Galileo Web Services

The Web Services available through the Galileo Web Services provide access to a wide variety of travel-related functionality. Galileo Web Services is divided into two different types of services that transact with the CRS using two different models for organizing data:

The XML Select Web Service mirrors the host functionality of the Apollo and Galileo CRSs by containing individual transactions with the CRS that can be strung together to create a business process. These transactions are the same as those transactions found on the XML Select application. For example, the XML Select Web Service contains individual transactions for air availability, air faring, selling a segment, reserving an itinerary, selecting a seat, and end transacting a file.

Encapsulated Web Services provide more abstraction functions that encompass a specific portion of the travel business process or communication. Some Encapsulated Web Services for Galileo Web Services include Flight Information eBL, Travel Codes Translator eBL, and Itinerary eBL.

As Galileo Web Services evolves, additional CRS business functions will be abstracted and encapsulated into separate Web Services. The baseline XML Select Web Service will be maintained, but alternative Web Services will provide more encapsulated functions for various business processes, such as car availability with pricing.

XML Select Web Service

Based on Galileo International’s XML Select application, this Web Service provides the functionality of the existing XML Select application as a Web Service. As part of the phased approach to providing Web Services, various functionalities will eventually be abstracted into separate Web Services, such as the Reservation Builder eBL. The baseline XML Select Web Service will be maintained, but alternative Web Services will provide more encapsulated functionality for specific business processes.

The XML Select Web Service also supports terminal transactions, which can be used for functions not currently supported through structured data (XML transactions). The XML Select Web Service is useful for client applications that require specialized business processes or detailed control of specific transactions within a business process. The XML Select Web Service includes transactions for a variety of travel-related business functions:
 

  • Air, car, hotel, and cruise shopping, availability, and booking.

  • Air faring and fare manipulation.

  • Using sessions.

  • Manipulating itineraries and segments.

  • Working with PNRs/Booking Files.

  • Credit card validation.

  • PRO-File/Client File manipulation.

  • Currency conversion.

  • Working with headlines.

  • Local date and time.

  • Queuing.

Encapsulated Web Services

The other Web Services in Galileo Web Services provide a higher level of abstraction by encapsulating a specific business process into a single transaction. This encapsulated business logic allows developers to create functionality for client travel applications without have to code to each individual transaction within a business process. For example, the Reservation Builder eBL combines the various XML Select Web Services (over 20 individual transactions) into a single call to Galileo Web Services.

Encapsulated Web Services are currently available for building reservations, finding flight information, encoding/decoding travel codes, planning a trip, displaying hotel images, modifying cruises, viewing itinerary, and queuing and retrieving a PNR/BF.

Cruise Web Services

Cruise Web Services allow you to shop for, book, and modify or cancel a cruise booking using Web Service technologies. Previously, a cruise could only be modified or cancelled directly through a cruise vendor. In addition, only the vendor could provide modify and cancellation penalty details.

The Cruise Web Services provides several functions:

Flight Information eBL

Note: Known in earlier Beta releases as the Flight Information Web Service.

Flight Information eBL provides a combination of scheduled and current status for a flight, such as:

Flight Information is typically displayed for flights that are either already in progress or scheduled for the current day. Because Flight Information eBL is updated throughout the course of the flight, it is an accurate source of data. Although this information can be obtained prior to a flight’s departure, it is only truly relevant on the day of travel. Until the departure date, the data includes scheduled information (in-flight services) only, which is subject to change.

Please note that Flight Information eBL is delivered by the carriers, and not all carriers support Flight Information eBL. As a result, there may be differences in the amount or type of data provided by each carrier.

Travel Codes Translator eBL

Note: Known in earlier Beta releases as the Encode/Decode Web Service.

Travel Codes Translator eBL provides translation for Galileo’s local data, which is a collection of data that provides mappings between travel-industry names and codes recognized by the Apollo and Galileo CRSs. These mappings include information for data such as air, car, and hotel vendors, cities and airports, classes of service, and meal types.

Because the CRSs process only encoded forms of many types of data, local data codes are necessary to communicate with the CRS. Conversely, GUI end-user applications require more decoded data to display travel information in human-readable text. For example, the BGO city code decodes to Bergen and the Kahului Airport encodes to OGG. In addition, local data also serves to maintain relationships between types of data, such as cities, states, and countries.

While some types of local data, such as city and airport codes, are standardized, other types of local data are obtained directly from travel vendors. Because these codes change on a regular basis, Travel Codes Translator eBL allows for more efficient translation of local data. A number of services also interface directly with Travel Codes Translator eBL to automatically encode or decode CRS data.

Itinerary eBL

Itinerary eBL provides functionality to retrieve detailed itinerary information in one display. The functionality offered by this service is based on Galileo's ViewTrip™ product, which is accessed at viewtrip.com.

After entering record data, such as a reservation number and last name, users can view all itinerary segments for the associated PNR/Booking File. This Web Service allows users to view updated trip information in one display.

Image Viewer eBL

Image Viewer eBL provides images and descriptions to over 33,000 hotel properties, with additional properties being added regularly. With Image Viewer eBL, hotel description and image requests can be made either separately or in a single call, and up to 20 properties can be included in a single request. Responses also combine image and description data, based on the request. All request and response data is in XML.

Hotel images and descriptions are stand-alone transactions, which do not need to be made as part of any specific travel business process. However, images and descriptions are typically requested as part of shopping functions, such as a hotel property search or a complete hotel availability request.

PNR Queue and Retrieve eBL

PNRQueueAndRetrieve eBL queues and retrieves/displays a booking in one command. The PNRQueueAndRetrieve web service encapsulates two functions: queue and re-display. When the user submits a request, GWS performs an end transact (ET) which saves the PNR, then performs a QEP for the PNR, and upon successful completion, GWS re-retrieves and displays the PNR.

When this eBL is used, the booking file is queued in a session. Any unsaved data is saved with this action. The queued booking file data is then re-retrieved and displayed. The data can then be reviewed or modified. For the PNRQueueAndRetrieve Web Service, the schemas are provided through a link in the WSDL.