Airline Fare Pricing Engine

Air fares can be set within the system as non-combinable, combinable or combinable only which gives control over how single sector fares can be pieced together to make combined fares for more complex journeys.

Non Combinable
A fare marked as Non Combinable can only be used on its own as a one way single sector fare.

Combinable
A fare marked Combinable can be used either as a one way fare or can asle be combined with another combinable fare to make a round trip booking or a more complex mutiple sector booking.

Combinable Only
A Combinable Only fare can only be used in combination with another Combinable fare and never as a one way fare. These fares usually have a lower value than a one way fare to provide discount to passengers making longer journeys with the airline.

For more traditional airlines VRS gives the capability to file round trip fares (also known as return fares) for bookings where the itinerary has both an outbound and inbound flight sector present. In this case the airline will file just one price for the entire journey without any breakdown - the passenger will not be able to see the sector price of a particular flight in the booking. These fares can also be used for more complex itineraries with multiple sectors.

Airlines will file fares in a currency and the system is then able to automatically convert to another currency based on the exchange rates within the system to the appropriate currency for the user.

In addition to this some airlines who wish to have greater control over fares will file a fare in each different currency that the airline accepts for sales and settlement. This gives the advantage of being able to control different rates for different markets as well as being able to offer exact fares in that currency e.g. $100.00 rather than a conversion from another currency that might give $101.28.

VRS has 8 different passenger types - Adults, Children, Infants, Seated Infants, Youths, Senior, Teacher and Student. The standard fare filled will by default be for adults and then the airline has the possibility to provide discounts for any of the other passenger types (although not all the passenger types must be used). The discounts may be given as a percentage discount, fixed discount or a fixed fare amount.

The fares database has a very large array of parameters that can be set to control the use of the fare. Date ranges restrict the use of the fare to be within a pre-determined time period as well as being able to restruct the fares to different times of the day. Minimum and maximum number of nights stay as well as advance purchase controls provide revenue management techniques to be employed. Fares can also be retricted for use on specified days of the week. Many other parameters also exist to help the airline maximize revenues.

Fare Rules and Endorsements are predefined by the airline in the system and then applied to fares as applicable. These are displayed to the users in all the booking interface, are dynamically displayed on the public website and are listed on the customer email booking confirmation. Baggage restrictions are also applied to fares on a class by class basis and are also included on the email confirmation.