Flight Booking Process: Structure, Steps, and Key Systems

Flight booking engine is specially designed for travel agencies to simplify the booking process and help their travelers book a one-way, round-trip, and multi-destinations on a single platform. It contains Airline schedules, fare tariffs, passenger reservations, and PNRs. In simple terms, the Airline booking system assist passenger’s book flights by checking flights-schedules, pricing/fares, and seat availability.

• Flight Booking System helps in systematic management of bookings, schedules, fares, and customer info. It is now evolved as Computer Reservations System (CRS).
• Flight Reservation System involves inventory management, seat-availability display, fare quotes, reservation and tickets.
• With the help of flight search engines, passengers search and select flights on desired schedule. They enter details like name, destination, dates and then make payment with bank cards or with the help of online payment companies.
• After that electronic record for that specific booking is saved on Airlines’ database. The database is integrated with the passenger service system to give real time information. The e-ticket is then texted or emailed to customer.

Flight Booking Engine automates your airline booking process thereby increasing revenue. It is designed for online travel agencies to offer ease of booking to the customers, where they can search and book flight tickets in real-time. Users have the flexibility to choose the preferred seat and updated with further stages of booking.
 

A passenger service system (PSS) is at the core of an airline’s IT infrastructure. This is the system responsible for handle customer interactions with airlines, from booking a ticket to boarding the flight.

It consists of various components offered by different software providers. PSSs also generally interact with other airline IT systems, and are critical for smooth airline operations. 
 

Central Reservation System (CRS):

A computer reservation system or a central reservation system (CRS) is web-based software facilitate by travel agencies and travel management companies to recover and conduct transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rental, or other activities. It was originally designed to be used by airlines but was later extended to be used by travel agencies and Global Distribution Systems (GDS) to book and sell tickets for multiple airlines.

• Maintains information about purchased seats in PNR (passenger name record) format.
• Connects with GDS, airline inventory system, and departure control system.

Airline Inventory System: 

Airline Inventory System which guides you to provide best customer services through fast delivery and low shipping charges, hence, meeting customer expectations.

• Stores the availability of unsold seats.
• Interacts with GDS, CRS, as well as revenue management software.
• Sometimes this is integrated among the CRS; sometimes it is a standalone product.

Departure Control System (DCS): 

Departure control system (DCS) is developed to automate processing an airline’s airport management operations such as:

Global Distribution System (GDS) is a computerized network system. It is a great computer network that is integrated with 100s of worldwide airlines and consolidators for permissive transactions between travel agents and travel sites and also used by airlines, hotels, car rentals, railways, and buses. GDS essentially uses the real-time inventory to service providers (Vendors). it is also called an automated reservation system (ARS) or Computerized Reservation System (CRS).
 
GDS systems allow cost air carriers to provide our clients the comprehensive flight booking system. Get every information about the flights like Flight Name, Flight Number, Segment Information, Departure Details (City, Date, Time), Arrival Details (City, Date, Time), Trip Duration, No. Of Stoppages.
 

New Distribution Capability (NDC) is an advanced technology created by IATA to streamline the airline distribution process. It's an XML-based communication standard basically developed in 2010 to create direct connections between airlines and third party distributors.

This was standardized in 2012 by IATA to replace the old EDIFACT messaging standard, which global distribution systems (GDSs) build on. EDIFACT can only display information such as fares and schedules and has not kept pace with technology or the products offered by airlines.

In contrast, NDC can communicate information such as ancillaries, seat selection and rich content (pictures and videos of products). It will eventually allow for dynamic pricing and personalized offers.
    
NDC was originally created as a way to bypass the GDS providers, but slowly these providers have become more involved in the process. The basic idea is that NDC is supposed to give indirect distribution channels, such as GDS and metasearch, the same capabilities as an airline’s website.
 

There are currently 62 airlines who are either NDC Certified or XML-capable. Airlines with NDC connections mostly use it in limited cases, and not to its full potential. United has combined with Amadeus to have an NDC connection to their GDS for selling their economy plus product.

Many airlines are piloting these simple types of connections through NDC (instead of developing their own direct connection) as it will be easier to increase the scope with other distribution providers. Other carriers such as GOL are using NDC connections for offer and order management, providing ability to purchase seats, bags, upgrades, meals, car rentals, and travel insurance, as well as ability to bundle the products.

Since the standard only really rolled out to the market in early 2016, it's not clear exactly what impact NDC will have on the industry. 
 

Flight booking sector of travel sector have some procedural complexities that require time and money. It has to deal with various concerns related to fares, schedules, rules, taxes, cancellations, and regional limits. Hence, an effective flight reservation system is needed to reduce these limitations.

The main intent of a travel reservation site cannot be fulfilled without an effective flight booking system. Travel companies require the proper airline reservation system to search and book flights for customers so that they can travel to various destinations around the World.
 

1. Start Searching For Flight:

The most essential step to remember before booking your first online ticket is to determine your destination and date of travel. This is the basic information required before you start searching for flight options online. It is necessary to enter the destination airport and the date of travel on any website to view the flight options and fares.

2. Flight/Airline Reservation System

The airline reservation system is a web-based online booking solution that uses in secure data from all airlines through the use of a global distribution system. The system allows inventory and rates in real-time to customers as well as travel agents.

Lately airline reservation system is being not only to make flight reservations but also being used to assist with different airline management tasks and to meet from the initial booking all the way to complete the flight. Airline reservations system (ARS) is online application software used to retain, get information and perform transactions related to air travel.

Booking flights online require research. For this, it is necessary to use an aggregator website which shows multiple airline options available for that day. Depend on this it becomes possible to compare fares and decide what is most suitable.

3. Additional Services:

Before finally booking flights online it is important to check some basic information about the flight being chosen for travel. This consists of the time of travel, the duration of travel and the number of stops. Sometimes cheaper fares are offered by an airline as there are several stops before reaching the final destination. This means that there is extra time involved in travelling. This cost and time comparison must be formed before zeroing down on the flight to be booked.

4. Payment Processing:

Online flight booking contain card payments. So before booking the tickets online, it is necessary to have the card information nearby. This means that the card number, pin and other details having the name of the card owner must be known.

If one is booking multiple tickets, then it is also essential to know the spelling of the names and the age of the travellers. This is necessary because the information provided while booking must match the identity proof of those individuals when they seek their boarding passes on the day of travel.

5. Ticket Booking:

The final step is in fact to make the online booking. Now, this can be done over an aggregator website or the website of the airlines itself. For this, remind to check if any extra service charge is being added or not. Few times aggregator websites do charge an extra fee for booking tickets. In that case you may opt to make the online flight booking on the airline website.

6. To Check In For Your Flight: 

View your airline's website as soon as 24-hours prior to the departure of your first flight. Use the confirmation number in your online account to check in. You will also able to view your seats and, if permitted by the airlines, confirm your seating preferences.

7. Boarding Pass Options:

You can print out your boarding pass through the airline's website when you check in, or at the airport when you arrive. Pro tip: Notice if your airline offers mobile boarding passes; it's one less thing to carry, and one more tree saved.

8. Arriving At The Airport: 

Give yourself plenty of time. Even if you've already checked in online, we strongly suggest you get to the airport at least 2.5 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.  

If we see from the customer's end, an airline reservation system offers a customer with benefits like:

• Quick flight booking facility
• Enjoy luring discounts and offers
• Immediate money return on cancellation
• Saves a lot of time and energy

Flight booking online will imply to be an easy task if you follow the steps mentioned above. A travel agent will not be required to make bookings and all this can be done in just a few minutes. Many airlines which provide cheap airfares to a particular destination often opt for a longer route by making multiple stops.

In order to book flight tickets at the best fare available it is essential to visit an aggregator website to check offers of various airlines. An aggregator website is one which offers information related to multiple airlines. This will obviously prove to be useful in knowing the cheapest airfare for the given destination on a given day. If there is some time in hand, certain aggregator websites maybe checked as each website offers slightly varied prices. This process assures that the best deal is known.

Once this has been clear one may look for tickets in advance. Advance air ticket booking is beneficial as it encourage lower fares. It is also feasible that the fares are slightly lower during a certain time of the season or a certain time during the day. In such cases, if one knows in advance it may also be possible to change the plan or reach a day in advance to enjoy lower travel expenses.

One may prefer to book flight tickets through an aggregator website or the website of the airlines itself. It is always too sensible to compare both the fares before actually booking the tickets. This is because aggregator websites sometimes do excise an extra service fee. But, again at times they also offer better deals. Making an informed choice is always preferred.

Before to finally booking flight tickets on a website, do check on round-trip deals. Sometimes airlines do provides attractive deals on round trips. But these offers must be considered if there is a confirmation about the date of return and if the destination is the same. Such flight fare deals are attractive at the time the holiday season when airfares tend to shoot sky high.

While filling in information for air ticket booking, one should always have the payment details close to him/her. It is also necessary to be careful about the spelling of names and the age of the person for whom the booking is being made. If the mentioned earlier tips are kept in mind, air ticket booking will surely become an easy task.
 

Travelopro develops Flight Reservation Systems, Flight Booking Systems, Flight Booking Software, and Online Flight Booking Engine to the global travel agencies.

Airline Reservation Software Made Simple at Travelopro, we’re building the next generation PSS that streamlines critical operations, automates resource intensive back-office processes and boosts airline revenue through supercharged ancillary and e-commerce opportunities. We are building software solutions to help airlines automate their business processes, reduce costs and supercharge revenue.

Travelopro is leading an Airline Reservation System by integrating single or multiple GDS systems and third-party flight APIs both IATA and Non-IATA agents based on a requirement of clients. Travelopro is a specialized company in developing an Airline Booking Engine with GDS integration such as Amadeus, Galileo, and Sabre. 

Today, global travel companies are unfinished until they have an integration of the Flight Booking Engine. Our Flight Reservation System completely manages inventory which helps to increase your business revenue.

We provide travel technology products for a flight booking engine, and customized packages, etc. We have extended our work toward improving the efficiency of the B2B travel booking system, B2C and B2B2B corporate universally. Airline reservation software is one of the essential parts of any flight booking engine. Our Airline Company works to increase its turnover along with maintaining a name in the airline industry. 

Our Air Ticket Booking Management System development plays a significant role in achieving the goal of the company. The combination of GDS to flight booking software helps in collecting information from different suppliers who work as one of the best flight search tools. The greater number of travel companies are looking for an Online Airline Booking Management System these days due to its real-time data accessibility. 

The best online booking engine offers the securest way for flight reservations online through their user-friendly interface. The installation of the airline booking system by travel businesses perform as a secure flight booking software. The effective and practical application of the online airline booking management system benefits the end customer of the company in choosing the best package offered by several suppliers. 

Through our air ticket booking management system software, our expected customers get the option to select from several alternatives which finally convert them as a package for fulfilling the informational need of the customer. The customized package also having selected best tour and flight booking API integration for travel agents, etc.

Travelopro is one such supervisor travel destinations which gives you various choices in bearers similarly as their affirmations. The arrangements which they offer are sound and sensible and the site is accessible all day, every day with quick and reliable outcomes. You should simply go to the official site of Travelopro and scan for the best arrangements to the concerned goal.

Online flight booking process on your website can be accessed more quickly with our flight API. A reasonable way to build customized travel booking applications based on ever changing online technology means you required to act more effectively to the change. We created the best portals and served several clients through our Travelopro flight API. 

Travelopro flight booking engine is accessible with API for any web-Based(B2B/B2C) portals. Travelopro Flight API allows you to construct and update your own travel booking applications in an affordable way. Its flexibility offers you to implement and integrate with the existing systems according to the ever growing technology. Our Flight Booking as our GDS integration is an entire package kit with less carrier costs.

The API acts as an intermediary between the actual source of data and what the user ultimately views on the screen. Our Flight Ticket booking is directly linked to the GDS and leading LCC & full-service domestic carriers in which the data is fetched and result is displayed. 

Customers will search the segments, choose the desired option from the results and finally generate PNR after paying through Payment Gateway. Flight Booking System allows Search, Book and Confirm - through a single API Integration. It supports you in generating Booking and Cancellation Reports as well.

Our booking solution presents airline availability and rates for multiple GDS and content sources against user search.

Travelopro flight booking system is a complete Flight quotation booking system IT Solution which comes with advanced features which are listed below.

• Multicurrency & Multilanguage
• B2B and B2C Travel Portal.
• Calendar Availability.
• Search International and Domestic Flights.
• Multiple filters for flight search.
• User-Friendly Interface.
• One-way/Round trip/Multi-city Search Option.
• Sort by flight duration/price.
• Mobile Responsive.
• Multiple Payment Options.
• Flight Prices.
• Customized Solutions.
• Flight Quotation Booking

Our professionals develop customized flight booking system software with best flight quotation booking functionality for travel agents; enable them to provide customers with flight reservations, modifications, cancellations, and flight quotation options to plan travel easily.