Basics of fare construction 1.1 -Types of Journeys

In this article we will explain you about different type of joruneys used in fare construction, after reading this article you wil be able understand different types of journeys and would be able to diffentiate and identify all types of journeys accurately while doin a international fare calculation.

One Way Trip – This type of journey is the most commonly used journey in a fare construction and is easy to understand. As the name suggest One way, this means any journey or trip which is uni directional without returning to the point of origin is termed as one way trip. For example if a journey Starts from London to Caracas, Venezuela with multiple stops in between it will be still be considred as a one way journey.

This journey consists of one fare component from London to Caracas.

Round Trip – A Journey is considred as a Round trip journey when travel begins from one point and ends at the same point without use of any other form of transporation like surface (land or other wise) and in one similar direction then such type of journey is considered as a round trip. Unlike one way trip a round trip has two fare components outbound fare component and inbound fare componed and together it forms a round trip.

To explain this better below example can help you. In below example the journey starts in Dubai to Manchester and ends Manchester to Dubai via london both ways using an exact similar route.

DXB      M—–Origin

XLON  600 (EK)

 MAN——-Destination

X/LON    M

  DXB   600 (EK)—–Origin

In above example you will notice that journey orignates in Dubai and ends in dubai and takes a similar route both ways of via london hence this type of journey is termed as a Round trip journey.

**Please note a Round trip cannot be circle trip since it has this fixed criteria of similar direction and routing**

Circle Trip – A Circle Trip is similar to a round trip with one major diffrentiating factor, since many students do not consider this factor there is a bit of confusion amongst students. A journey is considred as a circle trip when it starts from one point and ends at the same point however unlike round trip the circle trip need not fullfil the criteria of uni directional in both ways . Below example will help you to understand this. In this example the journey starts from Dubai to Manchester via london however while returning it has a change and a stop in Glasgow while returning back to Dubai. This slight change in the journey makes this type of journey a circle trip.

   DXB     M—–Origin

X/LON  600 (EK)

   MAN  100 (LM)

  GLA—–Additonal point

X/LON     M

   DXB    600 (EK)—-Destination

A circle trip occurs when a journey is from one point to another point in any particular direction except for surface travel or any other form of travel and returning back to to the point of origin.

Open Jaw Journeys – Open Jaw journeys are different from all above form of journeys. Unlike all above journeys which restrict surface travel, an open jaw journey is formed only when there is surface travel involved. This type of journey also has 2 or more fare components with one major exception that a surface sector has to be involved.

DXB        M——–Origin

LON      600——–Destination

——Surface—— (travel from london to glasgow by train or other means)

GLA       M

DXB     700——-Returning to Origin

In this above example you will notice the journey starts in UAE (Dubai) and end in UAE (Dubai) but with one major exception that is the traveler travels by other means of transport from London to Glasgow however instead of making this as two one way trips to lower the fare cost for this journey a open jaw journey is created enabling the travel to benefit from the return fare however such type of journey is termed as a open jaw journey instead of a round trip or circle trip.

Open jaw journeys are further classified into

a) Single open Jaw (SOJ) and b) Double open jaw

Single open Jaw – A single open Jaw journey has one surface secor and can be further classified into turnaround single open jaw and Origins single open jaw.

A turn around single open jaw is a type of journey in which the origin and return departure is from a different point or city. The above itinerary we discused is a example of same. Here the Departure from UK is from a different city but arrival to UAE is to Dubai itself.

Now suppose the departure to UK is from Dubai in UAE and return to Abu Dhabi in UAE from Manchester then such journey is Origin single open jaw. (DXB-X/LON-MAN-X/LON-AUH)

Both these types of journeys are single open jaw and one must not go deep into this classification as long as you understand the journey type is Single open jaw journey.

Double open Jaw Journey – A double open jaw journey occurs when a journey has two surface sectors or when journey commences from one point and ends in another point within the same country. This can be explained only via a example as below.

IAH-——-Origin in USA

DXB———Destination is Dubai

———Surface——- Road transport from Dubai to Abu Dhabi

AUH——Departure from Abu Dhabi

DFW——Return is to USA to a different city or poin

In above example you will notice the Country of commencement of travel and termination of Travel is USA but both are to and from difference cities and there is a Surface sector involved as destination in UAE was Dubai but Return was from Abu Dhabi hence such type of journey is termed as Double open jaw. (this is not considred as oneway travel because there is surface sector involved 2 fare components will be used, Unlike oneway journeys which are unidirectional from one point to another.)

RTW (Round the World Journey) :- RTW stands for Round the World journey, When a journey commences from any point on globe and crosses atlantic and pacific ocean and ends at the same point or city it is termed as a round the world journey or the fare used for this type of journey is termed as round the world fare. A round the world fare is genrally offered by a alliance like star alliance round the fare. Since there is very less possiblity that one airline crosses both the oceans and covers all the countries. A round the world fares is offered by mutual agreement between several airlines.

For example : – A traveler wants to travel from Newyork (USA) to Johanesburg (south africa), Mumbai (India), Singapore, Vancouver (canada) and Back to Newyork. For this journey he will be using a star alliance fare.

NYC-UA-JNB-SA-BOM-SQ-SIN-AC-YVR-UA-NYC

UA stands for United airlines, SA stands for South African Airways,SQ stands for Singapore airline, AC stands for Air Canada. All these airlines have one thing in common they all are part of star alliance hence a RTW fare is possible for this journey.

To test yourself on this topic kindly take the quiz at end of this post below.

Hope this clarifies your doubts on types of journeys and helps IATA students and Students of travel studies in understanding this important aspect of fare construction. We will soon comeback with more intresting articles. Please subscribe us for more intresting content and share our article and website.