Exchange tickets

HELP EXCHANGE or H/EXCHANGE

Sometimes a passenger will change their plans after their ticket has been issued. They may wish to change their travel dates or itinerary. Depending on the fare, it may be possible to reissue the ticket for your customer and give them a new one in exchange for the original one. There are strict IATA rules governing this procedure. You must refer to the fare notes or the issuing airline to check the rules and regulations to correctly complete the ticket exchange.

Note: Many agencies charge for exchanging a ticket, which can be an important source of revenue.

When a passenger changes his travel plans and has a flexible fare, it is possible to use the old ticket as part or full payment towards the new ticket's cost.

The types of exchange that can result, depending on the cost of the original ticket compared to the new ticket are:

• Identify when a ticket can be revalidated or when it should be exchanged.

• Complete a ticket reissue using a fill-in format (FIF).

• Reissue tickets with and without an additional collection.

• Reissue a ticket issued in a different currency.

• Cancel/Void an incorrectly reissued ticket.

Exchange fill-in formats

Travelport+ has a fill-in format to help you with the procedure to issue a new ticket in exchange for an old one.

The fill-in format is displayed by entering TKPFEX followed by the full ticket number including airline code. A fill-in format appears although the majority of it is completed automatically by Travelport+.

A separate fare quote entry or manual fare build must be made for each passenger for multiple passenger booking files. Individual TKP entries must be completed with the relevant filed fare and original ticket number.

Example: TKPFEX176215452231

Example of a blank exchange screen:

The first part of the screen contains the new fare details, including the fare and any increased amounts of tax, and any new taxes:

The next part of the screen is where the details of the old ticket being used to pay for the new one will be entered:

The final part of the screen would contain details of the original issue.

Before processing an exchange, you must complete the following tasks:

1. Display the booking file. Take note of the original fare details, in particular, the taxes.

2. Modify/create the booking file.

3. Quote fare for the new journey for each passenger.

4. End and retrieve the booking file.

5. Enter the form of payment modifier TKPPFEX and the ticket number. At this point, you can include a ticket designator as well. Add a slash followed by TD and the applicable ticket designator.

6. Complete the exchange fill-in format.

7. Complete the additional collection fill-in format as necessary or process a refund.

Note: The ticket will issue automatically.

How to use the ticket exchange fill-in format (FIF) screen

First, make the booking file changes and obtain a new fare, either through an automatic fare quote or a manual fare build.

Note: For BSP markets only, remove any taxes that have been paid previously on the original ticket, or the passenger will be charged for them again.

Helpful hints when exchanging an e-ticket:

• Display the filed fare and the full tax breakdown of the original booking before you begin the exchange process (FQ or FQTE-00).

• Remove any paid taxes by displaying the relevant filed fare as a fare build (*FB1), regenerate the total, and file the fare (FBF).

No additional collection – unused ticket

Refer to the following ticketed booking file for travel from Madrid to Lisbon:

The passenger now wishes to fly to Porto.

The original fare was EUR 430.00 plus taxes. The fare basis code was YDNNAOB4.

Always refer to paragraph 16 of the fare notes to ensure that changes can be made at this fare. The rule states:

To reissue the ticket:

1. Make the necessary changes to the booking.

   

2. Quote fare for the new journey by entering: FQ

   

   In this example, the fare and taxes are the same; therefore, the taxes must be removed from the new fare to prevent the customer from being charged for them twice.

   Important note for ARC agencies: The steps to remove the paid taxes are not applicable to ARC market.

3. Amend the new fare to remove the paid taxes and amend the total by entering: *FB1

   

4. Remove the paid taxes: FBUTAX1/+TAX2/+TAX3/+TAX4/+TAX5/
   

5. Regenerate the total by entering: FBUTTL/

   Completed example (*FB):

   

6. Re-file the updated fare by entering: FBF

7. Add a Received From field and enter: ER

8. Obtain a fill-in format (FIF) screen by making a ticketing entry with the form of payment as EX followed by the original e-ticket number. The check digit is not required.

   Example: TKPFEX 0759904836850

   Example response:

   

   Note: Travelport+ has automatically completed most of the required fields. The top section shows the new fare and any new taxes. Data in this section cannot be amended.

   The middle section shows the original ticket number. The fields are described below.

   Item	Explanation
   TICKET FOR	Passenger name automatically placed here from the filed fare.
   NEW FARE	New fare automatically placed here from the filed fare.
   TX1 to TX4	All taxes from the filed fare displayed here.
   EQUIV	If applicable, the currency codes (not the amount) of the original currency of issue and of the additional collection are shown here from the updated fare. A maximum of three currency codes may be added, with a space between each.
   TKT NO	The ticket number is completed automatically.
   THRU	If exchanging conjunction tickets, enter an X. Otherwise, leave blank.
   TKT NO	Enter the last conjunction ticket of the sequence (including the check digit). If not applicable, leave blank.
   NO CPNS	The number of flight coupons to be exchanged. For example, 02 will be automatically added by Travelport+.
   COUPONS FOR	The coupons to be exchanged will be added automatically by Travelport+. For example, 12 signifies coupons 1 and 2.
   TTL VALUE	The original fare excluding taxes is shown here together with the currency code (for example, EUR430.00).
   BSR	If working with different currencies, enter the Bank Selling Rate according to the FZS entry. Prefix the BSR with an oblique (/) to divide. If the BSR contains more than four numbers, ignore the last one.
   ORIG FOP	Enter the form of payment used on the original ticket (for example, NONREF). If the form of payment was credit card, enter CC.
   *ORIG ISSUE*	This section relates to the original ticket.
   TICKET NUMBER	If the ticket being exchanged has previously been reissued, you must show the original ticket number here.
   ORG/DES	Enter the origin/destination of the whole (new) journey, using city codes (not airport codes). For example, the ORD/DES codes for an itinerary STN TLV STN would be shown as LONLON. Note: This field must be manually amended as the system takes the first two city codes from the booking file.
   CITY	Identifies the city code where the original ticket was issued.
   DATE	Identifies the date the original ticket was issued, using DDMMMYY format.
   IATA CODE	Identifies the IATA number of the original issuing office.

   Important: Ensure that the INSERT key is switched off and use the Tab key to move between fields in case you need to add any missing data, as the original form of payment in the following example:

   

9. Press Enter at the end.

   The tax screen is displayed detailing paid taxes:

   

   Note: The system is providing XT breakup now for most airlines; in those cases, you do not have to breakdown the XT taxes.

10. If the system does not provide all taxes, overtype XT and detail the individual taxes paid.

    

11. Press Enter at the arrow. The ticket will be issued.

    When you retrieve the booking file, you will see a reference to two e-tickets:

    

12. Select *TE002 to display the reissued ticket.

    

Additional collection – unused ticket

In this example, refer to the following ticketed booking file, showing details of the original filed fare.

The passenger now wishes to upgrade to a business class ticket.

1. Book the new flight details and store a filed fare for the new details.

2. Compare the new and original taxes.

   

   In this case, the GB TAX has been increased by EUR 16.32 and the YR tax has increased by EUR 1.16

   Using Manual Fare Build entries, remove the paid taxes by entering: *FB1

3. Enter:      FBUTAX1/+TAX2/+TAX3/+TAX4/+TAX5/+TAX6/+TAX7/16.32GB+TAX8/1.16YR

   Note: Only the increased amount of the GB and YR taxes will be retained.

   

4. Recalculate the total automatically by entering: FBUTTL/

5. Re-file the updated fare by entering: FBF

6. Add a Received From field and end transact and retrieve the booking file by entering: R.P+ER

7. Once the booking has been ended, the exchange fill-in format can now be completed: TKPFEX0749904836859. If you prefer to store the exchange process in the filed fare to later issue the ticket, enter TMU1FEX0749904836859.

   You will find most of the fields are automatically completed.

   

8. If there are more than 8 taxes, they will be grouped together as XT. The breakdown of taxes should be shown.

   

9. If the new ticket costs more than the original ticket, this will result in an additional collection being required and the following screen will appear:

   

10. Ensure the insert button is switched off before tabbing to and completing the FOP field, entering the form of payment for the outstanding amount.

11. Tab to the first line and enter the form of payment being used to pay for the additional amount. If the customer wishes to pay by two different forms of payment and BSP allows, enter:

    

    Note: The $ symbol is always used to indicate the amount being paid on each FOP, regardless of the currency.

    In this example we use the input TMU1FEX0749904836859, so the system will respond “Ticket Modifiers Updated.”

    

12. Issue the ticket by entering TKP.

Exchange with a partial refund

Your passengers may wish to change their flight to one that is cheaper. Maybe he was originally flying in club class and has downgraded to a cheaper cabin class fare that will result in a refund.

Take the following steps:

1. Rebook the flights and re-quote, compare the new fare.

   Normally there will not be any additional amounts or new taxes but use Manual Fare Build Update entries to remove the taxes that have already been paid. Using Manual Fare Build entries, remove the paid taxes by entering: *FB1

2. Enter:  FBUTAX1/+TAX2/+TAX3/+TAX4/+TAX5

3. Recalculate the total automatically by entering: FBUTTL/

4. Re-file the updated fare by entering: FBF

5. Add a Received From field and end transact and retrieve the booking file by entering: R.P+ER

6. Display the ticket exchange fill-in format by entering: TKPFEX9969904836847

   

   The Exchange screen will be presented with all fields completed.

7. The following screen will then be presented with the option to create an EMD for the refund amount, tab to enter Y or N. If no EMD is created, the refund will have to be processed through BSP.

   

Exchange Fill-in-formats using TMU entries

It is also possible to display the exchange fill-in formats screen using TMU Ticketing Modifiers entries. Ex: TMU1FEX176215452231 (1=filed fare)

This can only be done when there is one passenger in the filed fare. The process is the same as explained for the TKPFEXticketnumber entry, however, once completed the system will respond Ticket Modifiers Updated. It will be necessary to issue the ticket with the TKP entry.  

Next lesson: Voiding/Canceling a reissued document