Sabre

Sabre Travel Network (Sabre) — a part of the group of companies Sabre Holdings (USA), serving travel agencies, travel service providers, corporations and government agencies in 59 countries around the world.

Description

Sabre processes more than 19,000 transactions per second - about 2 billion transactions every day.

Mute Lab Software is an official certified developer on Sabre Web Services.

Booking system Websky supports ticket sales through Sabre global distribution system.

Key Features

Search and General

• Search by nearest dates
• Search by public + private fares
• Search for private fares
• Search by schedule
• Search by J-types.
• Sending terminal commands
• Search with limited prices
• Returning the Refundable attribute in search results - BFM
• Return e-ticket attribute in search results
• Returning a ticketing deadline in search results
• Validating carrier in search results
• Checking interlines in search results
• Maximum number of passengers of all types in the search request is 32
• Number of passengers of one type in the request is 8

Booking

• From the requisites/settings
  • Hiding the price on the GDS site
  • Adding a passenger title
  • RebookForLowestPrice^[1]
  • Remarks (in requisites) for booking entries
  • Working with AAA PCC
  • Repeating of seats taking when getting NN status
• Additional operations with requisites/settings
  • Reading fare rules
  • Checking availability
  • Checking availability via seat assignment
  • Receiving a Seat Map
  • Updating the price
  • Getting a list of available credit cards
  • Getting a currency rate
  • Maximum number of simultaneous sessions - 50 standard, extensions of 25 sessions
  • Returning fare types - Public, Nego
• Airline server operations/requests
  • Flight booking
  • Cancellation
  • Booking update (synchronization)
  • Ticket availability check outside of NDP
  • Import of bookings via NDP locator
  • Retrieving booking history from the NDP
  • Modification of name and patronymic
  • Modifying selected booking content
  • Adding content
  • Content through WS - BSP
  • Ability to book and check out BSP
  • Booking for an infant seat
  • Cancellation via app

Ticketing

• From the props/settings.
  • Adding a general purpose passive segment (misc segment)
  • Discharge on airline stock
  • Discharge runoff management
  • AAA PCC handling
  • Private commission authorization
  • Airline server operations/requests
  • Ticket issuance for the whole booking
  • Additional ticketing for passengers who are on hold
  • Checking airline commission at checkout
  • Commission per passenger type
  • Depositing endorsements
  • Ticketing tour codes
  • Ticket-designator setup
  • GDS processing
  • Multi-FOP GDS processing
  • Proxying of GDS processing through the Payment Gateway
  • Voiding

Working Principle

Websky makes an update at every booking operation, and the PNR is automatically re-priced, except for the following situations:

• booking is cancelled
• booking is ticketed

Once a statement is requested, a transaction confirmation is performed so that the issued tickets are included in the PNR. In case Websky may have problems while updating bookings, a check with DQB (sales report in GDS Sabre) will be made and tickets issued by PNR but not included in the PNR. If for some reason they are not entered, the booking will be marked as problematic and such bookings will need to be processed manually by the agent in the terminal.

Connecting to GDS Sabre in Websky

In order to connect a Websky airline unit that works with Sabre system, the agency must have an agreement for Sabre system use. If the agency does not have such an agreement, it is necessary to contact the local Sabre office and enter into an agreement to use the system.

If the agency has a Sabre connection agreement, it means that the agency can use the Sabre system via terminals installed in the agency and create/cancel/modify bookings, control booking queues, calculate fares and issue tickets, book services of other suppliers (such as hotels, car rentals, etc).

The procedures of creating a configuration, setting up offices, ordering additional terminal addresses and printers are specified in the "Agreement for connection and access to Sabre information resources" and in the "Regulations of interaction between users of Sabre information resources and the Russia Sabre Help Desk" (both documents are available at www.airts.ru in the "SabreOrder" section.

Sabre connects to the Websky system through a specially configured agency office called IPCC (Internet PCC - IPCC), which is ordered through a local Sabre representative office.

If the agency is not licensed to use the Sabre web service, it must:

1. Write a letter to Sabre confirming that the agency intends to use the Websky system developed by LLC "Novaya Studiya" for online activity. At the same time, LLC "Novaya Studiya" should write a letter to Sabre confirming its readiness to provide the agency with such a service.

1. Sign an additional contract with the local Sabre representative office for IPCC Downline Agency IPCC, pay for all the services mentioned in that contract and get the IPCC, login and password from Sabre, after that give the IPCC number, login and password to LLC "Novaya Studiya" for the connection details.

Attention! If the agency has its own Sabre web service license, the agency can obtain an IPCC as part of that license by contacting the local Sabre office. The IPCC number, username and password obtained should be given to "Novaya Studiya" to be entered into the connection requisites.

Attention! To ensure correct operation, the agency must order a LNIATA PRT TA - e-ticket or itinerary receipt printer address - if the booking and ticketing occurs in the IPCC and in the BSP environment.

If the agency plans to issue ETAT tickets (airline e-tickets) online, an additional terminal (for booking control work) and printer (for ETAT issuance) must also be ordered from Sabre.

If there is a sub-agency relationship with an agency which has an agreement with the airline to issue ETATs, a letter must be sent to the local Sabre office, signed and stamped on the agency letterhead, with a request to prescribe in the PCC where the ETATs will be issued the details of this agency as indicated in the agreement with the airline, namely: validator, company name and its address.

The PCC for ETAT can be ordered either by the agency or by a sub-agency.

If an agency or sub-agency orders a PCC to issue an ETAT, written confirmation from the airline must be obtained in order for that PCC to be activated. This letter may be sent by the airline directly to the local Sabre office or to the agency for onward transmission to Sabre.

Ordering additional PCCs, as well as printers, is done by filling out applications in SabreOrder, and linking of printers is carried out by Sabre support staff after creating and configuring PCCs.

Attention! For agencies located in Moscow, the parameter LOR (Location Of Request) in PCC must be set to MOW - this affects the correctness of work with some Russian airlines. For example, in the case of the value of SVO may not be confirmed seats on the airline SkyExpress.

How to receive Sabre connection requisites to work in Websky

To interact with GDS Sabre through Websky:

1. Send a connection request to Sabre, get approval, create a ticket in project tracker in which you provide the requisites you received (the ticket must be assigned to _SUPPORT RECEPTION).
2. After you set up the requisites and successfully test the search, booking, and cancellation, Websky staff will return the ticket to the agency employee for testing the statement and entering in the set up details.

To interact with GDS Sabre through Websky, the agency must complete the following steps:

1. Sign an agreement with Sabre and obtain a PCC.
2. After getting the PCC, order online requisites to work with via Websky - IPCC. To do this, fill out an application form and send it to Sabre.
3. After reviewing the application, Sabre will issue a username and password to connect to your IPCC. Provide them to Websky via project tracker to set up your Sabre connection requisites in Websky.
4. Additionally, you must order the BFM lookup option from Sabre. A separate questionnaire is filled out for this (the template is attached in the Sabre BFM Questionnaire section). The BFM opens for one month, until then only the LFS search is available.

To set up the ticketing process, you need to ask the Sabre helpdesk to do the settings for your BFM.

Sabre BFM Questionnaire

Sabre vendor has two search options: LFS and BFM. To obtain BFM requisites, you are asked to fill out the following questionnaire: File:BFM questionnaire.pdf.

The questionnaire contains a total of 17 questions, some of which are required as background information. When filling out the questionnaire, you should pay attention to the following questions:

• Question #2, which specifies whether the reservation and checkout will take place on the same PCC.
• Question #3, which specifies the number of searches and their planned changes.
• Question #7, which specifies the planned number of transactions per day in test and environment and real mode.

An example of a completed questionnaire: File:BFM questionnaire example.pdf

Ticketing settings in Sabre

In order to run an electronic ticket checkout, the Ticketing Agency must write a letter to the Sabre Helpdesk ([email protected]) that reads as follows:

1. Please open branch access level B,C between IPCC XXXX and PCC XXXX
2. Please add the key SUBAA for EPR 7971 (7972) for IPCC XXXX

Attention! EPR is the agency account that matches the login listed in the established credentials. EPR 7971 (7972) is relevant for Sabre Russia. You can find the necessary EPR by the login, which is specified in the Nemo Connect Avia Settings - GDS Connection Settings - GDS Requisites - Sabre Requisites for the particular PCC.

Settings to check before running automatic ticketing from the agency website on the GDS side of Sabre:

1. Option Store Passenger Type in PNR in TJR PCC/IPCC must be enabled.
2. Option Auto Segment Arrange in TJR PCC/IPCC must be enabled.
3. Option Auto Validation in TJR PCC/IPCC must be enabled.
4. Option Russian Ticketing Platform in TJR PCC/IPCC must be enabled.
5. Option Full Branch Access between booking IPCC and PCC must be configured.
6. Option ETICKET IN EMAIL in TJR PCC/IPCC must be enabled.
7. Option PRICE TICKETING ALERT in the TJR PCC/IPCC must be disabled.
8. SUBAAA keyword must be present in the EPR of all agents/cashiers that handle reservations to be able to transition between PCC/IPCC.
9. The presence of a printer terminal address (PTR TA) is required for issuing the PCC.
10. IATA validator is required when using it as the primary for ticketing. Also, checking the carrier list against the IATA license. If own validator of carrier is used, for example Aeroflot, then it is necessary to order additional PCC for it.

The settings must be activated in all Sabre sections: TSTS, CERT, CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE and PRODUCTION.

These settings must be verified at all PCC/IPCCs where you intend to book and issue tickets. To do this, contact the Sabre Helpdesk: [email protected]

And the obligatory point: it is necessary that in PCC (if IPCC will be used for issuing, ask to make settings for it), there should be carriers available for issuing with validator and its code. This is done through a service (it is a request system, each client has a login and password to it) [email protected]

Connection features

• In Sabre, while setting up the PCC for the ticketing, the stock on the ticketing is specified. It means that it is crucial to specify who the validator is. In Websky settings, the printer is specified according to the stock.
• At the same time, the client performs all items specified here on his part.
• In the default settings, the printer type is OPTAT for the BSP stock. This means that the printer is assigned with the command: RU
• When the ticketing is performed on the stock of SU (Aeroflot) airline, printer type must be set to: Specialixed E-TAT, which means that the printer is controlled by the command 1R
• When the ticketing is performed on the stock of S7 (Siberia), U6 (Ural Airlines) airlines runoff the printer type must be set to Generic E-TAT, which means that the printer is assigned to a command: 1Y
• When checking out on Ukrainian RCC the printer is also assigned by another command, you must put the printer type: ATB, which means that the printer is assigned by the command: AT
• Attention!' Make sure that the DivideInParty option is disabled on the supplier side. If the option is enabled, you will see a large number of price increases when you switch to booking.
• Attention! The Audit trail value in the Sabre-side PCC settings must be set to Regular audit trail.

Features of working with Sabre

• Strict requirements to agency names. If you violate the name requirements when booking services, you get errors of the following kind: Input data error.
  • The agency name must not contain punctuation marks and Cyrillic characters; only Latin letters and spaces are allowed.

"If you want the name to begin with numbers, set the first character to be a space - this will help you avoid the error."

• On the booking confirmation page, in the In the currency of the booking system column, prices are displayed in the currency of the airline fare.
• In response to the search request, the cheapest variants appear. So the 2 adults + 1 child request may return the response 3 adults.
• Sabre will reply to your search request with information about the baggage allowance.
• Bookings at GDS Sabre are strictly available for no more than 331 days in advance of the booking date. Sabre will return an error message like this: SYSTEM UNABLE TO PROCESS: INVALID DATE.
• In Sabre, when you issue a ticket for a child with the Birth Certificate document type, the itinerary receipt shows the document type Substitute Document, because Sabre does not support the Birth Certificate document type.
• When searching for Business class tickets, if there are no suitable Business class flights, Sabre can send you Economy class flights. However, the system may also send first class fares if their price is equal or less than business class fares.
• In GDS Sabre, there are situations when the airline removes successfully taken seats immediately after the booking is made (including using the RebookForLowest option).
• In GDS Sabre, there are situations when it is obligatory to pay by credit card for the seats or ancillary services in the booking; in this case, the following error message will be shown at the ticketing stage: UNABLE - ONLY CREDIT CARD FORM OF PAYMENT ALLOWED.
• In GDS Sabre, there are the following limitations on the length of characters in the name in the PNR:
  • Maximum number of characters for last name and first name combined is 58.
  • Maximum number of characters for last name, first name and middle name in total - 57.
  • If the passenger is female, the above values are reduced by 1.
  • Maximal number of characters for last name is 30.
    Websky booking form limits number of characters for passenger's last name in order to meet the above limitations and avoid mistakes in booking.
  • Maximal number of characters for name on SU airline is 29.
  • Attention! Spaces are also symbols and count in the calculation.
  • The number of passengers per online booking is limited. The airline itself determines the maximum number of passengers per booking. For example, on Aeroflot - 7 passengers, on Ural Airlines - 5 passengers. To prevent errors, the agency can limit the number of passengers in an order for all airlines in Websky using the Maximum number of people in a search request parameter in the Product control → Flight tickets → Outdated settings → Search restrictions section.
• If there are a large number of flight price increases when you switch to a booking, make sure that the DivideInParty option is disabled on the supplier side'.
• If, when a ticket is being issued, the following message is received: The order contains issued tickets that are not presented in the PNR and there are 2 ticket numbers for one passenger in the order - a common case when working in Sabre/
  To manage cases of double ticketing, Nemo Connect has the option Action with valid tickets not in the PNR (in Profiles → User Profiles):
  • Mark as Problematic - in this case the manager will receive a notification about the problem booking;
  • Auto-voiding - a ticket not in the PNR (extra) will be entered, while the integrity of the order will be preserved.
• Accounting for changes in GDS. In order to, when multiplying flights and when using the results of searches from the cache (see Cache Server) when amounts need to be converted correctly, exchange rates from GDS Sabre must have the BSRDSP keyword in EPR for all PCCs (settings on the Sabre side, contact GDS support for setup), see Accounting for fare changes in GDS.

Agency Commission Display in GDS Sabre

Agency commission is assigned to the agency by the airline in accordance with the contract. The commission can be the same for any transportation, but may differ by destinations, countries, types of flights.

In any case, the commission is not displayed neither in the e-ticket, nor in the itinerary receipt.

For the booking created in Sabre the informational price of the flight is displayed on the screen by the PQ command. When working with the terminal, the agent can calculate the price of the flight with the commission, since while creating the booking he can know on which carrier's form the transportation will be performed. In this case the commission is displayed in the PQ command results.

When working online, the commission parameters are determined only at the ticketing step, so the informational price of transportation in our case does not include the commission. It means that the PQ command displays the total price of the flight.

In Sabre terminal the commission for a particular booking can be viewed by displaying the booking on the screen and opening the Accounting Data section with the *PAC command - all the information on the ticket, which includes data on the commission, is displayed.

The commission is not printed on the electronic ticket, you can only see it in the prototype of the paper ticket on the basis of which the electronic ticket is issued. In the itinerary receipt the commission is also not displayed.

In addition to the ability to see the airline commission in the booking by *PAC command, the agent can call the DQB* sales report, in which you can see the amount of commission for the booking you are interested in.

Supported features

GDS Sabre supports the following options implemented in Websky:

• Rebooking for the lowest price (RebookForLowestPrice, rebookForLowest) - the option allows you to get the current booking/flight price not for the specified flight class letters (seats that may run out; or the price might be unavailable or might not be the cheapest), but to generally get the cheapest available price for the given flight within the same base class (Economy/Business/Premium Economy, etc.) as the original literature, with the GDS automatically checking the availability of the required number of vacant seats.

• Synchronization of orders - synchronization module for GDS Sabre supplier is implemented.

Errors when working with Sabre

Search errors

Error	Description
Common errors for all GDSs
SIMULTANEOUS CHANGES TO PNR - USE IR TO IGNORE AND RETRIEVE PNR	In the boooking operation, there is a parallel change of PNR. In this case you have to start the operation again.
Possible IC throttle Text: java.util.NoSuchElementException: Pool exhausted	This error occurs because of active work. It's worth noting that the error is not critical and occurs to block traffic and prevent overloading on the GDS side.
Invalid search reguest object	This error occurs when an invalid search result is accessed. Possible causes: invalid search link; search result may be out of date.

Ticketing errors

Error	Description
For the PROD environment
AUTH CARRIER INVLD-0166 (auth_error)	On the GDS side, the specified validating carrier is not in the list of authorized carriers for the ticketing. Or, the settings mentioned above (3 points) are not performed in full!
"TICKETING IN ALTERNATE CURRENCY NOT ALLOWED-0106" and "SEE W/CURR*-CANNOT TICKET IN CURRENCY REQUESTED-0106"	Restriction of ticketing in the specified currency.
9999.99 IS THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF COMMISSION-0265	Incorrect rounding of commissions.
NO COMBINABLE FARES FOR CLASS USED53</code?	It is impossible to calculate the fare (in the Websky system such situations cannot be handled).
Error response received. The error was: CODE - HX SEG STATUS NOT ALLOWED.	The flight contains segments cancelled by the airline.
VALIDATING CARRIER XW DOES NOT HAVE AGREEMENT WITH D9-0322	No interline agreement between airlines (cannot be processed by Websky at this time).
EACH PASSENGER MUST HAVE SSR FOID-0052	No FOID data transmitted, connection requisites for TCP flights need to be checked.
validation_error (VALIDATING CARRIER UN DOES NOT HAVE AGREEMENT WITH S7-0322)	There is no interline agreement between the airlines flying, such tickets can only be issued separately.
TERM NOT HARDCOPY.	The Websky LNIATA PRT TA (e-ticket printer address) in the ticketing settings is incorrect.
153 NAME DOES NOT MATCH NAME IN AIRLINE SYSTEM	Exceeded allowed number of characters in passenger's name
For CERT environment
UNABLE TO PROCESS ETR-CORRECT/RETRY OR ISSUE PAPER TICKET-368 AGENCY NOT ALLOWED TO ISSUE ELECTRONIC TICKETING	Error comes from the supplier and may be due to the fact that the work takes place in different environments (CERT, TSTS). To test in a CERT environment, you must use one of the following carriers: AA, SU, B6, KM, IT, HA,WS.
NEED AIRLINE PNR LOCATOR - VERIFY AND ENTER IN SEGMENT-0052	The error occurs because a CERT environment is being used.
VERIFY TKT TTL RUB 1663 - PQ TTL RUB 1563 TICKET? ENTER Y or N<.>	In Sabre, there is a price comparison at the booking and at the checkout.

Cancellation mistakes

Error

Description

OTH RESTRICTIONS APPLY-REBOOK OTH NO LATER THAN 04MAY

The error is due to the features of the rules for creating OTH segments in GDS Sabre. As of June 5, 2017, new rules for creating OTH segments (which are used to extend the lifetime of a booking in the system after all flights have been completed) were introduced, the essence of which is that it is prohibited to add OTH segments with a date the departure date of the last active segment in the booking by 180 days, and if there are no active segments in the booking, but they are in the history, it is prohibited to add an OTH segment with a date 180 days higher than the current date (for example, the booking was made on November 5, 2017, then the clearance date plus 180 days - turns out to be May 4).

Airline ancillary services

In Sabre additional services are available for any PCC by default, no additional settings are required from Sabre.
To enable work with advanced services in Websky you have to enable the checkbox "Enable work with advanced services in this package" in the "Airline settings" -> "Airline packages" section of the Sabre "Airline details package".
Attention! To display additional services on your website, you need to fill in the section "Additional services" in the Guide in the Administration panel of Websky 2.0. Only Websky system administrator can fill it in.

Contact info

Sabre Russian representative office: 125009, Moscow, Tverskaya str. 16, bld.3, office 14, tel: (499) 929 5080.

Sales Department: (499) 929-5080 or (499) 929-5090

Technical Support and Helpdesk Russia: +7 495 974-8951

See also

• IPCC
• Requirements for endorsements in Sabre
• Data on resources and the Sabre distribution network
• Sabre ticket printers
• Supplier statistics
• Functional capabilities of airline ticket suppliers
• GDS
• PNR
• Travelport (Galileo)
• Amadeus
• SITA Gabriel
• Sirena Travel
• API Travelfusion
• API ВИП Сервис (Vip Service)
• Nemo Inventory (component)

Useful links

• Sabre Holdings website
• Sabre Travel Network website
• Sabre products
• Steps to enable electronic and automated issuance of NSAW TCH tickets through Sabre (GDS Sabre) at accredited agencies
• List of airlines that accept credit card payments through GDS Sabre