Flight Availability

 

Part 1 Basic flight availability

ICK	DATE	BOARD POINT	OFF POINT	DEPARTURE TIME
1	20APR	DEN	MIA	1400

Shown above is the basic entry to display flight availability. The purpose of this entry is to view the availability of flights between two airports on the given date at the given time.

The entry begins with the availability ICK1, which is followed by the departure date, the board point (the airport from which the flights depart), the off point (the airport at which the flights arrive) and the departure time. Notice that the date is specified as the day of the month followed by the first three letters of the month's name.

In application, the entry shown above would retrieve availability of flights departing around 14.00 on 20 April from DEN to MIA. An entry like this is very often the first step in building a reservation for a client

ICK	DATE	BOARD POINT	OFF POINT	DEPARTURE TIME
1	20APR	DEN	MIA	1400

When specifying the time in this entry, you may use either 12- or 24-hour clock format. 1400, 200P and 2P would all be acceptable ways to specify the time in the above entry.

The departure time is optional. When no time is entered, Sabre will default to displaying flights departing at 13.00. You may find it useful to omit the departure time in your entry for international city pairs or for city pairs with limited flights.

ICK	DATE	BOARD	OFF	DEPARTURE TIME	CROSS OF LORRAINE	AIRLINE
1	20APR	DEN	MIA	1400	¥	UA

Shown above is a variation to the standard entry to display flight availability. The purpose of this entry is to show flight availability for a specific airline.

The entry is the basic availability entry with a Cross of Lorraine and a two-character airline code added to the end.

In application, the entry shown above would display availability of UA  flights only from DEN to MIA on 20 April at around 14.00. The departure time could be omitted from the entry, to display flights departing around 13.00.

ICK	DATE	BOARD	OFF	DEPARTURE TIME	CROSS OF LORRAINE	AIRLINE
1	20APR	DEN	MIA	1400	¥	UA

The Cross of Lorraine is a special GDS character. It is produced on your keyboard by pressing the key marked with the apostrophe and quotation marks. This key is usually located to the left of the Enter key.

Note that in printed material, the Cross of Lorraine may look slightly different than how it appears on screen.

Part 2: Return travel

Most air travel consists of two components:

• The flight(s) to the destination
• The flight(s) home

The flight(s) to the destination are called outbound travel. Outbound travel takes the passenger out of his home to his destination.

The flight(s) home are called inbound travel. Inbound travel takes the passenger back into his home (the trip origin).

Most airline journeys have both outbound and inbound travel. This type of journey is called a return trip (or round trip), and is often abbreviated as RT.

When a journey has only outbound travel, it is called a one-way trip, with the abbreviation OW.

Return trips (RT) and one-way (OW) trips are the two most common journey types. There are others, such as open-jaw, circle and round-the-world, which you will learn about as you continue your studies or work in the industry.

Please move on to learn how to display return flight availability, which is the first step to booking the inbound flight of a return trip.

Part 3 Return availability

ICK	LETTER "R"	DATE	DEPARTURE TIME
1	R	18JAN	1800

Shown above is an entry to retrieve return flight availability. The purpose of this entry is to display inbound flight availability by reversing the city pair order of an existing availability display.

The entry begins with the ICK1, which is followed by the letter R for "return", the date on which the flights should depart and a departure time.

In application, the entry shown above would reverse the city pair order of an existing availability display and generate a new display for flights departing on 18 January at 18.00. If, for example, the city pair of the existing display was JFKLHR, the above entry would produce a display of flights with the city pair LHRJFK.

ICK	LETTER "R"	DATE	DEPARTURE TIME
1	R	18JAN	1800

The departure date and time are optional parts of the entry. Please examine the entries below to see how they can be excluded from the format.

Entry	Purpose
1R18JAN	Display return availability for 18 January, using the same departure time as the outbound flights
1R2200	Display return availability for the same day as the outbound, listing flights departing around 22.00
1R	Display return availability for the same day as the outbound, listing flights departing around 17.00 (system default)

 

Part 5 :Shortcut availability entries

ICK	ASTERISK	NEW DEPARTURE TIME
1	*	1700

Shown above is a shortcut availability entry. The purpose of this entry is to change the departure time of the flights in a CPA display currently in the agent assembly area.

The entry consists of the availability ICK, 1, followed by an asterisk and the new departure time.

In application, the entry shown above would change the departure times of the current CPA display to 17.00. The date and city pair of the current display would remain the same.

ICK	NEW DEPARTURE DATE
1	18JUN

Now shown above is another shortcut availability entry. The purpose of this entry is to change the departure date of the flights in a CPA display currently in the agent assembly area.

The entry consists of the availability ICK, 1, followed by the new departure date.

In application, the entry shown above would change the departure date of the current CPA display to 18 June. The city pair and departure time of the current display would remain the same.

 

ICK	NEW DEPARTURE DATE	ASTERISK	NEW DEPARTURE TIME
1	18JUN	*	1700

Now shown above is a combination of the previous two entries. The purpose of this entry is to change the departure date and time of the flights in a  CPA display currently in the agent assembly area.

The entry consists of the availability ICK, 1, followed by the new departure date, an asterisk and the new departure time.

In application, the entry shown above would change the departure date of the current CPA display to 18 June and the time to 17.00. The city pair would remain the same.

ICK	CROSS OF LORRAINE	AIRLINE
1	¥	AC

Now shown above is a shortcut entry to change an availability display in the agent assembly area to show flights for the specified airline only.

The entry consists of the availability ICK, 1, followed by a Cross of Lorraine and a two-character airline code.

In application, the entry shown above would change the CPA display in the agent assembly area to show flights operated solely by AC

ICK	CROSS OF LORRAINE	NUMBER OF DAYS
1	¥	3

Now shown above is another shortcut availability entry. The purpose of this entry is to redisplay the current CPA display for a date the specified number of days in the future.

The entry consists of the availability ICK, 1, followed by a Cross of Lorraine (¥) and the number of days.

In application, the entry shown above would retrieve availability for the date three days after the date in the current CPA display.

ICK	MINUS SIGN	NUMBER OF DAYS
1	-	4

Here is a variation to the shortcut entry you learnt on the previous frame. The purpose of this entry is to redisplay the current  CPA display for a date the specified number of days earlier.

The entry consists of the availability ICK, 1, followed by a minus sign (-) and the number of days.

In application, the entry shown above would retrieve availability for the date four days earlier than the date in the current CPA display.

Part 8 : Schedule displays

ICK	DATE	BOARD POINT	OFF POINT	DEPARTURE TIME
S	10AUG	KTM	DOH	1400

Now shown is the entry to retrieve a schedule display. The purpose of this entry is to display a schedule of flights for the date and time specified.

Notice that this entry is exactly like the availability entry, except for the ICK. Schedule displays use the S ICK.

In application, the entry shown above would display a schedule of flights between KTM and DOH for 10 August at 14.00.

ICK	DATE	BOARD	OFF	DEPART TIME	CROSS OF LORRAINE	AIRLINE
S	22OCT	KTM	DOH	0900	¥	RA

Just like flight availability, schedules can be displayed for a single airline only.

To display schedule information for a single airline, a Cross of Lorraine and a two-character airline code are added to the end of the entry.

In application, the entry shown above would display a schedule of  RA flights between KTM and  DOH for 22 October at 09.00.

This entry is particularly useful when you need to find flights for an airline that does not offer daily service between two cities. Like the availability display, the schedule display will show the days of the week the flight operates, but unlike availability, a flight will appear in the display even if it does not operate on the day of the week specified in your entry.