Booking and flight search

Terms on this topic

• Aircraft type: Aircraft type is the model operating a flight, and it determines seat layout, cabin fit and therefore what the journey is actually like.
• Airport code: An airport code is the three-letter identifier used to designate airports in bookings, bag tags and schedules.
• Ancillary revenue: Ancillary revenue is income from services stripped out of the ticket price and sold separately, such as bags, seats or changes.
• Base fare: The base fare is the pure transport price of a ticket, before taxes, airport charges and airline surcharges are added.
• Basic economy: Basic economy is a network airline's cheapest fare, with baggage, seat selection and changes stripped out of the price.
• Booking reference: A booking reference is the six-character code identifying a reservation record for the airline, the agency and the airport.
• Cabin class: Cabin class is the physical section of an aircraft, economy, premium economy, business or first, each with its own seating and service.
• Codeshare: A codeshare is a flight sold by one airline under its own flight number while a different airline actually operates it.
• Direct flight: A direct flight keeps one flight number and may still touch down on the way; a nonstop flight goes from origin to destination without landing.
• Drip pricing: Drip pricing is a sales practice in which mandatory costs only become visible step by step during the booking process.
• Electronic miscellaneous document: An electronic miscellaneous document is the separate receipt for paid extras such as bags, seats or change fees, issued apart from the flight ticket.
• Error fare: An error fare is a fare published by mistake far below normal levels, typically through a keying error or a currency mix-up.
• Exit row: An exit row is the seat row at an emergency exit, offering extra legroom and subject to legal requirements on who may sit there.
• Fare basis code: A fare basis code is the full tariff code on a ticket, encoding promotions, validity and restrictions on top of the fare class letter.
• Fare class: A fare class is the single letter on a ticket that identifies the fare and decides mileage earning, change rights and upgrade eligibility.
• Fare rules: Fare rules are the conditions attached to a specific airfare covering changes, refunds, validity, stopovers and mileage earning.
• Fifth freedom route: A fifth freedom route is a flight between two foreign countries operated by an airline from a third country as an extension of its own network.
• Free cancellation window: A free cancellation window is a short period after booking during which a flight ticket can be cancelled without fee and refunded in full.
• Global distribution system: A global distribution system is the technical platform travel agencies and booking sites use to search flights, price them and send bookings to airlines.
• Hidden-city ticketing: Hidden-city ticketing means booking a flight beyond the intended destination and getting off at the connecting airport because the longer trip is cheaper.
• Hub: A hub is an airport where an airline banks its flights in waves so that passengers from many origins can connect to many destinations.
• In-flight entertainment: In-flight entertainment is the onboard entertainment offer, delivered either through seatback screens or streamed to a passenger's own device.
• Interline agreement: An interline agreement is a contract between two airlines to accept each other's tickets, transfer baggage and rebook passengers during disruption.
• Layover: A layover is the wait between two flights on one journey, short enough to count as connecting rather than as a stay of its own.
• Load factor: Load factor is the share of available seats that have been sold, measuring how full a flight or a network is.
• Low-cost carrier: A low-cost carrier is an airline whose model rests on a low base fare, unbundled extras and high aircraft utilisation.
• Maximum permitted mileage: Maximum permitted mileage is the greatest distance a distance-based fare allows between origin and destination, detours included.
• Metasearch: A metasearch site compares prices across providers and hands the traveller on to an airline or agency to complete the booking.
• Minimum connection time: Minimum connection time is the shortest connection a reservation system will sell at a given airport between two flights.
• New Distribution Capability: New Distribution Capability is a data standard letting airlines send offers directly to sellers rather than distributing them only through legacy systems.
• Online travel agency: An online travel agency is an intermediary that sells flights and hotels in its own name, sitting between the traveller and the airline or hotel.
• Opaque rate: An opaque rate is an offer where the provider is revealed only after booking, such as an unnamed hotel of a given class in a given district.
• PAX: PAX is the industry abbreviation for passengers, used both for passenger volumes and for individual travellers in booking systems.
• Pet in cabin: Pet in cabin means carrying a small animal on board in a soft bag under the seat in front, booked in advance and charged as an extra.
• Point-to-point network: A point-to-point network is a model in which an airline links cities directly and does not plan connecting itineraries over a hub.
• Premium economy: Premium economy is a separate cabin between economy and business, with wider seats, more pitch and its own service.
• Rack rate: The rack rate is a hotel's official undiscounted room price, used as the reference point from which all other rates are derived.
• Rate parity: Rate parity is the agreement that a hotel offers the same room price across all distribution channels and does not undercut the agencies.
• Revenue management: Revenue management is the process by which an airline distributes seats across price levels in order to maximise total revenue on a flight.
• Seat pitch: Seat pitch is the distance from one point on a seat to the same point on the seat in front, used as a proxy for legroom.
• Seat selection fee: A seat selection fee is a charge for choosing a specific seat before departure instead of having one assigned at check-in.
• Separate tickets: Separate tickets are two independent bookings covering one journey with a connection, where no airline is responsible for the transfer between them.
• Split ticketing: Split ticketing means dividing a journey into several separate tickets because the sum of the parts costs less than the through booking.
• Standby: Standby is being placed on a list for a flight without a confirmed seat, boarding only if space remains shortly before departure.
• Through-checked baggage: Through-checked baggage is luggage tagged to the final destination at the first departure, so it does not need collecting at the connecting airport.
• Ticket number: A ticket number is the thirteen-digit identifier of an issued flight ticket and the proof that a booking has been paid for and ticketed.