CU-BSC.TTM-SEM-IV-Automation in aviation and tourism Sector-Second Draft

As you can see, the lowest three fare classes (G, O or Q) only award you 25% of the miles flown. If you book a round-trip flight from Miami to London-Heathrow, you’ll cover a total distance of 8,850 miles. However, that would only give you 2,213 miles. Booking into a fare class at the next level would double those earnings. This is also critical if you’re chasing American Airlines elite status. Using the chart above, the lowest economy flights would only get you 4,425 EQMs and just 443 EQDs. Those numbers would be doubled if you booked into H, K, L, M, N, S or V. Finally, it’s important to note that many carriers will either prevent you from upgrading tickets booked into certain fare classes or will add cash copays to do so. It’s thus critical to know what fare class you’ve booked so you can fully understand how that will affect your flight. Standard practices and common fare rules While fare class is generally designated by a single letter, this gets more complicated very quickly. When you combine a fare class with other rules, you’ll wind up with a series of alphanumeric characters, and this is known as a fare basis code. This tells airline reservation specialists and travel agents everything they need to know about your ticket. You’ll commonly find an E after your fare class to indicate that the ticket is an excursion fare, which has a minimum or maximum stay at the destination. Fare basis codes can also tell an agent whether a fare is refundable, good for one-way or round-trip tickets, departing to or from specific countries, combinable with other fares, good in high or low season, how far in advance it can be booked and whether there are any routing restrictions or change penalties. Example: Fare basis code WH7LNR tells me the following:  W: I have a W fare class ticket.  H: It’s a high-season ticket.  7: I have to book 7 days in advance.  L: It’s a long-haul flight.  NR: The ticket is non-refundable. Deciphering fare basis codes takes practice and knowledge specific to the airline, as each one has its own style for writing codes. I wouldn’t put too much time into being able to understand anything beyond your fare class and its set rules. Common fare classes in the points and miles hobby As noted above, you’ll often see bloggers or avid award travellers discussing tickets using generic codes:  Y: Economy  W: Premium economy  J: Business  F: First 201 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

For example: “There are great Y fares from the U.S. to Southeast Asia this winter.” Remember that these letters are often used for specific fare classes as well, generally the most expensive (full-fare) ones. However, the most important implication of fare classes for points and miles enthusiasts involves award tickets and upgrades. Most airlines will set aside specific fare buckets for these awards. Just because there’s an open seat in the designated cabin that you want to fly doesn’t mean that it’s available using miles. The same holds true for upgrades, whether you’re looking to redeem miles, use certificates or take advantage of elite status for complimentary bumps to the front of the plane. I see almost daily comments along the lines of, “But there are three open first-class seats! Why won’t (insert carrier here) upgrade me?” If those seats aren’t placed into the fare class designated for upgrades, the carrier isn’t making them available for upgrades. Note that this may not happen until 60 or even 30 minutes before departure. The easiest way to illustrate this is with Star Alliance. The 28 member airlines have standardized their award booking classes, so if you’re looking to use miles from one carrier’s program on a flight operated by another carrier, you’ll need the following inventory:  X: Economy award seat  I: Business award seat  O: First award seat Since all Star Alliance member airlines are searchable on ExpertFlyer, this can make it relatively simple to search for award inventory and set alerts if your desired class of service isn’t available. That said, there are some restrictions here. Swiss (for example) typically only allows elite members of its Miles & More program to redeem miles for first class on its own flights, while Singapore generally only releases long-haul first- and business-class awards to members of its own KrisFlyer program. Special Fare Classes Here are a few other examples of these special fare classes:  RU: Delta uses this for complimentary Medallion upgrades.  CB: Indicates an extra seat for cabin baggage.  P: Etihad uses this for The Residence on A380s.  IN: Infant fare, usually 10% of an adult fare.  CH: Child’s fare, varies from 0%-50% savings depending on the airline.  CL: Clergy fare (who knew?).  DP: Diplomat.  PG: Pilgrim.  YCA: I used to fly these contracted military fares often for work. They are treated mostly as full Y tickets, but unfortunately are no longer upgradeable on American Airlines. 202 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Commercial aviation has been around for a long time and there was a time when it was only available for the well-to-do. The airline industry operated in a tightly regulated environment and there was very little competition on fares. Obviously, there were discounted tickets available, but they came with a lot of strings attached, such as having to spend a specific number of nights at a destination. The international routes were invariably proudly operated by the flag carriers of the countries involved and, because there was limited competition in fare-setting the airlines could more or less charge whatever they thought appropriate These last-minute, high-value passengers are so important and high yielding that some airlines will go all out to accommodate them, offering compensation to the \"early-bird\" passengers to accept a flight swap. If all goes to the airline's plan, the last minute, high fare- paying passengers can then be booked onto what was previously a full flight. Airlines have dozens of fare subdivisions (nothing to do with First/Business/Economy) and they adjust the number of seats allocated to each fare class. When one subdivision has been fully sold, the sale price will transfer to the next one. What airlines are really aiming for is fully personalized pricing? Revenue management systems will increasingly take into account not only the airfare itself, but the total value a passenger can generate for the airline, including the \"extras\" revenue - allocated seats, meals, drinks, priority boarding, hold luggage etc. This kind of profiling might be beneficial to the loyalty programmed customer but what about when a frequent business traveller is then consistently shown higher fares when they're trying to book a family holiday? This could well prompt a backlash among the sort of high-value customers that every airline hopes to retain. 10.9 SUMMARY  Scheduled flights are those flights operated regularly according to a published timetables and fares.  The cost of the ticket purchased which is based on distance, Mileage, Stop Over and Rush Factor is called Air Fare  Bereavement fares: A discounted fare offered to family members travelling because of an imminent death or death in the family  Joint fare: An agreement between certain airlines to charge specific fares when a passenger uses more than one airline  Open ticket: A ticket with no date specified and the passenger books a flight when ready to travel. 203 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 The higher intermediate point check applies to each fare component of all pricing units from fare component origin to each intermediate stopover point, from each intermediate stopover point to each subsequent intermediate stopover point  Discount Fares are fares that tend to have a smaller price tag, and are offered for a limited time  A through fare is a fare to a destination reached by traveling through a gateway city. It could be combined with any of the fare types listed above, and is used to obtain a lower price when you are not simply flying from point A to point B, but are rather connecting through other points to get to your destination  Opaque airfare prices are shown without revealing the airline or the flight number (and in some cases the flight times). Airlines offer these opaque fares as a way to keep the prices private until after they are purchased.  You may find a letter code on your boarding pass or e-ticket which signifies what type of airfare you have like P, J, Y, B, X, R 10.10 KEY WORDS  Scheduled flights: It refers to those flights operated regularly according to a published timetables and fares. Irrespective to the number of passengers to be carried on any one flight, they serve on a routine basis.  Non-scheduled flights also known as charter flights do not operate on any set schedule or have predetermined fare structure charter flights could go anywhere and at any time when scheduled service do not covered, and very often they supplement the service on regular routes during peak seasons  Non-refundable tickets: This type of ticket is often purchased at a discount and is not eligible for a refund. Travelers who are unable to travel on the date or dates that are specified may request that the carrier transfer the ticket to another time  Joint fare: An agreement between certain airlines to charge specific fares when a passenger uses more than one airline.  Refund of Tickets: Refund shall be processed as per the mode of payment made. If the ticket has been paid for in cash, refund is by cheque; and if the ticket has been paid for by credit card, a credit slip shall be issued.  Bereavement Fare The fare usually offered in discount when a person is travelling along with dead body, attending funeral, or other sudden reasons 204 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Unpublished Flight Deals These airfares are not available online through flight booking websites and neither on the airline’s own website. You also cannot call the airline to book these flight deals. Travel agents find these airfares through a Global Distribution System (GDS). 10.11 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Learn about Student Deals and Unpublished Flight Deals from your nearest Travel Agent ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. Call Airlines and enquire about flight deals that they offer with details like time of the year or specific group like Students, Senior Citizens ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. Book tickets for your relatives or elders for Family Tour using Higher Intermediate Points ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 4. Prepare a Calendar on what day of the week or in which months Airlines offer discounts or Bundled offers ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 5. Prepare a month tour around the world and compete between your friends about which Airlines and type of booking offer lowest rates ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 10.12 UNIT END QUESTIONS A.Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What is Bereavement Fare and how one avail it? 2. Differentiate Scheduled flights and Non-scheduled flights? 3. What is Mileage Surcharge and how it is levied on Airline Tickets? 4. Define Joint fares and Weekend fares? 5. What are domestic Sector tickets? Long Questions 205 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

1. What is an Air Fare and how are different types of Air Fares determined? 2. Explain about Higher Intermediate Points? 3. What is an Unpublished Flight Deal and how to get them? 4. Differentiate types of flight in Air Tourism? 5. Explain the ways in which one can attain discount on a flight ticket? 6. List out the different types of Published Air Fares? B.Multiple Choice Questions 1. Most of the airline tickets booked belong to the category of a. One Way b. Return Trip c. Round Trip d. Circle Trip 2. What is the name of the flight that departs at night and arrive the next morning a. Sleepy flight b. Overnight flight c. Red eye flight d. Black night flight 3. What is the fill form of Timatic in Aviation? a. Travel Information Manual Automatic b. Tourism Information Manual Automatic c. Ticket Information Manual Automatic d. Time Table Automatic System 4. Full form of HIP in Aviation a. Hyper Intermediate Point b. Higher Intermediate Point c. Higher Interaction Point d. Higher Intermediate Position 5. Which of the Wide body Aircraft have Airstairs? 206 a. VC – 25 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

b. Ilyushin II – 86 c. Boeing 777 d. Lockheed L – 1011 Answers 1-a, 2-c, 3-a, 4-b, 5-d 10.13 REFERENCES Reference Books • https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sites/default/files/MoCA_Order_No_02_2020_dated _classification_and_fare_bands.pdf • http://www.amadeus.com/ir/documents/aco/ir/en/Cancel%20Refund%20and%20Void %20Exchange.pdf Websites • https://servicehub.amadeus.com/c/portal/view-solution/774026/en_US/fare- calculation-symbols-and-explanations • https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-canada-aeroplan/17155-rules-higher- intermediate-point-hip-mpm-travel.html • https://www.ttc.ca/Fares_and_passes/Prices/Paying_fares.jsp • https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/7913/how-can-i-find-the-maximum- permitted-mileage-mpm-between-two-cities • https://www.everplans.com/articles/how-do-you-qualify-for-bereavement-fares • https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/aviation/aadhaar-pan-govt-id-card-ticket- booking-domestic-flight-dl/story/259843.html • https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airline-fare-classes/ • https://www.delta.com/us/en/booking-information/fare-classes-and-tickets/fares- tickets-overview 207 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)