Uploading Unused Tickets
- IT Info
- Malissa Olofernes
As a site administrator, you can add unused tickets to your site (for a description of how users can book with unused tickets, see the Travel section of the user help). The file must contain the site name, the user’s login, the ticket number, carrier and value for each ticket. You can include more information such as penalty information, issue date and expiration date to add to the user experience. Here's what you need to know:
- You can upload up to 10 unused tickets per user.
- As you upload unused ticket files, each newly uploaded file replaces the previous information for each specific user in the file.
- When an upload is completed, any tickets previously marked as “pending exchange” will return to an available status if the same ticket is uploaded. If the ticket previously marked "pending exchange" is not included in the new upload file for that specific user, it will be removed from the user’s unused tickets.
- Deem can mark tickets as not eligible for exchange if the on-line process fails to do so. Enter a support case requesting help and include the site name, user name and ticket information.
To upload unused tickets, you can use the templates provided in the Partner Dashboard, and upload the file.
Unused Ticket Types: Validated and Non-validated
There are two types of unused tickets supported by the application: Validated Tickets (Tickets originating online and managed through the online unused ticket bank) and Non-validated Tickets (Tickets uploaded by an administrator using the upload unused tickets functionality).
The following rules apply when booking new reservations online.
- On the search results page, an unused ticket icon is placed below the applicable carrier in the matrix and on each applicable search result page for both validated and non-validated tickets. This is to remind the user they have an unused ticket that can be applied to their new trip.
- Validated Unused tickets are offered on single carrier, non-refundable itineraries where the exchange would result in an even exchange or additional collection. This is supported for the following carriers only: American (AA), Alaska (AS), Delta (DL), Frontier (F9), United (UA), US Airways (US) and Southwest SDA only (WN).
- Non-validated tickets are offered on any single carrier, non-refundable itineraries which could result in an even exchange, additional collection or residual balance.
- Policy can be configured to require a user to fly a carrier where an unused ticket can be applied when all other conditions compared to other carriers are in policy.
- When more than one unused ticket is available, the administrator can define whether the ticket closest to expiration is used or the ticket closest to the fare is used. See Booking, Change and Cancellation Configuration for more information.
- If the ticket is an online validated ticket, using the setting on the display config (value vs. nearest expiration date, the system will pre-filter tickets to not offer tickets that have a higher value than what is needed for the new trip.
- If it is an offline non-validated ticket, using the setting on the display config (value vs. nearest expiration date) the system will not pre-filter tickets with a residual value. It is up to the agency to determine exchange applicability per airline / per instance.
Validated Unused Tickets | Non-Validated Unused Tickets |
Must be single passenger / single carrier itinerary | Must be single passenger / single carrier itinerary |
Ticket must be marked as not pending exchange | Ticket must be marked as not pending exchange |
Cost is broken down on trip review page | Generic unused ticket message is placed on trip review page |
All coupons have “Open” status | Coupon status is not validated. Some coupons can be used or not available. |
Coupon status checked upon user login | Coupon status is not checked upon user login. |
Exchange would result in even exchange or additional collection | Exchange can result in even exchange, additional collection or residual value |
Residual value table verified – ticket exchanges that would result in a residual value will be pre-filtered out | Residual value table not verified – ticket exchanges that would result in a residual value will not be pre-filtered out |
Refundable tickets with zero penalty are marked as “unusable” and would not be offered for exchange | Penalty presence is not a factor in offering ticket. Penalty can be specific amount, zero or null. |
Domestic Origination | Domestic or International Origination |
Documentation can be used to complete an automated exchange | Unused tickets should be evaluated by an agent before an exchange is completed |
Do not display tickets past their expiration date | Do not display tickets past their expiration date |
How are unused validated tickets added to the database?
There are 3 ways a validated unused ticket is placed into the unused ticket database:
- When a user cancels a non-refundable ticket that originated online. Deem captures the ticket information and places it into the database for future use.
- When a user calls an agent directly to cancel a non-refundable ticket that originated online and the PNR is queued back to Deem’s designated queue.
- After the travel date, Deem checks the status of the ticket, and if all flight coupons still contain an “Open” status, the ticket is placed into the unused ticket database.
Note: A ticket will not be evaluated for the unused ticket bank if the PNR is not completely empty. If a PNR has air/hotel and the user cancels the air, the unused ticket will not be evaluated until the hotel is used or cancelled.
Offline tickets can be uploaded into the unused ticket database for any carrier as long as they have a 10 digit ticket number.
Downloading and Using the Template
To use the template and prepare the upload file, follow these steps:
- After clicking the Profiles tab, and click the Download Templates link. The Download Templates page appears.
- In the Unused Ticket Upload section of the page, click the link for the type of template you want to use:
- Download Template with Instructions (Excel): Click this link (at the bottom of the section) if you are unfamiliar with unused ticket uploading. It contains instructions as well as the rows and columns in a Microsoft Excel file. You can save this file as a comma-separated values (CSV).
- Download CSV template: Click this for a comma-separated values (CSV) file, assuming you already know how to format it.
Note: We strongly recommend using a text editor (such as Textpad or Notepad) or a CSV file editor (such as CSVed) to manipulate data in a CSV file. Avoid using Excel to open a CSV file, as date formats may change, and numeric values may be truncated and their leading zeros removed.
- Download Template with Instructions (Excel): Click this link (at the bottom of the section) if you are unfamiliar with unused ticket uploading. It contains instructions as well as the rows and columns in a Microsoft Excel file. You can save this file as a comma-separated values (CSV).
- After the template file is downloaded, open the file.
- Save the template file as a new file before adding or changing rows and columns.
Follow the instructions in the template file to prepare the file for uploading. The table following these steps shows each label for each template column, the field length for the value in the column, a description of the column, and a sample value.
- When finished editing your upload file, save a version of the file as a comma-separated values (CSV).
Editing Columns in the Template
Label | Field Length | Description | Sample | Mandatory/ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Optional | ||||
| domain | 100 alphanumeric | Domain (site) short name. | Acme | Mandatory |
| loginId | 64 alphanumeric | Login ID associated to a specific user on a domain (a.k.a. userName). | vbear2234 | Mandatory |
| ticketNumber1 | 13 numeric | Ticket Number including plating carrier code, excluding check digit.
| 006 8455 234 567 or 0068455234567 | Mandatory |
| carrierCode1 | 2 alphanumeric | Enter the two-letter airline code. If the ticket number is only 10 digits, this field becomes mandatory. | UA | Optional |
| recordLocator1 | 6 alphanumeric | This is the record locator in the GDS where the unused ticket can be accessed. It is assumed the GDS is the same as the primary GDS in your agency configuration for the specified domain. See Configuring Agency Settings for details. | EGVFEV | Optional |
| baseFare1 | 2 digit decimal | Base Fare Amount. | 100.00 | Optional |
| taxes1 | 2 digit decimal | Total Tax Amount. | 10.00 | Optional |
| fees1 | 2 digit decimal | Total Fees Amount. | 10.00 | Optional |
| totalFare1 | 2 digit decimal | Total Fare Amount of the original ticket. | 120.00 | Mandatory |
| penaltyAmount1 | 2 digit decimal | Amount of penalty. | 50.00 | Optional |
| currencyCode1 | 3 alpha | Currency Code of the amount on the original ticket. | USD | Mandatory |
| purchaseDate1 | yyyy-mm-dd | This is the date the original ticket was issued. | 2009-02-01 | Optional |
| expirationDate1 | yyyy-mm-dd | This is the date the ticket will expire. | 2009-12-31 | Optional |
| If not entered, the system will auto-create a date one year from the date of upload. | ||||
| ticketType1 | Up to 5 characters | This is the type of ticket issued. Available ticket types are:
| MCO | Optional |
| ticketNumber2 | 13 numeric | Ticket Number including carrier code, excluding check digit. | 006 8455 234 567 | Mandatory |
| carrierCode2 | 2 alpha | Airline carrier code. | UA | Optional |
| Record Locator2 | 6 alphanumeric | This is the record locator in the GDS where the unused ticket can be accessed. | EGVFEV | Optional |
| baseFare2 | 2 digit decimal | Base Fare Amount. | 100.00 | Optional |
| taxes2 | 2 digit decimal | Total Tax Amount. | 10.00 | Optional |
| fees2 | 2 digit decimal | Total Fees Amount. | 10.00 | Optional |
| totalFare2 | 2 digit decimal | Total Fare Amount of the original ticket. | 120.00 | Mandatory |
| penaltyAmount2 | 2 digit decimal | Amount of penalty. | 50.00 | Optional |
| currencyCode2 | 3 alpha | Currency Code of the amount on the original ticket. | USD | Mandatory |
| purchaseDate2 | yyyy-mm-dd | This is the date the original ticket was issued. | 2009-12-01 | Optional |
| expirationDate2 | yyyy-mm-dd | This is the date the ticket will expire. If not entered, the system will auto create a date one year from the date of issue. | 2009-12-31 | Optional |
| Ticket Type2 | 3 char | This is the type of ticket issued. Available ticket types are:
| MCO | Optional |
Scheduling the Upload
To schedule the upload, follow these steps:
- Click the Schedule Unused Ticket Upload link under the Profiles tab. The Schedule Unused Ticket Upload page appears.
- Choose Now in the Schedule dropdown menu to upload the file immediately, or choose one of the following:
- Once, on...: Choose for a one-time upload, and specify the start date and time in the Start Date and Time dropdown menus.
- Daily: Choose for a daily upload, specify the start date and time in the Start Date and Time dropdown menus, and choose one of the following for the Duration option:
- No end date.
- Through end date: specify the end date in the End date dropdown menu.
- Specify number of occurrences: Enter the number of occurrences.
- Periodic: Choose for a periodic upload, specify the start date and time in the Start Date and Time dropdown menus, specify how many hours and minutes to repeat the update process and how many times to repeat the process, and choose one of the following for the Duration option:
- No end date.
- Through end date: specify the end date in the End date dropdown menu.
- Specify number of occurrences: Enter the number of occurrences.
- Weekly or Bi-Weekly: Choose for a weekly or bi-weekly upload, click the "Occurs on" checkboxes for one or more days, specify the start date and time in the Start Date and Time dropdown menus, and choose one of the following for the Duration option:
- No end date.
- Through end date: specify the end date in the End date dropdown menu.
- Specify number of occurrences: Enter the number of occurrences.
- Monthly: Choose for a monthly upload, choose a month in the Start Month dropdown menu, choose the day of the month in the Occurs On (Day Of Month) dropdown menu, specify the time in the Time dropdown menu, and choose one of the following for the Duration option:
- No end date.
- Through end date: specify the end date in the End date dropdown menu.
- Specify number of occurrences: Enter the number of occurrences.
- In the Job Options section, enter a name for the job in Job Description and an email address to identify where the Job Completion Email will be sent.
- In the File Options section, click the Use Company External ID checkbox if you need to use that ID to access the SFTP server.
- Choose the SFTP server from the Secure Ftp dropdown menu, and enter the path to the file in the "Remote File / File Name Pattern" field. (For more information about setting up an SFTP server, see Setting Up SFTP Data Transfers.)
- Click Submit to upload the file.
Note: The upload file is moved from the Deem external directory to an internal data directory one hour after receipt. From this internal directory, the scheduler uploads the data into the site. The file must be uploaded the same day received (PST) when a recurring file is being scheduled.
Viewing Upload Schedules
To look at scheduled unused ticket upload jobs, follow these steps:
- Click the Unused Ticket Upload Schedules link under the Profiles tab. The Schedules page appears with a list of schedules.
- You can filter the list by choosing the schedule from the Schedule dropdown menu, and choosing the state (Active, Cancelled, or Expired) from the State dropdown menu.
- Click Done to finish.
How are unused tickets removed from the Unused Ticket Bank?
You can remove unused tickets from the unused ticket database 2 ways:
- Once an unused ticket is recommended for exchange, the ticket is automatically marked “Pending Exchange”. After the time frame designated in the administration area, (See Booking, Change and Cancellation Configuration for more information) Deem checks the status of the ticket again. If the coupon status is no longer “Open” the ticket is removed from the unused ticket bank.
- Each time a traveler logs in, Deem checks the status of all the unused tickets in the bank. If the coupon status is no longer “Open” the ticket is removed from the unused ticket bank.