Branded and Flex Fares
- Malissa Olofernes
- Lori Guillory
On this page:
Overview
Branded fares refers to airlines bundling fares with options and features, such as refundability, miles accrual, or a pre-reserved seat, baggage, or meal. Branded fares allow flyers to select the experience that best fits their preferences and the purpose of their journey. Clear display of included and optional services, as well as features, increases conversion rate and promotes customer retention.
A flexible fare (or flex fare) is usually more expensive than the basic economy or standard fare. However, flexible fares allow travelers to make changes or cancel their flights without incurring a fee or penalty. These fares offer ultimate flexibility, where customers can rebook or change tickets with no fee, can travel on an earlier flight on the same day at no cost, and are allowed a refund without a fee.
Flexible fares must be enabled. If they are not enabled, users only see the lowest fare offered. Flexible fares are available to all Deem-supported GDSs except for Worldspan.
Enable branded fares
Branded fares are fares bundled with other options, such as refundability or a pre-reserved seat.
From the partner dashboard home page, select the Settings link for the site you want to modify.
From the top menu, select the Services tab.
Select Travel Agency.
Select Agency Settings.
Select an active agency settings link.
Scroll down to the Air Pricing section.
For Price and store fare using GDS branded fare codes, select Yes.
Scroll to the bottom and select Save to save your changes.
Commit your changes.
When branded fares are enabled, travelers can select the Compare Fares option:
Other fare options display:
Technical notes for Sabre customers
Deem adds brand ID in the PQ when branded fare pricing is active.
Branded fares are stored by segment.
Example of branded fares stored in Sabre:
PQ 1 S1*BRREFMAINÂ¥XPÂ¥ADLÂ¥PADT
Brand is Refundable Main Cabin
Fares will be stored using the existing Sabre format – there is no change to this functionality.
Enable flexible fares
A flexible fare (or flex fare) is usually more expensive than the basic economy or standard fare, and it allows travelers to make changes or cancel their flights without incurring a fee or penalty.
Flexible fares must be enabled. If they are not enabled, users only see the lowest fare offered. Flexible fares are available to all Deem-supported GDSs except for Worldspan.
From the partner dashboard home page, select the Settings link for the site you want to modify.
From the top menu, select the Services tab.
Select Display Configuration.
Select Display Configurations List.
Select the display policy you want to modify.
Scroll down toward the end of the Air Shopping Display Configuration section.
For Enable flexible fare search, select Yes.
Save and commit your changes.
When flexible fares are enabled, customers can select the Compare Fares option to choose the fare that fits their needs:
Technical notes for Sabre customers
For our partners, the flex fares feature will not impact your mid- or back-office systems, as the PNR will look exactly like current flight PNRs.