Introduction
GDS airline reservations, fares and ticketing are where a travel sale is won or lost: a wrongly built passenger name record, a misread fare rule or a careless reissue turns into a debit memo, a stranded traveller or a refund dispute. This Core Concept course builds hands-on skill at the reservations desk, from reading availability and selling segments to pricing, issuing e-tickets and handling exchanges and refunds. Working in a training GDS environment, participants produce a Booking-to-Ticket Desk Procedure Pack for their own agency, travel desk or airline sales office.
Course Objectives
- Decode city, airport and airline codes and read availability displays by booking class to select flights that match a traveller's request
- Create, modify and split passenger name records with all mandatory elements, special service requests and a correct ticketing time limit
- Interpret fare basis codes and fare rules to explain change, refund, advance purchase and stay conditions to customers
- Price itineraries and issue e-tickets and electronic miscellaneous documents accurately against the stored fare
- Process voids, reissues, exchanges and refunds while protecting the agency from fare and commission losses
- Handle hotel and car segments, travel document checks and corporate traveller service requests from booking to post-travel follow-up
Target Audience
- Travel agency consultants responsible for booking, pricing and ticketing leisure and business journeys
- Corporate travel desk staff responsible for arranging flights, hotels and cars for employees within a company travel policy
- Airline sales and reservations staff responsible for selling seats and servicing bookings through call centres and ticket offices
- Ticketing and back-office staff responsible for issuance, reissues, refunds and settlement reconciliation
- Customer service agents responsible for schedule changes, disruption rebooking and traveller enquiries
Course Outline
Day 1: Travel Distribution and Reservations Foundations
- Travel Distribution Chain: Airlines, Travel Agencies and Global Distribution Systems
- GDS, Direct Airline Channels and NDC Offers at Overview
- Three-Letter City and Airport Codes and Two-Character Airline Designators
- Flight Schedules, Journey Types and Minimum Connecting Time Checks
- Current Desk Workflow Mapping from Enquiry to Ticket
Day 2: GDS Booking Workflow and the Passenger Name Record
- Availability Displays by City Pair, Booking Class and Codeshare
- Selling Segments, Waitlisting and Segment Status Codes
- PNR Mandatory Elements: Name, Contact, Ticketing, Itinerary and Received From
- Special Service Requests and Other Service Information Entries
- Record Locator Retrieval, PNR Modification, Splitting and Cancellation
Day 3: Fares, Fare Rules and Ticket Issuance
- Booking Classes, Fare Types and Fare Basis Code Structure
- Fare Rule Categories: Advance Purchase, Minimum and Maximum Stay, Changes and Refunds
- Fare Construction Basics: Fare Components, Journey Pricing and Fare Calculation Line
- Itinerary Pricing, Stored Fare Records and Taxes Display
- E-Ticket Issuance, Coupon Status and Itinerary Receipt
Day 4: Ticket Changes, Ancillaries and Service Recovery
- Void, Reissue and Exchange Procedures with Fare Difference and Penalty Calculation
- Refund Processing and BSP Settlement Reconciliation Checks
- Ancillary Services and Electronic Miscellaneous Documents: Seats, Baggage and Upgrades
- Hotel and Car Segments in the GDS: Rate Codes, Guarantees and Cancellation Policies
- Schedule Change, Involuntary Rerouting and Debit Memo Prevention
Day 5: Reservations Lab and Desk Procedure Pack
- Corporate Multi-Sector Itinerary Lab: Booking, Pricing and Issuance
- Passport, Visa and Health Document Checks at Overview
- Duty of Care Service Script for Corporate Travellers During Disruption
- Leisure Family Booking Lab: Child and Infant Fares and Ancillary Bundles
- Booking-to-Ticket Desk Procedure Pack Assembly and Peer Review
Skills You Will Gain
- GDS Availability Reading
- PNR Construction
- Fare Rule Interpretation
- Fare Calculation
- E-Ticket and EMD Issuance
- Reissue and Refund Processing
- Ancillary Sales
- Traveller Service Recovery
Why Attend This Course
- Return with a Booking-to-Ticket Desk Procedure Pack of checklists and command sequences built from your own booking cases
- Cut agency debit memos and refund disputes by pricing and reissuing tickets correctly the first time
- Explain fare conditions to customers in plain language so they understand what they are buying before the ticket is issued
- Practise live booking scenarios alongside agents from airlines, travel agencies and corporate travel desks across several sectors
Conclusion
Accurate reservations work depends on reading the system correctly and following a disciplined routine at every step. The five days move from the distribution chain and location codes, through availability, selling and passenger name records, to fares, fare rules, pricing and e-ticket issuance, then voids, reissues, refunds, ancillaries and hotel and car segments. The final day applies this in GDS lab scenarios for corporate and leisure travellers and closes with a Booking-to-Ticket Desk Procedure Pack that participants can use at their own desk.
