Selling Flights from Fare Shopping

Fare Shopping provides access to the wealth of Travelport 360 Fares and searches for low fares and available flights. Fare Shopping incorporates a wide variety of options to customize and streamline the search.

  • Fare Shopping is able to integrate all public, private, and net fare content housed within the Travelport 360 Fares database.
  • Both Direct Payment Carriers and Network (GDS) carriers are returned in the same response.
  • A maximum of 8 flight segments can be handled by a single request.
  • A maximum of 9 passengers can be included in each transaction.
  • One-way, round-trip, circle trip, and single and double open-jaw itineraries are supported.
  • Low fare searches can be performed with or without a booked itinerary.
  • Pricing and Availability modifiers can be used to influence the search process and provide customized results.

Fare Shopping merges the manual comparison of tariff data and seat availability in a single request. You can search for low fares and available flights and make reservations in three steps:

  1. Search for low fares. You can use several Fare Shopping search options to search for low fares.
  2. Book the itinerary.
  3. File the fare in the PNR/Booking File.

The process for selling flights from Fare Shopping may vary depending on the type of carrier: Network Carriers and Direct Payment Carriers.

Note: For aggregated Fare Shopping responses, both types of carriers may be returned in the same response.

  • Network (GDS) Carriers

Network carriers are traditional carriers that connect via the Apollo (1V) and Travelport+ (1G)systems. Network Carriers typically require paid seats and ancillary services to be added after the PNR/Booking File is end transacted.

See the Quick Steps below or see Selling Flights from Fare Shopping: Network Carriers for more detailed instructions.

  1. Create minimum Customer Information. Be sure to include loyalty memberships, which may affect fares and ancillary service prices.
  2. Search for low fares using one of the Fare Shopping search options.
  3. If available, view seat maps.
  4. Sell flights for unbranded or branded fares. Note that prices for branded fares are estimated only until they are priced in the following step.
  5. Price flights (Fare Quote).
  6. End Transact (ET or ER) to create a PNR/Booking File.
  7. If applicable, view seat map to select free or paid seats or to request airline-assigned seats.
  8. If applicable, select ancillary services, such as paid baggage, meals, or lounge access. Some branded fares include ancillary services in the base price, but may allow additional ancillary services to be purchased separately.
  9. If you selected paid seats and/or additional ancillary services, price flights (Fare Quote) again to include any paid seats and ancillary services in the total price.
  10. End Transact (ET or ER) to update the PNR/Booking File.
  • Direct Payment Carriers

Direct Payment Carriers, which use an API connection, are transacted through the Travelport Aggregated Shopping (TAS) system, which can display Pricing Options for both Direct Payment Carriers and traditional Network (GDS) Carriers in the same response.

Air Availability and Pricing with Direct Payment Carriers have several requirements that are different from availability and pricing with Network (GDS) Carriers:

  • Direct Payment Carriers typically require paid seats and other ancillary services to be added before the PNR/Booking File is end transacted.
  • Direct Payment Carriers have different requirements for Customer Information than Network Carriers. Some carriers may also have specific requirements, such as the traveler's citizenship or specific payment information.

See the Quick Steps below or see Selling Flights from Fare Shopping: Direct Payment Carriers for more detailed instructions.

The following steps show the minimum tasks required to search for search for and sell flights from Air Availability.

  1. Search for low fares using one of the Fare Shopping search options.
  2. If available, view seat maps.
  3. Create Customer Information for Direct Payment Carriers. At minimum, you must create passenger names.
    • Note that Direct Payment Carriers have different requirements for Customer Information than Network Carriers. Some carriers may also have specific requirements, such as the traveler's citizenship or specific payment information.
    • Be sure to include loyalty memberships, which may affect fares and ancillary service prices.
  1. Sell flights for unbranded or branded fares.
    • Note that prices for branded fares are estimated only until they are priced in the following step.
    • A blue pound/hash sign # and a ZK segment status indicate a Direct Payment Carrier.
  1. Price flights (Fare Quote). After pricing, the pound/hash sign changes to green #, which you can click to finalize Customer Information.
  2. If applicable, view seat maps to select free or paid seats or to request airline-assigned seats.
  3. If applicable, select ancillary services, such as paid baggage, meals, or lounge access. Some branded fares include ancillary services in the base price, but may allow additional ancillary services to be purchased separately.
  4. If you selected paid seats and/or additional ancillary services, price flights (Fare Quote) again to include any paid seats and ancillary services in the total price.
  5. End Transact (ET or ER) the PNR/Booking File.