Groups Bookings according to GDS

Group Prompt Cards per GDS: 

A. Galileo and Worldspan users.

B. Amadeus users.

C. Sabre users.

A.Galileo and Worldspan users:

If you are a Galileo or Worldspan user please refer to following instructions:

Step 1 - Apply for access to Drop Through (Galileo) or Groups Bridge (Worldspan) which are automated tools. The access request takes 5 working days to be processed and will allow you easy transfer from an Amadeus booking created by BA to the Galileo or Worldspan agent.

Claim your access to the Group Automated Tools here. 

Step 2 - Fill in the following form to request a fare quote. Please click here. British Airways will create a booking and reply to you via email.

Step 3 - Open BA PNR in your Drop Through (Galileo) or Groups Bridge (Worldspan)

.Drop Through-Galileo:
@@BA/GROUP
Display the PNR: *XXXXXX (Amadeus PNR ref)

.Groups Bridge-Worldspan:
@BA@*Amadeus PNR ref
@*CPY
6 XX (add received from)
ER

At this stage, it's over to you to follow up your Group Booking:

a) With Galileo Drop Through

b) With Worldspan Groups Bridge

a) Groups bookings with Galileo Drop Through:

The booking raised by BA via Drop Through generates a passive PNR. This passive booking is purely used to issue the tickets for the group directly in the Galileo system. The indicator “DT” at the end of each segment shows that the PNR was created in Drop Through. Any further amendments MUST be made via Drop Through, directly in the British Airways system, which will subsequently be re-transmitted into the passive booking in Galileo.

MISCELLANEOUS:

• SI.BA/P5.12/VLML Request a vegetarian meal for Passenger 5 on segment 12
• *ALL Display PNR showing individual names
• N.SMITH/ANNAMRS+N.I/SMITH/DAVID
  Enter infant name in PNR
• SA*S48
  Display seat map for line 48 (where line 48 is the element for flight sector)
• *R
  Displays your booking file

CONFIRMATION OF RESERVATION

Confirmation of booking and price will be sent with status code “HK” to queue 0 of your office. The fare, which could be confirmed, will be shown as SR element in the booking.

• NP.KK EUR200
  Add remark confirming the quoted rate
• QEB/AMSBA07R1/87
  Queue PNR to British Airways

HOW TO ISSUE AN E-TICKET FOR GROUP BOOKINGS

To ensure successful issue of e-tickets, please key in the following mandatory e-ticket entries:

• Passenger relate the TKP field until all passengers have been ticketed. End and retrieve the PNR. Each time you issue a batch of up to 9 e-tickets
  

TKP1 P1-9/ET Issue e-ticket for passengers 1-9
TKP1 P10-18/ET Issue e-ticket for passengers 10-18

Once e-tickets have been issued check the e-ticket number have been transferred to the British Airways group PNR, if not please contact BA Group Sales.

• Name Changes (after original issue)

a) DP7 Split individual from the main group booking in the Drop Thru PNR

b) F End the PNR and file the associated PNR

c) SI.44
Delete the old ticket number from the Drop Thru PNR (find appropriate TKNE item, add entry SI.44 where 44 is the element number in the SI field in Galileo)

d) N.P1@SMITH/JOHNMR
Name change in the new locator

e) TKPET
Issue a new e-ticket

• Refund the name-changed e-ticket
  To refund the name-changed e-ticket please follow current refund processes.
  

TRNE12512345678901/14MAY04
Raise an automatic e-ticket refund mask – ticket number, including date of issue)

Complete Automated Refund Screen
Refer for a full refund incl. taxes (Fuel (YQ) surcharges are excluded of refund). ETR status will change to RFND. BSP account will be credited. Remember to update your own accounting system.

NAME CHANGE – 1252222111333
Enter a remark in the refund mask "NAME CHANGE new e-ticket number"

MAINTENANCE OF GROUP BOOKINGS

You can easily maintain your group bookings:

• N.1FLIGHT/AMRS
  Enter individual seats
• N.P 1=SMITH/JMR
  Change individual names
• Re-bookings Amend the original-PNR with the new air segments or flight dates and start the process to request new seats. Please be aware that re-bookings can result in changes in group fares. Please enter the SSR-GRPF-element including rate again.
• 3 SSR GRPS BA TCP20* ABCDEF
  Request additional seats by creating a new booking for the additional seats and add an SR referring to the original PNR (123ABC – PNR code of the original PNR)
• N.G=5X
  Reducing number of seats before names are entered
• N.P2-4=X
  Reducing number of seats after names are entered

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Drop Through bookings can only be used for British Airways flights (no code-shares).
• Important changes to the GDS entries for APIS and Secure Flight Data for groups:
  The Industry Standard entries are now required.
  For groups bookings, British Airways now requires that the Industry Standard entries SSRDOCS / SSRDOCA / SSRDOCO are used for all APIS data and minimum Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD).
  The SSRDOC entries replace the RM PSPT format that was previously in use.
  The use of the new SSRDOC entry format becomes mandatory with immediate effect.
  
  For more information please visit this page.

CONTACTS

Should you need any further information on Galileo Drop Through please contact:

• Your local Galileo helpdesk
  
  or
  
• Your local British Airways groups department

b) Groups bookings with Worldspan Groups Bridge :

Confirming the quoted rate:

British Airways will send the PNR to your queue. When you have accepted the quote, add the following remark and queue back:

Ticketing

Please issue e-tickets.

Entries:

 
Important note:

At present there will be no passive booking returned after you have ended or queued the booking.

YOU MUST NOT create a separate passive for your group bookings as this will cause you problems when you have to issue tickets using LEND.

Contacts

Should you need any further information on Worldspan Group Bridge please contact:

• Your Worldspan helpdesk
  
  or
  
• Our local BA groups department

B. Amadeus users:

This is a step by step group booking guide for Amadeus users.

Automated group bookings in Amadeus

British Airways has automated the process of group bookings. Availability display, booking and maintenance of your groups can be handled by yourself in Amadeus (not applicaple for codeshare flights).

This is applicable for the following booking classes:
G (World Traveller and Euro Traveller)
T (World Traveller Plus)
I (Club Europe and Club World)
A (First Class)

Availability display
With the following entry the system will search for all flights on which seats in the booking classes G, T, I and A are available.
The letter "R" or the number "9" will allow you to request a group as there are still seats available for group bookings:
AN BA 01MAY AMSLON/RGRP

The next entry will display all possible flights irrespective of the actual availablility of the booking class for groups. Codes "GC" (C closed) and GS (S sold) signify that G-Glass is closed for sale and no further bookings can be made:
SN BA 01MAY AMSLON/RGRP

Booking process

The entry to request seats is as follows: SS 10 G1 /RG (request 10 seats for flight in Line 1)
The response will always be a request booking with status "HN":
To finalise your booking the following entries are required:

NG 10 SUNTOURS/BAGROUP Group name
TKOK Ticketing information
RF CS Received from
AP AMS 01-123456- A Agency phone contact
AP AMS HAPPY TRAVEL Agency name
SRGRPFBA - ADHOC GROUP Group booking indicator
RM IATA NUMBER 9123456 Agency IATA number

To obtain the confirmation for requested seats you will need to queue your booking to your designated British Airways groups department, e.g. QE/AMSBA07R1/87

• To add a remark:
  RM free format 
  You can advise for example your flexibility.
• To request less than 9 additional seats to an existing group only – add the following TCP confirming in the OSI field:
  OS BA ABCDEF

Confirmation of Reservation

Confirmation of booking and price will be sent with status code “HK” to queue 87 of your office. The fare will show as SR element in the booking.

• RM KK EUR200
  Add remark confirming the quoted rate of EUR200
• QE/AMSBA07R1/87
  Queue PNR to British Airway
  
  or
  
• XI
  Cancel the PNR if you do not accept the price (if you do not cancel within 10 days after you have received the booking on your queue we will consider it confirmed from your side)

Maintenance of group bookings

You can easily maintain your group bookings:

• XE 0.5
  Cancel blocked seats before entering names
• XE 2-4
  Cancel seats with assigned name elements
• 2-4G
  Delete name items and retain group size
• SR GRPSBA TCP20*123ABC
  Request additional seats by creating a new booking for the additional seats and add an SR referring to the original PNR (123ABC – PNR code of the original PNR)
• Re-bookings
  Amend the original-PNR with the new air segments or flight dates and start the process to request new seats. Please be aware that re-bookings can result in changes in group fares. Please enter the SSR-GRPF-element including rate again.
• NM 1 TEST/MR
  Add names (Please be aware that bookings without names can be cancelled by BA 30 days before departure.)

How to issue an e-ticket for group bookings

To ensure successful issue of e-tickets, you must use the following ticketing entries. Please make sure to end and retrieve the PNR after each batch of e-tickets:

Passenger relate the Form of Payment field:
FQP/P1-9 For passengers 1-9
FQP/P10-18 For passengers 10-18

Basic entry can be lengthened to include other text
FPNONREF/P1-9 For passengers 1-9
FPNONREF/P10-18 For passengers 10-18

Each Form of Payment can be added to the PNR at the same time
(example 30 passengers in the same PNR)
FP/P1-9 For passengers 1-9
FP/P10-18 For passengers 10-18
FP/P19-27 For passengers 19-27

TTP/ET Issue e-ticket

Once e-tickets have been issued check that the e-ticket numbers have been transferred to the British Airways group PNR, if not please contact BA Group Sales.

Name Changes (after original issue)
SP7 Split individual from the main group booking
RFHELEN: EF End the split PNR therefore creating a new booking locator
XE46 Delete old ticket number from the new locator
NU1/1SMITH/JOHN MR Name change in the new locator - Contact BA Group Sales if unable to name change
TTP/ET/ITR Issue a new e-ticket and print itinerary

Refund the Name Changed e-ticket
1. Display ETR using TWD entry
Raise an automatic e-ticket refund mask

2. Enter appropriate refund format:
TWREF - complete automated refund screen, ETR status will change to R, follow local BSP procedures for remittance, refer for a full refund

3. NAME CHANGE – 1252222111333
Enter a remark in the refund mask "NAME CHANGE - new e-ticket number"

Additional information

• Automated Group Bookings can only be made for British Airways flights (no code-shares).
• Valid booking classes are: G (World und Euro Traveller), T (World Traveller Plus), I (Club Europe and Club World), A (First Class)
• Important changes to the GDS entries for APIS and Secure Flight Data for groups:
  The Industry Standard entries are now required.
  For groups bookings, British Airways now requires that the Industry Standard entries SSRDOCS / SSRDOCA / SSRDOCO are used for all APIS data and minimum Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD).
  The SSRDOC entries replace the RM PSPT format that was previously in use.
  The use of the new SSRDOC entry format becomes mandatory with immediate effect.
  
  For more information please visit this page.

Contacts

Should you need any further information for Automated Group Bookings please contact:

• Your local Amadeus helpdesk
  or
• Your local British Airways Groups department

C. Sabre users:

This is a step-by-step group booking guide for Sabre users.

Sabre Multi Access enables you to create a group booking via an Amadeus office ID allocated to Sabre DFW1W2GRP. This procedure will allow you to issue tickets for groups you have booked on British Airways flights from a passive PNR.

BOOKING PROCESS

Please use/key in the following mandatory entries:

1. ¤¤BAL
Move into Multi-Access mode

2. 117JULAMSLON
Availability entry (the system will search for available seats in booking class G, T, I and A)

3. 015G7
Request 15 seats in G-class from line 7 (The response will always be a request booking with status “NN”)

4. -C/10BAGROUP
Add number of passengers and group name.
-C/(nbr in party plus group name)

5. –0_C/15TESTSABRE
Amend group name (Please note: this is only possible in PNR creation)

6. 9 020 12345678 AGENT NAME REF SK
Add telephone number with agency details

7. 5 IATA NUMBER
Add remark with agency IATA number

8. 3 SSRGRPF BA ADHOC GROUP
Add SSR with „ADHOC GROUP”

9. 6 REF LW
Add received from field

10. *A
Display all PNR elements including individual names

11. QP/AMSBA07R1/87
Queue PNR to British Airways. You will find the correct queue number in the prompt-card.

Note: To add a remark (to advise for example your flexibility...):
5 free format 

CONFIRMATION OF RESERVATION

Confirmation of booking and price will be sent with status code “HK“ to your Multi Access queue 0. The fare to be confirmed will show in the SR element in the PNR. On acceptance please enter the following remark and queue the PNR back to BA.

• 5 KK EUR500
  Add remark confirming the quoted rate of 500
• QP/AMSBA07R1/87
  Queue PNR to British Airways

MAINTENANCE OF GROUP BOOKINGS

You can easily maintain your group bookings:

• -1 TEST/MR
  Add names (Please be aware that bookings without names can be cancelled by BA 30 days before departure.)
  -2APPLES/AMRS/JIM (CHD)
  Add multiple names with child
  -1ORANGE/AMR(INF/AMBER)
  Add individual name with infant
• -10¤
  Removing name for passenger 10
• -10¤
  Amending names by removing the old name, end
  transaction, then retrieve PNR again and add new name
• DC/2
  Divide PNR with group name (divide 2 passengers)
• D1
  Divide PNR with individual names (divide passenger 1)
• 3 SSRGRPF BA TCP20*123ACB
  Request additional seats by creating a new booking for the additional seats and add an SR referring to the original PNR (123ABC – PNR code of the original PNR)
• ZZRS(segment to be changed),(new position)
  Rearrange segments in PNR in BAL system 

QC/ALL Queue count
Q To access the BA queue
I Ignore the PNR and leave it on the queue
E End the PNR after changes made and remove from the queue
QR Removes PNR unchanged from the queue
QX Exit the queue

MOVE BACK INTO SABRE:

¤¤RES Leaving connection to BA open
QUIT Ending connection to BA

HOW TO ISSUE AN E-TICKET FOR GROUP BOOKINGS

When the booking in Sabre Multi Access is finalised a passive PNR (Merge Back PNR) is automatically created in Sabre. Once you are ready to ticket you only need to update the passive PNR with the passenger names and the fare calculation and can then issue the tickets from there.

Group bookings are defined as bookings with 10+ passengers but can also be for less than 10 passengers who are attached to a group. The following processes apply to both booking types.

• Step 1: Mergeback BA PNR to Sabre

  To ensure successful e-ticket issue, please key in the following MANDATORY entries:
  

1. ¤¤BAL
Move into Multi Access mode

2. *Record Locator
Retrieve BA Group PNR

3. 6REF AGENT NAME
Enter received from field 6

4. E
End BA PNR which will then merge back into Sabre as a GK

5. -C/15GROUPNAME
Add number of party and group name - group name must be exactly match with group name and number in BA PNR including spaces

6. -25SMITH/LEOMR/BERYLMRS
Add passenger names - passenger names must exactly match with passengers name in the BA PNR including spaces

Complete PNR as normal, moving over agency star, etc...

• Step 2: Issuing e-tickets in the Sabre PNR

  Issue the e-tickets as normal utilising Phase 3, 3.5, 3.75 or 4 ticketing. However, the maximum number of e-tickets that can be issued at one time is 9. Therefore, for any PNRs that exceed this number the ticketing entry will be required to be name related. End and retrieve the PNR after each batch of up to 9 e-tickets have been issued. This will generate smaller teletype messages to be transferred between systems.
  

Example: ‡N2-5.2.

Example e-ticketing entry:
W‡T1N2-5.2‡ABA‡FAGENTNONREF‡UB*1212121‡ETR
(first nine passengers)

W‡T1N5.3-8.2‡ABA‡FAGENTNONREF‡UB*1212121‡ETR
(second nine passengers)

Once e-tickets have been issued check the e-ticket numbers have been transferred to the British Airways group PNR, if not please contact BA Group Sales.

• Step 3: Corrective Procedures

1. Group name in Sabre PNR must exactly match group name in BA PNR otherwise the e-ticket will not be transferred to BA.

Corrective action:
If e-tickets have already been issued, then VOID. Delete existing -C/name by entering -1¤. Re-enter correct -C/15GROUP NAME including/excluding spaces and any applicable slashes.

2. Individual name in Sabre PNR must exactly match name in BA PNR including spaces otherwise a "NO" status will be returned.

Corrective action:
Correct name in Sabre PNR. Remerge BA segments onto Sabre PNR cancelling NO segments. Issue e-tickets.

3. Check e-ticket numbers have been transferred to the BA PNR. If not the e-ticket will be missing from the BA system.

Corrective action:
Contact BA Group Sales to advise e-ticket numbers missing from the BA PNR. BA Group Sales will update the BA PNR.

Name Changes on e-tickets (after original issue):

Contact BA Group Sales to action name change. BA Group Sales consultant will split individual from the main BA locator, giving a new BA locator, with the name change in the new locator.

Once the e-ticket has been issued you are unable to do name changes. Create a new PNR from the new locator given by BA. Remember you must also include the -C/GROUP NAME. Issue a new e-ticket.

Any refund for the name-changed e-ticket must be processed manually.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Automated Group Bookings can only be made for British Airways flights (no codes-hares).
• Important changes to the GDS entries for APIS and Secure Flight Data for groups:
  The Industry Standard entries are now required.
  For groups bookings, British Airways now requires that the Industry Standard entries SSRDOCS / SSRDOCA / SSRDOCO are used for all APIS data and minimum Secure Flight Passenger Data (SFPD).
  The SSRDOC entries replace the RM PSPT format that was previously in use.
  The use of the new SSRDOC entry format becomes mandatory with immediate effect.
  
  For more information please visit this page.

CONTACTS

Should you need any further information on Sabre Multi Access please contact

• Your local Sabre helpdesk
  
  or
  
• Your local British Airways groups department