An itinerary is the chronological timetable of a traveler’s journey, including dates, times, and locations along with confirmation numbers for each element of a journey. While consumers perceive an itinerary as merely their travel plans in the world of travel technology, an itinerary is a complex, dynamic data container (sometimes called a Super PNR or Trip Record) that aggregates fragmented bookings from multiple different suppliers and APIs into one, unified user interface.
The basic problem with a contemporary travel itinerary is fragmentation.
A traveler could book their flight with United Airlines, their hotel through Expedia, and a dinner reservation on OpenTable. Because these products exist in entirely separate databases, travel technology relies on Super PNR logic to stitch these products together.
Historically, travel agents handed printed static itineraries on paper mailed in ticket jackets. Today, the digital itinerary is a living and breathing software application.
Modern itinerary management apps (like TripIt, Travefy, or airline mobile apps) are linked to real-time data feeds.
For the modern travel advisors, the itinerary is their most important deliverable and a massive part of their brand value.
Instead of sending clients confusing GDS printouts, agents use specialized SaaS platforms (like Axus, Travefy, or Umapped). These platforms connect directly with the agent’s GDS and CRM. The agent just types in the client’s name and the software brings up all the API data, adds rich multimedia (photos of the hotel pool at high resolution, information about the destination), and builds a beautiful, interactive mobile app for the traveler to use during their trip.
An itinerary in travel is the schedule of what you are doing. A ticket (specifically an e-ticket) is the real financial document that proves you have paid for the right to travel. You can have an itinerary that says that you are flying to London, but if the e-ticket hasn’t been issued, then you can’t board the plane.
In corporate travel, agents frequently book flights in a GDS; however, the traveler could book a hotel directly so that they could use their loyalty points. To ensure that the hotel will still appear on the official corporate itinerary, the agent creates what is called a ghost segment (or passive segment), that is, a manual and non-live text entry into the GDS that exists simply to print on the final itinerary for the traveler’s convenience.
This is a big debate on privacy or data sharing. If a traveler uses an independent app to aggregate a Delta flight and a Marriott hotel, then the app provider now has the complete picture of that customer’s behavior (their Share of Wallet), and that is incredibly valuable marketing data, which the individual suppliers (Delta and Marriott) don’t have access to.
Leave your request
We will contact you shortly
Thank you for your request!
We will get back to you as quickly as possible
