Sunday, December 27, 2009

Deportees & inadmissible Passenger / Refusal to Transport

It is the responsibility of the passenger to clear all the government rules and regulations, in case of failure to clear the required formalities, the carrier will refuse to carry the passenger. Sometimes in certain conditions a passenger takes a flight but is refused to enter the country. If he/she is not holding visa or the visa is not valid, or he/she is unable to clear the immigration formalities of the country or in certain grounds, the country refuses entry, the passenger is known as deportee. Deported passengers will be sent back to where he came in from.
* Any charges incurred by the carrier in connection with the passenger's deportation will be collected from the passenger, that is to transport him back to the original point.
* The carrier that participated in carriage to the country of deportation must provide transportation to the extent they participated in the inbound transportation.
* If the passenger is holding a return ticket, the cost of the return transportation will be recovered. The deporting carrier will withdraw any unused coupons of the passenger's ticket and their values will be recalculated and will be adjusted to the amount to be paid to the new ticket.
* If the passenger is not holding a return ticket, the outbound carrier will ticket the passenger and inform all connection carriers. It is the responsibility of the delivering carrier to collect any dues and unpaid money from the passenger.
* If the delivering carrier is unable to collect any dues, the cost of the outbound journey and any other expenses will be prorated amongst all carriers that participated in the inbound journey.
Inadmissible Passenger/ Refusal to Transport
In case of the following conditions, a carrier may refuse to carry the passenger even if he has paid for it:
* Passengers who are not in possession of a valid ticket.
* Passenger whose transportation by air represents a danger or risk to themselves and /or their fellow travellers or to property.
* Passenger who show visible signs of disease and who, by their apperance, behaviour or kind of nursing required , are likely to cause distress to other passengers.
* Passengers requiring individual nursing or care during the flight and who are not accompanied by attendants.
* Persons obviously under the influence of alcohol, drugs or narcotics.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Air Fare

Air fare or the rate is the fixed price a passenger is supposed to pay to fly from one destination to another destination in a certain airlines in a certain class of service at a particular date. The fares, rates or charges are quoted in per passenger and apply to air carriage over the route by participating airlines from the airport at the point of origin to the point of destination. Air fare normally does not include ground transfer and tax. Air fare is known as air tariff. Tariff is the price to be paid for the services provided. As air lines are providing the service of transportation and as the tourism is service industry, the world tariff is commonly used for the rate or cost to be paid.
General Rules
The airlines are selling special product. Product means the services or goods or commodity which are ready to sale and which satisfies the need of a customer. To sale the commodity the producer or seller must have fixed the price. Fixing of the price is necessary when it is ready to sale. In airlines industry product is the air space and the production is to publish the schedules.
Every airlines has its own rules and regulations and fare conditions, which they will publish accordingly. The same way every country has its rules and regulations. The rule of a country is applicable within the territory of the country and the rule published by an airline is applicable to the airlines only. If the journey is limited within one country by only one airline it will be very easy to rifer and follow particular rules and regulations. But international travel involves more than two countries and may travel involve more than two airlines. So IATA publishes the rules and regulations applicable to their member countries and airlines. Certain rules and regulations regarding the airlines tariffs and rates are given below:
1 . Air Tariff are quoted in per person.
2. It is non-transferable.
3. Non re-routable
4. Partial consumption.
5. Application of tariff.
6. Change of rules and fares.
7 . The date of effectiveness.
8. Children's allowance.
9. Infants














Travel Planning

A travel itinerary is a type of program. The written document as an itinerary contains the point of origin and destination, timetable , name of the carrier and flight number and the status like whether the flight is confirmed or is still waitlisted, etc. An itinerary also includes the related descriptions such as, routing , schedule , alternative available, etc. Program is a raw materials and itinerary is the final product ready for sale. As such, an itinerary is the final product ready for sale. As such, an itinerary is a tourism product of a travel agency or of the airlines.

A travel itinerary may include the program of one airlines or it may sell the whole travel line as a single product. It may be made of only one sector or it may be made of 4 As.

1. Duration , date and time of the tour : A travel agent or the airlines must consider the duration of the tour of a particular customer. The itinerary depends on when a client wants to fly to the destination and whether he is running or not and when if he is returning. It must be advised how many days the tour requires.
2. Interest :- The prepared itinerary should be based on the customer's choice. He may prefer one airlines to another and one time to another, one connection to another connection, one
route to another route. So, it is advised to consult the customer about his choice and interest.
3. Season :- Certain flights are more interesting in one season, one time of the day than others. Certain flights are possible only at a certain time of the day or month. So, while preparing the itinerary, consider whether the flight to the particular sector is possible or not.

4. Budget :-Itinerary is based on the budget of the customer. Certain flights or airlines are more expensive to others. The same destination could be visited by different airlines in different prices. At the same time, the same airlines are selling different classes of service. Determine the choice of the customer in which airlines and types of service.

5. Origin and Destination :- While preparing the itinerary, determine the city of origin and destination. Consider the possibilities of different airport/city and flights. Find out the name of the city/airport, whether the desired destination is possible to reach by flight or not.

6. Operation of Airlines: Find out whether the required airline is flying to the desired destination or not. If one airline is not possible, determine a combination of different airlines.

7. Schedule : Find out the timetable of the desired airlines to the destination and find out whether published time is suitable to the client or not.






Passenger Air Tariff

IATA and its participating airlines publish its rules regulations and fare every month.It was published as Air Passenger Tariff then it published as Air Tariff and now it is publishedas Passenger Air Tariff (PAT). It includes rules and regulations and fares of IATA member countries.It is similar to OAG Flight Guide Book. PAT provides information related to rate, tariff rulesand tariffs. PAT is revised and published every month on the basis of information supplied by the member airlinesto IATA. PAT publication department receives information from IATA. PAT publication department receives information fromIATA information bank. Five airlines- Air Canada, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas Airways, Trans World Airlines, and SITA- Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques are involved in publishing the manual. More than 118 member airlinesfrom 80 countries provide information to the database of IATA. It is published every month in two volumes, one for Eastern Hemisphereand other for Western Hemisphere. The monthly publication (Feb,Mar,May,Jun,Aug,Sept,Nov and Dec) includes fares, add-ons and routings. Everythree month issue (Jan, Apr, Jul and Oct) includes all the information of the monthly issue plus Fare Rules, General Rules. Fare Construction Rules,Taxes, Currency Rules, Ticketed Point, Mileage, Encode/Decode sections for country, city, state/province and Airline Codes.It is advised to refer monthly publication (Feb,Mar,May,Jun,Aug,Sep, Nov,Dec) in conjunction with quarterly book(Apr,Jul,Oct,Jan) and General Rule Bookland Maximum Permitted Mileage(to construct unpublished fares). Maximum Permitted Mileage for use in constructing unpublished fares is issued only once a yearthat is in April.PAT provides information in respect to1. Currency Conversion Rates: This section lists the name of the countries their currencies and conservation rate. In PAT tariff are published in NUC (Neutral UNit Of Currency) and in localcurrency, which may require to be changed in Dollar or into internationally accepted currency.This table will help to converted one currency into other by the help of IATA Rate of Exchange(IROE).2. How to Use: This section will introduce how to use the Passenger Air Tariff. It explain how dates, countries, rules are listed.3. Fare Class/Type Codes: This section will inform about the codes assigned to the seasons, fareclass and Fare and Passenger Type Codes and Global Indicator.

OAG flight Guide Supplement

OAG Flight Guide publishes a supplement quarterly to provide the information may required to knowto travel certain country.It provides information related to passport, visa rules and regulation of the countries. It is published by a division of Red Business Information as a supplement to OAGFlight Guide Book. This supplement includes information about the country, health information,visa/passport formalities and other related information may require to travel. It contains different sections such as:* Country Code* currency codes* Airport & City Codes* Baggage Allowance* Frequent Flyers - the special facilities offered by different airlines to its regular customers.The facilities include mileage, hotel, car rental facilites.* Airlines Clubs - The address of the different airlines clubs, their address, fees and benefits, admit,etcoffered by the airlines clubs.* Frequent Lodges - The facilities provided by different lodges/hotels to its regular customer.* Frequent Renters - The facilities offered by rental companies to its regular customer.* Health Information - The health information also includes World Health Map.* World Map.* Airport Diagrams - the airport lay out.* Aircraft Seating Plans* General Information - This is the main objective of this manual. This section provides information aboutthe country in alphabetical order. It contains the location, capital, language, currency, business/ social hints,public holiday, climate, health, Passport and visa, custom facilities. It also includes theinformation about the airport such as Airport tax, location, facilities available at the airport, etc.

OAG Flight Guide

OAG Flight Guide : Reed Travel Group Ltd. of Great Britain publishes OAG Flight Guide every month. It is the completeguide to air travel.In this guidebook the infomation related to air travel are listed in alphabeticalorder and in a systematic sequence. It is believed that it contains each and every information relatedto airlines, airport and their timetables/schedules. Earlier it used to be called ABC Guide, and how a itis published as OAG Flight Guide. Sometimes it may be published in one volume but mostly publishedin two volumes. It it is published in two volumes, the first part is popularly known as BlueABC or OAG and 2nd part being red in color known as RED ABC or RED OAG. The 1st Part will containthe information regarding the airlines, city codes, airlines code, City to City Schedules of the cities fromA to M alphabetically. The 2nd part contained the information related to City to City Schedules from N to Z and some information related to fare. Those two volumes together comprised total information of flight schedules.The system of coding and decoding was developed even before the modern computerized communication system was developed. Moderncommunication system also follows the same system. To handle travel matters through computerized network one should have basicunderstading of the system that is in The OAG Book.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Information sources , Source of information

The required information can be drawn from different sources. Some information can be directly related to travel while others are not directly related but play a vital role. Political news, festivals, fairs, visits of the head of the states to a certain country,etc. are not directly related to travel business but it effects the industry. It will affect the demand of the airlines seats. These news gives the idea about the pressure on air space, traffic problems, security systems etc. Similarly, weather report gives you the idea of flight operation in the mountain regions; festivals, special activities, etc will give you some idea on flight operation.

Travel agent or airlines staff need to maintain the record of travel information. The information are necessary for government formalities, for the airlines and for the customers. The information can be categorized in the following ways:

* Governmental requirement - Under this group we collect all the information as per the government rules. They are necessary information related to government rules and regulations such as passport, visa, health documents, airport tax, etc.

* Airlines requirement - A staff needs to collect the information related to airlines such as flight schedules, tariff, rules and regulation published by the airlines, promotional policies, etc. we need to keep a record of reservation requests made to certain airlines and states, TTL, PNR etc.

* Personal requirement - Under this heading information related to guests are recorded. Their booking, requirement, need, contact address, bill etc.

1. Informal or related information - The sources of informal information are news papers, magazines , government law and regulations. The government of the country will issue rules and regulations regarding passport, visa, immigrations, airport tax etc.
2. Formal information is published by airlines or by international associations. They are the time table, news letters, electronic media, OAG World Airways Guide, PAT.
3. Computer Automated Systerm - This is the system that provides the travel information through the help of computer. A special network has been developed to provide all the travel related information. BY the help of this system one can get the information about the country, visa and passport rules, airport tax, health regulation etc. One can get the information of availability of space or non-availability and as well as reserve the seat. They are ; Computer Reservation System (CRS) and Airlines Reservation System (ARS).