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Book the Cheapest Air ticket for Yourself

Booking a flight is a simple task that you can do within minutes. From looking for flights on your date of journey to receiving the booking confirmation in your inbox – it hardly takes 15 minutes. But did you know that the airline goes through a series of systems and actions to issue one single ticket and to ensure that the correct person gets on the plane? Find out all about the affordable ticket booking pipeline as well as the core processes supporting it.

Airline booking: the steps that follow

Take a look at the things that happen from the time you make a flight reservation on an online platform to the time you collect your checked baggage at the destination airport. These five steps simplify the contact between a passenger and an airline:

• Flight search
• Ticket booking
• Ancillary booking
• Processing the payment
• Ticketing
• Web/physical check-in and flight boarding
• Baggage management and baggage reclamation

Flight Search

Gone are the days when people relied on travel agents to book their flight tickets. A traveler can now book his flight directly on the website of his preferred airline or through popular travel and trip planning websites. Such sites are called OTAs (online travel agencies). The search procedure may vary depending on the type of retailer. Top three ways to look for flights online:

• Airline’s official website- You may skip going through the GDS and send your search request to the airline’s CRS. The airline will present you with all the available flights (along with their prices and durations) on the date specified by you.
• Metasearch engines- Metasearch engines collect information from various OTAs, low-cost carriers, and full-service carriers. As they distribute the inventory using GDSs, searchers get the broadest choice of available flights.
• OTAs- Air consolidators and GDSs negotiate net/ bulk prices with multiple carriers. After that, they resell them to diverse travel distributors. They offer flight information to travelers.

Making a reservation

Most travelers take the help of metasearch engines and OTAs to search for the cheapest flight on their route. But when it comes to booking tickets, the majority of people choose airline websites. Here are two reasons why booking from the airline’s site makes sense:

• First, buying flight tickets directly from a reliable airline will make it easy to cancel the ticket, make changes, check the status, etc.
• Second, you will have access to a range of ancillaries that you generally get on an OTA.

The airline CRS examines if the specific flight is available for reservation, irrespective of the source of reservation. The airline then sends the status code HK (meaning “holding confirmed”) to the travel vendor. UN is the alternate response, and it means the carrier cannot accept the booking.

Ancillary booking

For low-cost carriers, ancillary revenue is a major source of income. Selection of seats, excess baggage, in-flight meals, and extra legroom are some of the additional services provided by most airlines.

Typically, travelers select ancillaries while booking their flight online. You can add extras later (only if you have purchased the ticket from the airline’s site/ app). The PNR number is important to access your reservation on the carrier’s site as well as make modifications.

Processing the payment 

Unless a traveler makes the payment, the booking is not complete. You must pay the total price of the ticket, ancillaries (if any), and additional charges (as per the reservation policy of the specific airline).

Payment gateways are responsible for handling transactions and maintaining data security. They are used for conducting financial transactions between travelers and low-cost carriers. It is more complicated when OTAs and GDSs are involved. In such scenarios, money passes through the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) of IATA or its US analog and the ARC (Airline Reporting Corporation).

As soon as the payment is confirmed, the traveler is sent an email with the PNR number as the flight itinerary. The PNR number is all you’ll need to cancel your trip, check flight status, or add ancillaries (only available for direct bookings). The ticket is mandatory to board the plane on the day of your journey.

Ticketing

Whatever the situation, the traveler immediately receives an e-ticket which includes the PNR number and the passenger’s name. If the booking cannot be done for some reason, your travel provider will suggest an alternate flight or give a full refund.

Reservation and ticketing are not the same. A booking only means the reservation of a seat on the plane. Ticketing means a passenger has paid for the seat and has the right to use it during the trip. You may have paid immediately while booking your ticket via an LCC or OTA. But verifying your payment details and transferring the money to the airline can take up to 3 days.

Online and Airport check-in and flight boarding

The DCS (departure control system) of the airline handles all boarding and check-in operations, and it commences with ticket validation. The PSS module establishes communication with airport devices (such as baggage drop, self-check-in kiosks, and airport agent software) and the CRS. This system also takes care of cargo handling, custom clearance, aircraft weight optimization, and border security reservations.

During check-in, every passenger must provide the name and PNR and the system tries to match them to the details in the CRS. The technique is slightly different depending on if you are doing it offline or online.

• Web check-in: Passengers now have the option to avoid standing in a queue and check in at home. This is called online/ web check-in. Normally, the online check-in window opens 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the flight. However, it may vary depending on the airline. The traveler needs to provide details from his e-ticket on the app/ site of the airline. The seat map of the aircraft will be visible. If the passenger doesn’t specify a seat, the system will automatically make the selection and generate the e-boarding pass.
• Airport check-in: If you did not check in earlier, you can do it upon reaching the airport to board your flight. The passenger shows the e-ticket to an airport agent at the airline’s check-in counter. The agent enters the details and reserves a seat.

The boarding pass is generated by the departure control system after the check-in is successful. The boarding pass allows the passenger to board the plane. Airlines accept both downloaded and printed boarding passes. The document contains a QR code that gives access to the flight details of the traveler. This QR code is scanned when the passenger is about to board the plane. The PNR status goes through the following changes: checked-in, boarded, and lastly, flown.

Baggage management and reclamation

The airline ensures that the flight lands safely at the destination airport and all passengers deboard seamlessly. Once you get your checked baggage, the trip for you is over (unless you lose your luggage). To prevent such inconveniences, the DCS of the airline creates and attaches printed bag tags to every bag submitted by each passenger. Bag tags, also known as barcodes, are numeric codes of 10 digits and they are of significance. The airport’s baggage handling system scans the barcodes to trace and sort the luggage before it reaches its owner.