LESSON 1: IATA TRAFFIC CONFERENCES AND SUBAREAS

Traffic Conference Area 1 and Sub-areas

North America - Canada, USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico, US virgin Islands, Greenland.

Central America - Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua.

South America- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Pitcairn, Uruguay, South Georgia and South Sandwich
Islands, Tokelau, Venezuela.

Caribbean Islands - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire Saba and St.
Eustatius, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint Barthelemy, St. Kitts and Nevis, St.
Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Maarten (Dutch part), Trinidad and
Tobago, Turks and Caicos
Islands, Virgin Islands (British).

Traffic Conference Area 2 and Sub-areas

• Europe

Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands,
Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Republic of),
Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia FYROM (Former Yugoslav
Republic of), Malta, Monaco, Moldova (Republic of), Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal (including Azores and Madeira), Romania, Russia (in Europe), San Marino, Serbia and
Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia) Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (including Canary Islands),
Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

Odd-balls: Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco , which are all part of Africa in Political Geography,
are categorized under IATA Europe.All of Turkey is considered IATA Europe. (Traditional
geography location -part Europe, part Asia). Most islands in the Mediterranean are IATA
Europe, EXCEPT - Cyprus which is IATA Middle East TC2.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

Europe Subdivision groupings here are based on IATA definition -namely, Scandinavia, Iberia
and United Kingdom,
IATA Scandinavia (IATA Europe Subdivision) is composed of Denmark, Norway and
Sweden. (Traditional member Finland is not included in IATA definition.)
Iberian Peninsula ( IATA Europe Subdivision) is Gibraltar, Portugal (including the Azores and
Madeira Islands), and Spain (including the Balearic and Canary Islands).
The United Kingdom (IATA Europe subdivision) is composed of England, Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland .

• Middle East

- Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates (comprised of Abu Dhabi, Ajman,
Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Umm al Qaiwain), Yemen (Republic of).

• Africa (Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Indian Ocean
Islands)

Southern Africa - Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland.

Western Africa - Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon (Republic of), Cape Verde
(Republic of), Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa),
Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Togo.

Eastern Africa - Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia,

Tanzania, Uganda.

Central Africa - Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

• Indian Ocean Islands

- Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, Seychelles.

• Libya

Traffic Conference Area 3

1. South East Asia Sub-area (SEA)

- Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (excluding Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR),
Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong SAR (China), Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Macao SAR (China), Malaysia, Marshall Islands,
Micronesia (includes Caroline Islands except Palau Islands Group), Mongolia, Myanmar,
Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Philippines, Russia (in Asia), Singapore, Tajikistan,
Thailand, Timor Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.

2. South Asian Subcontinent Sub-area (SASC)

- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India (including Andaman Islands), Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

3. Japan, Korea Sub-area

- Japan, Korea Democratic Republic, Korea Republic.

4. South West Pacific Sub-area (SWP)

- American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati (Canton and
Enderbury Islands), Nauru, New Caledonia (including Loyalty Islands), New Zealand,
Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa (Independent State of), Solomon Islands, Tonga,
Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands.
IATA 3-Letter codes of major cities of the world and IATA 'odd-balls' (areas not based on
geographical location)
LESSON 2: GLOBAL INDICATORS
Importance of Global Indicators (GI) in fare calculation

Types of Global Indicators ( Direction Routing)

1. AP

TC2-TC3

- 2-1-3, 3-1-2, 2-1-1-3, 3-1-1-1-2-2

2. AT (Atlantic Route)

TC1-TC2 vv

3. EH (Eastern Hemisphere)

- Within TC2
- Within TC3
4. FE (Far Eastern Route)

TC2-TC3

*TC2 – only Russia/Ukraine

*TC3 – never JAPKOR

5. PA (Pacific Route)

TC1-TC3

- 3-1

6. PN (North Pacific)

1-1-3

*TC1- South America

*TC1- North America

*TC3- South West Pacific (SWP)

7. RU (Russian Route)

TC2-TC3

*TC2- Russia Only

*TC3- Always JAPKOR

8. SA (South Atlantic Route)

1-2-3/3-2-1

*TC1- South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)

*TC2- South Africa/Indian Ocean Island (JNB, CPT, MRU)

*TC3- South East Asia (SEA)

9. TS (TransSiberian Route)

TC2-TC3
 *TC2- Europe (Except Russia)

*TC3- Always JAPKOR

10. WH (Western Hemisphere)

- Within TC1

LESSON 3: PASSENGER TICKET ENTRIES

1. Airline Passenger Tickets - Standard Traffic Document

Background

Until the late 1960's, the system of completing airline tickets was too complicated (Purzycki,
2001). Each airline supplying the travel agencies of their own type of ticket stock . Through the
years, beginning in USA, the Airlines Reporting Corporation or ARC distributed special ticket
stock also known as universal ticket stock may be used to cover airline transportation and other
services for all airlines (Purzycki, 2001) .

Outside USA, the Billing and Settlement Plan or Bank Settlement Plan known as BSP has
been designed by IATA to simplify data and funds flow between travel agents and
airlines. Agents are given universal ticket stocks to cover all airline transportation and other
services . Airlines receive one settlement covering all agents and assist the selling and remitting
procedures. (www.iata.org)

A Passenger Air ticket is under the Accountable ticket or traffic document because it has has a
unique form and serial number for inventory purposes.

Before 01 January 2008, a four-flight passenger ticket (manual) is used for airline transportation.
After the transition period only electronic tickets were issued in the BSP environment.
(www.iata.org). During the transition period , the standard method of ticketing is the Transitional
Automated Ticket (TAT) for tickets issued by the Airline, and the Off Premise Transitional
Automated Ticket (OPTAT) for agencies. An electronic ticket is used in exactly the same way as
a paper ticket, but now all data is easily stored in Electronic Ticket (ET) record in the database
of the validating (the issuing) carrier/ airline (IATA Ticketing Handbook,2007).

At present there are still many types of passenger tickets namely, automated tickets and
boarding pass (ATB/OPATB) and electronic tickets or E-tickets.

Most airline tickets and related documents are generated through the travel agency's computer
reservations system (CRS). However, travel and ticket agents still need to know how to
understand automated standard paper tickets for those situations that require this method. Plus,
an understanding of manual methods provides a better understanding of e- ticketing.
Additional notes: An airline ticket needs to be validated, a process where name and numeric
code of airline; name, location, and numeric code of travel agency; and date of issue are
embedded on the ticket issued. Travel agency typically validates the ticket with the airline which
has the longest haul or flight length in the journey.

2. Manual ticket entries- TAT/OPTAT/ ATB

To be able to understand displays in E-tickets, let us breakdown the entries of a manual airline
ticket. During the transition period from paper ticket to electronic ticketing,
Transitional Automated Tickets (TAT) and Off Premise TAT were issued , with very similar
display as the paper tickets (IATA Ticketing Handbook,2007)

Sectional Breakdown
Following is a section-by-section description of the standard entries in TAT tickets. Read
through the examples and use this section for future reference when completing ticketing
exercises.

Passenger name entries

1. CHUA/ ANAMARIE MS Name of Passenger - Last name, first name and title

Title for male children under 12 yrs of age is MSTR (for master)

Title for female children under 12 yrs of age is MISS

2. Routing.

Since ticket is 4 coupons and there is only one flight segment the succeeding routing boxes are
indicated as VOID. Full name of the board-on and board-off cities are indicated. For multi-
airport cities, after the city name, the airport name or airport code is indicated, example NEW
YORK/JFK. A blank column on the left side of the city , if no demarkation means stopover is
allowed but if a mark X is indicated it means that the fare does not allow stop in that city,
specifically for transfer points, stopover should not be more than 24hrs.

Flight details:

3. The 2-letter code of the airline followed by 4. the flight number and class of service

5. Date of departure , ddMM format

6. Local time of flight departure

7. 2-letter Status code of reservation - OK for confirmed seat, RQ for waitlisted seat

8. Fare basis type- or the fare basis code.

9. -10 not valid before and not valid after dates which is usually indicated for roundtrip special
discounted or excursion fare . And since this is only one way fare , and no indicated date on
boxes 9-10, the ticket is valid one year from the 1st leg booking.

**11. Baggage allowance , for full service airlines, Economy class is entitld for 20kg ( indicated
as 20k on ticket), Business class - 30kg (indicated as 30k), First class -40Kg. Except for
transpacific routes , routes travelling across the pacific ocean, the baggage allowance is in pieces
indicated as PC. ( 2pcs for economy at 23kg per bag, 2pcs for business class at 32kg/bag).

***Linear fare calculation/ Fare Boxes:

13. Fare Calculation box shows itinerary , the fare breakdown and identification of each
segment and taxes following

14. Fare - the Base Fare without tax, usually in the IATA currency of the country of origin.

15. Equivalent Fare- is the equivalent amount of the base fare using exchange rate .

16. Tax - taxes are usually indicated separately with the 2letter tax code affix at the end of the
amount. since there are only a few tax boxes, if there are a number of taxes, the other taxes are
pooled as XT , total , while broken down in the linear fare calculation.

17. Total amount- Fare and taxes in the local currency.

****Automated Ticket and Boarding Pass (ATB)

The IATA Ticketing Handbook describes the Automated Ticket/Boarding Pass (ATB) as a
combined document serving as passenger ticket and baggage check, boarding pass and baggage
identification tag. It is also known that variations of this format may be encountered but
essential elements will always be present. This IATA standard document is usually issued at the
airport. Similar to paper tickets , ATB are issued coupon per coupon because part of the coupon -
the boarding pass coupon , the right side coupon stub ,is retained by the passenger, the Gate
number ,and boarding time is indicated. All other passenger ,flight and fare entries are found on
the left coupon.

3. Electronic ticket

Since January 1, 2008, only Electronic tickets were issued in the BSP environment.

"Electronic Ticketing is a method to document the sale and track usage of passenger
transportation (Electronic Ticket) without requiring the issuance of paper value documents. A
historical record of all actions which have occurred is maintained on the electronic ticket file.
Electronic ticketing provides opportunities for cost reduction due to the fact the paper ticket is
not required. The electronic ticketing data enables faster processing and capture of sales and
flown data. The ticket is accessible by the Validating Carrier at all times and reduces the need for
Prepaid Ticket Advices. As the electronic tickets are held in the Validating Carrier’s database
they cannot be lost and therefore there is no requirement for replacement of lost tickets." (IATA
Ticketing Handbook, 2007)

All entries in the paper tickets and TAT are all shown in the Electronic ticket, as it is used in
exactly the same manner. However, all the data are stored in an ET record in the database of the
issuing (validating) airline.
Let us check the parts of an E-ticket.

*Breakdown of the standard entries above:

1. Passenger name written as follows: Last name/First Name Title

Flight reservation information:

2. From/To Data elements- X/ means transfer point only allowed in the city airport next to that
mark

3. Official IATA 2-letter designator of the Marketing Carrier

4. Flight number followed by the applicable Reservation Booking Designator (RBD)

5. Scheduled date of departure in the format DDMMMYY

6. Local departure time

7. Reservation status code - OK - confirmed, RQ- waitlisted

8. Fare basis code, indicating what type of fare was used.

10. not valid before date

11. not valid after date

12 Free Baggage allowance indicator, since routing is transpacific baggage allowed in pieces/or
bags.

19. Record locator or reservation code

13. Linear Fare calculation. - Shows the itinerary listed in city code, two-letter code of each
carrier flown, and the base fare opposite each city to which it applies. ROE - rate of Exchange .
and other taxes not shown in the Fare box.

Fare Box:

14. Fare Base - is the fare without the tax.

15. is the Equivalent currency if issued in country outside of Origin. , such as in the Philippines -
International tickets issued in the country are all shown in USD under base fare, EQu will show
the equivalent PHP amount if ticket paid in pesos. EQU box maybe left blank if all fare and taxes
paid in USD.

18.- Form of payment , as shown here is Cash(CA), another payment maybe

cheque(CHQ) or invoice (INV). 4. Passenger Itinerary/Receipt

In electronic ticketing, the document given or more often, emailed to the passenger, is the ITR or
Passenger Itinerary Receipt. There is no standard format with respect to the the Warsaw
convention , all airlines will have to give a copy of the mandatory ticket notices . Although there
is no industry standard format, vital ticket elements shall have to be indicated . The
Itinerary/Receipt is not a ticket and does not provide entitlement to travel. The Itinerary/Receipt
is provided to the passenger as confirmation of the ticket that has been purchased.

Sample ITR issued by agent.