Fixed-departure fares: how travel agents search, book and cancel them

Fixed-departure fares are seats on set flights and dates, sold in advance at a fixed price. Agents use them for group and regular sectors where the fare matters more than flexibility. This guide explains how they work on Idea Holiday: in the agent portal, through the Partner API and on agent websites.

What you can do with them

• Check the departure dates available for an airport pair.
• Search fares for a sector and date, from every fare source in one answer or from one source.
• Book a fare with passenger and contact details, and keep the booking reference.
• Check the booking status, and send a cancellation request when a traveller asks.

The booking sequence

1. Availability for the sector, to pick a date.
2. Search, keeping the selected fare and the search details.
3. Confirm the booking with the selected fare and the passengers.
4. Store our booking reference as your permanent reference.
5. Poll the status only when you need to.

Search results are indicative until confirmation. Every answer carries a time until which the fare is valid, so search again if it has passed.

Prices per traveller

Where a fare carries separate prices, adults, children and infants are priced each at their own fare. Infants take no seat. A fare that takes no infants says so, and the price you pay at booking is checked against the fare you selected.

PNRs, status and cancellation

• Some fares send the airline PNR a short time after the booking. Until then the status is pending and the PNR is empty, so read the status again.
• If a PNR does not arrive in time, the booking is cancelled and the status says so.
• A cancellation request starts a process. The outcome and the refund can come later, so check the status.

On agent websites

Fixed fares are one of the three products an agent website can sell. Results show the route's other dates and let customers filter by stops, airlines, times and refundable fares, with the filters opening from a Filter button on a phone.

Test keys

On the fixed-fare API, a test key is limited to availability and search, because it works on live supplier data. A live key covers the whole booking lifecycle.

Common questions

Does an infant take a seat?

No. Infants take no seat, and where a fare takes infants, they are priced at the infant fare.

Is a cancellation instant?

Not always. A cancellation request starts a process, and the outcome and the refund can come later.

Is there a fee on a Partner API fixed-fare booking?

Yes. A fee per passenger, plus GST, is taken from your wallet. It is not refunded and is shown on the booking.