Dear Esteemed Partner,
In the travel industry, certain practices can disrupt booking processes. Here, we delve into some common forms of abuse encountered within Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and booking procedures.
1. SPECULATIVE BOOKINGS AND INVENTORY BLOCKING
Speculative bookings involve creating reservations without definite passengers, often to block airline inventory or for training purposes. Examples include, but are not limited to, bookings with fictitious names to reserve seats without the intention to purchase. Additionally, bookings which are created for testing or training purposes. Agents must use training mode for testing and training purposes.
2. CHURNING
Churning is the repeated cancellation and rebooking of the same itinerary in the same or different class of service across one or more PNRs or GDS. This practice aims to retain seats for extended periods by circumventing time limits, disrupting inventory management.
3. INACTIVE AND DUPLICATE SEGMENTS MANAGEMENT
Inactive segments occur when reservations are canceled due to airline ticketing time limit expiry, flight cancellation or other airline policy. While some airlines follow the 24-hour rule, others issue ADMs once bookings enter inactive status. All inactive segments must be removed from the GDS PNR at least 24 hours before departure. Inactive segments include, but are not limited to, those with the status codes of HX, NO, UN, UC, SC, US or WK.
On the other hand, duplicate segments refer to two or more identical or similar flight segments created for the same passenger on the same or adjacent travel dates where it is logically impossible for the passenger to utilize both flight segments simultaneously. Examples include, but are not limited to, segments with the same flight number on the same day or adjacent days (two-day period). This includes active and inactive segments that have not been removed or passive segments. Additionally, segments with different flight numbers for the same city pair on the same day or adjacent days (two-day period). This includes active and inactive segments that have not been removed.
4. BOOKING ITINERARIES IN THE CORRECT ORDER
Itineraries should be sold in the correct order, that is the departure leg is to be sold before the return leg. For example, a passenger flying from Lagos to London then back to Lagos should have the itinerary sold in the order of Lagos – London – Lagos. Selling such itineraries in any different order constitutes GDS abuse.
To address booking abuse, proactive measures such as monitoring queues regularly and adhering to ethical booking practices are essential. We all need to ensure that losses incurred due to ADM’s are reduced to the barest minimum.
