OTA Industry Knowledge: Key Concepts and Booking Flow

Glossary

OTA

Online Travel Agency — platforms where travelers book flights, hotels, car rentals, and travel services online.

LCC

Low-Cost Carrier — budget airlines that offer lower fares by reducing service complexity.
Examples: Ryanair, AirAsia, easyJet.

PNR

Passenger Name Record — a record in an airline reservation system that contains itinerary, passenger details, and ticketing information.

GDS

Global Distribution System — large-scale systems that aggregate travel inventory from airlines, hotels, and car rental companies and distribute it to travel agencies worldwide.

Major GDS providers:

• 1A – Amadeus
• 1B – Sabre / Abacus
• 1E – TravelSky
• 1G – Galileo

CRS

Computer Reservation System — systems used by agents to search availability, create bookings, and manage reservations.

ICS

Inventory Control System — airline-internal systems managing flight schedules, seat inventory, pricing, and revenue management.

DCS

Departure Control System — airport systems handling check-in, boarding, load control, and flight departure operations.

PCC / OID

Pseudo City Code (PCC) / Office ID (OID) — identifiers assigned to agencies or corporate users in GDS systems.
Example: AMSX1234P

IATA

International Air Transport Association — the global trade association for airlines, setting standards and policies.

PTC

Passenger Type Code — codes defining passenger categories:

• ADT – Adult
• CHD – Child
• INF – Infant without a seat
• INS – Infant with a seat
• UNN – Unaccompanied minor

PTL

Payment Time Limit — the deadline by which payment must be completed.

TTL

Ticketing Time Limit — the deadline by which tickets must be issued.

Look-to-Book Ratio (L2B)

The ratio of search requests to completed bookings, commonly used to measure demand efficiency and pricing performance.

TST

Transitional Stored Ticket — a record containing fare, tax, and pricing details associated with a PNR.

ATPCO

Airline Tariff Publishing Company — provides fare and rule data to airlines, GDSs, and travel technology providers.

NDC

New Distribution Capability — an IATA XML-based standard that modernizes airline distribution, enabling richer content and personalized offers.

CSD

Consignment Security Declaration — provides an audit trail of cargo security across the supply chain.

Core Booking Flow

A typical OTA booking funnel follows this sequence:

1. Search – user searches flights or travel products
2. Pricing – fares and availability are priced in real time
3. Selection – user selects itinerary and options
4. Booking – PNR is created
5. Payment – payment is completed before PTL
6. Ticketing – tickets are issued before TTL
7. Post-booking – changes, cancellations, ancillaries

This funnel is critical for conversion optimization and system performance tuning.

Summary

Understanding OTA terminology and workflows is essential for building, integrating, or optimizing travel systems.

Key takeaways:

• OTA systems integrate deeply with airline and GDS infrastructure
• Time limits (PTL / TTL) are critical business constraints
• Metrics like L2B directly impact pricing and capacity strategies

This knowledge forms the foundation of any travel technology platform.