Release Notes
Looking for the latest features and enhancements to Sabre APIs? You're in the right place.
Method/Endpoint: *
- The 18.10 update to the Corporate Travel Services adds support for Sabre's Branded Fares and provides a preview of the *shop by time* option used with `POST /catalogs` - complementing the already available *shop by price* option. The release also introduces a new endpoint that retrieves a list of bookings for a traveler. Plus several smaller updates and bug fixes are also included.
- Sabre Branded Fares. Branded Fares provide a way for airlines to package their products in new and unique ways to extract greater value from their offerings, while providing options to travelers seeking different combinations of features and benefits rather than just looking for the lowest fare. These bundled fares have easy-to-remember brand names (e.g., "Dream Fare") compared to cryptic fare basis codes (e.g., KHAP6M). And they can include a wide variety of ancillary services for such things as additional air miles, lounge access, limousine services, increased baggage allowances, premium seat selection - or just about anything that will entice a traveler to choose that brand.
- This release adds support to Corporate Travel Services for Branded Fares from Sabre. Branded Fares from other GDS's will added in future releases. These branded flight options appear in the `GET /catalogs` response as a hybrid of traditional GDS flights and the webfares available from Air Connect carriers - with normal fare rules like GDS fares (`fareRulesId`), but also with brand names (`fareBrandName`) and brand attributes (`fareBrandId`).
- One key difference with Branded Fares is that additional brand options will be included in the `GET /catalogs` response, beyond those based on the fare restrictions (`fareType`) or cabin class (`classOfService`) from the `POST /catalogs` request. Specifically, brand options equal to or above the requested criteria will be included, when available.
- The other difference is that when Branded Fares is enabled this automatically adds support for "combinable one-way fares". This is the ability to combine any (GDS) flights in a booking - even when the airlines are traditionally not combinable (i.e., the airlines do not share a ticketing agreement). This capability is only available when using the new *shop by time* search option (see below), since this path allows the independent selection of the outbound and return flight options.
- Note: Branded Fares functionality depends on carrier participation and typically applies to specific markets. To take advantage of Sabre Branded Fares this feature needs to be enabled in Site Administration and support is needed within the mid/back-office systems used to process and fulfill the booking. Additional support in these systems may also be needed to handle combinable one-way fares.
- Shop By Time. The ability to search for flights using `shopByTime` has been added to `POST /catalogs`, offering an alternative to `shopByPrice`. This method of shopping focuses on the departure time and availability of flights, rather than on the price.
- The biggest difference between the two options is seen with round-trip shopping where `shopByTime` returns a collection of one-way `journeys` in the Catalog rather than a set of round-trip `itineraries`. These `journeys` identify outbound flight options as well as return flight options, depending on the `context` value of that journey. The client should let the traveler pick a journey from each group, using a new `combinabilityKey` to ensure the chosen flights can be priced together within the same trip. The selected options can then be added to `PATCH /carts` using `itemType` of `FLIGHT_JOURNEY` (rather than `FLIGHT_ITINERARY`).
- Another key difference is the introduction of alternate flight itineraries in the `GET /carts` response. This list of round-trip itineraries can be found within an `alternativeFlightItineraries` collection under `bookableFlightItineraries` and represents other flight options that are available at the same price or at a lower price than the itinerary selected by the traveler.
- Note: For more information please review the [Shop By Time Guide](http://corporatetravel.developer.sabre.com/v1.0/docs/search-by-time-guide).
- Warning! This release is described as a **preview** of *shop by time* because some technical issues are being researched and resolved. One issue is with the time window used for shopping. Currently the `shopByTime` option ignores the `hoursTolerance` parameter in `POST /catalogs`. In addition, Air Connect flights are not always priced in the `GET /carts` process. Both of these problems will be addressed in an upcoming release.
- Trips By Traveler. A new `GET /travelers/bookings` endpoint returns a list of all the trips booked by or for a given traveler. These include bookings made in the *GetThere* online booking tool, offline bookings acquired by the traveler in *GetThere*, or bookings made through a client application using Corporate Travel Services. The endpoint provides the following details for each booking:
- * `bookingState` - Indicates whether the trip is `ACTIVE`, on `HOLD`, `CANCELED`, or occurred in the `PAST`
- * `bookingId` - the unique id of the booking which can be used to retrieve trip details with `GET /bookings`
- * `isTicketed` - boolean that is `true` when an air booking has been ticketed
- * `isAwaitingProcessing` - boolean that is `true` when an air booking is waiting to be ticketed
- * `confirmationId` - the booking's primary identifier within the supplier's system
- * `components` - an array that identifies the components in the booking: `FLIGHT`, `HOTEL`, `CAR`, and/or `TRAIN`
- * `startDate` - trip start date in YYYY-MM-DD format
- * `endDate` - trip end date in YYYY-MM-DD format
- * `destinationName` - name of the trip destination or location
- Booking Details. Along with the new `GET /travelers/bookings` endpoint several enhancements have been made to the response of `GET /bookings` with information about a booking:
- * The `GET /bookings` endpoint now returns data about any hotel component within the booking - including `hotelName`, `hotelChainCode`, the hotel system's `confirmationId`, `hotelLocationName`, `checkInDate`, `checkOutDate`, `rateDescription`, and much more. See the [API Reference on GET /bookings](http://corporatetravel.developer.sabre.com/v1.0/reference#readbooking-1) for further details.
- * The values of `bookingState` in GET /bookings have been revised to align with those in the new `GET /travelers/bookings` endpoint and to provide more detailed information about the status of a booking. This includes the introduction of two new boolean indicators that convey status for active bookings:
- Note: The hotel information in `GET /bookings` is being refined to address a couple of cosmetic issues. Both of these will be updated in our next release: * `hotelChainCode` is returned in lowercase format and will be changed to uppercase * Room rates are returned in uppercase format and will be changed to mixed case
- Improved Error Handling. Better error information is returned in these scenarios:
- * Requests to `POST /catalogs` with an invalid airport code now have a specific error response with `type` set to `INVALID_AIRPORT_CODE` and `description` containing `The provided airportCode contains an invalid value`.
- * When a generic error is encountered an `INTERNAL_SERVER` error message is returned, rather than a general error from Sabre systems.
- * If an operation is partially successful (so also partially unsuccessful) it is indicated with status code 207.
- General Improvements. Other updates have been made to improve various Corporate Travel Services:
- * The response in `GET /catalogs` for has been updated to show the `quotedPrice` and `localizedPrice` in different currencies, when appropriate. This matches the response already provided in `GET /carts`.
- * A `type` value has been added to each defined form of payment in the `GET /carts` response - either `TRAVELER_PAYMENT_CARD` or `SITE_PAYMENT_CARD`.
- * Temporary charge cards are now only allowed with Air Connect flights when profile cards are configured in Site Administration as an allowable form of payment for flights. In other words, temporary cards are not allowed for Air Connect flights if the site is setup to only allow flights to be booked with "central billing cards" (i.e., Site cards or BTA cards).
- * `GET /bookings` now returns the correct `cabinTypeName` for flights with a seat assignment.
Service Action Code: AirSeatLLSRQ
- Added ability to o select seats for multiple name numbers.
- Added ability to o select seats for multiple air segments.
- Added ability to sell multiple seats within one request.
Service Action Code: OTA_AirFlifoLLSRQ
- Corrected an intermittent issue where incorrect schedule information was passed for date change flights.
Service Action Code: EndTransactionLLSRQ
- Updated the service to capture "* SIMULTANEOUS CHANGES TO PNR-USE IR TO IGNORE AND RETRIEVE PNR" as an error.
Service Action Code: SSSAdvShopRQ
- No changes for this functionality in this Release. Only schema version upgrade to 4.3.0.
Service Action Code: AdvancedAirShoppingRQ
- No changes for this functionality in this Release. Only schema version upgrade to 4.3.0.
Service Action Code: AdvancedCalendarRQ
- No changes for this functionality in this Release. Only schema version upgrade to 4.3.0.
Service Action Code: BargainFinderMaxRQ
- Bargain Finder Max has been enhanced with the following new optional search parameters:
- Shop by Fare Type Code – to support the capability for shopping to include/exclude a fare option based on Fare Type Code.
- Shop by Brand ID Code – to support the capability for shopping to include/exclude a fare option based on Brand ID code.
- Bargain Finder Max has been enhanced with the following new optional search parameters:
- Shop by Fare Type Code – to support the capability for shopping to include/exclude a fare option based on Fare Type Code.
- Shop by Brand ID Code – to support the capability for shopping to include/exclude a fare option based on Brand ID code.