Adding or Changing Seats After Booking

Depending on the carrier, changing paid seats after booking may or may not be supported. In particular, some Direct Payment Carriers may not permit changing paid seats after booking, or may have specific requirements for changing seats.

To add or change a seat after booking:
  1. Retrieve 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 not already present in the PNR/Booking File, 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 seating.
  • If assigned seats are present in the itinerary, the Review Seats screen displays the current seat assignments.

From the Review screen, you can click MODIFY to display the seat map.

  • If assigned seats are not present, the Seat Map is displayed.

  • 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 from any available seat options. The availability of free and paid seats depends on the carrier, flight, and passenger's frequent traveler status. Carriers may also have limitations on changing from paid seats to free seats or changing from free seats to paid seats.

  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 7 and 8 for each passenger in the segment.
  3. If applicable, click on the next segment and select seats for each passenger in the segment.

The price for the new or changed seats is reflected in TOTAL SEAT PRICE in the lower right corner.

  1. When all seats are assigned, including any airline-assigned seats, free seats, and paid seats, click REVIEW to display the Review screen. The Review screen varies if the price of the new seats is same, greater, or less than the old seats.

In this example, the newly selected seats result in an increase in the amount of the paid seats. The Amount Due is calculated from the difference between the previous payment for the old seats and the price of the new seats.

In this example, the newly selected seats result in a decrease in the total amount of the paid seats. The Refund is calculated from the difference between the price of old and new seats.

In this example, the even exchange results from either:

  • Free seats that were exchanged for free seats without an exchange or refund fee.
  • Paid seats that were exchanged for a like or equivalent amount.

  1. Review the seat assignments. If you want to change your selections, click MODIFY to redisplay the seat maps.

Important! 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.

If you make more than one Modify request from the Review screen, a "simultaneous changes" or "unable to process" error may be displayed. These errors occur because the airline may still be responding the first modify request when the second request is received. To correct this problem:

  1. Close the Review screen.
  2. Ignore and Redisplay (IR) the PNR/Booking File.
  3. Send the modify request again.
  1. Click the SUBMIT to confirm the seat assignments.
  2. If applicable, complete payment or refund information.
  1. If an EMD-A is required, Airline requires payment via EMD is displayed next to the flight information. The EMD Manager can automate applicable EMDs and ASVC segements.

  2. If another form of payment is required, the Payment Information dialog box displays the form of payment options available for this carrier and flight. If applicable, the form of payment information used in your initial payment displays automatically.
  3. If a refund is required:
    1. Direct Payment Carriers automatically refund the amount in the original form of payment.
    2. Network (GDS) Carriers display the Payment Information dialog box to select from the form of payment options available for this carrier and flight.
  4. The Payment Information screen displays for a zero amount if you increase the seat price for one segment and lower the seat price for another segment by the same value (zero difference). Submit payment details to complete the transaction, even though the price is zero.
  1. If applicable, repeat payment information for additional airline payments or refunds.
  2. After all form of payment information is entered, click SUBMIT to display the seat assignment confirmation.

In this example, the refunded seat price is confirmed.

  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 in the PNR/Booking File.
  • *DAS in Travelport+ and Apollo displays any ancillary services, including ASVC SSRs, that were created for the paid seats. If the carrier supports payment by EMD, paid seats are ancillary services that are fulfilled by issuing an EMD-A.