Every ticket tells a story . . .

Press, 2 October 1979, Page 21

Every ticket tells a story . . .

Compiled by

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor, vith the valuable assistance of the

Christchurch staff of Air Aeu Zealand.

An international air ticket is to the average traveller merely a hardearned pass to the world; just a slip of paper crammed with red carbon markings that are mostlj incomprehensible. To trained eyes, however, it can reveal a wealth of information designed to protect both passenger and airline. Airport staff can tel! at a glance whether you are entitled to first-class treatment. to make stopovers, to change your date of travel, or to cash in part of your ticket for a refund. I hey also know if you are travelling on a discounted fare, whether someone else paid for your ticket, and even if you are being deported All airlines have adopted an internationally accepted code and unit of currency to streamline processing at airports, and. later, reimbursements as an airline in one country claims its share of a fare from an airline in another. Travel agents and airline staff receive months of training in ticketing procedures to ensure that travellers can fly free of hassles around the worid on a variety of airlines. The ticket reproduced on this page was specially "issued” to help readers understand some of its mysteries. 1: The passenger's name must correspond to the name in the passport; check spelling and initials. Tickets are not transferable to another person. If the letters ‘UM.’ ‘IN,’ or

*CH" appear in parenthesis after the name they indicate that the passenger is either an unaccompanied minor, infant, or child. 2: Restrictions governing validity are entered in these panels. The ticket shown, which is based on regular fares and not subject to the conditions governing reduced fares, is valid for 12 months after rhe first day of travel. Any residual value remaining on this type of ticket can still be refunded even after the stated expiry date. 3: Points of departure and stopover cities along the way. The sector covered by this coupon, Auckland to Hong Kong (see paragraph 10) is outlined by the bold border. 4r The codes used for calculating fares. In this instance only three are used, F (first class), Y (economy) and R (supersonic Concorde). There are also many others including YE (excursion), and YHAP (high-season advance purchase). 5: Baggage allowances vary according to class: 20 kilogrammes for economy passengers and 30 kilogrammes for first-class passengers. On flights to and within the United States baggage is not re-

stricted by weight. Instead, passengers are permitted two pieces of specified dimensions. 6: These codes identify the airlines and their flight numbers. NZ is Air New Zealand's domestic (formerly NAC) service, TE, Air New Zealand's inter-

national service, CX, Cathay' Pacific, and BA, British Airways. 7: Class of travel. ‘S’ represents standard class on New Zealand's domestic services. The other codes are F (first class), Y (economy), and R (Concorde). 8: Dates and times of de-

parture. Check-in times vary according to whether flights are domestic or international. At Christchurch the domestic minimum is 15 minutes, but in Bahrain Mr Kollins will have to check in for his Concorde flight to London 75 minutes before depar-

ture. In Hong Kong he will need to allow only 60 minutes. Some airlines now require a 90 minute check-in period. Actual chetk-in times should be printed on the inside cover flap of a ticket. 9: The reservation status code is most frequently

shown as ’OK' (confirmed) or ‘RQ’ (requested). If RQ' is entered, confirmation of a firm reservation had not been received at the time the ticket was issued and the passenger should checi' with the airline during hi stopovers.

10: Number of flight cov pon. Each flight requires .- coupon, and up to t'oucoupons can be issued in one “book" of tickets. Journeys involving more than four flights require additional books of coupons in multiples of up to four.

11: The itinerary listed in the internationally accepted three-letter coder and the sector carriers. For instance. CHC is

Christchurch: HKG, Hong Kong; and BAH. Bahrain.

12: In order to simplify the calculation of fares that frequently involve a number of fluctuating foreign currencies, all of the world’s airlines have adopted their own form of currency called ’fare construction units'. The FCU total shown is 1960.10 which converts to NZ $1612.

13; The frank mark and code number of the issuing agent. The number of the ticket is printed in the panel above.

14: The initials CHQ/SP indicate that the ticket was paid for by cheque, but not by the passenger. This prevents Mr Kollins from claiming a refund which can,only be made to the ‘sponsor’ who wrote the cheque. There are numerous codes for the various forms of payment.

15: Tickets can be written on a variety of airline ‘stock’ or on general I.A.T.A. forms. The number ‘oB6’ is Air New Zealand’s international code number.

16: The number and weight of pieces of baggage are entered here by the checkin clerk. This information is used for monitoring total load and also in the event of assessing claims if bags are lost.

17: This panel is for codes qualifying the ticket’s issue. For example, SD (student discount), GV (group inclusive tour), ID (industry discount), DE (deportee).

18: The fare in New. Zealand dollars, including the $25 departure tax.

19: Stopovers are not per ' mitted if there is an “X” against a city in this column.