DFWHeavy From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 469 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 months 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 702 times:
How long is it before confirmation numbers (PNRs) are reused? Say I book today for a round trip in October 2013.. Once my flights are complete, how long will it be before that confirmation is put back in the rotation and assigned to someone else?
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1135 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (3 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 593 times:
I can only speak for Amadeus.
A PNR is "deactivated" 5 or 6 days after the last segment, and can then be theoretically be reused.
However most trravel agencies would place a MIS element in the PNR, which is basically a retenrion element. It will be placed i.e. 6 months after the last segment. This will then hold the PNR valid way longer until that date. THis is useful in case guests are noshow, do complain, need to rebook etc, since once a PNR is not available in Amadeus anymore it is difficult to retrieve it (there are options, but it's quite a pain).
FreshSide3 From United States of America, joined Nov 2012, 204 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 months 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 556 times:
Quoting reifel (Reply 4): However most trravel agencies would place a MIS element in the PNR, which is basically a retenrion element. It will be placed i.e. 6 months after the last segment. This will then hold the PNR valid way longer until that date. THis is useful in case guests are noshow, do complain, need to rebook etc, since once a PNR is not available in Amadeus anymore it is difficult to retrieve it (there are options, but it's quite a pain).
The "retention element" that most airlines and agency uses is a segment with a fake flight number, usually with the code "ZZ"(which doesn't exist) for the carrier, and an easy to remember number......the segment is booked a few months out......and often uses a really absurd flight routing, which the agency/airline takes creative liberties in booking.
Typical flight numbers could be ZZ1000, ZZ1234, ZZ9999, etc.........and routings could be something like BTV-LAS, PIR-BIS, or even airport codes with no commercial service(i.e. HHR-HWD). Plus the times almost always show midnight.
ZZ1234 25JUN HHRHWD 1200m 1200m is an example of this kind of segment, in the PNR.
(1) Fake carrier & flight #; (2) date a few months out; (3)City pair---could be legitimate or non-existing route; (4) Times showing departure and arrival both at midnight.
Thanks very much. I believe this is however not used in Amadeus. In Amadeus a MIS element is used, Also called RU-Element in some countries... This usually doesn't contain a flight segment, but a three city code. In Checkmytrp this leads to strange entries showing as "MISCELLANIOUS FRANKFURT (GERMANY) 21JUN13" or something. The entry would be "RU 1A NN2 FRA 21JUN".
The ZZ is interesting though. Maybe this is still used in other GDS' or was used in the past in Amadeus (and still is with some agencies/tour operators). In Amadeus all I knew about ZZ is that it is a two letter code used for carriers which are not loaded in Amadeus. Some tour operators can i.e. use this to create passive bookings in Amadeus for system purposes when they contract i.e. a full charter... I.e. you would contract a flight with Titan Airways flight 7999 flying for a cruise from Bournemouth to Genoa, you could enter the flight details as flight ZZ7999 29JUN BOHGOA or something...
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