By default, Rail Low Fare Shopping responses include solutions from all available suppliers (distributors). However, Rail Search requests can be modified to include or exclude specified suppliers in a response.
Universal API uses the terms preferred, permitted, and disfavored to indicate filtering for suppliers. However, some providers and suppliers process only included or excluded suppliers:
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A preferred request weights responses to include the specified supplier, but may return other suppliers if the requested supplier does not have responses that meet the search parameters.
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A disfavored request weights responses to exclude the specified supplier, but may return the disfavored supplier carrier if other suppliers do not have responses that meet the search parameters.
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A permitted (included) request returns only the specified suppliers. If the supplier does not have any availabilities within the requested search parameters, the response is not relaxed, and an error is returned.
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An excluded request excludes only the specified suppliers. If the excluded supplier is the only supplier with availabilities within the search parameters, the response is not relaxed, and an error is returned.
Request
Preferred suppliers can be requested either at an itinerary (journey) level or by a leg within a journey.
Important! When both Air Search Modifiers and Air Leg Modifiers are present for the same segment in a request, Air Leg Modifiers take precedence.
Requesting Preferred Suppliers by Itinerary
Supplier preferences for an entire journey are specified in LowFareSearchReq/AirSearchModifiers.
The following types of functionality are available:
- PreferredSuppliers weights the response to include the suppliers specified in the request. If there are no availabilities for the specified suppliers, other suppliers may be returned.
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PermittedSuppliers returns only the specified suppliers. If the supplier does not have any availabilities within the requested search parameters, the response is not relaxed, and an error is returned.
The following functionality is not supported for Rail Low Fare Shopping requests:
- DisfavoredCarriers
- ProhibitedCarriers
- Alliances (PreferredAlliances and DisfavoredAlliances) are not supported for Rail suppliers.
Requesting Supplier Preferences by Leg
Supplier preferences for a specific segment are implemented in LowFareSearchReq/SearchAirLeg/AirLegModifiers.
The following types of functionality are available:
- PreferredCarriers weights the response to include the suppliers specified in the request. If there are no availabilities for the specified suppliers, other suppliers may be returned.
- PermittedCarriers returns only the specified suppliers. If there are no availabilities for the specified suppliers, an error is returned.
The following functionality is not supported for Rail Low Fare Shopping requests:
- DisfavoredCarriers
- ProhibitedCarriers
- Alliances (PreferredAlliances and DisfavoredAlliances) are not supported for Rail suppliers.
Both preferred and disfavored elements for suppliers cannot be present in the same request.
Response
A standard Low Fare Shopping response is returned. The response is filtered at the data source to include the specified suppliers.
Error and Warning Messages
The client must be provisioned for RCS and the rail distributor, and the two-letter Code must be valid, or an error is sent in the response.
The request fails if:
- The carrier code is not a valid IATA carrier code.
- More than one supplier is requested, and one supplier is invalid.
