SITTTSL012 – Construct normal international airfares
In this unit of study you will learn to;
- Interpret International Airfare Information
- Create International flight itineraries and airfares
- Document and maintain records of calculations
Introduction
Welcome to the world of fare calculation!
“What’s to calculate?” you might ask. “Isn’t it just a matter of paying the fare?” Unfortunately not! Getting on an airplane is not like getting on a bus and simply paying a fare. Air travel is often quite complex and the fare that needs to be paid will depend on a number of things:
- When do your passengers want to travel?
- How long will they be away?
- How many stops do they want to make on the way?
- Which global direction will they be travelling in?
- How flexible can they be?
- What class of travel is required?
- How long before departure is the booking made?
These and many other questions will determine what the fare will be.
A bus fare from Brisbane to Sydney, is easy there is only one (perhaps two). An airfare from Brisbane to London is not so simple – there are quite literally dozens of them
The purpose of this unit of study is to guide you through the procedures involved in correctly calculating airfares. While it is extremely important that the fares you construct be accurate, for the purposes of this unit, the numbers (fares) and what they are called is not as important as is learning how to interpret the many airfare rules and procedures. The fares, their names and fare basis codes are ever changing – the rules and the procedures to be followed are not. So if the numbers and fare names in this book are different to the ones you are using in your class, it is probably because they have changed 2 –3 times since I began writing.
It is an understanding of how to interpret rules and follow procedures that we are aiming to teach here and by the end of the unit, you should be able to pick any current airfare manual or computer print-out and confidently construct and airfare – no matter what the actual “numbers” show.
International airfares bring with them a special set of complexities that are quite unique. In Construct Normal Airfares, we will be dealing with “normal” fares – fares that offer an extremely high degree of flexibility, and there is no journey that you can possibly think of that cannot be constructed.
Unlike promotional fares, international normal fares are very expensive. Consider the following:
A return journey from Australia to London in July can cost anywhere between $2000 and $3000 using a promotional airfare. The difference in cost often depends on the airline and the fare could be based on a ‘net fare’ which we will discuss in another lesson. This type of fare generally doesn’t allow you to make very many stop overs.
A normal fare, by comparison, can cost in the vicinity of $7000 return. This is an enormous difference. This fare will, however, let you stop in every little village along the way (providing the journey fits within a given number of miles.
This learner guide will cover topics such as;
- airline regulators
- IATA geography including Traffic Conference areas (TC’s)
- Three letter city codes
- general air tariff rules
- country of sale and issuance indicators (SII)
- global indicators
- currency regulations
- airfare formula (in the form of a fare ladder)
- mileage system including MPM, TPM, TPM deduction and surcharges
- One way fares
- Higher intermediate points
- calculating back haul checks
- return journeys and circle trips
- circle trip minimum calculations
- add on fares
Written in plain English language this unit clearly explains how fares are constructed in a step by step manner and provides reasons why fare calculation can sometimes be complex.
For purchase information go back to tourism unit page