When your client calls, they basically want to know the bottom line, “When can I leave
and how much will it cost?” To get this information for your client you must first request
availability to determine available flights, or “when they can leave.” Once you determine
the flights, you will request a fares display and price the PNR. You can then let your
client know “how much it will cost.”
In this section we will discuss requesting flight availability, requesting a fares display, and
pricing a PNR.
Which Flight Would You Like?
Requesting availability is an essential part of building a
PNR. Selling from an availability display establishes the “I”
for “Itinerary” in the 4 mandatory parts of a PNR.
Availability is defined as a request for up-to-date inventory
of flights, hotels, cars, tours, and cruises based on available
space. Worldspan displays availability for participating
vendors. Participating vendors are travel related companies
that signed an agreement with Worldspan to have their
information impartially displayed in the Worldspan
Reservation System.
Flight availability can be requested between city pairs for a specific date, time, and/or
airline. Flights are displayed in random order, without regard to airline, unless a specific
airline is requested. To get you familiar with availability, we’ll display and discuss several
examples.
Let’s say your client, Mr. Smith, wants to go to San Francisco (SFO), from Atlanta (ATL),
with his family on the 23rd of July. He wants to go early in the morning so they will have
the whole day to enjoy the sights once they arrive.