When you purchase airtickets, sometimes travel agents use specific vocabulary.
In this section there are some of these expressions, that are most used in this area:
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ADVANCE PURCHASE: A preset number of days that are required to purchase a special discounted fare ticket. ie: 14 day advance purchase means you must buy your ticket 14 days before your first flight date.
APEX Advance Purchase EXcursion: This is the standard discount ticket available from airlines and most regular travel agents. Depending on the airline, these tickets require a seven to thirty day advance purchase, a minimum stay of usually seven days, and a maximum stay of thirty or sixty days, sometimes longer. Round trip is required, and fees are usually charged for date changes or cancellation.
ARRIVAL TIME: The time an aircraft touches down.
BLACKOUT: Days during which a special fare does not apply. Usually days with heavy traffic, such as the day right before a holiday.
BUCKET SHOPS: Experience tells the airlines that a certain number of seats are going to be empty on certain flights, so they discount that space--sometimes heavily--to travel agencies variously known as bucket shops, consolidators, and discounters. These agencies mostly serve individuals who are only going to fly cheaply or not at all. This maximizes airline revenue by forcing customers of regular travel agencies to pay non-discounted prices. Some regular travel agents may be able to get discounted tickets from wholesalers.
BUMPING: The denied boarding of a confirmed passenger. This usually occurs when a flight is OVERBOOKED.
CARRY-ON ALLOTMENT: Officially this is limited to one bag with a total of three sides length of 45 inches (115 cm.) This is length + width + height, for example: 22x14x9 inches (55x35x25 cm.), or 2900 cubic inches (50 liters). You may get by with a little more.
CHILDS FARE: A fare for passngers who are 2 thru 11 years old.
CITY PAIR: Term used to indicate your origin and destination cities.
CLASS OF SERVICE: Code(s) used by airlines to indicate a specific cabin on the aircraft (F) First, (Y) Coach etc. This code(s) also indicates the type of fare the passenger has purchased.
CODES: Every scheduled airline has a two character code, and most also have a three-character code. For example, United airlines is UA, USAir is US, and Southwest is WN. Most charter airlines have two- character codes, and some have three-character codes. Some airlines share their two-character codes, and some airlines have more than one code. Airports have three-character designations, with BOS for Boston, PIT for Pittsburgh, and EWR for Newark, among others.
CODE-SHARING: Some airlines have "code-sharing" agreements with other airlines, in which each airline may list flights on the other airline under their own "code". Thus, when consumers purchase tickets from an airline, the actual flight (or some segments of the flight) may be on an entirely different carrier. For example, United airlines and Lufthansa, Malev and British Airways, Northwest and KLM, etc. Travel on code-share flights is eligible for frequent flyer miles on either airline.
CONFIRMATIONS: For international flights, but especially those originating outside the United States, call the airline to confirm your reservation at least 72 hours before the flight regardless of what your ticket says. Otherwise your seat may be given to someone's cousin on the waiting list.
CONNECTING FLIGHTS: Flights that require passengers to change airplanes at a certain city during their journey in order to reach their final destination. For example; To fly from A to C you must change aircraft at B. A > Bx > C.
CONNECTION TIME: The time required to complete a change of aircraft for you and your baggage. The time is predetermined and varies according to the airline(s) involved. Every airport in the world has a minimum published connecting time. Every airline that serves that airport is listed. Either as a standard connection or or the time is listed specific to that airline. All published connecting flights have the minimum connecting time factor built in. If you insist when you buy a ticket with a connecting flight in selecting a connection with less than the minimum connecting time, the airlines will not be responsible if you or your baggage misconnect.
DEPARTURE TIME: The time an aircraft becomes airborne.
DIRECT FLIGHT: A flight that may contain a stop or multiple stops before reaching its final destination. A direct flight does not require a change of airplanes. Most people confuse direct flights with NON STOP flights.
DUPE BOOKING: Two or more reservations for the same passenger on the same flight or day. Both reservations may be cancelled when duplicate bookings exist.
EXCURSION FARE: A discounted fare that usually requires an advance purchase and other restrictions.
IATA International Air Transport Association: Organization of most (270) of the world's major airlines.
ITINERARY: A group of one or more flight reservations comprising a travel plan for one or more passengers.
MCO Miscellaneous Charges Order: Can be bought in any denomination and traded for tickets or cash with IATA airlines. MCO's look like airline tickets, so they may meet the onward ticket requirement for some countries.
MAXIMUM STAY: The maximum number of days that a passenger can stay at a destination in order to qualify for a special fare.
MINIMUM STAY: The minimum number of days that a passenger must stay at a destination in order to qualify for a special fare.
NON STOP FLIGHT: A flight with no stops between city of origin and destination city.
NORMAL FARE: Unrestricted one way fares. No minimum stay, valid for one year, no advance purchase etc.
NO SHOW: A passenger who does not arrive for a confirmed reservation. The airlines estimate that anywhere from 10 to 30 or more percent of passengers with reservations do not show up for a flight. For example, an aircraft that holds 100 passengers can expect 10 to 30 or more of those passengers not to show up. The aircraft fuel load, cargo, US mail and meals have been already planned for these flights. To compensate the airlines OVERBOOK flights by the historical NO SHOW percentage factor the flights have. The numbers of DENIED BOARDINGS are really very low.
OFF LINE CONNECTION or INTERLINE CONNECTION: A connecting flight between one airline and another.
ON REQUEST: Indicates that an airline cannot confirm a reservation immediately. If the aircraft holds 100 people and 100 people have already made reservations, the flight is full. Your ON REQUEST reservation will be cleared from the WAITLIST if one of those 100 people call to cancel their reservation. Or you can choose to STANDBY for the flight at the airport.
ONE-YEAR TICKET: This type of tickets is generally a full-fare that allows changes and cancellations without penalty for up to one-year. It should also be fully-refundable. While you usually cannot get a discounted one-year ticket directly from the airline or most mom-and-pop travel agents, they are sometimes available from bucket shops.
ONE-WAY TICKET: Usually costs more than half of a round-trip, but sometimes the same or even twice as much. The great risk with one-ways is the return may be astronomically priced or unavailable when you desperately need it. Nevertheless this is preferred ticket (when cheap enough) since most passengers like the feeling of being uncommitted to place and date, and because travel is mostly limited by money, not time.
ONWARD TICKET REQUIREMENTS: Many countries require visitors to have in their possession upon arrival a valid airline ticket out of the country. Bus or train tickets are usually not acceptable. Most airlines will check that you have an onward ticket before allowing you to board, as they are responsible should you not be admitted. See Visa page for more information.
OPEN JAW: A ticket which allows you to fly into one city and return from another. For example, you might fly into London, travel Europe by train, and then return to the U.S. from Athens. Open-jaw tickets usually cost more than a regular return ticket from one city, but convenience makes up for that. Not every travel agent or airline sells open-jaw tickets for a reasonable price, but some budget agencies specialize in them.
OPEN TICKET: A ticket valid for travel between specified points without a specific flight reservation or travel date. The flexibility of having an OPEN TICKET will cost more that a Special Fare ticket.
OVERBOOKING: The airline practice of selling more tickets than there are seats on the aircraft. airlines like to fly full flights, the fuller the better. Since on any given flight there are likely to be one or two no-shows, the airlines tend to oversell the flight to compensate. If more people show up than there are seats, the airline will first ask for passengers to voluntarily give up their seats in exchange for an incentive of the airline's choosing (e.g., typically a free round trip ticket), and then if there aren't enough volunteers, the airline will involuntarily bump some of the passengers.
PASSENGER NAME RECORD (PNR): An itinerary summary which includes all flights, hotels, car rentals, tours for a passengers specific trip. It also can include remarks, seat preference, special meals telephone contacts etc. Each PNR has what is termed as a Record Locator. This is a 6 Alpha/Numeric code that is specific to each PNR in an airlines database of PNR's. PNR's are retrieved from the airlines database by Name, Flight and Date, or by the Record Locator. If your name is spelled incorrectly or there was a misunderstanding about your flight and date by either party, your PNR would be very difficult to retrieve. Always get your Record Locator when you make a reservation. This way your itinerary can be retrieved if your name or other information is incorrect.
SUNDAY RULE: This rule implies passengers having to include at least one night from Saturday to Sunday in your stay at your destination, meaning you can not fly back to your place of departure before Sunday morning. This condition applies to many exceptionally good bargain offers.
SCHEDULE CHANGE: Any change or modification to the flights operation. The change may be in departure/arrival times, flight number, or type of aircraft. This especially happens in Spring and Fall when the Daylight/Standard time are changed.
SEGMENT: A portion of the itinerary. This can be an airline flight, a hotel, a car rental, a tour.
STANDBY: A passenger without a confirmed reservation waiting to get on a flight at the airport. Whether the passenger actually boards is dependent on the NO SHOW factor and how may passengers are on the WAITLIST before them.
STOPOVERS: Some airlines allow you to disembark when the plane stops along the way to somewhere, and then continue your journey up to one year later. On some routes on some airlines there is no charge for this valuable privilege, while others charge $50 to $100, or much more. If you can find an airline with free or cheap stopovers you can create a great ticket for not much money.
TICKETING TIME LIMIT: A specific time and date by which the passenger must commit themselves to the reservation they made by purchasing a ticket. Required on all flight reservations to help deter NO SHOWS.
WAITLIST: The list of passengers who want confirmed reservations on a full flight. Passengers on the WAITLIST are confirmed when cancellations occur.
