Introduction to travel concepts and terminology

Introduction 4

Travel and Tourism Industry: An Introduction 5

Objective 5

Travel and Tourism Industry 6

Overview Travel and Tourism 6

Module Summary 7

Travel-Related Organizations and Associations 8

Objectives 8

Travel-Related Organizations 9

Module Summary 10

Time Zones and the 24-Hour Clock 11

Objectives 11

History of Time Zones 12

24-Hour Clock 13

Internet Reference Site 13

Module Summary 14

Codes: City, Airport, Airline, Car, and Hotel Codes 15

Objectives 15

City, Airport, Airline, Car, and Hotel Codes 15

Hub and Spoke 16

Internet Reference Site 16

Module Summary 17

Computer Reservation System (CRS) 18

Objectives 18

Computer Reservation System (CRS) 19

Different Types of Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs) 19

SELEX Exception Automation 21

Internet Reference Site 21

Module Summary 21

Traveling By Air 22

Objectives 22

Air Travel: An Overview 23

Types of Aircraft 23

Booking Class / Classes of Service 23

Booking Codes 25

Airline Codes 26

Types of Agreements 27

Different Types of Trips 28

Different Types of Flights of Breaks 29

Module Summary 30

Airline Policies 31

Objectives 31

Overview 32

Passenger Type Codes (PTCs) 36

Types of Tickets 39

Fares and Fare Basis Codes 41

Voids, Exchanges, and Refunds 43

LTA / PTA / MCO 44

Packages and Schedule Changes 45

Module Summary 46

International Travel Considerations 47

Objectives 47

Travel Documentation 48

Visa 48

Immunizations 49

Internet Reference Site 49

Module Summary 49

Cars 50

Objectives 50

Basic Car Types and Services 51

Basic Car Policies 53

Module Summary 54

Hotels 55

Objectives 55

Basic Hotel Types and Services 56

Basic Hotel Policies 57

Module Summary 57

Work Habits
Traveling is often done under pressure and at the last minute. This pressure is often transferred to the travel professional that must respond effectively and efficiently. The job can be very demanding and require you to make important decisions and offer advice to your customers.

Self-motivation
A travel professional needs the ability to see what needs to be done and to be able to decide how to accomplish it. This is an invaluable skill, especially when working without supervision.

Organization
In the travel industry, no two days are alike. There are so many different functions that you will be asked to perform. You must be able to set priorities, organize your time to accomplish your job responsibilities, and have the ability to adapt to change.

Positive Attitude

Flexibility
The travel industry is very fast paced, and you will need to keep up with the product changes that occur on a daily basis. The different requests of your management team and your customers will require you to be flexible.

Teamwork

Patience
Patience is a virtue; in the travel industry, it is also a necessity. Customers do not always make up their minds quickly. Airlines and other vendors have very strict rules and regulations. Your supervisors may make what seems to you ridiculous demands on your time; and just when you thought you knew it all, every thing changes. Patience will make your job much easier.

Module Summary
In this module, we have covered the following:

• 
  Service excellence tips in the travel industry
  

Travel-Related Organizations and Associations

Travel-related organizations and associations cooperate between airlines and air travel providers for promoting safe, reliable, secure, and economical air services for the benefit of air travel consumers. In addition, some of these associations maintain ongoing and effective representation and dialogue with the airline industry and government organizations on a wide variety of issues of concern. Tour operators, travel wholesalers and national and international travel suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and cruise and rail lines also provide valued support and input as allied members to these associations.

Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:

• 
  Provide a brief overview of travel-related organizations and associations.
  

Travel-Related Organizations

	Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the division of the Department of Transportation (DOT) that is responsible for airline traffic control, aircraft certification, passenger safety, and the licensing of pilots.
	American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is an organization whose members include travel agents, tour operators, and other travel industry vendors.
	International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a conference made up of several international airlines. It is responsible for inter-airline cooperation in promoting safe, reliable, secure and economical air services for the benefit of consumers around the world. Founded in 1945 in Havana, IATA brings together over 270 airlines, including the world's largest. Flights by these airlines comprise more than 95 percent of all international scheduled air traffic. The modern IATA is the successor to the International Air Traffic Association founded in the Hague in 1919 – the year of the world’s first international scheduled services. IATA authorizes agreements between airlines and travel agents for international ticketing. IATA sets common policy and controls data specifications for all standard traffic documents used worldwide.
	International Airlines Travel Agency Network (IATAN) is responsible for: Promoting professionalism Administering meaningful and impartial business standards Providing cost-effective products, services and educational programs that benefit the travel industry It appoints and monitors U.S. Travel agencies for the sale of international travel. It is made up of several international airlines and is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IATAN Registration program offers several highly desirable services: It helps agency staff receive industry concessions. The IATAN Travel Agent ID Card is the key to industry recognition, and is part of a worldwide program. It identifies US Airline Appointed Agency and Travel Sales Intermediary (TSI) Agency personnel. This photo ID contains the agents’ name, Verification # (VER#), the name of the agency, its numeric code, service date, position and other information. Professional travel agents have embraced the IATAN Travel Agent ID Card as an internationally recognized means of personal identification. This is a growing program in both the agency and supplier sectors of the industry.

BSP

ARC (Airline Reporting Corporation) is a corporation jointly owned by most U.S. Airlines. Many non-owner carriers, both domestic and foreign also participate in the ARC program. ARC appoints (approves) new travel agencies for the sale of domestic airlines tickets. ARC is also responsible for monitoring travel agency standards of operation. ARC supplies ticket stock, assigns ticket numbers to travel offices. The offices must comply with strict security procedures specified by ARC. ARC has the power to close a travel agency for failure to follow specified operating regulations. Money from domestic and international airline tickets, as well as from certain railroads, sold by travel agencies is collected by ARC and is then distributed to the appropriate airline or railroad, through the corporations Area Settlement program. Any airline (or railroad) is eligible to use ARC’s services upon signing a Carrier Services Agreement and meeting ARC’s requirements. At the end of the second quarter of 2001, ARC had 37,317 accredited travel agency locations (travel agent retail and satellite ticket printer (STP) locations), 91 ARC accredited corporate travel departments (CTD), 134 participating air carriers, and 3 participating railroads. BSP (Billing and Settlement Plan) is essentially the same as ARC, but is mostly used internationally. It is a system designed to facilitate and simplify the selling, reporting and remitting procedures of IATA Accredited Passenger Sales Agents, as well as improve financial control and cash flow for BSP Airlines.

Apply Your Knowledge
	Settlement Processing Services (SPS) is the TRX Department that manages the relationship of TRX with ARC. This department falls under the TRANXACT Solution and is managed by Rita Anderson, Manager Settlement Processing.

Module Summary

In this module, we have covered the following:

• 
  Travel-related organizations and associations
  

Time Zones and the 24-Hour Clock

A time zone is a longitudinal strip of the Earth's surface, stretching from pole to pole and sharing the same time of day or night. We have 24 hours in a day. Therefore it seemed logical to allow for time changes on an hourly basis. In practice, however, the zone boundary lines are drawn to accommodate political units as a number of countries differ considerably from international practice in time designation. As the time zones extend around the world, the 24^th zone has to lie next to the first one.

Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:

• 
  Provide a brief overview of the history of time zones.
  
• 
  Define twenty-four hour clock.
  

History of Time Zones
Before the late nineteenth century, time keeping was essentially a local phenomenon. Each town would set official time on their clocks according to the motions of the sun and the citizens would set their watches and clocks accordingly. However, because of the nature of how local time was kept, the railroad companies experienced major problems in constructing timetables for the various stops. Timetables could have only become more efficient if the towns and cities adopted some type of standard method of keeping time.
In 1878, Sir Sanford Fleming, a Canadian, suggested a system of worldwide time zones that would simplify the keeping of time across the Earth. Fleming proposed that the globe be divided into 24 time zones, each 15 degrees of longitude in width. Since the world rotates once every 24 hours on its axis and there are 360 degrees of longitude, each hour of Earth rotation represents 15 degrees of longitude.

In 1884, an International Prime Meridian Conference was held in Washington D.C. to adopt and standardize the method of time keeping and determined the location of the Prime Meridian. It was agreed that the longitude of Greenwich, England would become zero degrees longitude and the 24 time zones were established relative to the Prime Meridian. It was also proposed that the measurement of time on the Earth would be made relative to the astronomical measurements at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This time standard was called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The Universal Time Coordinate (UTC) has replaced GMT as the standard legal reference of time all over the world in 1972. UTC is determined from six primary atomic clocks that are coordinated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) located in France.

24-Hour Clock
Almost all airline tickets that are issued outside of the United States indicate departure times in the 24-hour clock.

Using the 24-hour clock avoids confusion and reduces errors on identifying AM and PM. The 24-hour clock is always portrayed in four digits, to include both hours and minutes. The cycle begins at one minute past midnight (0001), progressing through the day and ending at midnight (2400). Morning hours are easy to determine. For PM times, the simplest thing to do is add 1200 so they become the corresponding PM time.
To convert the 24-hour clock back to the 12-hour clock, just subtract 1200 from the PM time.

Internet Reference Site
To know more about time zone conversions discussed in the sections above, please visit:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/timezone.htm

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Apply Your Knowledge
	The TRX offices globally are in the following time zones: Americas Atlanta, Georgia – Eastern Time (EST) Dallas, Texas – Central Time (CST) Milton, Florida – Central Time (CST) Tysons Corner, Virginia – Eastern Time (EST) Asia Bangalore, India – India Standard Time (IST) Europe Berlin, Germany – Central European Time (CET) Leicester, United Kingdom – Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

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