Seating

Assigning Free Seats

The availability of free seats depends on the carrier and flight. Depending on the itinerary, you may also be able to combine free and paid seats for different segments in the flight

Tips!

  • Availability of a requested seat map may vary by carrier and flight.
  • For Network carriers in Smartpoint 9.0 and later, you may be able to:
  • Assign free seatsbefore booking.
  • Preview paid seats, which can then be assigned after booking.
  • Direct Payment carriers typically require both free and paid seat assignments before booking because payment is made at the time of booking.
To assign free seats from the seat map:
  1. Enter passenger names for the PNR/Booking File. Other customer information can also be added to the PNR/Booking File, but passenger names are the minimum requirement to view seats.
  2. If applicable, enter any loyalty information for your passengers before selecting seats. A passenger's frequent traveler status can affect the availability of free or reduced-price seats for a flight.
  3. Display the seat map.

  • A seat map frame with no map is displayed if no seats are available for Galileo and Apollo. (For agencies that also use Worldspan, an error message is returned if no seats are available: Graphical seat map not avail.)
  • Seat maps are displayed only for confirmed (Status HK) segments.
  • If one or more segments are unconfirmed, a warning is displayed at the top of the seat map.

  • If all segments are unconfirmed, a warning message is displayed.

Seat maps are displayed as they become available from the airline. Therefore, if your itinerary includes more than one seat map, some maps may display more quickly than other maps.

You can begin to select seats from any available seat maps before the additional maps to display.

  1. Optional. In Seat Type, click on the Any arrow to select Free Seats. The availability of free and paid seats depends on the carrier, flight, and passenger's frequent traveler status.

  1. Optional. Select Show Preferred Seats to display preferred seats applicable to the passenger's frequent traveler account. Typically, seats are available at free or reduced prices for frequent travelers.

By default, only non-preferred seating is returned in the seat map, and the Show Preferred box is not selected.

  1. Select Show Preferred Seats to include Preferred Seating options in the display.
  2. Hover over a seat to see if it has Preferred: Qualified Passengers Only status.
  3. Preferred Seat selected is indicated in the traveler's selected seats.

  1. In the Segments section, click on the desired segment. The first passenger in the segment is automatically selected.
  2. In the seat map, hover over either
  • An available seat as a blue seat icon .
  • An available handicapped seat, which displays as a blue seat icon with an asterisk.

Note:  Blocked seats display as a red seat icon. Airlines may block some seats for airport check-in only or for frequent fliers.

  1. Click the desired seat to change the seat to a selected green seat icon . The corresponding seat information is in the Segments section for that segment and passenger.
  2. If applicable, click the name of the next passenger repeat in the segment. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 for each passenger in the segment.
  3. If applicable, click on the next segment and select seats for each passenger in the segment.

The TOTAL SEAT PRICE in the lower right corner displays:

  • "0" currency if all selected seats are free seats or airline-assigned seats.
  • Another amount if the selected seats are paid seats or a combination of free and paid seats.

  1. When all seats are assigned, including any airline-assigned seats, free seats, and paid seats, click REVIEW to display the Review screen.

Important! If your itinerary includes paid seats, or you are changing from free seats to paid seats after booking, there may be a difference in the amounts between the Seat Map screen and the Review screen. This difference occurs if there are additional carrier rules applied for booking or exchange. The Review screen displays the accurate total amounts with the carrier's rules applied.

  1. Review the seat assignments. If you want to change your selections, click MODIFY to redisplay the seat maps.
  2. Click the SUBMIT to to display the seat assignment confirmation.

  1. Click CLOSE to exit the Review screen.
  2. End transact (ER or ET) to store the assigned seats.

In the PNR/Booking File, *SD in Travelport+ (1G) or 9D in Apollo (1V) displays the seat information.