Glossary
Learn about common terms used by airlines, travel agents, and Sabre.
Sabre account credential terms
- Employee Profile Record (EPR)
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The individual profile of an employee within a travel agency
This profile is associated to a Pseudo City Code (PCC) or Internet Pseudo City Code (iPCC)
- Internet Pseudo City Code (IPCC)
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An alphanumeric identifier for an online travel agency of a Global Distribution System (GDS) such as Sabre
Used to designate agency access exclusively to Sabre APIs
- Pseudo City Code (PCC)
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An alphanumeric identifier that designates access to Sabre Red Workspace and Sabre APIs
Issued to a travel agency of a Global Distribution System (GDS) such as Sabre
- Travel Journal Record (TJR)
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A travel agency’s profile as determined by Sabre
This profile is associated to a specific Pseudo City Code (PCC) and determines an agency’s access to Sabre
Corresponds to the currency and private data unique to the travel agency
Airline industry terms
- Agent Assembly Area (AAA)
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The Pseudo City Code in which an agency is currently working
See also: Sabre Work Area
- aircraft cabin
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The section of an aircraft in which passengers travel
Examples: First Class, Business Class, Coach - Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC)
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The airline ticketing clearinghouse for airlines, travel agencies and corporate travel departments
Handles airline ticket distribution, control and settlement
Controls accreditation of travel agencies in the U.S. that issue airline tickets
NOTE A travel agency that issues airline tickets must apply for ARC accreditation
See also: https://www.arccorp.com/
- Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC) accreditation
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An accreditation by the Airline Reporting Corporation that allows an agency to sell/issue airline tickets
- ancillary fee
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The cost of the ancillary service being offered
- ancillary services
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Additional products and services offered to travel customers during the booking process
Ancillary prices can be "bundled" or "unbundled"
Also known as: air extras
Includes: checked bags, premium seats, meals
See also: bundled ancillaries, unbundled ancillaries
See also: a list of airline-specific ancillary services
- base fare
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The base price charged by air carriers for air transportation
Excludes taxes and fees
- booked fare
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A fare that is associated with a booking but it is not yet ticketed
The air booking volume "booked" via the Sabre GDS
- booking class of service
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The code for the fare category
Identified by a single letter in a reservation
Not to be confused with the "flight" class of service (such as first class and economy class)
Examples: refer to the airline for specific codes
- bundled ancillaries
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Ancillary services included in the published base fare
Also known as: "branded fares"
- circle trip (CT)
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A journey consisting of a single fare component where the origin and destination of the fare is the same point
Is not considered roundtrip because it involves more than one stopover
Example: the journey TYO – SIN – SYD – LAX – TYO is a CT journey have the same points of origin and destination
- codeshare agreement
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Agreement between a marketing airline and an operating airline
The marketing airline generally puts its airline identification code on flights and the operating airline actually operates the flight
- connecting flight
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A flight that requires a passenger to change planes at an intermediate airport between the origin and destination airports
- date pair
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The combination of a date of departure and a date of arrival
- decimal places standard
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The standard number of decimal places
Two decimal places is the ISO 4217 minor unit standard
Example: 101.35
- direct flight
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A flight that makes one or more intermediate stops but does not change aircraft or flight numbers
Not to be confused with nonstop flight (which makes no stops)
- disclosure airline
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The airline that operates the flight
Occurs between airline companies with a codeshare agreement
Also known as: operating carrier
- divide in party
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Occurs when changes to the itinerary for one passenger requires separation from the main passenger name record (PNR)
Also known as: Divide Passenger Name Record
- domestic
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A destination located in the same country as the origin
Example: a flight from New York to Atlanta
- elapsed time
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The total time for a flight on a flight itinerary
Calculated from the time of departure to the time of arrival
See also: the InstaFlights Search API
- Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMDs)
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Provides the capability to issue electronic non-flight vouchers for purchase of various travel services such as fulfillment of ancillary services
- equivalent fare
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The amount of the inventory or base fare in the payable currency
Excludes taxes and fees - fare basis code
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A specific code assigned by an airline to identify a particular fare
The code can be all text or a combination of text and numbers
Example: SDE or KLPX6MDE
- fare breakdown
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An itemization of the price attributes used to calculate the total fare
Includes: passenger type, booking codes, fare basis codes, base fare, taxes, total fare, currency
See also: the InstaFlights Search API
- fare reference
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The booking code for the fare
- filing airline
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The airline or agency that files a particular fare
- flight itinerary
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The details associated with the journey of a flight
Includes: departure/arrival dates, stops, connections, flight numbers, operating and marketing carriers, equipment codes
- flight leg
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An air segment of an itinerary from a departure airport to an arrival airport
Each leg of an itinerary includes a city pair
Includes: a stopover, change of aircraft, or change of airline
Also known as: flight segment
- flight segment
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Also known as: flight leg
- frequent flyer
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A traveler that belongs to a Frequent Flyer Program (FFP)
- Global Distribution System (GDS)
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A computerized reservation network used as a single point of access for the travel industry
Used by travel agents, online travel agencies and large corporations
Books flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel related items
- IATA codes
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Standard codes that the International Air Transport Association maintains for aviation
See also: IATA codes
- Billing Statement Plan (BSP)
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IATA's Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) is a system designed to facilitate and simplify the selling, reporting and remitting procedures of IATA Accredited Passenger Sales Agents, as well as improve financial control and cash flow for BSP Airlines.
- inbound flight
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The return flight from a destination on a roundtrip flight
- interline
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A reciprocal agreement between/involving two or more airlines
Example: one airline will handle baggage or perform baggage check-in on behalf of another airline
- interline itinerary
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An itinerary between/involving two or more airline issued as a single ticket
- international
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A destination located in a country other than the origin country
- inventory
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The quantity of seats on an airline that are available for sale
- length of stay
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The duration of a trip in number of days
- marketing airline
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The airline company with a codeshare agreement that markets or sells the flight
- marriage group
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Connecting flights that airlines group together
- marriage segment
- An individual flight segment of a marriage group
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A flight segment in a marriage group
Married segments must be processed as one unit and are therefore moved, cancelled, and/or priced together
- nonstop flight
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A flight that makes no stops between the origin and destination airports
Not to be confused with direct flight (which makes one or more stops)
- operating airline
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The airline company or carrier that operates a flight
- Open Travel Alliance (OTA)
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A messaging standards organization for the travel industry
See also: Open Travel Alliance
- outbound flight
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The flight departing from an origin to a destination
- Passenger Name Record (PNR)
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A unique record locator in a reservation system that contains the itinerary for a given traveler
Contains all the information necessary for a traveler’s reservation in the Sabre systemAn application must complete a passenger name record to book a reservation with a given supplier (e.g. airline, hotel)
See also: Intro to PNRs
- Point of Sale (POS)
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The country where a booking originates and the location (geography) in which the itinerary is eligible to be sold in the currency applicable to that location
Each Sabre customer PCC is associated to a specific point of sale country
- point of ticketing
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The location (geography) in which the itinerary is ticketed
- published fare
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Fares that are made generally available to the public by an air carrier via any direct or indirect outlet
NOTE some types of fares may be excluded from published fares, such as unpublished fares and branded fares
Fees for ancillary services are also excluded
- rule info
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Rules and information for published fares about restrictions that govern the use of a fare
Example: advanced ticket purchase and refund policy
- Special Service Request (SSR)
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A request sent to airlines to communicate traveler preferences and special services for a traveler
Add a special service code to identify the service item you request
Includes: wheel chairs, infants (not occupying a seatExamples:
- SSR_Code="WCHR" (WCHR is the Sabre host command for a wheel chair)
- SSR_Code="INFT" (INFT is the Sabre host command for an infant traveler)
See also: Create Passenger Name Record API
See also: Passenger Details API
- stop quantity
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The quantity of stops that a plane makes at one or more airports enroute to a destination airport
- total flight time
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See also: elapsed time
- unbundled ancillary
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Ancillary services not included in the published base fare
- validating carrier
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An airline company that issues the ticket and holds the payment for the flight
Validating carrier may differ from the operating carrier that operates the flight
Sabre GDS terms
- Sabre Global Distribution System (GDS)
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One of the systems in the Sabre travel marketplace that stores all travel inventory
Example: travel inventory for flights, hotels, cars, cruises, rail
- Sabre host command
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A native command line entry for a "brick and mortar" travel agency working in the traditional GDS screen
These commands are also used as input for certain Sabre APIs
- Sabre system
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See also: Sabre GDS
- Sabre Work Area
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A stateful work area within the Sabre system
Similar in concept to a "shopping cart" found on many commercial web sites
Also known as: AAA
Sabre APIs terms
- city pair
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The combination of an origination and destination location, which is often a pair of airport codes
- historical fare
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Data that is retrieved from a repository or database that stores real data from the past
Example: see the Low Fare History API
- in-scope shopping responses
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Shopping responses that Sabre® uses as a source to generate the applicable published fares (or lead fares) for an API, as determined by Sabre in its discretion
- lead fare
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The least expensive published fare overall for an origin/destination pair on a given travel date
Often included in the in-scope shopping responses used by Sabre - multi-airport city (MAC)
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A major metropolitan area served by multiple major airports
Distinguished by a unique city codeExample: "NYC" is the city code for the New York City area (which includes LGA, JFK, EWR)
- nonstop lead fare
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The least expensive nonstop published fare for an origin/destination pair on a given travel date
The total fare a passenger pays
- Offer
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Content supplied by an airline in response to a shopping request
See also: NDC
- Offer ID
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A unique, Sabre-generated identifier for an Offer
See also: NDC
- Offer Store
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Sabre repository for Offers, Offer Ids, prices and all relevant information pertaining an Offer. The Offer Store content is only accessible via Offer APIs
See also: NDC
- Order
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entity that holds all reservation details
See also: NDC
- Order ID
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A unique Sabre-generated Order identifier
See also: NDC
- Order Management System (OMS)
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Sabre repository for Orders and Order Ids. The OMS content is only accessible via the Order APIs
See also: NDC
- orchestrated API
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See also: Intro to orchestrated APIs
- overall lead fare
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The least expensive published fare and the total fare a passenger pays
- sandbox
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The testing environment for Sabre REST APIs
Contains limited city pairs/functionality
Also known as: certification environment
See also: Environments
- shopped fare
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A fare that is retrieved from shopping responses
See also: the Lead Price Calendar API
- shop date
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The date when the shopping request was performed
See also: shopping requests
- shopping requests
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Requests received by the Sabre GDS to generate and price multiple itineraries for roundtrip travel on participating airlines on specific travel dates
See also: the Lead Price Calendar API
- shopping responses
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Responses from the Sabre GDS to shopping requests
See also: the Lead Price Calendar API
- theme
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A genre or a category of travel based on geography, point of interest, or recreational activity
Example: beaches, national parks, skiing
See also: the Theme Lookup API
Sabre technical terms
- conversation ID
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An ID used in SOAP APIs to carry from one request to the next throughout the traveler’s workflow
See also: Best practices: conversation IDs
- connection ID
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A legacy term for the "security token and conversation ID" returned to the requester in the Create Session API response
- session pool
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A set of Sabre sessions allocated for a particular Sabre customer
Corresponds to the number of session tokens you were allotted by your Sabre account manager - session token
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An encrypted pointer to an open, active connection to Sabre with host resources allocated
Obtaining a session token creates a session to the Sabre system
A session token is obtained from the Create Session API
- Sabre session
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An allocated line number (LNIATA) and work space in the Sabre host
Also known as: AAA - Transactions Per Second (TPS)
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The number of transactions per second that can be sent for an individual Sabre API
Contact your Sabre account representative to determine the specific TPS for a given Sabre API