Flight Shopping

Flight Shopping Search

Flight Shopping enables you to search for pricing and itinerary options for unbooked itineraries.

Flight Shopping supports the following modifiers:

• One-way and round-trip itineraries.
• Number of passengers.
• Cabin class (booking code).
• One specified airline.
• Specified currency.

To include additional availability or fare modifiers in the Fare Shopping request, use Smartpanel or Fare Shopping with Terminal Formats.

Accessing the Flight Shopping Search Screen

There are several ways to access the Flight Shopping Search screen:

• Classic Windows. From the SEARCH menu, select Flight Shopping Search.

Menu

• Flex Windows. Click the Search icon to select Flight Shopping Search.

Menu

• From the Calendar, right-click on a date range and select Shopping.

Using the Flight Shopping Search Screen

 

1. Select the trip type: Round Trip for a round-trip itinerary or One Way for a one-way trip.

   Tip! If you want to book circle trips, open-jaw trips, or other itineraries with multiple destinations, you can use Smartpanel or Focalpoint Shopping.

2. In Origin, enter the airport code, airport name, city code, or city name for the departure location.

   Origin and Destination Drop-Down Lists

   As you enter the code or name, possible matches are displayed. In the following example, all locations associated with the city name Manchester 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.

3. In Departure date, enter the departure date or click the Calendar icon to select a date from the drop-down calendar.

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

   Calendar

   The current date is highlighted in green.

   

   You can either:

   • Use the mouse to select a date that is highlighted in blue, then click to confirm your selection.
   • Use the arrow keys to select a date that is highlighted in gray, then press ENTER.
   • Use the arrow keys to select a date that is highlighted in gray, then press TAB to confirm your selection and move the cursor to the next field.

4. In Departure time, enter the departure time or click the Calendar icon to select a time from the drop-down list.

   You can enter any time format accepted by Travelport+ (1G)or Apollo (1V), including formats such as 1A, 1P, 13, and 1300.

   Departure and Arrival Time Lists

   

   You can either:

   • Use the mouse to select a date that is highlighted in blue, then click to confirm your selection.
   • Use the arrow keys to select a date that is highlighted in gray, then press ENTER.
   • Use the arrow keys to select a date that is highlighted in gray, then press TAB to confirm your selection and move the cursor to the next field.
   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.
   More Information

   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.

   Why include two previous days instead of one day?

   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.

5. Optional. Select Multiple Airports if you want to include all airports in the metropolitan (metro) area of the Origin or Destination. See City/Airport Logic for a description of the response if the Multiple Airports option is not selected.

   City/Airport Logic for Galileo

   For the origin or destination, if the code is:

   • Both a city code and an airport code, but has a different metro code, Smartpoint searches by the airport code. For example: SNA, EWR,BUR.
   • A city/airport code and also metro code, Smartpoint searches by the city code. For example: LAX, HOU.
   • A city code, Smartpoint searches by the city code. For example: LON, NYC.

   If the Multiple Airport option is selected for either or both a city code or airport code, Smartpoint searches by the both city code and airport code, with the city code preferred. For example: JFK, BUR, SNA.

   Terminal Equivalents

   Format	Description	Example
   ++/RMA	Disables multi-airport processing.	FSLAX12JANATL++/RMA
   ++/M	Multiple airport for both origin and destination.	FSLAX12JANATL++/M
   ++/M[CODE]	Multiple airport only for specified airport.	FSLAX12JANEWR++/MLAX Multiple airport only for the origin airport (LAX).

   City/Airport Logic for Apollo

   For the origin or destination, if the code is:

   • Both a city code and an airport code, Smartpoint searches by the airport code. For example: LAX, EWR, HOU.
   • A city code, Smartpoint searches by the airport code. For example: LON, CHI, NYC.

   If the Multiple Airport option is selected for either or both a city code or airport code, Smartpoint searches by the both city code and airport code, with the city code preferred. For example: LAX, JFK, LHR, WAW.

   Terminal Equivalents

   Format	Description	Example
   /RMA	Disables multi-airport processing.	FSLAX12JANATL//RMA
   //M	Multiple airport for both origin and destination.	FSLAX12JANATL//M
   //M[CODE]	Multiple airport only for specified airport.	FSLAX12JANEWR//MLAX Multiple airport only for the origin airport (LAX).

6. In Destination, enter the airport code, airport name, city code, or city name for the arrival location.

7. Round-trip only. In Return date, enter the return date or click the Calendar icon to select a date from the drop-down calendar.

8. Round-trip only. In Return time, enter the departure time or click the Calendar icon to select a time from the drop-down list.

9. Optional for round-trip. Select Multiple Airports if you want to include all airports in the metropolitan (metro) area of the Destination. See City/Airport Logic for a description of the response if the Multiple Airports option is not selected.

10. Optional. In Airline, enter the two-character airline code, alliance code, or airline name.

    To add a maximum of five preferred airlines or to add alliances, click the Add icon.

    Airline List

    As you enter the code or name, possible matches are displayed. In the following example, all airlines that contain South are displayed.

    

    You can either:

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

    • Both Travelport+ (1G)and Apollo (1V) supports alliance codes, which can be combined with preferred airlines.
    • Travelport+ (1G)supports more than one alliance code per request.
    • Apollo (1V) supports only one alliance code per request.
    • Some combinations of alliances and non-participant airlines may not be permitted in the same search and may return an error message: [AIRLINE CODE] IS A NON-PARTICIPANT-ENTRY IS INVALID. This message displays next to the first specified airline, regardless of whether that airline is the non-participant airline.

11. Optional. Indicate the display preference to include, exclude, or include airlines listed in Step 10.

    More Information

    This selection applies to all listed airlines for all segments in the trip.

    • Include to return the listed airlines as preferred. Additional airlines may also be returned.

    • Exclude to remove airlines from the response.

    • Include Only to return only the listed airlines.

    Equivalent Formats

    The following availability formats use "BA" as the carrier code.

    Travelport+ (1G) Formats

    Modifier	Format Example
    Include	FSFAR12MARATL++/DL
    Exclude	FSFAR12MARLON++/BA-
    Include Only	FSFAR12MARLON++/BA#

    Apollo 1V) Formats

    Modifier	Format Example
    Include	FSFRA12MARATL//+LH
    Exclude	FSFRA17MARATL//-LH
    Include Only	FSFRA29MARATL//#LH or FSFRA29MARATL//++LH

12. Optional. In Cabin, select a cabin class (booking code).

13. Optional, if applicable. Smartpoint 11.7 Service Release and later. Select Include Only to return only fares for the cabin class selected in Step 12.

    More Information

    This feature is available in Smartpoint 11.7 Service Release and later.

    The functionality for this modifier varies depending on the type of carrier.

    • Network (GDS) carriers

      The Include Only checkbox is optional, and can be modified by agents. If the checkbox is:

      • Selected, only the specified cabin class is displayed in the response.

      • Not selected, the default preferred carrier functionality is maintained, and other cabin classes may be returned in addition to or in place of the requested cabin class.

    • Direct Payment carriers

      Direct Payment carriers return only the specified cabin class. Therefore, the Include Only checkbox is automatically selected, and limits responses only to the selected cabin for all searches.

      

      If a request includes multiple airlines, and at least one airline is a Direct Payment carrier, Include Only is also automatically selected, and applies to flights on all carriers in the itinerary.

      Note: In versions of Smartpoint Desktop before the 11.7 Service Release, Flight Shopping searches processed cabin modifiers for Direct Payment carriers as a preferred request, which did not exclude other cabin types from the search response. This update aligns with functionality for Direct Payment carriers.

14. In Passengers, select the number of passengers for this itinerary. Flight Shopping supports a maximum of nine passengers in a single PNR/Booking File.

15. Optional. In Currency Override, enter the three-letter currency code or currency name. If you do not specify a currency, the response returns fares in the default currency provisioned for the PCC.

    Currency List

    As you enter the code or name, possible matches are displayed. In the following example, currency codes, currency names, and country names that contain the letters ANG are displayed.

    

    You can either:

    • Use the arrow keys to select a currency, then press ENTER.
    • Use the mouse to select a currency, then click to confirm your selection.
16. Click SEARCH to display the Flight Shopping response. See Fare Shopping Results for detailed information about working with Fare Shopping responses.

Example of a Completed Screen

The following example shows:

• A round-trip itinerary from LHR (airport code) to AMS (city/airport code).
• The multiple airport option is selected for the departure city, so departures from all airports associated to the London metropolitan area will be displayed.
• From October 14 to October 18 with a specified departure time of 2:00 PM (14:00) and a default return time of 12:00 AM (0:00).
• For two passengers.
• Three airlines set to Include Only: British Airways, KLM, and Lufthansa. Only these three airlines are included in the responses.
• A Business booking code (cabin type) is specified. Include Only is not selected for cabins, so additional airlines may be returned.
• The currency override returns the fares in Euros rather than the agency's default currency.

The following results display for Flight Shopping search for fares from London to Amsterdam. The first four options are available on British Airways (BA), but KLM and Lufthansa may also be returned.