Travel Packages (Flights) Guide

3 years ago. Updated.

Flights and Flight Packages in Certain

This guide is an introduction to Flights and Flight Packages in Certain, which are available in the Travel Packages sub-module of the Travel Module.

If this advanced feature of the Certain platform is not enabled for your account, and you are interested in it after reading this guide, please email help@certain.com, including your account name.

The functionality described here is available to users with a user type of Event Builder or higher.

Contents

Introduction

What are “Flight Packages”, and Why Would I Use them in My Event?

Flight packages are sets of flights to and from the event.

You can make flights or flight packages available for attendees to select on a registration form or allocate them directly to attendees.

They make managing your attendees’ travel arrangements easier and enable you to provide detailed itineraries.

This document explains how to set up flights, add them to packages, make them available to attendees, generate itineraries, and report on travel data.

About Setting Up And Using Flights and Flight Packages

The steps involved in setting up and using flights and flight packages in Certain are explained in some detail in the rest of this document, but here is a brief summary.

Switching the feature on in the event

Setting Up Flights

Setting up Flight Packages

Assigning Flights to Attendees

You can assign flights to attendees in any of five different ways.

1. Via a registration form, where the attendee makes their selection.

2. Manually on the admin side, by editing an attendee record to assign.

Enabling the Travel Packages Sub-Module

In the event, go to Plan > Configure > Options, and select Travel Packages under Travel Module in Functional Areas Needed by This Event. (The Travel Module must be enabled for its sub-modules to be available.)

The event now includes a Travel option on the Plan menu, the page, with the four-page links described below: Configure, Flights, Flight Packages, and Import.

The Manage > Registrations page will also have a Travel page.

As always in Certain, detailed context-sensitive help is available for every page. You can click Help and Support and then click Page Help, whatever page you are on.

Travel > Configuration

The Configuration page under Travel > Configure enables you to set up the following, each of which is described in detail below.

You can set up default values for three of them when you are setting up flight inventory (see Adding Flight Inventory). Those defaults are then applied as the initial values on an attendee’s flight registration when you assign a flight.

Setting a Currency Label

On the Details page in Event Setup, you can select a Currency Label to be used for amounts on flights in the Travel module, and on room blocks in the Accommodation module.

Transfer Time

If you are using the Appointments Module, you may wish to set a Maximum Transfer Time (in minutes) here.

If set, it determines an attendee’s Available From date/time by automatically adding that number of minutes to their flight arrival time.

For example, if Juliana’s flight is scheduled to arrive at 8:30 AM, and the Maximum Transfer Time is 45 minutes, then she is not available for her first appointment until 9:15 AM.

The same Maximum Transfer Time value is used to set the attendee’s Available Until the date/time.

If Juliana’s outbound flight is scheduled to depart at 5:10 PM then she is not available for appointments after 4:25 PM that day.

Statuses

These four sets of user-definable codes are all optional.

Any statuses you set up, to meet your organization’s workflow, can be assigned to attendees’ flights (on Manage > Registrations > Travel), and used in reporting.

Transportation Types

The custom Transportation Types set up here can be made available for an attendee to select on the Travel section of a registration form.

You make this available by selecting Show Transportation Preferences on the form when setting up the form.

You can also assign Transportation Types to Groups if you are using the Registration Groups module.

When showing transportation preferences on a form, you can restrict those shown to those associated with the group the attendee is a member (if the attendee is a group member).

To add a transportation type:

1. Select a Mode of Transport from the drop-down list. (Air, Rail, Road, Ship, or Other.) 2. Type a name in the unlabeled text box, and click Add.

Default Airports

In this section, you can add any airports to be used for the event.

Airports can be made available for an attendee to select on the Travel section of a registration form.

You select Show Transportation Preferences on the form when setting up that form.

This can enable attendees to select their preferred port of departure, from which you will be organizing the flights.

If you are using the Registration Groups sub-module, you can assign airports to Groups.

You can then restrict the airports an attendee sees on the form to those assigned to the attendee’s group (if the attendee is a group member).

To add an airport:

1. Find it by typing three or more letters in its name. For example, typing “San” or “cis” or “SFO” would find “SFO - San Francisco International Airport”. 2. Click the name found. In the example, this adds “SFO” to the list. 3. To delete an airport, click the x before its name.

Setting up Flights

Your first step is to add the flights to be used.

In the event, go to Plan > Travel > Flights.

The Flights page displays a list of any flights that have already been added.

You can filter the flights shown by selecting a filter in the drop-down list (Airline, Flight Code, Departure Port, Arrival Port, or Inbound/Outbound).

You can export a list of flights to Excel by clicking the Excel icon.

Adding a Flight

Click Add New to add a flight, or to edit one.

Follow these steps to set up a new flight.

Some information is required, such as the Flight Code. Other information is optional for the benefit of the planner or the attendee.

1. Select whether the flight is Inbound (to the event) or Outbound (from the event). 2. Type the Flight Code, e.g. AA1867. 3. Optionally type a Description of the flight, which attendees will see on forms. 4. Select the Carrier from the list of airlines. 5. If required, select an Aircraft Type. 6. Select the Date and Time of departure, and of arrival. 7. Select the Airports of departure and arrival. 8. If relevant, enter the names or numbers of the Terminals (and even the Gates) at the airports. 9. Optionally type the Duration and Distance of the flight, e.g. (6h 30 m” and “2586 miles”.

Adding Flight Inventory (Reference Numbers)

After you save the flight, you can edit it to see the Flights Inventory section.

The Flights Inventory section adds “Reference Numbers” on the flight.

What’s a "Reference Number"?

A Reference Number is the generic term used in Certain to refer to the confirmation or booking number for a set of seats booked on a flight.

A Reference Number is often referred to as a PNR (Passenger Name Reservation), or other names such as Confirmation Number or Reference Number.

Each flight must have at least one so that there is some inventory for attendee registrations.

For however many reference numbers on this flight, click Add New, and then:

1. Type the Seat Block ID, a descriptive name for this block of seat inventory. (Unique to flight.)

2. Type the Reference Number, as supplied by the travel agent. (Unique to flight.)

3. Type a number representing the initial Inventory, the number of seats reserved in this booking on this flight.

4. Enter the Total Amount charged for this flight (the ticket price plus any travel taxes) and the Travel Tax.

5. If required, select a Class (Business, Economy, First, Economy Plus, or Other).

6. Optionally, if set up in Travel Configuration (see Transfer Time), select a Travel Type, Action Code, and/or Booking Status.

7. Click Save or Save and New, and repeat these steps for each reference number being added.

After you add the flight, the flight is available:

Setting Up Flight Packages

Once you have created flights, you can add them to flight packages.

Go to Travel > Flight Packages.

The Flight Packages page lists any packages that have already been set up.

You can export a list of flight packages and their flights to Excel by clicking the Excel icon.

You can click expand next to a package to show all its flights.

For an expanded package, you can click collapse to hide them.

Click Add New to add a flight package, or to edit one.

Follow these steps to set up your new package.

1. Give the package a unique name.

2. Click Add flights to Package.

3. In the Selected Flights section, for each flight added, select the reference number to be assigned.

4. If necessary, click the up and down arrows to change the order of the flights in the package, ensuring that the earliest flight is first on the list.

Assigning Flights to Attendees

As mentioned at the start of this guide, you can assign flights to attendees in any of these five ways.

Attendees Selecting Flight Packages or Flights on Registration Forms

When adding or editing a form, include a Travel section.

In that form, go to Plan > Forms > Travel.

You can choose to make flight packages or individual flights available for attendees to select from.

Which possibility is more appropriate depends on your business processes.

The Flight Packages section lists the Flight Packages you have set up.

Select the check boxes next to any Flight Packages you want to include on the form.

Best practice is to show either packages or individual flights on a form, not both.

The Show Individual Flights selection on the form check box can be left clear when flight packages are selected for inclusion.

If the Show Individual Flights selection on the form check box is selected, then the attendee registering can select from a list of all the flights in the event.

In the Transportation Preferences section, you can choose whether to include Transportation Preferences on the form.

Transportation Preferences include the Transportation Types and Default Event Airports set up on Travel > Configure (see Transportation Types).

You can set whether the selection is required.

You can also set what label should be used.

If you are using Registration groups in your event, you can limit the Transportation Preferences to those allocated to the attendee’s group (on Plan > Groups).

After an attendee selects their package or individual flights, you can edit their flight bookings to complete the details required.

The edits include changing booking status or travel action code.

See Editing Flights.

Planner Assigning Flight Packages and Flights to Attendees

You can assign flights manually on the admin side.

You assign flights by editing an attendee record to assign:

Go to the attendee’s record.

For example, search for the attendee via the global Search icon.

Then go to the Travel page for the attendee record.

Click the Assign Flights button.

Assigning a Flight Package

To assign a flight package to an attendee:

1. Go to the Travel page for that attendee. 2. Click the Assign Flights button. 3. Of the three options, Select Packages is the default already selected. 4. Select the package(s) to assign. 5. Click Assign Packages.

If the flights in the selected package(s) have default values for custom codes assigned on Travel > Flights (see Setting up Flights), then attendee flight registrations have those values for those fields.

You can edit each flight registration if required.

For example, select a Booking Status or Meal Type.

This is illustrated on page 15 and is the same whether the flight was booked as part of a package or as a separate pre-booked flight (see the next item).

Assigning Pre-booked Flights

To assign individual pre-booked flights to an attendee instead of a package of flights:

1. Go to the same Travel page for that attendee. 2. Click the Assign Flights button. 3. Click the Select Flights option. 4. Select the flight(s) to assign. 5. Click Assign Flights.

For each flight, select the Reference Number (PNR) of the flight inventory to be used for the attendee’s booking.

The figures in parentheses after the reference number show how many seats are still available out of the initial inventory.

Click Assign Flights to complete the selection.

If the selected flights have default values for custom codes assigned on Travel > Flights (see Setting up Flights), then the attendee flight registrations have those values for those fields.

You can edit each flight registration if required.

For example, select a Booking Status or Meal Type.

This is illustrated on Assigning Individual Flights and is the same whether the flight was booked as an individual flight or as part of a package (see the previous item).

Assigning Individual Flights

The third type of flight to assign is an “individual” flight.

An individual flight is one that you have booked specifically for the attendee.

An individual flight does not have multiple reservations.

Individual flights are not inventory controlled.

Individual flights are included in the attendee’s itinerary and in reports, for example.

To assign an individual flight to an attendee:

1. Go to the Travel page for that attendee.

2. Click the Assign Flights button.

3. Click the Create an Individual Flight option.

4. Enter the details of the flight.

5. Click Save.

Edit flight information as described next.

Editing Flights

When an attendee has a flight reservation, you may want to edit the reservation.

The flight reservation can be:

The reservation can happen through:

To edit the reservation:

1. Go to the attendee’s record as explained above.

2. Go to the attendee’s Travel page.

3. In the Flight Summary on that page, click to edit the flight.

Edit the fields you need.

These fields include fields that the attendee could not enter or select on the form.

These fields also include fields that you could not enter or select when assigning the flight, such as the Meal Type or Seat Number.

These fields also include fields where the default value assigned from the flight record needs to be different for this attendee.

Examples include the Booking Status or Travel Action Code.

Communication & Change History

You can record communications about an attendee’s Travel data, or about the changes to that data.

You do this by clicking the speech bubbles on the attendee’s Travel Information page.

This opens a Communication & Change History pop-up window.

The Communication & Change History pop-up window allows you to enter comments and see previous comments.

You can also import date-stamped comments into this history when importing flight reservations.

Importing Travel Data

You can import flights, flight inventory, and attendee flight reservations (pre-booked flights and individual flights) by going to Travel > Import.

Then select the type of data to import.

Three Steps: Decide, Prepare Data, Import

There are three steps to importing the data.

1. Decide the type of data to import. 2. Prepare an import file of that data as a .CSV file. 3. Step through the import wizard.

A: Decide the type of data to import

Before preparing a CSV file containing the data to be imported, decide which one of four possible types of data you will import.

B: Prepare an Import File

Prepare a CSV file containing the data to be imported.

Ensure that the columns in the file match the required columns for an import of the relevant type of data, especially including any required fields.

See the lists of columns to import below Importing Travel Data.

Best practice: Keep the columns in the same order.

Use the same or similar names as used in the mapping step.

This makes mapping quicker and easier because those fields are more likely to be mapped by default.

> Tip: The online help includes a sample CSV file for each import type.

The sample CSV file includes appropriately named columns in the correct order.

The sample CSV file includes just one row of sample data to make the columns formats, such as dates and times.

(See the lists of fields below for each import type, on Importing Travel Data.)

Caution: Some column values must match data in your event.

For example, the Flight Code in a Flight Inventory import must match data in your event.

When using sample CSV files, delete the example data.

A file cannot be imported if any of the “Required” fields are not included.

The import of a record fails if any “Required” fields are null, meaning the fields have no value.

Save the file as a CSV file where the first row contains the column headings, meaning the field names.

The usual way is to save an Excel file as “CSV (Comma delimited)”.

C: Import Your Data

After you have a CSV file of Travel data to import, step through the Travel Import Wizard to import it.

1. Select the type of Travel data to import.

2. Browse to select a file to upload, then Upload it.

In the pop-up window, map the columns in the import file to the data fields.

Then click Import.

Your import is queued.

You receive an email notification as soon as it is processed.

The records are then available for use.

Importing Flights and Flight Inventory

Importing Flights

See Adding a Flight for more about flights.

See Importing Travel Data for the import steps.

This is a list of the fields you can include in the CSV file for the import.

| Column | Required? | Notes | |---|---|---| | Is inbound? | | Outbound: "no", "1", "False", "f" or "0". Inbound: any other non-null value, e.g. "yes", "y" or "in". | | Flight Code | Required | | | Description | | | | Duration | | | | Distance | | | | Aircraft Type Code | | Code only (as shown on Travel > Flights), e.g. "B741" | | Airline Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "UA" | | Departure Airport Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "SFO" | | Departure Terminal | | | | Departure Gate | | | | Departure Date | Required | mm-dd-yyyy format. | | Departure Time | Required | hh:mm AM or hh:mm PM format | | Arrival Airport Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "JFK" | | Arrival Terminal | | | | Arrival Gate | | | | Arrival Date | Required | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Arrival Time | Required | hh:mm AM or hh:mm PM format |

Importing Flight Inventory

See Adding Flight Inventory (Reference Numbers) for more about flight inventory.

See Importing Travel Data or the import.

This is a list of the fields you can include in the CSV file for the import.

| Column | Required? | Notes | |---|---|---| | Flight Code | Required | An existing flight in the event. | | Departure Date | Required | mm/dd/yyyy format | | Departure Time | Required | hh:mm AM or hh:mm PM format | | Reference Number | Required | Unique to the flight. | | Seat Block ID | Required | Unique to the flight. | | Initial Inventory | Required | Integer, greater than zero. | | Total Amount | Required | Decimal number | | Travel Tax | | Decimal number | | Note | | | | Booking Status | | An existing Booking Status (see page 5) | | Travel Type | | An existing Travel Type (see page 5) | | Travel Action Code | | An existing Travel Action Code (see page 5) | | Flight Class | | "Business", "Economy", "First", "Economy Plus" or "Other" |

Importing Attendee Flight Reservations

Importing Attendee Pre-booked Flight Reservations

See Assigning Pre-booked Flights for more about pre-booked flights.

See Importing Travel Data on page 16 for the import steps.

This is a list of the fields you can include in the CSV file for the import.

| Column | Required? | Notes | |---|---|---| | Registration Code | Required | An existing attendee | | Flight Code | Required | An existing flight in the event. | | Departure Airport Code | Optional | | | Departure Date | Required | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Departure Time | Required | hh:mm AM or hh:mm PM format | | Arrival Airport Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "JFK" | | Reference Number | Required | An existing reference number (inventory record) on the flight. | | Passenger First Name | | | | Passenger Last Name | | | | Ticket Number | | | | Passport Number | | | | Passport Expiration Date | | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Booking Status | | An existing Booking Status (see page 5) | | Date Booked | | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Frequent Flier Number | | | | Meal Type Code | | A valid code from the list used by airlines; e.g. AVML, BBML, ... ,VGMl, VLMl. See online help for the full list. | | Seat Number | | | | Travel Type | | An existing Travel Type (see page 5) | | Payment Code | | An existing Payment Code (see page 5) | | Adjustment | | Decimal number | | Travel Tax | | Decimal number | | Total Charge | | Decimal number | | Transfer Required | | NO: "no", "n", "False", "f" or "0". YES: any other non-null value, e.g. "yes", "y" or "Transfer". | | Travel Action Code | | An existing Travel Action Code (see page 5) | | Note | | Free text | | History | | See note below | | History Timestamp | | See note below |

A note about History:

The History column in an import is not imported as part of the attendee’s flight registration record.

The import adds History as a Comment in the Communication and Change History for the attendee’s Travel Information in Registrations > Travel.

If the History Timestamp is also included, it is a date that the import adds to the beginning of the History field to form the Comment.

If the History Timestamp is not included, but History is included, then the date of the import (Pacific Time) is used.

An example resulting comment is: "08/26/2022 - Imported text".

Importing Attendee Individual Flight Reservations

See Assigning Individual Flights for more about individual flights.

See Importing Travel Data for the import steps.

This is a list of the fields you can include in the CSV file for the import.

| Column | Required? | Notes | |---|---|---| | Registration Code | Required | An existing attendee | | Is inbound? | - | Outbound: "no", "n", "False", "f" or "0". Inbound: any other non-null value, e.g. "yes", "y" or "in". | | Flight Code | Required | An existing flight in the event. | | Description | | | | Duration | | | | Distance | | | | Aircraft Type Code | | Code only (as shown on Travel > Flights), e.g. "B741" | | Airline Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "UA" | | Departure Airport Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "SFO" | | Departure Terminal | | | | Departure Gate | | | | Departure Date | Required | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Departure Time | Required | hh:mm AM or hh:mm PM format | | Arrival Airport Code | Required | Code only, e.g. "JFK" | | Arrival Terminal | | | | Arrival Gate | | | | Arrival Date | Required | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Arrival Time | Required | hh:mm AM or hh:mm PM format | | Passenger First Name | | | | Passenger Last Name | | | | Ticket Number | | | | Passport Number | | | | Passport Expiration Date | | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Booking Status | | An existing Booking Status (see page 5) | | Date Booked | | mm-dd-yyyy format | | Frequent Flyer Program | | | | Frequent Flyer Number | | | | Meal Type Code | | A valid code from the list used by airlines; e.g. AVML, BBML, ... ,VGMl, VLMl. See online help for the full list. | | Seat Number | | | | Travel Type | | An existing Travel Type (see page 5) | | Payment Code | | An existing Payment Code (see page 5) | | Adjustment | | Decimal number | | Travel Tax | | Decimal number | | Total Charge | | Decimal number | | Transfer Required | | NO: "no", "n", "False", "f" or "0". YES: any other non-null value, e.g. "yes", "y" or "Transfer". | | Travel Action Code | | An existing Travel Action Code (see page 5) | | Note | | Free text | | History | | See note below | | History Timestamp | | See note below |

A note about History (which is the same as for the Pre-Booked Flights import on page 22):

The History column in an import is not imported as part of the attendee’s flight registration record.

The import adds History as a Comment in the Communication and Change History for the attendee’s Travel Information in Registrations > Travel.

If the History Timestamp is also included, it is a date that the import adds to the beginning of the History field to form the Comment.

If the History Timestamp is not included, but History is included, then the date of the import (Pacific Time) is used.

An example resulting comment is: "08/26/2022 - Imported text".

Itinerary PDF

You can generate itinerary PDFs in any of three ways.

1. Click Itinerary under Actions on an attendee’s record Profile registration overview.

2. Select Attach Itinerary PDF in an email.

3. Click the Print Itinerary action when you have selected registrations in a Report Results window.

That generates a zip file containing a PDF for each of the selected attendees.

PDF filename equals the attendee’s name.

literary Settings

Itinerary Output

The itinerary is generated as a PDF.

The PDF includes one page for the Travel Itinerary (flights).

The PDF includes one page for the Calendar (agenda items and appointments).

Reporting

Flight Reservation Report

On the Travel > Flights page, click the Excel icon to run a Flight Reservation Report.

The Flight Reservation Report exports all flight reservations to Excel.

The report consists of a list of all reference numbers on all flights.

Custom Reports

When adding a new report on the Reports page, select the Travel Flights report type.

A Travel Flights report returns one row of data for each attendee’s flight reservation.

The reservation can be:

Travel data fields available include fields from flights and attendee’s flight reservations.

Those fields can be included in the report and used for sorting and filtering.

Source: https://platform-support.certain.com/hc/en-us/articles/10901438326039-Travel-Packages-Flights-Guide

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Keywords: Travel Packages, Flights, Flight Packages, Certain