amadeus in the next lesson we will see how to use Fare shopping command or FXD command in Amadeus.