In this section, we will see how to make changes to an existing reservation. Making changes to an existing reservation requires a certain level of expertise as one has to take into consideration all the fare rules before making any changes to a reservation. Besides the penalty applicable there are other fare clauses such as minimum and maximum stay, advance purchase, blackout dates, etc this basic fare rules must be taken into consideration before reissuing a ticket. In case an agent by mistake does not apply a certain fare rule he may end up getting a debit meme or ADM from the airline. Hence it is vital that one needs to pay attention to detail while reissuing a ticket.

Below are steps that you need to take for reissuing a ticket.

Reissues are mainly of two types when a ticket is fully unutilized and when a ticket is partly utilized. Partly used ticket re-issuance requires a fair bit of experience as there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration. We will start with the most basic and simplest form of a reissue known as an even exchange of fully unused ticket.

Scenario 1) Fully unused ticket.

This is a reissue scenario where the ticket is fully unutilized by the traveler and traveler decides to change his plan before the scheduled date of departure.

In below image, you will see Mr.Smith is scheduled to travel from Mumbai to Dubai on 15th of October and return a month later on 15th of November. However, due to some personal reasons, he has decided to change his reservation.

Step 1 -Check penalties.

The very first step you need to do before reissuing a ticket is to check for fare rules applicable to changing the ticket. If you notice the ticket was issued on 11th of may 2017 hence we will have to check fare rules as per that date. The command to check fare rules from a pnr for a past date is as below.

FQ.T11MAY17

Fare Quote display as per ticketing date 11th may 17.

Below is the fare that will be displayed as per the  date of issuance.Now you can check for fare rules as per the date of issuance.Below is the command to check for fare rules.

FQN

Fare quote notes.

Upon entering the FQN command you will see two fare components and fare basis of the itinerary booked.

To check for fare rules for a particular component you will need to enter below command.

In this case since we are changing the inbound sector we will enter below command.

FN2/16

Fare notes 2 and rule no 16 (for penalties)

Once you enter this command you will notice fare rule for applicable penalties are displayed.In this case it says changes are permitted.Hence no penalties would be applicable for changes.

Step 2-Make changes to itinerary

Now that you know what are the penalties you will proceed further to make changes to your existing reservation.To make changes you will need to first sell a new seat or hold a new seat for the requested date.In this case since the traveler  wants to travel on 10th of December instead of 15th of November we shall check availability for the 10th of December.

A10DECDXBBOM*EK

Once you check for availability you can now sell a seat on requested flight.In above example traveler would like to travel on the 930 am flight hence we book the 930 am flight and cancel off the flight on 15th of November.

Command for cancelling the unwanted flight is as below.

X2

Cancel line number 2 .

Once you cancel the unwanted segment you will see now there are only two segments instead of 3.

Step 3 -Saving/Modifying Fare for reissue.

Now that you have checked for penalties and cancelled unwanted itinerary further we will save a fare and modify it to reissue the ticket.

Since this is a fully un-utilized ticket we will save a fare as per the current date  hence to price we will do the normal fare quote command FQ and save the fare quote.

Once you save the fare quote you will have to remove the taxes since most of the taxes are already paid in the previous ticket that we purchased.If there are any additional taxes you applied you will need to add them. Since we are modifying the fare by removing taxes now we will enter below command.

*FB1

Display Fare build for fare filed no 1

Once you enter  *FB1 command you will see a mask similar to the contents of a ticket opens up. We can make changes to this mask as per requirement. Since this is a reissue we will first start off with removing taxes that are already paid and later will add the penalty applicable.

The command to Remove the taxes is as below.

FBUTAX1/

Fare build updated tax1 as blank which will remove the taxes.

You can also string these entries together with plus sign in case of multiple taxes.In below example since there are 8 taxes involved you can run the same entry 8 times or you can choose to string FBUTAX1/+TAX2/+TAX3/ ….

Once you enter this command you will notice all the taxes would be removed and only the base fare will be displayed. To check the fare build again you can enter command *FB (display fare build)

If you notice carefully you will see a verify total appears next to TTL figure and all taxes are blank. This is because the total still displays the fare including taxes which you have removed.To tally the fare hence you do a command FBUTTL/,however before you do that you can enter a penalty that needs to be collected in case there is no penalty you can simply do FBUTTL/.

In below example there is a penalty applicable.Hence we will first add the penalty and later on enter the command to tally the total.

FBUTAX1/150OD

Fare build update to tax1  amount 150 as per ticket issuance country and tax code is OD for penalties.(penalty tax code varies from airline to airline and you can check for the penalty code with respective airline).

Once you enter the penalty command you will notice the system replies with a confirmation that data has been accepted.But if you go back to the fare build mask you will notice the verify total exists hence we will need to tally the total figure by entering below command.

FBUTTL/

Once you enter the FBUTTL/ command the system automatically tally’s the fare and taxes and now the verify total won’t be highlighted next to the total.

Now that you have entered the penalty and tallied the fare now we need to file it. Command to file a modified fare is as below.

FBF

Fare build filed

In case there are multiple passengers you can enter FBFALL, this command copies same build fare for all the passengers if priced in one fare file.

Fare build for all. (make it a practice to enter FBFALL//not applicable in case there is a child or an infant in the reservation.)

Now that you have checked for rules, changed itinerary and modified fare the final step is to reissue the ticket.

Step 4-Exchanging Ticket.

The fourth and final step in the process of amendment is exchanging the ticket. This is the final step in which the fare and taxes from earlier ticket along with applicable penalty will be applied to purchase a new ticket hence the form of payment will be as an exchange.

Below is the command to exchange a ticket.

TMU1FEX1765316395573

Ticket modifiers update for filed fare 1 form of payment as exchange and ticket number.

On entering the above command a mask will open up as below in image 1, this mask is the first step in exchanging the ticket. If you observe the mask it is similar to a ticket. Details of previous ticketed fare filed and current reissued fare filed is compared in this mask. In this example, you will notice  New fare is displayed on this very first line and the fare of new fare filed is displayed next to the total value. In this case, the new fare and old fare is the same, next you need to enter the form of payment that was used for the previous ticket in below example we have entered “s” which stands for cash. It can be a credit card or invoice or anything else. After you have entered all the details you can press enter to go to next screen. To go to next screen there is a small dot that we have pointed out next to the arrow. Get the cursor to the tab and hit enter.(please note this is all cryptic hence you can use the mouse and keep the insert key off at all times). Once you hit enter the system will take you to the next screen for taxes.

Exchange image 1 and 2In this screen you will see all the taxes that were paid for the earlier ticket, there is nothing much to do on this mask screen. (Unless its a second reissued where some taxes may be merged as XT. In case XT appears as one of the tax you will need to provide bifurcation of the tax as per original ticket issued) In this example, this is the first reissue of the ticket hence all the taxes are auto picked up by the system itself. You can verify all the taxes on the previous ticket and click on the dot at the end of the mask to move to the next screen.

Below the screen is the final step in the process of reissue. In this screen, you will notice at the top the total amount that you will need to pay to the airline for amending the ticket. (this excludes your mark up if any), In this particular example, we have collected a penalty of AED 150 for reissuing the ticket and form of payment as an invoice. On this page, you will see three blank lines tab to the first line and enter your desired form of payment. In case its cash type cash or invoice type invoice or for card type credit card number in credit card format.

Once you enter the desired form of payment and press enter you will see above message as ticket modifiers updated. Now save all the entries and modification you have done to the reissue mask.

Once you have saved all your modifications just cross verify once and enter the final command. (same command for issuing the ticket )

TKPDTDAD or TKP or TKPDTD

Once you enter the above command you will notice a new document is generated.

If you observe the second image you will notice the first ticket was issued for the total cost of 4655 and the reissued ticket at 150. The reissue is complete and you can email the ticket to the traveller.

Below are a few more commands and steps for reissue which will help you to reissue a ticket better.

We will soon be updating our modules with various other methods and scenarios of reissuing the ticket. If you have any queries or suggestions do let us know.We Hope all this information will prove useful in your pursuit oa f successful career in the travel industry. Till then goodbye and happy learning.

Fare display is the command to view a list of fares between two cities. Fare display shows fares irrespective of availability and all quoted fares are displayed without taxes.

Below is the basic command to view Fare Display.

FDSINTYO

Fare display between Singapore and Tokyo.

In the above example, you can see all fares between Singapore and Tokyo are displayed in ascending order for all various airlines operating on this route.

The fare display can be explained as below.

CX – Stands for Carrier or Airline

Fare SGD:- Fare and Currency code is displayed in which the fare is quoted.(If you observe R next to the Fare stands for return fare if there is no R displayed then it will be considered as One-way fare)

Fare Basis:- Fare basis code for the Fare

C:- Class of booking or Booking designator code.

AP:- Advance purchase requirement if any.

MIN/ MAX:- Minimum and Maximum stay requirement.

Seasons:- Seasonality condition for fare if any.

MR:- Whether the fare is mileage based or routing based.

GI:- Global indicator for the fare.

Now that we know how to check and read fare display, We will now see how to modify a fare display as per requirement and how to check for fare rules, routing rules using a  fare display.

In Below example, we will see how to check for a fare display for a particular airline and further we will add a modifier to check return fares only.

FDDXBLHR/EK-RT

Now if you observe above image you will see all fares above are on EK (Emirates ) and all fare are return fares since a letter “R” is next to all the fares which is the indicator for return fares.

Apart from checking for fares a fare display also serves other purposes like checking for fare rules, fare routings, etc.

Below is the command to check for fare rule while using fare display for fare on line number 1.

FN*1

Fare Notes for line no 1 of Fare display.

If you see above image all fare rules for the fare basis on line number 1 are displayed. However, if you need to check for a particular fare rule you need to specify the corresponding fare rule number. Suppose if you want to check for penalties which is fare rule no 16. You can enter below follow up command.

FN*1/16

Fare Note no 1 and Fare rule no 16

Suppose if you need to check for a routing for a fare you can do by entering below command, the routing command is useful when checking fare for a long route where multiple airlines are involved.In below example, we are checking for a Fare from Frankfurt Germany to Bakersfield USA on Lufthansa. This airline does not have a direct flight to Bakersfield but does offer a fare with its codeshare partner however you need to know through which city the fare is applicable and with which codeshare partner airline.

FR*1

Fare Routing for line number 1

If you observe above image you will see different routing options with various airlines which can be combined with Lufthansa flights going via Chicago, Washington, Cleveland, New York and Newark and further connecting flights on United to final destination Bakersfield.

Now that you know how to check for routings we can also check for the required class of booking or RBD for the codeshare connecting flight.

Below is the command for same.

FDC*1//UA

FOCAL POINT SHOPPING

Further now we will learn how to use focal point shopping.Focal point shopping is the latest enhancement made to Galileo which allows you to search for the lowest fare on any airline for a particular route.Unlike Best buy command which is limited to booked itinerary only the focal point shopping command searches for the least fare on all possible airlines and provides different routes between two cities.

Below is the basic command to check for fares using focal point shopping.

FSPAR15JULLHR

Focal point shopping command provides various fare option for the specified route.

In the above example the on entering the command the system displays all possible options between Paris and London in ascending order as per price. To View more options you can scroll up and down using MD command and MU commands.

To book or sell a seat simply tab to FSK(Focal point shopping sell) command next to the desired option and hit the enter key.

Once you tab to the FSK command and hit enter a seat is sold as below you can use the redisplay command to check the sold itinerary.

Now suppose you have already made a reservation and want to check if there are any alternate cheaper options for the booked itinerary. You can simply enter below FS command and you will see alternate options and can rebook if required.

FS

If you observe above example we have made a reservation from Paris to Reno with Delta and Alaskan airline and used the FS command to check for the lowest fare on the sold itinerary. You can see the first option says unable to fare quote best buy which means there is no through fare between Paris and Reno on Delta and Alaskan airline. Hence the system responds as unable to quote fare and offers an alternate option. The second option is with United Airlines. If you want to check for more options with better connections you can simply enter MD command to scroll down.

Below is a chart explaining various Focal point shopping modifier commands which will help you to narrow down on search criteria.

With this, we come to and end of  this module and hope you have found this module useful.Do leave a comment or feedback and let us know in case if you have any queries or suggestions.

Time Table: –  Now we will learn how to check timetables for a particular day, airline or routing.

The Command to Check timetable is as below.

TTBOMDEL

In above command,

TT – Is indicator for Displaying Time Table.

BOM – Is Three letter IATA code for Mumbai.

DEL – Is Three letter IATA code Delhi.

In above command, since the date is not specified the system assumes you need timetable starting today. On entering above command all flights between the city pair will be displayed as below.

We have explained above timetable display as below.

09JUL17-05AUG17– Is the by default range that has been picked up by the system since we have not specified any.

MTWTFSS– Are the days of the week, i.e.:- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. A number below this specify the flight operates on the particular days only. For eg:- The first flight operates on all days whereas there are flights which operate on particular days only.

Mumbai / Delhi:-  City Pair chosen for displaying timetable. Timings displayed are local times of particular city and are as per 24hour clock.(for eg :- 1800 hrs)

Next to time is the Airline Code and flight number, the First line shows 6E 154  which stands for Indigo flight no 154.

At the very end is the equipment code or aircraft type. You can decode the same by doing command.ED 73H.

*C at the very end states the airline has linkage with Galileo GDS and is synched with airline system.

So now you understand how to look up timetable you can also specify as per airline and date as per below.

If you see in above command we have specified date as 08^th of August and airline as SQ (which stands for Singapore airlines) hence all flights

This command shows you that Singapore airlines operate three flights between Singapore and Mumbai between 08^th of August through 4^th of September. SQ 426 operates only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday leaving at 525 am in the morning whereas other two flights are daily flight leaving 740am and 7pm respectively.

Below is a list of modifiers which can be utilized for displaying timetable.

Now that you know how to encode, decode and check for timetables we will learn further on how to check flight availability and how to sell flights.

Emulating

Emulating is a command that you need to make to enter your agency Pseudo city or work area.Galileo designates a particular pseudo city code for every agency a big travel agency may have many locations and hence may have multiple Pseudo city codes for every location.Emulating into a PCC (pseudo city code) helps the Airlines, IATA, BSP  to identify reservations of a particular agency. Having multiple PCC’s is also beneficial for travel agencies with several locations.

In order to start working one has to emulate into the designated PCC.Below steps explain how to emulate into your PCC.

Step 1 :-

SEM/3T6A/AG

Explanation:- Sign on emulating (SEM) into pseudo city code 3T6A agent (AG) mode.

Please see image below.

Once you enter above command you will now be able to use the system to check availability, make a new reservation, etc. However in case you have multiple pseudo city codes and want to emulate in both the pseudo city codes at the same time then you have to use work areas. Work areas may not be useful for agents with singular PCC but it can be useful for agents running big operations who have various PCC codes segregated as per locations

The command to check work areas is as below.

OP/W*

Once you perform above command you will notice you have 5 work areas in the above image which are work areas A, B, C, D, and E.Out of which against work area A you will notice AG/3QF6 and indicator active. This means work area A is in use which is your current work area and all other work areas indicate AVAIL or available, which means all other work areas are available and can be utilized.

Presuming you are working in a Multinational travel agency or a TMC like Carlson Wagonlit or American express which has various offices locally and internationally and wants to check a cheaper fare option or availability from a different location but do not want to ignore the current work which you are doing. At such time you can use multiple work areas instead of ignoring the existing reservation and re-working.

The command to change the work area is S and the work area which you want to change to. In the above scenario, the consultant wants to emulate to work area B hence SB or switch to work area B.

However, if you notice carefully in the above image you will see that the response from the system is A out ad B in but not authorized. This means that although you have switched area the work area has not been emulated hence you will have to emulate again by entering the required PCC code. In the above case, the agency has multiple PCC’s and the consultant wanted to emulate from 3QF6 to 3T3T. Now the consultant will be able to work in both the PCC’s and can switch back and forth between them as and when required.

Now if you again check work areas you will notice now areas A and B both are emulated and B is active and A is emulated but not active while work areas C, D, and E are still available. In this way, you can emulate and work in multiple work areas without affecting the current work.

With this we come to an end to this chapter do take a small quiz and let us know if you have any queries, views or suggestions.