Smart point 1.2- How to check for Availability and Sell Seats

  •  How to check for Availability: – In below video, you will learn how to search availability on smart point. Smart point offers various ways for looking for a flight availability. You will learn how to read availability and how to use smart points graphical interface to quickly access the required information.Following are the topics which are covered in this video.

Standard Galileo Entries (cryptic entries), Calendar search, Air availability search option from toolbar, # Quick commands 

  • How to sell Seats (confirming itinerary):- The below video explains in detail how to sell or confirm a seat on smart point.Following are the topics which will be covered in this video.

Selling seats from an availability, assigning seats, Checking for FLIFO (flight information)

Galileo-Module 7-Open / Passive / Waitlist Segments

In this module, we will learn how to create passive reservations, open reservation and how to waitlist a reservation.

Passive reservation:- This type of a reservation is made when a reservation is made through an online source or an alternate source other than GDS, A passive reservation can be made for a flight or a car rental or a hotel. Generally, passive reservations are made for referential purposes so the reservation can be easily traced if it was made through an alternate source, The helps the accounting team in invoicing and for the reservation.

Below is the command to create a passive reservation.

06E964Y15SEPBOMDELAK1

0 -(zero) This is a direct sell indicator.

6E- Indigo Low-cost airline (not available on GDS)

694 – Flight number

Y – Class of booking

15SEP – Date of Booking

BOMDEL – City Pair (Mumbai-Delhi)

AK1 – Passive Sell indicator.

Once you enter this command a passive segment is created this is also known as ghost segment since its only referential and cannot be seen by the airline as well and Vendor locator also does not get generated.

Image : Passive Segment Galileo

Further, you can follow the normal step to create the PNR (adding name, phone field, ticketing time limit and received from  field  ) and complete the passive reservation. As you see in above example the reservation is made on a low-cost airline and hence this was issued on the airline website but now since we have made a passive reservation the accounting teams and your colleagues will have information on this reservation through this passive bookings.(you can update fare details, airline pnr create online, etc in the notepad fields of the reservation).

Waitlist Reservations:- A reservation has to be waitlisted in case seats are sold out for the requested flight. This is one of the frequent scenarios which you will come across while working when a certain requested flight has no seats available and hence you may have to waitlist the reservation. When a reservation is waitlisted there is a chance the same may be confirmed if in case some of the passengers decide to cancel their reservations as such a seat becomes available which can be confirmed for your reservation. There are chances the reservation may not get confirmed or airline may not even allow you to waitlist a reservation in case the flight is absolutely full and there are no possibilities of cancellations from other passengers.  Please note frequent flyer guests are prioritized on waitlist flights hence if the traveler has a frequent flyer number kindly update the same.

How to Waitlist a booking 1.1

In above availability, you will notice  there is a zero next to A class and C next to I, O and P classes of reservation. The C signifies that there are no seats available whatsoever waitlist is also closed for this classes and also there is 0 next to A class. This signifies there are no seats however the waitlist is not closed and reservation can be waitlisted and will be confirmed in case a seat opens up.

Below is the command to waitlist a reservation.

N1A3LL

Need 1 seat on A class line no 3 to be Waitlisted.

How to Waitlist a booking 1.1

LL is the indicator for waitlisting. Once the waitlist is confirmed by airline it will fall in a special queue category (17) and the HL will turn to KL which stands for waitlist confirmed.

Open segments:- Open segments are created when a traveler is uncertain about traveling on a certain date. In this scenario, you may create an open reservation which can be changed at any times within a year from date of creation. However nowadays due to a various type of flexible fares offered by an airline in the market this concept has been abolished hence we will only see in brief how an open segment is created.

Below is the command to create an open segment.

0YYOPENCLHRCDGNO4

0-Zero is the sell indicator

YY- is the airline carrier code

OPEN -Open segment indicator

C-Class of booking.

LHRCDG :- London to Paris.

NO4 :- 4 seats

How to sell a open seat

If you observe above comment, Date flight no does not exists only a to and from the destination is shown and the word OPEN to state its an open reservation.

Hope you have found this module useful and informative do let us know in case you have any feedback.

Galileo-Module 4-Creating Booking File ( PNR)

Booking files also know as a PNR stands for passenger name record. A PNR   has information of a traveler’s reservation which he holds with the airlines. A PNR consists of 5 basic elements which are as follows.

P- Phone field  (phone number of travel agent and traveler)

R- Received from (who has asked to make the reservation)

I-Itinerary (your travel plan consisting of flight, hotels, car rental, etc)

N- Name of the Traveller

T- Ticketing time limit (when the itinerary has to be ticketed or confirmed)

Above five elements are essential elements which form a PNR. Without any of above elements, a PNR won’t be formed. These five elements are not limited just to Galileo but apply to all the GDS while making a PNR.

While making a booking we need not follow the sequence, however, all five elements should be present or else the booking file won’t be created.

  1. N- Name Field: In order to create the passenger name field in Galileo following command needs to be entered.

In the above command, N stands for Name followed by a “.” Dot or period, followed by the last name of the passenger, Slash “/”, first name of the passenger and initials.

N.Last name/First name  (Mr/Mrs/ms/dr/col/,etc)

On entering the above command the system accepts the command with asterisk sign at the end which means the command is correct and accepted.

Similarly, if there are multiple numbers of passengers into a reservation.

Supposing there are two adults one child and one infant. We can enter their names in below format.

N.Brady/tom Mr (enter)

N.Brady/Martina Mrs (enter)

N.Brady/Roy Mstr *p-c05

In above command family name is Brady followed by passenger name Roy followed by initial mstr or miss for child passenger followed by asterisk “*” which is the designator for informing the system that this is a child passenger aged 5yrs, hence we need to add *p-c05 after the name.

(Please note as per airline regulations any traveler between the ages of 2-12 is considered as a child)

N.I/Brady/joy miss*01JAN17

In above command since this is an infant traveler there is a slight change at the initial stage, please note this is the command we need to enter when the infant will not be provided with a seat, however, would be provided with a bassinet or has to be seated on a lap. In case a seat is required for an infant a seat can be sold and ticketed as a child passenger.

In above command after “N.” We need to add “I” to specify that the traveler is an infant who won’t be holding a seat followed by the last name slash first name followed by initial followed by asterisk “*” followed by the date of birth of the infant in date month year format.

Above how the name field would appear on redisplaying the reservation (*r).

Below is a chart explaining various types of name field formats.

2)  R-Received from

The second field which is required for creating a PNR is called as received from , most of the agents put their own name initial or travellers name in order to create this element.

Since the booking has been provided by Mr.Tom we will be entering his name in the received from field.

For creating a received from field we need to enter R followed by “.” Dot or a period and the name of the person from whom you have received the booking or you may simply type your initial.

The system will return with an asterisk sign once the command is accepted.

Above is how your PNR appears after entering the name and received from field. Further, we will learn how to enter phone field into your booking file.

3) P-Phone field: – The third essential element for completing your booking file is the phone field. The phone field is extremely important as the contact number of passenger and travel agency exists in this field which is displayed to the airline as well. In event of any mishaps like flight delays or changes, the airline intimates the agency and the traveller if a telephone number exists in the phone field. The phone filed can have travellers mobile number, business number, home number, etc. Generally, agents tend to update the Agency number and travellers mobile number in the phone field. The command to enter the phone field is as below.

P.LONT*ABC TVLS PVT LTD CTC 04412345678

In the above command “P” is an indicator for entering phone details followed by city code in the above case which is London and T indicates it’s a travel agency contact number.

Similarly, M with the city code indicates it’s a mobile number or cell number and B indicates its a business number.

This is how your Booking file will appear after you have entered name field, phone field and received from field.

Below is a chart displaying more phone field commands.

Further, we will learn how to create your itinerary or how to enter flight details into your reservation.

4) I- Itinerary

In the previous chapter, we learned how to check for availability in this chapter we shall learn how to sell seats and make an itinerary.

The first thing we need to to do in order to sell seats or confirm seats is to check for availability. Supposing the traveler needs to travel from Sydney to Singapore on 15th of October and return on the 02nd of November with Singapore airlines. We will first check for availability and flight times and if the traveler is ok with the same we shall sell seats. In below slideshow we shall explain you in detail how to sell seats on a reservation.(please note an infant does not hold a seat hence we won’t be selling a seat).Hence in this case we will need to sell 3 seats (2adts + 1 Chd + Inf no seat)

Step 1 :- Check availability

A15OCTSYDSIN*SQ

Presuming travellers want to travel on the flight leaving at 855 am we will now sell 3 seats on the same.

N3Y1

Need 3 seats from line no 1 and press enter.

Similarly sell seats for return travel on02nd of November.

A2NOVSINSYDSQ or you can do a follow up entry AR02NOVSQ

Presuming the travellers need a flight leaving around 7 am we shall sell 3 seats on the flight leaving at 705am.

N3Y2

Need 3 seats from line number 2.

After this your can do a Redisplay entry to view your progress thus far. Below is how the PNR shall appear.

5) T-Ticketing:- This is the fifth and final step in PNR creation.Ticketing time limit or the day when the traveler will confirm the ticket.This can be instant or at a later date depending upon the passenger.(please note this should not be confused with airline ticketing time limit), This is one of the mandatory element for completing the PNR.

For updating ticketing time liming either of the following commands can be entered depending upon the preference.

T.T*:- This will be used if there is no time limit or if the traveler decides to confirm ticket on the same day.

T.TAU/15SEP:- This will be used if the traveler wants to confirm the ticket on 15th of September, until that date we will hold the reservation, however, it is completely up to airlines discretion and fares may change.

The PNR appears in your assigned Quee once a time limit is set for the same.

After making all the above step the final command is to save the reservation.

ER :- End and Retrive

Below is how your completed PNR will appear after completing all the 5 steps.

Above is how your PNR will Appear after you complete all the required steps.

The alphanumeric code on the extreme left is your PNR number.(GDS Reference number)

Below which is the names of the travelers on the reservation followed by the itinerary.

The *VL is the Vendor Locator or airline reference number since the GDS system is linked with the airline system you will get an instant reservation code from the airline. You would be able to view this reservation on the airline system or website using this code.

*VR is the Vendor Remarks or airline remarks, this are remarks that the airline sends to the agent in case of a time limit by when the ticket needs to be purchased or in case of a schedule change or any other notification.

*SI is the additional services or Supplementary information that you may need in this case since its an infant a notification is sent to airline which appears in SI.

So this concludes our basic on how to create a PNR,  This is the very first step in the process of learning GDS.

Do let us know what you think about our website and keep your comments flowing in.We are eagerly waiting for your comments and feedback.And request you to kindly subscribe to our website for future updates if you have already not done so.

Please note: Above information is not created or endorsed by Galileo (travel port) and is not verified or certified by Galileo. There may be discrepancies in above information for which TAleanrings is not liable.

Galileo-Module 3-Checking Fares,Pricing Itineraries,Fare Display,Fare Shopping

In This Module, we will be learning how to check for fares, how to price itineraries with multiple sectors, Fare Display, and Fare Shopping.

Fare:- Fare is the price or cost of a ticket.The fare of a ticket is dynamic in nature and depends on various factors competition, taxes, route and timing of purchase, etc.The fare for a sector is decided by the airline which is approved by the civil aviation authority in that particular country and IATA.Post which it is updated on the GDS and on the airline’s website. There are various types of fare mainly can be classified as published, private, marine, military, etc. In This module however we will learn only about published fare since it is the most common type of fare which has no restriction on the application (can be used for all).

Once you sell a seat one will be able to price an entry and basic entry to quote a fare is FQ.

FQ- stands for a Fare quote.

Fare Quote command Galileo

Once you perform above entry the system will return with a fare for the sold class of booking.In above case we are requesting system for a fare between London Gatwick to Dubai for the 15th of September on flight no EK 12 on Y class of reservation.The system will show a response as below.

Fare Quote Display

If you see above image the display shows the fare is for (PSGR) Passenger 1 , Quoted in currency USD (US dollars), Fare (fare paid to the airline), Taxes (applicable taxes of both countries) and total passenger fare for all passengers.It also shows you what is the conversion rate since the ticket is issued from the UK to UAE the local currency of UK (GBP ) is converted to USD and the last date to purchase the ticket once the reservation is made.(28th may 18).

Now once you know the fare you can easily quote it to the traveler accordingly.However, if you notice we had quoted the fare on Y class which actually may not be the lowest class of booking which will yield you the lowest fare.Hence to check for a lower fare you can enter the best buy command which will check for the lowest fare available for itinerary sold and advise the class of booking to be rebooked on.

Command to display best fare for booked flights

Once you enter above command the system will provide you the cheapest fare available on the sold flight as below.

Lowest fare using FQBB command

If you see above image you will notice in the highlighted portion the system gives you a prompt Lowest fare is available for this itinerary,rebook Booking file segments 1U, Which in common terms means to book segment 1 on U class instead of Y class to get the fare of USD 563.80 instead of fare on Y class of USD 1324.80.

There are multiple variations of the Fare quote command which can be used as per requirement.We will now see a few commands which are used frequently.

In below example, there are multiple airlines involved viz:- Emirates, British Airways, United and Delta for same fares cannot be obtained by merely doing an FQ command hence we price them as per each segment.

Fare Quote command Galileo

Sector pricing/Segment Pricing:- Segment pricing or sector pricing is performed when there are two different airlines involved which do not have an agreement or when the two different airlines won’t give you a through fare.To check fare quote for a particular segment we specify the segment number after the command FQ.

FQS3–Fare quote segment 3 only(in below example segment 3 is United airlines)

FQS1.6:-Fare quote segment 1 and 6 (in below example segment 1 and 6 are Emirates)

Now we will see how to find the best fare while pricing sector fare.The concept of the command remains the same.Below are images which are self explanatory.

Below is chart explaining various commands to quote fares.

Now that you know how to quote fares we will see how to store the quoted fares and how to cancel the stored fares.However please note, one can only store and cancel fares when the name of the passenger exists in the reservation.

In below example, we have made a tentative reservation with the name of the passenger as Test/TMr.

If you observe above image there is an additional line that appears below the itinerary as Filed Fare. This is the area where filed fare gets stored.For above itinerary, we have stored two filed fares as below.To view filed fares you can either enter tab key and move to the *FF tab or you can simply enter *FF to view filed fare.

*FF

Now if you observe there are two fare quotes in above example.

FQ1 and FQ2

If you want to display the total fares and details you can enter below command *FF1 for filed fare 1 and *FF2 for file fare 2.

Below we have displayed filed fare 1 by entering command *FF1

If you see highlighted boxes you will observe, there is Fare calculation line, Total fare,  taxes, Fare basis and Baggage.

Below is chart displaying different entries to view and cancel filed fares.

Next, we will see how to check fare display and how to use focal point shopping.

Galileo-Module 2- Availability,Time table,Encoding-Decoding and Selling Flights

In This module, we will learn how to check for flight availability, timetable and how to sell flight seats.However, before we check for flight availability and timetable we need to know the airline and city codes.IATA has assigned three-letter codes for cities and airports and two-letter codes for airlines, however, learning all these codes is not possible hence every GDS system provides you with this Data.By entering simple commands, you can now know a code for a city, airport or airline without having to learn all of them.

Encoding: – Encoding is the command you enter to know the code for a particular city, airport, airline or even to know a specific kind of aircraft.There are different variations of this command enabling you to decipher a city, airline, etc.

To Encode a particular city you need to enter below command on your Galileo terminal. For eg :- If you need to know the airport code for Mumbai.

.CE MUMBAI

City Encode Mumbai ( . is the indicator for encoding followed by the command)

How to Encode a city 1.1

On entering below command the system will show the correct IATA code for the city.In case there are multiple airports in the city all airports will be listed.

Command to Encode Galileo 1.2

 Apart from Encoding cities, one can also encode an airline, country, region or aircraft type (equipment).

The command for Encoding an airline is as below.

.AE Jet Airways

Below is the result that would be displayed.

Command to Encode Airline Galileo 1.1

Below is the command to encode a particular country in case you are unaware of a country code.(this you may find useful while updating passport or visa information)

.LE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Galileo command to encode country

Below is a command to encode a particular aircraft.

.EE BOEING 777

Galileo command to encode aircraft type

 

Similarly, if one knows a code but need to Decode the name of the city, then you can enter below command to decode a city, airport, airline, etc.

.CD DEL

And press enter.

Below is the result that would be displayed.

 

Galileo command to decode IATA codes

 

The command for Decoding an airline.

.AD DELTA AIRLINES

Below is the result that would be displayed.

 

Galileo command to decode IATA Airline codes

Similarly, you can use following commands in order to encode or decode a Country, State, Equipment code ( aircraft type).

 

Next, we will show you how to Encode and Decode cities, airports, etc. Now we will learn how to display and read airline timetables.