Cat13 - Accompanied Travel

The Accompanied Travel Category (Category 13) is used when travel with one or more other passengers is necessary to qualify for the fare. It may also include travel restrictions based on the portion(s) of a fare component where travel together is required and/or PTC/fare class/RBD of the accompanying passengers.

Although the title of Category 13 is Accompanied Travel, the category is used to express the requirements for the accompanying passenger(s) that must travel with the passenger associated to the fare that resolves to the Category 13 Record 2. Exception, the Maximum Number field (byte 62) is used to indicate when more than one accompanied passenger is permitted on the fare component being validated against the Category 13 Record 2

In order to validate Accompanied Travel (Category 13), it is essential to know:

  • Passenger types, ages, and the number of passengers accompanying the passenger on the fare component being validated.
  • All ticketed points and the pricing unit for the passenger being validated and for any accompanying passengers.
  • Fare class codes and RBDs for any accompanying passengers.
  • Passenger’s accompanied travel on the entire journey.

Definitions:

Accompanied Passenger : The passenger traveling at the fare component being validated against the Record 2 that requires travel with another passenger as specified in the Record 3.

Accompanying Passenger : The passenger specified in the Record 3 who is traveling with the passenger on the fare component being validated against the Record 2.

Assumptions:

In the absence of Category 13 (Record 2 for Category 13 does not exist or no Record 3 is applicable at the fare rule or general rule level), the system assumption for the Accompanied Travel category is that accompanied travel is not required for the fare component being validated.

Unless specifically coded, an accompanying passenger’s fare does not have to be from the same rule,fare class, or in the same booking code as the fare created by Categories 19-22.

These fields are used to indicate accompanying travel requirements that must be met for the discounted fare. If these fields are not coded, then there are no travel together requirements. This could result in several errors for Galileo Web Services subscribers if the lowest applicable fares result in split bookings.

Category 13 does not apply to passengers created with category 19-22 discounts, which have their own category 13 within their category.

Companion Fares

Make sure you file the PTC correctly CMA & CMP and here is an example how to price

Group Fares

To control groups CAT13 must be filed. The example below shows the system response when trying to price a lower number of passengers than the CAT13 filing allows

Same Rule

This field indicates that the discounted passenger must be accompanied by a passenger traveling at a fare governed by the same tariff/carrier/rule in order to qualify for the discount. If this field is not coded, then the accompanied passenger may be traveling at a fare governed by any tariff/rule.

F/B

This field indicates whether the data is a fare class code/fare family or booking code. If this field is not coded, then the accompanying passenger may be traveling at a fare governed by any fare class code or booking code.

Fare Class/Booking Code

This field is used to specify the fare class code, fare family or booking code that may or may not be used by the accompanying passenger. Fare class/fare family data in this field is matched to the Record 1 fare class code. Booking code data in this field is matched to the booking code of the flight booked. If there is not data in this field than any fare class code or booking code may be used by the accompanying passenger.

Example:

Carrier XX has filed 2 published adult fares, NFARE1 and VFARE2. NFARE1 has a category 19 coded that calculates 100% of the accompanied adult fare. VFARE2 has a category 19 coded that calculates 80% of the accompanied adult fare. However, same rule, same fare class/booking code has not been coded.

The user has booked an itinerary and requests the lowest fare for an adult passenger and an accompanied child age 5. The illustration that follows shows that the lowest adult fare is NFARE1 requiring a booking code of N and the lowest child’s fare is VFARE2CH requiring booking code of V. This would ultimately cause the user to split the booking and FIC the child’s fare. However Galileo Web Services users are not able to FIC fares.

Recommended Filing:

Carriers who wish to require accompanied travel are urged to verify their current coding to ensure this reflects their intent. In addition all carriers are strongly urged to verify their base fare coding. For example, can the discount be applied to any ADT fare or must it be only the ADT fare filed in the same rule and tariff that the category 19 is filed in? Travelport also recommends that carriers review ATPCO’s Category 19-22 document that is available on their website www.atpco.net if further information is required.