 |
 | |
| Formation | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Sofia, Bulgaria |
Membership | 1608 |
Official language | English |
President | Koos Jan Schouten |
Staff | 4 |
| Website | www.asfa.net |
The Association of Special Fares Agents, or ASFA, consists of airline consolidators, bucket shops and discount travel agents.
The main purpose of ASFA is the exchange of knowledge in regards to discounted airline tickets on the same air route offered in different markets.
After a preliminary meeting in Frankfurt, Germany in 1985, the first ever association of discount travel agents was formed in 1986 by a small group of German, Swiss, Dutch, Singaporean, Australian and English travel agents.
The association was founded as ITA (International Travel Association) in Amsterdam by Ad Latjes, Koos Schouten, Folke von Knobloch, Rudi Weissmann, Daniel Staeger and other discount travel industry experts as a platform for discount travel specialists, consolidators and bucketshops from all over the world.
Because of disagreements between the founding members about territorial exclusivity at a meeting in Singapore in April 1987 the name was changed to ASFA. ASFA was to allow multiple agents per country, while ITA continued as a small cartel.
Ad Latjes, the famous Dutch travel entrepreneur broke away from ASFA in 1989 to establish ETN (European Travel Network).
The administrative office of ASFA moved in 1998 to Sofia, Bulgaria.
ASFA organises annual workshops around the world with the purpose of educating international travel agents in the art of creative ticketing and to exchange information about new trends in the airline ticketing industry. In addition ASFA enables its membership of independent travel agents to create a worldwide network.
ASFA does not bond or license agents. ASFA members are registered and bonded according to the laws of the countries and states that they are operating in.
As of July 15,2014 [update] ASFA has 1608 members.
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which they both offer and operate the same flight. Generally, airline companies are recognized with an air operating certificate or license issued by a governmental aviation body. Airlines may be scheduled or charter operators.
The International Air Transport Association is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences that served as a forum for price fixing.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2.
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing operating costs and without some of the traditional services and amenities provided in the fare, resulting in lower fares and fewer comforts. To make up for revenue lost in decreased ticket prices, the airline may charge extra fees – such as for carry-on baggage. As of April 2020, the world's largest low-cost carrier is Southwest Airlines, which operates primarily in the United States, as well as in some surrounding areas.
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destination. Travel agencies can provide outdoor recreation activities, airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, travel insurance, package tours, insurance, guide books, VIP airport lounge access, arranging logistics for luggage and medical items delivery for travellers upon request, public transport timetables, car rentals, and bureau de change services. Travel agencies can also serve as general sales agents for airlines that do not have offices in a specific region. A travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier. They do not keep inventory in-hand unless they have pre-booked hotel rooms or cabins on a cruise ship for a group travel event such as a wedding, honeymoon, or other group event.
AAdvantage is the frequent-flyer program of American Airlines. Launched May 1, 1981, it was the second such loyalty program in the world, and remains the largest with more than 67 million members as of October 2011.
Sabre Global Distribution System, owned by Sabre Corporation, is used by travel agents and companies around the world to search, price, book, and ticket travel services provided by airlines, hotels, car rental companies, rail providers and tour operators. Sabre aggregates airlines, hotels, online and offline travel agents and travel buyers.
A passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that contains the itinerary for a passenger or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that needed to exchange reservation information in case passengers required flights of multiple airlines to reach their destination (“interlining”). For this purpose, IATA and ATA have defined standards for interline messaging of PNR and other data through the "ATA/IATA Reservations Interline Message Procedures - Passenger" (AIRIMP). There is no general industry standard for the layout and content of a PNR. In practice, each CRS or hosting system has its own proprietary standards, although common industry needs, including the need to map PNR data easily to AIRIMP messages, has resulted in many general similarities in data content and format between all of the major systems.
An electronic ticket is a method of ticket entry, processing, and marketing for companies in the airline, railways and other transport and entertainment industries.
A round-the-world ticket is a product that enables travellers to fly around the world for a relatively low price. RTW tickets have existed for some time and in the past were generally offered through marketing agreements between airlines on several continents. Now, they are almost universally offered by airline alliances such as SkyTeam, Star Alliance and Oneworld, or else by specialist travel agencies that will spend time helping customize a trip to the consumer's needs. Prices vary but are generally in the range of 2,500–6,000 USD for an economy class ticket and 5,000–14,000 USD for business class. Sometimes, depending on airline and stops, it can be as low as 1171 GBP. An alternative for a round-the-world ticket is a continent pass.
There is no single 'discount railcard' available on the UK railway network. In addition to the large number and variety of short-term or localised promotional fares that have been available to passengers on the British railway network in recent decades, there are many permanent concessionary fare schemes available to passengers. Some of these take the form of Railcards, which can be purchased by people who qualify according to the conditions, and which give discounts for all journeys over a period; other concessions are available for individual journeys. In all cases, details of the type of concession will be printed on the passenger's travel ticket, to distinguish reduced-rate tickets from those sold at the standard full fare.
On most modern airlines, flying standby is when a passenger without a seat assignment waits at the gate to see if there is an extra seat after all scheduled passengers have boarded. There are several common circumstances in which passengers fly standby:
An airline ticket is a document or electronic record, issued by an airline or a travel agency, that confirms that an individual is entitled to a seat on a flight on an aircraft. The airline ticket may be one of two types: a paper ticket, which comprises coupons or vouchers; and an electronic ticket.
Airline reservation systems (ARS) are systems that allow an airline to sell their inventory (seats). It contains information on schedules and fares and contains a database of reservations and of tickets issued. ARSs are part of passenger service systems (PSS), which are applications supporting the direct contact with the passenger.
An airline consolidator is a wholesaler of airline tickets, sometimes described as a broker. Airlines make tickets available to consolidators at significant discounts and special conditions to those available to the general public. Consolidators seek to reach more niche markets, and are able to offer discounts and fare flexibility that is relevant to the target group.
The neutral unit of construction or neutral unit of currency is a private currency used by the airline industry, to record fare calculation information. A set of exchange rates is issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) every month. The ticket component prices are converted from the original currency and recorded on the airline ticket.
BahnCard is a discount subscription programme offered by Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German national railway company. Unlike airline loyalty programs, but similarly to the UK Railcard, the BahnCard entitles the passenger to a discount price and must be purchased prior to travel. The BahnCard is offered in a non-business and a business version called BahnCard Business. Non-business BahnCard contracts are automatically renewed each year, unless they are cancelled with sufficient notice. Three variants of BahnCard are sold by Deutsche Bahn: The BahnCard 25, the BahnCard 50, and the Mobility BahnCard 100. The first two variants allow passengers to get 25% and 50% discount respectively on standard long-distance rail fares, while the Mobility BahnCard 100 is a type of annual ticket that allows free unlimited travel on most of the German railway network for a fixed price. The (non-business) BahnCard 25/50 are valid for one year and can only be purchased by subscription. If they are not canceled no later than six weeks before the expiry date, their term is automatically extended by another year. BahnCard Business 25/50 are also valid for one year but require no cancellation. In contrast to the personal BahnCard, BahnCard Business can be combined with the discount that is granted to large-volume business customers.
A fare basis code is an alphabetic or alpha-numeric code used by airlines to identify a fare type and allow airline staff and travel agents to find the rules applicable to that fare. Although airlines now set their own fare basis codes, there are some patterns that have evolved over the years and may still be in use.
Mystifly is an airfare distribution and payments settlement marketplace platform. It allows travel businesses to source airfares from global distribution systems (GDS), airlines and other airfare suppliers. Mystifly is headquartered in Singapore, with offices in USA, UK (Middlesex) and India (Bangalore).
An airfare is the fee paid by a passenger for air transport and is made up of the charge for a passenger to fly from an origin to destination and includes the conditions, rules and restrictions for travelling on the airfare.