Smartpanel

Searching for Air Availability with Smartpanel

With Smartpanel, you can search for air availability to return scheduled flights an itinerary. Smartpanel provides advanced search features to:

  • Store complicated entries and modifiers.
  • Apply advanced search criteria, including multiple sectors and multiple passengers.
  • Request one search as one journey for split tickets and pricing.
To search for air availability with Smartpanel:

  1. Open Smartpanel.

    Note: This example shows Smartpanel in the Flex Windows view. However, the fields are the same in the Smartpanel tab in Classic Windows.

  2. In the AirSearch tab, select the Air Availability radio button. The first flight segment displays with the current date.

    Tip! If you created a template for a frequent itinerary, you can apply the template by clicking the Choose a template to apply arrow in the upper right corner.

  3. In Depart, enter the departure date and month for the flight segment.

    To change the current date, you can either:

    1. Type over the current date with a new date in DDMMM, MMDD, DDMM, or other commonly used date formats.
    2. Click the Calendar icon to select a date from the calendar.

    Smartpoint supports dates 364 days in advance of the current date. However, some carriers may support earlier date limits.

    Tip! In Smartpoint 9.1 and later, you can search and book on the previous two days, if an earlier date is valid in the time zone of the itinerary city or location.

    As of Smartpoint 9.1, you can use follow the sun functionality to create or change bookings that occur one or two days before the current date in your agency's time zone. These updates apply calendars and date fields in Search menus, Tools menus, Smartpanel, and Sell menus.

    For example:

    On November 20 at 05:00, an agent in Dubai (UTC+4) needs to rebook a flight from Honolulu (UTC-10) to Los Angeles. Because the flight pair occurs on the other side of the International Dateline, the time Honolulu is 15:00 on November 19. The agent in Dubai can successfully enter November 19 for a search or sell because November 19 is currently a valid date in Honolulu.

    Some location pairs in the Pacific have a two-day time difference. The biggest time difference between two places on Earth is 26 hours between:

    • The Howland Islands, which are the farthest west and use a time zone of -12 hours UTC.

    • The Line Islands in the Republic of Kiribati, which are the farthest east and use time zone of +14 hours UTC.

  4. In From, enter the departure airport name or city name, or city code.

    Enter the departure airport name, airport code, city name, or city code.

    As you enter the code or name, possible matches are displayed. In the following example, all locations associated with the city name Barcelona are displayed. Note that rail and bus stations may also be displayed.

    You can either:

    • Use the arrow keys to select a location, then press ENTER.
    • Use the mouse to select a location, then click to confirm your selection.
    • Use the mouse or arrow keys to select a location, then press TAB to confirm the option and move the cursor to the next field.

  5. Optional. Select Multi to indicate the status for multiple departure airports in the associated metropolitan area.

    Important! The Multi checkbox functions differently depending on the host and the version of Smartpoint.

    By default, air availability responses return all airports in a metro area. For example, if JFK is requested, responses for other airports in the New York City metro area, including LGA and EWR, are also returned.

    Note: The Multi modifier applies only to origin or destination airport codes. If a city code is entered for the origin or destination, the Multi modifier is not applied, and all airports in the metro area continue to be returned. For example, if the LON city code is requested for the origin, multiple metro London airports may be returned, including LGW, LTN, and LCY.

    However, the functionality of the Multi checkbox varies by host and Smartpoint version:

    • Apollo (1V) for all versions of Smartpoint:

      Ignores the Multi checkbox , and returns multiple airports in a metro area even if the Multi checkbox is not selected.

    • Travelport+ (1G) for Smartpoint 11.4.1 and earlier:

      Ignores the Multi checkbox , and returns multiple airports in a metro area even if the Multi checkbox is not selected.

    • Travelport+ (1G) for Smartpoint 11.5 and later:

      • When the Multi checkbox is selected, restricts multiple airports and returns only the requested airport. For example, if JFK is requested, only JFK is returned. Other New York City metro airports are excluded from the response.

      • When the Multi checkbox is not selected, multiple airports are returned.

      Important! In Smartpoint 11.5 and later, when enabled, the Multi checkbox functions the opposite for Smartpanel Air Availability (restricts multiple airports) and Smartpanel Flight Shopping (permits multiple airports).

  6. In To, enter the arrival airport name or city name, or city code.

  7. Optional. Select Multi to indicate the status for multiple departure airports in the associated metropolitan area.

  8. Optional. Click the Time arrow to select a preferred departure time.

    If you do not select a time, flights at any time of day are returned.

  9. Optional. In Direct, enter Y for direct flights or N for non-direct flights. If you leave this field blank, both direct and non-direct flights are returned.

  10. Optional. In Carriers, enter a preferred carrier code.
    You can add a maximum of three carrier codes using a slash / to separate. For example: BA/LH/AF.

  11. Optional. Click the Fare Type arrow to select a fare type. Depending on the selected fare type, you may also need to enter an Account Code.

    An account code may be required to see all relevant fares for these fare types:

    • ALL - Published and Private Fares
    • PF - Private Fares Only
    • PPN - Published and Private and Net

    If applicable, in Account Code enter an account code or click the arrow to select an account code associated to this PCC.

  12. Optional. Click the Availability Modifiers icon open the Availability Modifiers window to enter advanced search modifiers for connections, carriers, and booking codes.

    Tip! Select Apply to all segments to choose these shopping modifiers for all segments in the itinerary.

    When you are finished entering an shopping modifiers, click APPLY to add the modifiers and resdisplay Smartpanel.

    You can also:

    • Click CANCEL redisplay Smartpanel without changes.
    • Click RESET to clear any changes and enter any modifiers again.

    Connection Modifier

    Details

    Stop Direct

    		  

    Non-Stop Direct

    		  

    Online Connection

    		  

    Interline Connection

    		  

    Single Via

    Enter the city/airport code for the connection.

    Tip! If you regularly indicate connections, you can configure the Smartpanel display to add this field as I/E/S Connections and Via columns for to include, exclude, or specify connection points.

    Double Via

    Enter the city/airport code for the connections.
    1. Select a radio button:
    • Include returns request carriers as preferred, but may include additional carriers.
    • Exclude removes carriers from the response.
    • Include only returns only the requested carriers.

    Tip! If regularly include or exclude carriers, you can configure the Smartpanel display to add this field as an I/E/O Carriers column.

    1. In the Carriers box, enter a carrier code. preferred carrier code.
      You can add a maximum of three carrier codes using a slash / to separate. For example: BA/LH/AF.

    In Booking Code, enter the booking code for a cabin type, such as B (Business Class) or Y (Economy). Cabin types and corresponding booking codes vary by carrier and flight.

  13. Optional. To add additional segments, click the Add Segment icon. You can add eight additional segments for a total of nine segments in one itinerary. You can also remove segments at any time by clicking the Remove icon.

    Tip! If you add more than two segments in Flex Windows, you can click and drag the corner of the window to resize the window for the new rows.

  14. Optional. Click the Passengers arrow, to select the up to nine passengers for the itinerary. By default, Smartpoint searches for one passenger.

  15. Click SEARCH to display air availability results.

    Or, click:

    • RESET to reset the or clear the segment list.

    • Flex Windows. The Close box exit to Smartpanel without searching.

      Tip! Any changes made through the Smartpanel are automatically updated in the PNR/Booking File. You can also select Auto Refresh from PNR to automatically reflect any changes made directly to the PNR/Booking File in Smartpanel.

      If Auto Refresh from PNR is:

      • Selected, Smartpoint continuously checks PNR/Booking File and automatically updates Smartpanel. However, this activity can cause Smartpoint to run a little more slowly.
      • Not selected, Smartpanel is only refreshed on the tab that is displayed and active. For example, if you add new passengers, Smartpanel is not automatically updated.

      However, if you choose not to use Auto Refresh, you can still manually update Smartpanel by clicking anywhere in the Smartpanel window/pane.

      Known Issue: If the Auto Refresh from PNR is not select, and the Smartpanel updates after clicking into any field in the Smartpanel, then you need to click a second time to actually enter data.

  16. From the air availability results, select the booking code for the desired segment.

  17. After selecting the booking code, you can click the Air Pricing tab to use Smartpanel to add pricing modifiers and price (fare quote) the itinerary.

    Tip! You can also use the Edit tab to change the departure, segment status, or booking code.