Flight booking software for travel agencies

What flight booking software does

A flight booking engine sits between your suppliers and the people who buy from you. It sends each search to the sources you are connected to, merges the results into one list, applies your markup and, when the traveller books, creates the reservation in the supplier’s system. Everything after that — payment, ticketing, changes and refunds — is tracked in the admin back office.

In TravelBookingPanel the flight module is part of every plan, from Starter upwards. It works on your customer booking website, in the admin back office and, on Agency and Enterprise plans, in the B2B agent portal. If you are new to the idea, our guide to the travel booking panel explains how the pieces fit together.

GDS, NDC and airline-direct content

Most agencies get flight content from one of two kinds of source. A global distribution system (GDS) such as Amadeus or Sabre brings together published fares and seat availability from a large number of airlines. NDC is an IATA standard that lets airlines sell their offers directly through APIs, often with bundles and extras a GDS display does not carry. Aggregators such as Duffel put airline-direct content behind a single API.

The panel can connect Amadeus, Sabre and Duffel. You sign the supplier contract and hold the API credentials in your agency’s own name, and we configure them inside the panel. Supplier fees are separate and paid directly to the provider.

How a GDS flight booking system handles a booking

1. Search. The request goes to each connected supplier and the answers come back as one sorted list.
2. Price check. Before booking, the fare is confirmed and its rules and baggage allowance are shown.
3. PNR. The passenger name record is created with the itinerary and contact details, then held or paid.
4. Ticketing. Paid bookings join the ticketing queue; once issued, the ticket numbers are stored against the PNR.
5. Aftercare. The traveller downloads the e-ticket from their account, and your team handles any change or refund from the same record.

Pricing your fares: markups and agent rates

Supplier fares reach the panel as the price you pay. The panel adds your margin automatically, and markup or commission rules can be set per route, product or agent. That means a sub-agent in one city can see a different price from a direct customer, and a busy route can carry a different margin from a quiet one, without anyone editing prices by hand.

On Agency and Enterprise plans, sub-agents book from a prepaid wallet with top-up requests and statements, so you are paid before a ticket is issued. Their tickets, vouchers and invoices can carry their own branding. Enterprise adds credit limits and multi-level agent networks.

Why own your flight booking software

Renting a booking engine usually means a monthly fee and, often, a cut of every booking. With TravelBookingPanel you pay once, receive the full source code and install the panel on your own domain and server. Customer and booking data stay with you, and nothing goes offline if you stop paying a vendor. Read more about a white-label travel booking panel, or compare plans on the pricing page.