GDS Airline Reservations, Fares and Ticketing: PNR, Pricing, Reissues and Refunds – Dubai, 19–23 Apr 2027

Programme overview

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 one week 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.