6.4 GDS Encode/Decode, Schedules, Seat Maps & Queues

Quick Answer: Encode turns a name into a code (Amadeus DAN MUNICH returns MUC); decode turns a code back into a name (DAC MUC returns Munich). A timetable shows the days a flight is scheduled to operate using the numeric convention 1 = Monday through 7 = Sunday, while an availability display shows sellable seats. Seat maps are displayed with SM and seats assigned with ST/. Queues are numbered work folders inside the agency office where airlines and the GDS deposit PNRs that need human action - and nobody is emailed, so queues must be worked every day.

---

1. Signing In: The Agent Sine and Duty Code

Nothing can be entered until the consultant signs on with a personal agent sine (also written "sign") plus a duty code that controls which functions the sign may perform.

The office ID, agent initials and duty code print at the top of every Amadeus PNR on the RP line: RP/LON1A0900/LON1A0900 TN/SU 18FEB25/1403Z QVH1A5. Here TN is the agent's initials and SU the duty code. Because the sine is written into PNR history with every entry, no action in a GDS is anonymous - that audit trail is what an agency uses to defend an Agency Debit Memo or a client complaint.

2. Encode and Decode

Encode = you know the name and want the code. Decode = you know the code and want the name. Memory hook: enCODE produces the code.

Notes an examiner likes: Travelport equipment records carry an indicator letter - J jet, T turbofan, P propeller, H helicopter, A amphibian, S surface sector - so .ED 388 confirms an A380 is a jet, not a surface leg. The country display also returns the country's currency code, which you need before pricing; convert amounts with Amadeus FQC100USD/LKR or FQC1000USD/NUC. State and province codes are not a separate transaction in most hosts: they qualify an ambiguous city name. Sabre W/-CYREXBURG, ID lists the closest airports to that town and W/-SL2 selects line 2 of the similar-name list. Never guess a code - "SAN" is San Diego, not Santiago (SCL), and mis-encoding is the single most common beginner error.

3. Timetable vs Availability, and Days of Operation

A timetable answers "does anyone fly this route on a Tuesday in March?" It is valid across a date range and shows frequency, not inventory. Amadeus uses TNDELSIN for a neutral timetable and TN10DECDELSIN/ASQ with a date and carrier; the schedule display is SNDELLON. Sabre uses S14NOVJFKFRA, Apollo and Worldspan S18MAYCAINBO.

Days of operation are numeric: 1 Monday, 2 Tuesday, 3 Wednesday, 4 Thursday, 5 Friday, 6 Saturday, 7 Sunday. All IATA member airlines treat Monday as day 1. D means daily and an X prefix means except. Read this line:

TG911  LHR 1150 - 0615+1 BKK  380  X24

The A380 operates daily except Tuesday and Thursday, and +1 means arrival the next day. Sabre substitutes letters (M T W Q F J S) for 1 to 7 when the 12-hour clock option is set.

Exam trap: a timetable line holds nothing. Space is only held when you sell from an availability display, and only the availability display shows the booking-class seat counts.

4. Seat Maps and Seat Requests

Follow up with RTSTR in Amadeus to read the seat characteristics back to the client ("16A - chargeable, window"). Pre-reserved seats are free advance seat reservations held on the carrier's map; paid seats appear on the Amadeus map flagged Y, are priced with FXG and are documented on an EMD-A. Where the airline has no interactive map, the request goes as the AIRIMP SSR RQST - ST/RQST/13AB/P3,4/S5 - and the carrier answers HK or UC.

Exit rows are regulated, not commercial. Under US rule 14 CFR 121.585 an exit seat may not be occupied by anyone under 15, anyone who cannot operate the exit unaided, anyone caring for a small child, or anyone who cannot read the safety card or understand shouted crew commands. Other regulators impose equivalent tests with their own age floors, so confirm carrier policy. Practically: never auto-assign an exit row to a UMNR, a parent with an infant in arms, or a WCHR/WCHS/WCHC or MEDA passenger.

5. Queues: The Agency Inbox

A queue is a numbered folder in the office. Airlines and the GDS place a PNR on a queue whenever a human must act: schedule change, waitlist cleared to KL, ticketing time limit approaching, fare expiry, or a message from another office. In Amadeus the automated ticketing time limit uses an OPW element to queue the office roughly 24 hours before cancellation and an OPC element to cancel, landing on queue 1, categories 7 and 8.

Amadeus QV/8 lists the PNRs on queue 8 and QV2 opens line 2. Queues send no alert of any kind: an unread schedule-change queue is exactly how a passenger arrives at the airport for a flight that no longer exists.

6. Retrieving, Splitting and Auditing a PNR

Split (divide) the PNR when the party stops being homogeneous - one of four passengers cancels, changes dates, or must be reissued alone. Amadeus is a three-step process: SP1,4 to name the passengers, then RF AGENT;EF to end-and-file the new associate record, then RF AGENT;ET in the parent. RT AXR displays the linked records. Split first, then change - cancelling before splitting cancels for everyone.

PNR history (RH, with RHA for air segments, RHG for facts, RHQ for queue history, RH/ALL) shows every element added or deleted with the sine, date and time. PNR claim brings a booking made direct with the airline into the agency for servicing and ticketing: Amadeus RO CO ABC123 (carrier code plus airline record locator) then ER to accept responsibility. Claims depend on the carrier permitting them; if it does not, the agency cannot ticket that booking.

7. Mini-Workflow: One Servicing Call

1. Retrieve the booking: RT QVH1A5.
2. Decode what is on screen for the client: DAC MUC, DNA LH, DNE 388.
3. Confirm the operating days of the new flight on the timetable: TN10DECLHRMUC/ALH.
4. Display the seat map for segment 2: SM2.
5. Assign and verify: ST/16A/P1/S2, then RTSTR.
6. Add the service request: SR VGML/P1/S2.
7. Save: ET - the record locator is returned and the sine is stamped in history.
8. Hand off: QE8C1 places the PNR on the ticketing desk's queue.