Rail Availability requests can be modified to return fares for specific passenger types.
By default, Search requests assume that all passengers are Adults. However, additional passenger types can be entered. Passenger types can indicated a number of circumstances, including age, companion status, organizational affiliation, and need for special assistance. For some age-related passenger types, such as Child, Infant, or Senior, a corresponding Age attribute may also be required.
Universal API supports up to nine passengers in an Availability request with no restriction on the number of passenger types allowed in a single request. However, specific providers or suppliers may have a separate maximum limit for the number of passengers in a single request.
Request
SearchPassenger is used within the RailAvailabilitySearchReq to define the ages of each passenger. Each SearchPassenger element represents one passenger. Universal API permits up to nine passengers in a PNR, although the maximum number of passengers in a single booking may vary by supplier.
Show schema diagram
Rail suppliers do not directly use PTCs, and typically support Passenger Type modifiers based on age. Although fare categories can vary by supplier, typical categories include:
-
Infant
-
Child
-
Adult (default)
Suppliers may vary in their definitions of passenger types. For example, the minimum age limit of a senior-restricted fare may be set at 60 by one supplier, but set at 65 by another supplier.
Because of the variety of rules for each Passenger Type and supplier, the age-related modifiers cannot be normalized. Rather, the passenger's age is sent in the RailAvailabilitySearchReq request, and the supplier determines the Passenger Type based on the passenger's age.
Typically, Infant passengers under 24 months travel for free, but this rule can vary by supplier, as can the definition of the age for an infant. Universal API associates the first infant to the first adult, second infant to the second adult, etc. If there are more infants then adults, an error message is returned in the response.
Response
A standard Rail Availability response is returned for journeys and price options that are valid for the specified PTCs. The PTC for each passenger is indicated in each instance of RailAvailabilitySearchRsp/RailPricingSolution/RailPricingInfo/PassengerType.
If the PricePTCOnly attribute is set to 'True' in the request, only the specified PTCs are priced. However, if the PricePTCOnly attribute is set to 'False' in the request, flights and price options for the default Adult ('ADT') passenger type may also be returned.
- Air, Rail, and Universal.xsd makes RailFare @PassengerTypeCode optional in the schema and will not return it in availability, book, exchange quote, and exchange responses. Also, passenger types are not returned at the itinerary or fare level, but Universal API continues to return passenger type (PTC) at the fare component level.
- RailFare @PassengerTypeCode is optional.
Error and Warning Messages
If the number of passengers in the request exceeds nine, an error message is returned.
Although Age is an optional element, rail distributors require an age for each passenger. Therefore, if a request is sent without a passenger's age, a warning displays indicating that a passenger age was not sent and that the pricing options in the response are for passenger type Adult.
