Seats

Seats are available for many NDC airlines and for GDS carriers that support seats. Some NDC carrier allow seats to be chosen before booking and some carriers only allow seats to be chosen after booking. Refer to the FAQs for a list of airline-specific knowledge base pages for more details.

Agents can access seat maps and select and book seats for their single or multi-passenger bookings. For the best user experience, it is recommended for the agents to use the graphical flow to display and book seats or bags.

You can add seats: 

For NDC seats, the DI lines are updated to show selected seats and any EMDs associated with paid seats (NDC only). EMDs are also indicated in the graphical booking file.

You can cancel or modify seats if needed and if supported by the carrier.

Preview seat map

  1. In flight search results, select Preview available seats to view the seat map for a flight.

  2. If available, the seat map displays. Hover over a seat for an informational window about that seat.

  3. Select Go back at the top of the window to return to the list of flight search results.

Important:

  • Free seats (both NDC and GDS) and paid seats (NDC only) are available prior to booking.

  • For NDC and GDS bookings, both free and paid seats can be added to held or ticketed bookings.

  • For NDC and GDS bookings, paid seats can be canceled (if allowed by the airline) using the GUI seat map. However, refunds are not provided for paid seats.

  • When paid seats are selected, the same form of payment is used for the ticket and the seats. (NDC only)

  • Seat maps are not available for GDS multi-offer bookings.

  • Currently AA only accepts credit/debit card as form of payment for seats. If Cash is used, the ticket will be fulfilled but the seats will remain on hold and canceled upon carrier decision.

  • UA does not allow canceling of free or paid seats after booking. The seat needs to be replaced with another seat. Seat changes are allowed on ticketed bookings only.

  • For BA, when adding a seat to an existing held booking, the agent must first put the seat on hold then issue payment for the air segments and seat.

  • At this time, FQTV would need to be included after booking is committed with the airline.

  • The booking class in the passive segment is interactive, indicating that the agent can book seats for the flight. However, NDC seats must be added to the NDC order via the NDC graphical interface (if seats are supported by the NDC carrier).

  1. After selecting flights, select the down arrow to display the option to add seats.

    • In the Review and Confirm panel (which displays after flights are selected), scroll below the Fare Details section and expand the Seats section.

    • If choosing seats after booking or ticketing:

      1. Display the graphical booking file. For traditional bookings, you can also book seats from the terminal window. Refer to Book seats from terminal view.

      2. Expand the Reservations section.

      3. Select the reservation summary section to display details in the right panel.

      4. Scroll down below the flight information and expand the Seats section.

  2. Select +  Add seats.

  3. If selecting seats prior to booking and if the booking file does not contain passenger information or has a passenger mismatch, a form displays to enter the information that is required prior to selecting seats. Complete the fields and select Confirm details. This form cannot be used to add information for infants (passenger type INF/INS).

  4. The seat map displays for the first segment. Hover over a seat to show seat details. Free and paid seats are indicated by different colors.
    Note: Prior to booking, free seats are available for both NDC and GDS offers. Prior to booking, paid seats are available only for NDC offers. After booking, paid seats are available for both NDC and GDS offers.

  5. Select seats for the first segment.

  6. Select the next flight segment and select seats.

  7. The selected seats and cost for each passenger display on the right.

  8. Once you have selected seats, select Save.

  9. The booking file displays. Select a flight in the Booked Travel section to display the flight information in the right panel. The selected seats display in the Seats card.

  10. If you selected seats prior to booking, you can now Hold or Ticket. If you selected seats after booking, choose to Book and pay. When you select a ticketing option, a confirmation dialog displays for you to verify that you want to close the booking. Once a booking is ticketed, you cannot add or modify other ancillaries. Select Pay and close the booking to ticket. Refer to Booking for more information.

Seats and any EMDs are added to the DI lines.

EMDs

EMDs are issued for paid seats. In the graphical booking file, if you have issued tickets, instantly generated EMDs are indicated by a message in the Seats card for paid seats.

Hover over the i to display EMD numbers.

When an EMD is not generated instantly at ticketing

  • An information banner displays with the message Flight(s) successfully booked and ticketed. Your flight(s) booking will be confirmed by the airline after the EMDs have been created.

  • The message Applicable EMDs are pending displays at the bottom of the seat card.

    Hover over the i to review the message that EMD processing may take up to 10 minutes and to retrieve the booking file for updates.

DI lines for NDC seats

Following a successful seat confirmation, agents can find their seat selections by viewing the DI Lines (NDC), viewing the Seats details on the confirmation page, or re-launching the seat map to view their selections.

Free seats example

For DI Line guidelines, please see the DI Lines - Add free seats section.

FREE TEXT #TAS01#DAS/P01/S01/SEAT/15A/0.00
FREE TEXT #TAS01#DAS/P02/S01/SEAT/15B/0.00

Paid seats example

Seat selection and cost displays for each passenger.

FREE TEXT-#TAS01#DAS/P01/S01/SEAT/30B/10.00
FREE TEXT-#TAS01#DAS/P02/S01/SEAT/30A/10.00

EMD information for non-free seats displays.

FREE TEXT-#TAS01#EMD/P01/08118177758106/SEAT 30B/AUD/10.00
FREE TEXT-#TAS01#EMD/P02/08118177758110/SEAT 30A/AUD/10.00

Cancel or modify seat selection

Important: Paid seats can be canceled (if allowed by the airline) using the GUI seat map. However, refunds are not provided for paid seats after ticketing.

If the carrier supports seats, for NDC and GDS bookings, modify is available from free to paid, paid to paid, and paid to free seats through the GUI seat map for held and ticketed bookings. For NDC, the carriers that support modify post-book include UA, AA, and QF.

Paid seats can be canceled (if allowed by the airline) using the GUI seat map. However, refunds are not provided for paid seats when canceled after ticketing.

Exception: At this time, UA does not allow canceling of free or paid seats. The seat needs to be replaced with another seat. Seat changes are allowed on ticketed bookings only.

To cancel or modify seats:

  1. Retrieve the booking file.

  2. Select the Reservation section, then scroll down on the right panel to the Add extras section under the itinerary information and select the edit seat icon.

  3. Scroll down on the right side of the screen to the Seats section.

  4. In the right panel, select the edit () icon in the Seats card.

  5. The seat map displays with your prior seat selection. Select the segment and traveler for which you want to modify a seat.

  6. Modify the seats:

    • To cancel a seat, select the X in the Seats summary card or remove the booked seat by selecting it again from the seat map. Important: Refunds are not provided for paid seats after ticketing.

    • To change a seat, select a different seat for the selected passenger.

  7. Select Save.

Book seats from terminal view

Important: Only available for traditional bookings that are held or ticketed. NDC bookings and traditional bookings prior to end transact must use the graphical seat map flow.

For the best user experience, it is recommended for the agents to use the graphical flow to display and book seats or bags.

To select free seats after booking or ticketing for traditional bookings:

  1. Retrieve the booking.

  2. From in the interactive booking file (terminal window), do one of the following:

    • Click the flight class

    • Enter a cryptic command:

      • SA*S1 will open by default the Seat Map on the first segment

      • SA*S2 will open by default the Seat Map on the second segment

  3. After selecting seats, click Save.

    • If the booking is on hold, you can issue ticket if you enter the form of payment. This will pay for the flights and confirm the free seats on the airline's side.

    • If the booking is ticketed, once the seat selections are saved successfully, the seats are confirmed by the airline.

The graphical booking file displays. In terminal view, you can display seat information by selecting *SD in the booking file.