Business travel jargon explained
The corporate travel industry is renowned for having many confusing acronyms. Be confused no longer, here is our A-Z of Business Travel Acronyms.
a
AAB – Agent-assisted booking- A secure booking option for travellers which integrates assistance from travel agents in booking any client travel needs.
ACM – Agency Credit memo. Adjustments issued by an airline for an incorrectly reported document.
ADM – Agent Debit Memo – a document with negative monetary value, issued by airlines usually to collect penalties or fees which have not been remitted to the airline. The ADM transactions are processed through IATA’s BSP (International Air Transportation Association – Billing and Settlement Plan).
ADR – Average daily rate – Otherwise known as Average Room Rate (ARR) is a realised room rental per day, calculated by dividing total hotel rooms revenue earned by total number of rooms sold.
AEA – Association of European Airlines – trade body representing major European airlines advocating on range of issues like regulatory matters, environmental policies and air traffic management.
ARC – The Airlines Reporting Corporation is responsible for supervising payments from traveller agencies to airlines, and the process of issuing tickets to consumers in the USA.
ARR – Average Room Rate- See definition of Average Daily Rate (ADR).
ARNK– Arrival Unknown. An ARNK is added to a reservation when there is a break in the itinerary and continuity is not recognised; it does count as a segment when ticketing.
ATP– Average ticket price.
b
BB – Hotel rate that includes breakfast
BAR – Best available rate, usually in reference to hotels or car rentals.
BSP – Billing Settlement Plan. Outside the USA, IATA set up and controlled financial system through which the travel agent community pays carriers for tickets it issues. BSP is also used by airlines for assigning ticketing authorities to travel agents and financial liquidity / credit checks with a view of ensuring the airlines receive the funds they are owed by the travel trade.
BTA– Business Travel Account. A centrally billed “ghost card” that consolidates air, rail, and transaction fee purchases for corporate employees without issuing individual credit cards.
BTA – Business Travel Association – The representative association for the business travel community, with theirTMC members accounting for over ninety percent of all managed travel booked in the UK.
BTN –Business Travel News – A travel industry publication that delivers news and research to the corporate travel population.
c
CXR– Carrier- Another term for airline.
CDW -Collision Damage Waiver-An industry term for optional insurance provided by car rental companies that eliminates all responsibility of the driver in an accident.
CT – Circle Trip- A journey from origin to destination returning to origin in a continuous, circuitous route.
CNR – Corporate Negotiated Rate – A special, discounted rate at which a travel provider, like a hotel or airline, agrees to sell its products to a client.
COP– Country of payment-The country in which a ticket is being purchased.
CPM – Cost Per Mile- A calculation of the average price paid per mile.
CRS -Computerised/ Central Reservation System– A system used by airlines to manage flight schedules, passenger booking records etc. The CRSs are not accessible to travel agents. Some airlines use CRS system which is the same as GDS (for example Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan, Galileo) but there are many other CRS systems.
CUG – Closed User Group – offers exclusive, lower rates to a select group of customers not available to the public.
d
DBB – Dinner, Bed, and Breakfast rate – hotel industry, referring to a package that includes accommodation, an evening meal, and breakfast.
DBC– Denied Boarding Compensation. Commonly called “Bumping,” – For overbooked flights, airlines compensate check-in passengers with reservations who are denied boarding, those who voluntarily give up their seat. If bumped passengers arrive at destination with an hour of original flight time, they won’t be compensated.
DCS – Departure Control System – a system used by airlines to automate processing of airline’s airport management operations.
DMC – Destination Management Company- Organise local ground services at destination.
DOJ– Double open jaw – Type of round-trip flight where origin and destination differ in both directions and two separate fares are used, i.e., fly from London to New York, return from Boston to Manchester.
e
EMD-A- Electronic miscellaneous document – Document which has a monetary value and is used for the fulfilment of all flight related services and fees (such as bags, seats, meals, etc.), linked to a specific e-ticket coupon in the airline’s database.
EMD-S- Electronic miscellaneous document – Non-flight related services (such as lounge access or change fee collection). It is a manually created service segment must be in the PNR.
ERA – European Regions Airline Association which aims to identify, protect and promote the interests of regional air transport in Europe.
ESTA– Electronic System for Travel Authorisation. An automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Programme.
ETIAS – European Travel Information and Authorisation System is an entry requirement for visa-exempt nationals travelling to any of these 30 European countries
ETA – Estimated Time of Arrival. A measure of when one is expected to arrive at a certain place.
ETD – Estimated Time of Departure. The expected start time of a particular journey.
ETD – Estimated Time of Departure. The expected start time of a particular journey.
ETR – Electronic Ticket Record – An image of an electronic ticket (e-ticket) stored in a carrier’s database.
ETS – Emergency travel services- Specialist team available to support travellers when travel does not go to plan or an unprecedented event occurs.
f
FB – Fare Basis– alpha-numeric codes used to identify different types of fares and help find the rules corresponding to that particular fare. The fare basis is usually constructed by an airline as a combination of RBD (booking class) plus two to four characters to identify the airline’s fare program (leisure, corporate, season) and market. Example: VPRGB – stands for V (booking class) PR (promotional fare) GB (market to which promo is available is Great Britain).
FOI–Form of indemnity, sometimes called a LOI (Letter of Indemnity)- Passenger form needed to claim a refund when an air ticket has been misplaced or stolen.
FOH – Front of House – area accessible to guests/travellers, such as reception, lobby & restaurant.
FOP – Form of payment. Method of payment for a transaction.
g
GBTA – Global Business Travel Association– A global business travel and meetings organisation that acts as a hub, bringing together leaders in the business travel industry to exchange information and ideas among members.
GBV – Gross Booking Value- The total amount of money received before any deductions or fees are taken out. Calculated by multiplying the number of bookings by the average booking value.
GDS – Global distribution system a worldwide reservation system that acts as a conduit between travel bookers and suppliers, such as airlines, hotels and other travel related services. Sabre, Amadeus, Worldspan, Galileo) are used in many countries around the world. China is an exception using its own system called Travelsky.
h
High season –
Times of greatest traveller demand and most expensive rates.
HIP – Higher intermediate point- referring to a city between the origin and destination of an international fare component that has a higher fare (typically only used internationally).
i
IATA – International Air Transport Association. The world trade association of international air carriers, appointing travel agencies to sell ticket and determines the rules and regulation for these carriers.
ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organisation- Agency of the United Nations responsible for civil aviation in standardisation and formulation of international aviation law
IET -Interline e-ticket. An agreement between airlines that allow e-ticketing on each other’s flights.
IET Ticketing Platforms – Provided by HR (Hahn Air) and GP (APG Airlines) to issue tickets for carriers that do not participate in BSP or to connect multiple carriers on a single ticket, even if they lack direct agreements but have interlining with HR or GP. These platforms use sub-codes H1/X1 for Hahn Air partners and A1/Z1 for APG partners, and baggage check-through is dependent on the carriers’ agreements, not HR or GP.
IMU – Incident Management Unit– Reed & Mackay’s In-house team who communicate where incidents are occurring, monitoring risk for all clients 24/7.
ITM – Institute of Travel Management– an organisation that supporting people involved in corporate travel in the UK and Ireland.
j
Joint Fare
Airfare published for travel via two or more carriers.
k
No results
We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
l
LDW – Loss damage waiver- insurance pertaining to car rentals, covering accidental damage, theft and vandalism.
LFR – Lowest fare routing. The least expensive airfare available.
LCC– Low-Cost Carrier- an airline that offers low fares by removing some traditional passengers services.
m
MCO – Miscellaneous Change Order- document issues by a travel agency or airline as proof of payment for a specific fee or as residual amount of an exchange.
MICE – Meetings, Incentives and Events- A term for a company department offering meeting planning services to customers. Read more about Reed & Mackay’s Event Management solution here.
MPM – Maximum permitted mileage- the number of miles that may be flown on a published direct fare between the origin and destination.
n
NDC– New distribution capability. Read more here
NUC – Neutral units of construction- imaginary currency established by IATA that allows fares of different currencies to be added together
NLRA – Non Last Room Availability. A hotel industry term for restricting availability of a negotiated rate when occupancy levels are high.
NR – Non-refundable- A ticket on a fare that does not allow for a refund, changing tickets may come with a fee.
NOJ – Normal open jaw- Where a passenger flies from one city to another but returns to the original city from a different place (single open jaw – SOJ) or there is a surface sector at both the origin and turnaround point (see DOJ-double open jaw).
o
OCC – Occupancy Rate – percentage of available rooms that are occupied during a specific period.
OBT – Online booking tool- A web-based platform allowing travellers to make self-service reservations for air, rail, hotels and ground transport. R&M’s proprietary online booking is R&M/Book, see here
OLCI – Online Check In
OND – Origin and destination airline route information
OSI – Other service information. A GDS entry providing information to a carrier that does not require traveller action.
OTA – Online Travel Agency- A website or application that allows users to search and book travel services.
p
P&V– An abbreviation for Passport and Visa.
PAR– Passenger Account Record- A profile showing passenger information, used by travel consultants.
PATA– Pacific Asia Travel Association– Association which aims to promote travel to Asia Pacific.
PAX – abbreviation for passengers
PCC –Pseudo City Code – an alpha-numeric code ( 3-5 characters long) used to identify travel agent locations. It is assigned by GDS.
PCC –Pseudo City Code – an alpha-numeric code ( 3-5 characters long) used to identify travel agent locations. It is assigned by GDS.
PCI – Payment Card Industry. Security standards set to protect account data information
PEX – Public Excursion fares- They have the same restrictions as APEX fares but may be purchased at any time. Usually, no stopovers are allowed, and direct flights are used.
PIR – Property Irregularity Report- Form submitted by travellers to ground handling agents at airports in the event of loss or damaged baggage.
PNR – Passenger Name Record- Record held within a CRS/GDS which gives the personal details associated with a particular booking.
POC – Point of Commencement related to a booking or journey
POS – Point of service or point of sale, A time and place where a transaction is made.
PSS – Passenger Service System – a system used by the airlines for inventory and departure control (DCS) sometimes integrated with CRS (central reservation system)
PTA – Pre-paid Ticket Advice- Buying a ticket that will be issued at the airport of the same or a different city. Example: A ticket purchased in New York to be picked up by in and for a departure from Chicago.
PU – Pricing Unit- A (part of a) journey priced and ticketed as a separate entity; a round-trip, circle trip, one-way, normal open jaw or special open jaw, only used internationally.
PUC – Pricing Unit Concept- An alternative method of fare construction for multiple-stopover journeys that uses pricing unit, only used internationally.
q
No results
– We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
r
RC – Reason codes- Term used for the codes used to document and report of traveller decisions and behaviour whilst travelling.
RevPAR – Revenue Per Available Room – a metric used to assess a hotel’s ability to fill its available rooms at an average rate.
RFI / RFP – Request for Information / Request for Proposal – used by our clients as part of the procurement process to select new travel supplier or maintain the same. Find out more here.
RLI – Rate location instructions- A hotel term for TMC-specific rate codes as displayed in the GDS.
RTW – Round-the-world- A continuous journey around the globe, generally east to west or west to east.
ROH – Run of the house- A flat rate where a hotel offers any of its available rooms.
RRF – Refund Request Form – Manual document used to apply for a refund from non-BSP link airlines
s
SAF – Sustainable Aviation Fuel. A biofuel used in an aircraft to reduce carbon footprint of air transport.
SBT – Self Booking Tool- See online booking tool.
SLA – Service Level Agreement- An agreement stating measurable performance commitments made to clients.
SSR – Special Service Reservation- A request to an airline to provide a particular item/facility for a traveller/s.
STP – Satellite Ticket Printer- A printer at an alternate location than main premises, usually dedicated to a specific account to ensure accountability for transactions by vendor.
t
TOD – Ticket on departure- Transportation ticket collected at the point of departure i.e., at rail station ticket printer.
TOD – Ticket on departure- Transportation ticket collected at the point of departure i.e., at rail station ticket printer.
TMC – Travel Management Company – A company that provides corporate travel services to businesses such as Reed & Mackay.
TSA – Transportation Security Administration– Body that protects US transportation systems
u
No results
– We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
v
VCC – Virtual credit card- Not a physical card but has many of the same features as plastic corporate cards.
w
No results
– We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
x
No results
– We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
y
No results
– We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
z
No results
– We don’t have any terms for this letter yet.
