NDC Modify, Cancel, and Exchange Guide

This guide summarizes the options and workflows for modifying, exchanging, or canceling and refunding NDC bookings and tickets.

To update non-air reservation details, such as passenger data or service requests, see the Traveler Modify Guide and Remarks and Service Requests Guide.
For GDS, see the GDS Cancel, Exchange, and Refund Guide.

In this guide:

Basic Concepts

You can modify the air itinerary on or cancel any held booking, which by definition has not been ticketed. See the following section for workflows.

For a ticket, you can void, cancel, or exchange the itinerary, which may result in a refund, as follows:

  • Void: Cancel the ticket for a full refund within an allowed void period, based on the airline's rules for the market in which the ticket was issued. Generally a ticket can be voided within the same day it was issued, usually up to midnight local agency time. In some instances it may be voided up to midnight of the day after ticketing, or special holiday policies may apply.

  • Cancel: Cancel the ticket after the void period without rebooking another itinerary. Depending on the fare rules, canceling a ticket may result in a full, partial, or no refund.

  • Exchange: Cancel or modify the original air itinerary on a ticket and issue a new ticket for a different or updated itinerary.

These terms apply to how a ticket can be refunded or exchanged:

  • Automated refund: A refund processed entirely within the JSON APIs, from requesting a quote for the refund and any penalties through processing the cancellation.

  • Manual refund: Information about the refund amount and any penalties are obtained from a source other than the JSON APIs, entered into the JSON APIs, and the JSON APIs process the cancellation. Note: At this time the JSON APIs do not support manual refunds.

  • Voluntary refund or exchange: The passenger or agency initiates the refund or exchange.

  • Involuntary refund: The airline cancels the ticket, such as if a flight is canceled and the passenger cannot be rebooked. Note: At this time the JSON APIs do not support processing involuntary refunds.

Cancel or Modify a Reservation

The following table summarizes the available options for an existing reservation (ticket has not yet been issued).

Action

Workflow & links to API references

 

Notes

Cancel reservation

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Order Cancel

Cancel NDC reservation that has not been ticketed.

Modify air itinerary on reservation

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Reshop

  3. Reprice

  4. Optional To issue tickets at resell, Add FOP and Add Payment

  5. Resell

The NDC Reshop, Reprice, and Resell APIs update the air itinerary for a held booking: Search for the new or modified itinerary (Reshop), price the new offer and add it to the workbench (Reprice), and commit the workbench to update the itinerary on the reservation (Resell).

If you want to issue the ticket at commit, add payment details to the workbench: 

With FOP and payment in the workbench, Resell issues tickets for the exchanged itinerary. Without FOP and payment, Resell creates a held booking for later fulfillment.

See Supported Changes and Modifiers in the table below.

Void, Cancel and Refund, or Exchange a Ticket

The following table summarizes available options for modifying or canceling a ticketed itinerary.

Action

Workflow & links to API references

Notes

Void ticket for full refund (within void period)

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Order Cancel

Voids the ticket if within the void period.

In the Order Cancel request, you must set the RetainFlag header parameter to false.  The ticket is voided if within the allowed void period for the airline (generally within the same day it was issued, usually up to midnight local agency time; see Basic Concepts above).

Void ticket and payment but retain itinerary (Qantas only; only within void period)

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Cancel Payment

  3. Commit workbench

For NDC on Qantas only, within the void period, you can cancel the payment on a ticket. This refunds the payment, cancels the ticket but retains the itinerary, and creates a held booking for later fulfillment. For example, you might want to use this workflow to use a different payment method than was sent in ticketing.

Cancel ticket and issue refund (after void period)

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Refund Quote

  3. Order Cancel

This workflow cancels the ticket and issues refund if eligible.

In the Order Cancel request, you must set the RetainFlag header parameter to false. If canceled outside the void period and the ticket is eligible for a refund, a refund will be issued to the original form of payment.

For Singapore Airlines (SQ) only, you can cancel specified segments instead of the full itinerary by sending a product identifier in the Refund Quote request.

Cancel or void ticket but retain ticket value

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Order Cancel

For Qantas (QF) only, either within or after the void period, you can cancel the ticket but retain the ticket value: Set the RetainFlag parameter to true.

Exchange ticket for a different itinerary or make other itinerary changes

  1. Create post-commit workbench

  2. Reshop

  3. Reprice

  4. Add FOP and payment if necessary

  5. Resell

Supported for fully unflown itineraries. Supported for partially flown itineraries on BA, AF/KLM, AA, and LHG.

The NDC Reshop, Reprice, and Resell APIs exchange an NDC ticket for a new or modified itinerary: Search for the new or modified itinerary (Reshop), price the new offer and add it to the workbench (Reprice), and commit the workbench and issue the exchange (Resell).

If a price difference applies to the new itinerary:

  • If a partial refund is due, new tickets are issued at Resell and the refund is credited to the original form of payment.

  • if a payment is due or the amount is an even exchange:

    • To issue the new tickets at commit, send the Add Form of Payment and Add Payment requests before Resell.

    • To create a held booking, do not add any payment information in this workbench.

For AF/KLM, you must ticket the new itinerary when it is modified. AF/KLM does not support modifying an itinerary unless payment is included and tickets are issued.
For BA, if you modify a ticketed booking, payment and ticketing is required for that modification.

Supported Changes

The following modifications are supported on either a held booking or a ticketed itinerary:

  • Add new air segments (not supported for NDC carrier BA).
  • Modify the date, time, flight, cabin, or origin and/or destinations.

Supported Search Modifiers in Reshop

The Reshop request supports only the following search modifiers for the following carriers.

  • Cabin class (SQ, AA, UA and QF)
  • Fare type (AA, UA and QF)

Workflow Diagrams

In the following diagrams, each box represents one API call in the workflow. Itinerary changes on a booking or a ticket exchange are shown first, then the ticket cancel and refund workflow. See the workflow summaries above for additional options in these processes.

Involuntary Schedule Changes

An involuntary schedule change occurs when an airline has modified a flight schedule. You can accept a voluntary schedule change by sending a workbench commit request payload with the scheduleChangeAcceptedInd indicator set to true. You do not need to create a workbench session first.

See Accept Schedule Change in the Workbench Commit API Reference for details.