Seats

Assigning Paid Seats

Some airlines allow agencies to pre-book and pay for premium seating requests. Each airline stipulates the booking and payment conditions at the time of request. For example, Delta Air Lines requires a credit card payment to secure seat reservation for their economy comfort seats.

The seat map and booking process is managed in the same way that free seat requests are made. However, there is additional information displayed and a payment screen to complete.

Important!

  • There may be differences in the availability of seat maps depending on the carrier and also whether your seat map request is made before or after booking. See Viewing Seat Maps Before Booking for more information.
  • Typically, paid seats are added:
  • Before the PNR is ended for Direct Payment Carriers.
  • After the PNR is ended for Network (GDS) Carriers.
  • Some Direct Payment Carriers allow paid seats to be canceled or modified after they have been booked, but may have limitations on the types of changes. See the list of Direct Payment Carriers for more information for each carrier.
To assign paid seats from the seat map:
  1. Enter passenger names for the PNR. Other customer information can also be added to the PNR, 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. Before displaying the seat map, you may need to end and retrieve the PNR

If you have previously made changes to a PNR and then attempt to display the seat map a warning message is displayed.

  1. Display the seat map.

  • An error message is returned if no seats are available: Graphical seat map not avail. (For agencies that also use Apollo, a seat map frame with no map is displayed for Apollo.)
  • 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.

  1. Optional. In Seat Type, click on the Any arrow to select from any available paid seat options. 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 only preferred seats applicable to the passenger's frequent traveler account. Typically, seats at free or reduced prices are available for frequent travelers.

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

  1. Select Show Preferred Seats to display only Preferred Seating options.
  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 is displayed 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.

Note: If you selected Hold and Defer for the form of payment, the Review screen does not display. This known issue is being corrected.

Important! If you are adding or changing 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 confirm the seat assignments.

The Payment Information dialog box displays the payment options available for this carrier and flight.

  1. Click the Form of Payment arrow to select the form of payment option for the airline. The form of payment fields change, depending on your selected form of payment option.

Note: Paid seats for some GDS carriers, such as KLM, require an EMD for payment. Other carriers, such as United, require a credit card payment. See Paid Seating Exceptions for more information.

Depending on the carrier and fare, paid sets can be held without payment. After the hold deadline, the assigned seats are automatically canceled if they have not been purchased.

See Hold Booking and Defer Payment for more information.

To hold seats:

Click Hold Seats and Defer Payment. Then, click SUBMIT.

If the request is successful, a confirmation message displays.

Note: Held seats cannot be modified. To change held seats, you must cancel and reassign the seats.

To pay for held seats:
  1. From the PNR Viewer, either:
  • Click the class of service to display the held seat options.

  • Click *DAS in Additional Services in the PNR, then click PAY NOW.

  • Display the Seat Map, then click PAY.
  1. Select your seating option.
  • Click Seat Map to redisplay the seat map if you want to cancel and reassign seats. Or, if the held seats have expired, you can re-select seats.

  • Click Pay for Held Seats to display the available Form of Payment options for the held seats.

To purchase seats by credit card or debit card:

  1. Click Credit Card, Debit Card, or existing payment information.

Any payment information used for the PNR is pre-populated in the Form of Payment screen. If you want to select another Form of Payment for the seats, you can modify the credit card information as well as billing and delivery addresses, if applicable.

  1. In Cardholder's name, enter the card holder's name as it is listed on the credit card.
  2. In Card Type, select from the credit card types available for the selected airline.
  3. In Card Number, enter the credit card number.
  4. In Expiration Date, enter the expiration date for the credit card in MMYY format.
  5. In Security Code, enter the three- or four-digit CVV (Credit Verification Value) code, if applicable. Security codes may be required by some credit card types, airlines, countries, or types of purchase.

Tip! If a CVV code is required for this purchase, the SUBMIT button is disabled until the Security Code field is complete.

  1. In Country, Street Address, City, State/Province/Region, and Zip/Postal Code, confirm or enter the card holder's address that is associated to this card.
  1. Complete the information for the selected form of payment.
  2. Click SUBMIT.
  3. If there is more than one airline in the itinerary, additional Payment Information dialog boxes display for each airline. Repeat Steps 11 through 13 for each payment.
  4. After all form of payment information is entered, click SUBMIT to display the seat assignment confirmation.

In the following example, the seats are placed on Hold and Deferred Payment. A warning to complete payment and the Amount Due is displayed. If payment is completed, the Amount Paid is shown.

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

In the PNR:

  • Assigned seat information is displayed in *S or as remarks in *MU or *U.

  • Information for paid seats and other ancillary services are displayed in *DAS.

Next Steps

Viewing assigned seats in the PNR.