Air Contracts

Owned by Vincent Josset
Last updated: Nov 16, 2023 by Anthony Pepe
7 min read

Overview

 

Softrip supports the ability to offer contracted air in a package or group.  This option is either available while managing the product or a group in the back office for simple itineraries, or in Product Air, for more complex itineraries. 

There are two ways that air can be offered to passengers in a package.  The first way is by designating the departure city.  This will allow users to advertise the departure city alongside the package as well as the selling price.  This is the path users will choose when creating an air record that will be created through the GDS.  

The second way is if users are holding a block of space with the airline.  The details of this air record, including the PNR, and inventory, can be added to Air Contracts screen.  

When adding simple itineraries to a package or group, users must first be in the package or group first before accessing the air contract screens to enter these details.  

 

 

 

Process Flow 

 

Main Air Segment

The Main Air Segment is the outline of Departure and Arrival Cities. Users should select “Add New Segment” to being building this outline. They will need to select the Brand they are offering for this Air:

 

In the first section of the Main Air Segment users will need to outline the Departure City and the Arrival City on the first leg of the air travel. If there are connecting legs of this trip between the Departure City and Arrival City the system only needs the initial Departing City and final destination City.

Example: A package is offering Air from LAX → NYC (Connecting) → ROM . The Departing City would be LAX and the Arrival City would be ROM

The user would enter the reverse in the second section for the second leg

If a Package is traveling between cities and the passengers are flying home from a different city than they arrived in then the second leg Departing City would be that city. For example if a Package was arriving in Rom and flying home from Florence it would look like the below image:

 

Offset: The Offset field is used when the passengers are arriving in their destination X many days after departure. If Passengers are arriving 1 day after departing enter a 1 in that field.

  

Additional City Codes can be added under the "outbound cities" section. The following options can be chosen:

 

  • All City Codes: If "all city codes" is selected, then all city codes that are added to the city code group are acceptable for the package.

  • All US:  If "all US" city codes is selected, all cities in the US are accepted.  

  • All AU: If "all AU" city codes is selected, then all city codes in Australia are accepted. 

  • Specific City Codes:  Using the drop down option, users can select each city code that they want to include (see below) 

    •  

Additional Air Segments

 

Under the additional air segment, enter "inner air" details by selecting "add new segment." 

 

Note: Use the "on day" field to denote which day in the itinerary the flight will be taking place.  

 

 

 

Air Contracts

 

Once the "air contracts" navigation is selected for the first time from the navigation, a pop-up will appear to first label the contract being entered. 

 

Enter in the name of the Contract for this Product. The system will auto-populate with the list of Departure Dates that have been set up against the Product:

 

 

When “Save” is selected the system will create this Contract after a Departure Date has been selected.

 If there are multiple departure dates, select the departure date the contract is available for under the "available departure dates" and toggle the date to the "assigned departure dates" 

 

Contract Details

  • Ticket

    • Number of Days this contract needs to be ticketed and works in conjunction with the “Days” field

  • Days

    • When does this contract need to be ticketed?

      • After Booking Date

      • Before Booking Date

  • Itin Code

    • Entering in a Itin Code will build an Inventory Block for this Air Contract

  • Allotted

    • Number of seats the Block Code will be allotted

  • Baggage Allowance

    • What is the bag allowance on this Contract?

 

Enter the Fare Details

 When entering the fare details, the adult costs and prices will automatically carry over to the child cost and price.  Any fields that are filled in automatically can be overwritten.  

Enter the Itinerary

Expand the itinerary section and enter the itinerary details.  The itinerary details should be entered leg by leg if the air contract is round trip.  

 

 

 

Defining the Fields

 

Main Air Segment Screen 

 

Under the Air Info menu, first access the "Main Air Segment" option.  This is where users will enter the main routing for the package.  

 

Note:  To only offer one-way air, select the "one way" check box.  

 

 

 

There are different air options that can be selected for the main air segment as well. 

 

  • Contracts only

    • If selected, the application will shop for contracts that are loaded into the application.  There will be no shop performed against the GDS/CRS. 

  • Block only

    • Shop for block itinerary only.  

  • Exclude instant purchase

    • Check off to always discard fares with instant purchase requirement.

  • Include contracts

    • System will include local contracts loaded into ProductAir when searching for air.

  • Allow Future Air 

    • If selected, it enables the ability to shop for air more than 11 months out from the departure date.  

  • Filter Time Locally

    • Both Arrival & Departure time restrictions are present for this product.  Normally, ATime will be filter locally while DTime is sent to the GDS.  Set FilterTimeLocally=Y to filter both locally by the AirServer.

  • Include Block Contracts

    • System will include local block contracts loaded into Product Air when searching for air.

  • Future Air Block Only

    • Only shop for block itineraries when shopping for air more than 11 months in advance.  This tag does not affect air within the 11 months period.

  • Push Block

    • Check the checkbox to always display block itineraries first. Un-check the checkbox to sort and display itineraries by price(default.)

  • Air A spending

    • If checked, the system will return fake pending air, which serves only as a reminder for internal staff to book air through their GDS.   

  • Arrival time (A time)

    • Request the arrival time be passed to the GDS.  

  • Contract

    • If checked, when the package is shopped the air contract that is loaded against the package and the fares will be the only air that is shopped with the package.  No published air will be shopped.  

  • Market

    • For regular products, this should be ""RES"".  For custom products with their own air block, this should be the product code so that only these products can shop for their block.

  • Departure time (D time) 

    • Request Departure Time to be passed to the GDS. 

  • Default Airfare Type

    • Indicates which airfare type to set as default. AUTO calculates the appropriate airfare type based on the ticketing date (more than 4 days from booking date -> Private; less than 4 days from booking date -> Any). Leaving this field blank or unchecked has the same effect as AUTO.

  • Intra Air Cost

    • Cost for the Inner Air. Click Button for options to enter IntraAir Cost for multiple date ranges

  • PTC 

    • The list of Passenger Type Code to use when shopping air for this package.  Maximum of 3 codes.

 

Additional Air Segment 

 

The additional air segment menu option is used when inter-destination flights are to be included in the package.  Once the menu is accessed from the left navigation pane, select the plus sign to expose the menu options. 

 

The "on day" option designates the day the inner flight will take place.  The "from city" and "to city" designate the airport codes that the flights will be traveling to and from.  Continue to select the plus sign to add multiple segments. 

 

 

 

Air Contract 

 

If selling block air, access the "air contract" from the menu.  Once this menu is accessed, the information that is required to set up an air contract will be exposed.  

 

Required Fields

 

  • Contract Code

  • CRS

  • Carrier

  • Destination

  • Market

  • Type

  • Block Return from City

  • Begin Date

  • End Date

  • Complete By

  • Last Book Date

  • Last Book Date

  • Sale Currency

  • Cost Currency

  • Cabin

  • Created By

  • Baggage Allowance

  • Web Sale

  • One Way

  • Inner Block

 

Advanced Fields 

 

  • Children and Infant:

    • Cost (USD)

    • Price (USD)

    • Surcharge (USD)

    • Total Price (USD)

  • Ticket Deadline

  • Ticket Description

  • Special

  • Mileage

  • Open Jaw OK

  • Week Day Restriction

  • Directional

  • Opaque

  • Out Blackout

  • Return Blackout

  • Received Date

  • CS1

  • Open Jaw

  • Available Mask

  • OSI

  • Destination Add On

  • Change Prior Description

  • Combine

  • Code Share

  • Pseudo Code

  • IT Number

  • Multi-Carrier

  • Stopovers Description

  • Stopover Cities Rules

  • Routing City

  • Country

  • Cancellation Descprition

  • Tax

  • Max Commission

  • OWnet

  • Change Fee Description

  • Child

  • Min Commission

  • One Way

  • Fare CMD

  • To Net

  • Net to Infant

  • Net to Child

  • Net to Infant