Overview

Flight configurations applied to templates allow a Tour Operator to pre-define flights that should be offered with a tour. While instantiating the itinerary on Discovery, the configured flights will be searched and instantiated at the same time as the whole itinerary. 

In the planner, the flight offers are restricted to changes or removal based on the set restrictions in the template. 

How to enable Flight Configuration on Templates?

To be able to use flight configurations on the template level, the features need to be enabled in settings. 

• Go to Cockpit

• Click on Settings

• Go to General Settings - Cockpit

• Enable feature flag - Flight Configuration on Templates

• Click Save

How to set Flights on Templates? 

Once the feature flag is enabled, a new tab Flight Configuration will be displayed on Templates in Cockpit. 

If No Restrictions is selected 

• the default flight configurations defined at the DC level for this merchant apply to this template.

If Land Arrangement Only is selected

• flights will not be sold as part of this template.
• No flight/transport UI will be displayed in the Planner for this template and the user will not be able to book a flight. 

If Fixed is selected

• an Add Flight Configuration button will be displayed, which allows adding the details of the flight (from specific suppliers or inventory).
• In the Planner, the user will see the flight offer added to the template.
• No UI is shown to remove or select a different flight offer.

If Restricted is selected

• an Add Flight Configuration button will be displayed, to add flight offers per season and supplier
• a Buffer Times section to define specific buffer times (which overrides the ones defined in Cockpit - Settings - Buffer Times)
• an Alternative Flights section to restrict the flights retrieved if a new flight search is triggered at the Planner level
• an Airline Ordering section to define the flight order in Planner, when a flight search is triggered
• In Planner, the added flight in Flight Configuration will be shown in the template
• A Replace/Remove option is shown to trigger a new flight search

How to add Flight Offers to Flight Configuration?

For Fixed and Restricted Flight Configuration, flight offers can be added to limit or restrict the offers visible to the user. For this, some information must be prepared beforehand:

• Departure Airport
• Destination Airport
• Supplier
• Start/End dates
• Carrier Code(s)/Transport Number
• Class
• Fare Type
• Booking Class Code(s)

Fixed Flight Configuration

Before adding a flight offer, a season must be defined:

• Click on Add Flight Configuration
• Add a Start/End date
• Define the offer Source/Supplier

To add a flight offer:

• Click on New Outbound Flight
• Add the asked information in the modal
• Click OK
• Click Save

• If the flight has segments, click on New Outbound Flight segment
• Fill in the asked information to define the segment
• Click OK
• Click Save

To add an Inbound Flight:

• Click on New Inbound Flight
• Fill in the asked information in the modal
• Click OK
• Click Save

To add an Inventory Flight, the previous steps apply. However, if the flight has an associated tag, the latter can be used to connect the flight to the template:

• Click on New Outbound Flight
• Add the Departure airport and flight tag
• Select the adequate Class

• Click OK
• Click Save

Restricted Flight Configuration

This configuration is similar to the Fixed Flight Configuration, where:

• independent seasons must be created
• flights can be added to each season, for specific suppliers
• tags can be used to add Inventory Flights

However, Restricted Flight Configuration offers additional conditions, such as Buffer Times, Alternative Flights and Airline Ordering.

Buffer Times

Buffer times defined via Flight Configuration override buffer times defined in Cockpit - Settings - Buffer Times. To add buffer times:

• Click on the text box
• Write the intended buffer time
• Click Save

Alternative Flights

Restricted flight configuration enables the user to trigger a new flight search, at the Planner level. By defining alternative flights (from live suppliers), the flight search will only display specific flights, thus limiting the user to particular offers.

To add Alternative Flights:

• Click on Add a New Flight (Carrier Code + Transport Number)
• Fill the text fields with the Carrier Code and Transport Number
• Click Save

Airline Ordering

Arline Ordering enables preferential ordering to some airlines versus others at the Planner level.

To add an Airline Ordering:

• Click on the button to add a New Airline to the List
• Add a Carrier Code
• Click Save

How Flight Configuration impacts the Planner flow?

Each Flight Configuration impacts the Planner in a different way, offering a panoply of scenarios where the user can select (or not) flight offers and be limited (or not) to certain ones.

• If Flight Configuration is set to No Restrictions, the user can select any offer available for that specific day. The user can trigger a flight search, replace and remove selected flight offers, all at the Planner level.

• For a Flight Configuration set to Land Arrangement Only, the Flights or Transport tab is not shown in Planner. In this case, the user can not, at any point, select a flight offer.
• As for the Fixed Flight Configuration, only one of the available flights added to the template via Cockpit is shown in Planner. With this configuration, the user is not able to remove the flight offer nor replace it with a different one.

• Similarly to the Fixed Flight Configuration, the Restricted Flight Configuration also shows the available flight added to the template via Cockpit. However, this configuration enables the user to Replace or Remove the flight offer and actually trigger a flight search, just like the No Restrictions configuration.
• If Alternative Flights are defined within the Restricted configuration, the flight search will only show the defined Alternative Flights, instead of all available flight offers.
• Additionally, if Airline Ordering is established, the flight search can be filtered by Airlines, where the results will include the airlines defined in the Flight Configuration.