Lincoln From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 3887 posts, RR: 8 Posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2688 times:
Hi All,
Oddball question, but I was looking through my boarding passes and bag tags for CO for the past year, and the though occurred to me...
How long before a reservation system reuses PNR numbers, and are PNR numbers used in sequence?
I had assumed that it would be a ~1 year period, but looking at my trip back in march (Continental PNR VKX66Q) and the trip I'm leaving for on Monday (CO PNR V90N**), if PNRs are used in sequence, it would appear that it was more like 6 months).
Also, why is it that CSRs seem suprised when I know the PNR number for my itin but not the flight numbers*...
Lincoln
* (For example, I know I'm going to IAH at about 3:00 with V90N** on Monday, but don't ask me what flight that is)
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Leskova From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 6075 posts, RR: 72 Reply 1, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 2657 times:
The PNRs are usually purged from the system within 3 days after the last segment is done (at least that's when Sabre throws them out - but I think it's roughly the same on all GDSs).
After that, the filekeys/record locators get reused as soon as they're needed: I had one filekey at work last week for which I've now twice issued a ticket this year, but it was for completely different passengers and completely different itineraries... it was even booked by completely different agencies: in other words, it was a complete coincidence.
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From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 3887 posts, 
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