Creating Universal Records

The Universal Record (UR) identifies a traveler's entire booking file, including traveler information as well as any booked travel segments, such as air or rail reservations. This booking record is specific to the Universal API, and serves as an all-encompassing meta-record of all data and transactions associated with a trip. A UR can include one or more PNRs (booking records) from one or more providers. In turn, PNRs can include booking data from more than one supplier for one or more travel segments. Traveler and travel provider (agency) data can be pre-populated in a PNR by using profiles.

Universal Records are not created by a discrete transaction, rather URs are created automatically as part of the booking process for air, vehicle, and hotel segments. Universal Records can also be created when a provider PNR that was created outside of Universal API is imported into Universal API.

The following list includes descriptions of all of the child elements that comprise a Universal Record.

Element

Description

LinkUniversalRecord

Contains information about any links this Universal Record has to other Universal Records within its AgencyBranch.

BookingTraveler

Contains identifying information about the traveler associated with this booking, including name and contact information, seat assignments, loyalty card (frequent traveler) accounts, and SSRs and remarks specific to this traveler.

Profiles can be used to populate the Universal Reservation data for one or more booking travelers.

ServiceFeeInfo

Supports Travel Agency Service Fees (TASF), which are charged and collected by an agency or other travel provider through BSP or ARC. The travel provider collects these fees as payment for the professional services they provide to their customers. ARC or BSP are the merchants for the credit card.

ProviderReservationInfo

Provides descriptive data for provider sources, provider locator codes, segment types, and other descriptive information for a PNR segment within the UR. A key uniquely identifies each provider reservation in the UR, and there is a corresponding instance of ProviderReservationInfo for each segment in a UR.

AirReservation

A container for all air segments from one or more PNRs that are contained in the UR.

HotelReservation

A container for all hotel segments from one or more PNRs that are contained in the UR.

VehicleReservation

A container for all rental vehicle segments from one or more PNRs that are contained in the UR.

PassiveReservation

A container for all passive segmentsfrom one or more PNRs that are contained in the UR.

RailReservation

A container for all rail segments from one or more PNRs that are contained in the UR.

SegmentContinuityInfo

Indicates one or more breaks in the continuity of the itinerary through either date/time or connection city. Breaks in the itinerary are represented as ARNK (Arrival Unknown) segments.

XMLRemark

Used to add finishing remarks or other booking-related comments. Finishing remarks can include Itinerary and Ticketing Remarks that are used for printing tickets, Phone Remarks, and free-form text remarks about the Universal Record or PNRs contained within the Universal Record.

  • An optional Category attribute is recommended to define remark types.

  • Optionally, include a Corporate Customer ID at time of booking, before the initial end transact, to track actual versus forecast segments for corporate customers via reporting and analysis. Corporate IDs can be included at initial Booking creation, and are visible in the book response and when retrieving the booking. For example,
    <common_v48_0:XMLRemark Key="R7qWosBAAA/BZyVAAAAAAA==" Category="Corp ID"> TEST01USCWT </common_v48_0:XMLRemark>

 

GeneralRemark

Used to add General Remarks to the UR. General Remarks are free-form text that can that can be used to record any noteworthy event that occurred during the lifecycle of the UR.

General Remarks can also be added at two other levels for:

  • Remarks for all segments of a specific type can also be added at the AirReservation, HotelReservation, and VehicleReservation levels.

  • Individual PNRs in an Air Booking, Hotel Booking, or Vehicle Booking.

AccountingRemark

Used to add Accounting Remarks to the UR. Accounting Remarks contain formatted information that is designed to be printed on an itinerary or invoice, such as client account codes, credit card approval information, or fare savings data.

Accounting Remarks can also be added at two other levels for:

  • Remarks for all segments of a specific type can also be added at the AirReservation, HotelReservation, and VehicleReservation levels.

  • Individual PNRs in an Air Booking, Hotel Booking, or Vehicle Booking.

UnassociatedRemark

Unassociated remarks support information applicable to an entire Universal Record.

Note: Associated remarks are applicable to individual PNR segments.

Postscript

An optional field that adds a header to the PNR. Postscript is an Apollo (1V) function only.

AgencyInfo

Identifies the travel provider associated with this UniversalRecord. Includes the travel provider's IATA code, TimeZone and Agency and Branch information. An AgentAction child also provides a history of actions performed by an agent. 

AppliedProfile

Indicates the profile that is applied toward a booking traveler or account in the UR.

AgencyContactInfo

The phone number of the travel provider associated with this Universal Record.

CustomerID

An optional field that stores customer information in the PNR. May be used with Selective Access to identify PNRs that will or will not be available for access.

Customer ID is an Apollo (1V) and Galileo (1G) function only.