Travel API Glossary — GDS, NDC, LCC, PNR & More

A

API acronym: Application Programming Interface. A set of rules and endpoints that lets one software system request data or actions from another. Tripgic exposes a REST API that returns travel inventory from many suppliers in a single JSON response.
Aggregator: A service that connects to many travel suppliers and exposes their inventory through a single integration. Tripgic is an aggregator: one API call returns blended results from Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport, low-cost carriers, NDC channels, and hotel suppliers.
Amadeus code: 1E: One of the three major Global Distribution Systems (GDS code 1E). Headquartered in Madrid, Amadeus connects 400+ airlines and is the largest GDS by transaction volume. See GDS partners →
Ancillary Services: Extras sold alongside an airline ticket — seat selection, extra baggage, priority boarding, in-flight meals, Wi-Fi, lounge access. Surfaced through NDC and bookable at point of sale.

B

B2B acronym: Business-to-business. Tripgic is a B2B platform: its customers are other travel businesses (OTAs, TMCs, SaaS providers, startups), not end consumers.
Booking Engine: Software that lets users search inventory, price an itinerary, and complete a reservation. A booking engine typically wraps one or more supplier APIs with business rules, payment, and a user interface.
Booking Token: An opaque identifier returned with each Tripgic search result. The token is passed back to the booking endpoint to lock the offer and proceed to ticketing, ensuring the price and availability match what was searched.
Branded Fares: Airline-defined fare bundles with clear inclusions — for example Economy Light, Economy Flex, Business Saver — rather than opaque single-letter fare classes. Distributed through NDC.

C

Cabin Class: The broad cabin category of an airline seat: Economy, Premium Economy, Business, or First. Distinct from fare class, which is a more granular booking sub-code.
Carrier: An airline that operates flights. Identified by a two-letter IATA code (for example BA for British Airways, LH for Lufthansa).
CCPA acronym: California Consumer Privacy Act. A US state law giving California residents rights over how their personal data is collected and used. Tripgic is CCPA compliant.
Connecting Flight: An itinerary with one or more stops where the traveler changes aircraft. Tripgic's route directory contains 32,476 connecting routes alongside 19,043 non-stop routes.
Corporate Travel Booking Platform: A platform used by companies or TMCs to book and manage employee business travel under negotiated rates and policies.

D

Direct Flight: A flight from origin to destination with no aircraft change. Sometimes called non-stop. Different from a flight with the same flight number that makes a technical stop.
Dynamic Packages: Travel offers programmatically bundled at search time from flight, hotel, and car inventory. Bundles often produce a lower total price than individual bookings and lift cart value.
Dynamic Pricing: Real-time price calculation by airlines based on demand, customer profile, and market conditions. A core capability of NDC distribution, in contrast to traditional filed fares.

E

EDIFACT legacy: Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport. A legacy text-based message format used by GDS networks for reservations and ticketing alongside modern XML and JSON APIs.

F

Fare Basis: A short alphanumeric code identifying the specific fare rule and conditions applied to a ticket. Encodes the fare class, restrictions, and any special conditions.
Fare Class: A single-letter booking code (Y, B, M, H, Q, K…) used to identify a fare bucket within a cabin. Each class has its own rules, restrictions, and price.

G

GDS acronym: Global Distribution System. A computerized network that aggregates and distributes travel inventory — flights, hotels, cars — to travel sellers worldwide. Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport are the three major GDS networks. See GDS partners →
GDPR acronym: General Data Protection Regulation. The European Union's data protection law governing how personal data is collected, processed, and stored. Tripgic is GDPR compliant.

H

Hotel API: A programmatic interface for searching hotel properties, retrieving rates and availability, and creating reservations. Tripgic's Hotel API covers 2M+ properties from 50+ supply partners.
Hub: An airport where an airline concentrates operations and uses many of its flights to connect onward traffic. London is the largest hub in Tripgic's network with 795 routes.

I

IATA acronym: International Air Transport Association. The global airline trade body that defines standards including airport codes, airline codes, ticketing rules, and the NDC data exchange standard.
IATA Code: A standardized identifier issued by IATA. Airports use three letters (LHR, JFK, DXB), airlines use two letters (BA, LH, EK). Tripgic covers 1,619 IATA-coded airports.
Inventory: The bookable supply available at a given moment — flight seats, hotel rooms, car rental units, activity slots — surfaced through a supplier or aggregator API.

J

JSON format: JavaScript Object Notation. A lightweight, text-based data format used to encode API requests and responses. Tripgic returns every response in JSON regardless of source supplier.

L

LCC acronym: Low-Cost Carrier. An airline operating a stripped-down model with lower base fares and unbundled ancillaries (baggage, seats, meals sold separately). Tripgic connects to 67 LCCs.
Loyalty Program: A scheme operated by an airline, hotel, or alliance that rewards repeat travelers with points, status, or benefits. Loyalty status can unlock personalized NDC offers.

M

Multi-City: A flight itinerary with three or more separate origin–destination legs, for example LON → ROM → CAI → LON. Supported by the Tripgic flight search endpoint.

N

NDC acronym: New Distribution Capability. An IATA XML/JSON-based standard that lets airlines distribute rich, differentiated content directly — branded fares, dynamic pricing, ancillaries, imagery — outside traditional GDS channels. See NDC connections →
Normalized Response: A single, consistent JSON schema used to represent results from any underlying supplier. Tripgic normalizes Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport, NDC, and LCC responses into one shape so applications never branch by source.

O

Offer: In NDC, a priced, time-limited bundle of products (flight segments plus ancillaries) presented to the seller. An offer must be converted into an order to be ticketed.
One-Way: A flight itinerary from origin to destination with no return leg. The simplest search type and a common building block for multi-city itineraries.
Order: In NDC, the confirmed booking record created from an accepted offer. Replaces the traditional PNR concept in pure NDC workflows.
OTA acronym: Online Travel Agency. A consumer-facing marketplace selling flights, hotels, packages, or activities through a website or app. A primary Tripgic customer profile.

P

Package: A travel product combining two or more inventory types (flight + hotel, hotel + car, and so on) sold as a single offer. Can be static (pre-built) or dynamic (assembled at search time).
PNR acronym: Passenger Name Record. The reservation record stored in a GDS or airline system containing passenger details, flight segments, and ticketing information. Identified by a six-character record locator.
Production Environment: Live API credentials that issue real bookings against real inventory. Distinct from the sandbox environment used for development and testing.

Q

Queue: In GDS terminology, a workflow inbox that holds PNRs requiring action — schedule changes, ticket time limits, waitlist confirmations, and similar exceptions.

R

Rate Plan: A specific room price offer including its conditions — breakfast included or not, refundable or non-refundable, advance-purchase discounts, and cancellation policy.
REST API: An API style using standard HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) over HTTPS with JSON payloads. Tripgic exposes a REST API to keep integrations language-agnostic.
Round-Trip: A flight itinerary with an outbound leg and a return leg between the same two points. The most common consumer search pattern.
Route: A commercial flight pairing between an origin and a destination airport, operated by one or more carriers. Tripgic's directory catalogues 51,519 unique routes.

S

Sabre code: 1S: One of the three major Global Distribution Systems (GDS code 1S). Founded from American Airlines' reservation system and headquartered in Dallas. Connects 350+ airlines. See GDS partners →
Sandbox: A non-production API environment that mirrors live behavior with test data and test payment flows. Used for development and integration testing before going live.
SaaS acronym: Software as a Service. A delivery model where software is hosted by the provider and accessed by customers over the internet, typically on a subscription basis.
Schema: The defined structure of an API request or response — field names, data types, required vs optional. Tripgic's normalized schema is identical across GDS, NDC, and LCC sources.
Segment: A single continuous flight on one aircraft between two airports. A round-trip itinerary contains at least two segments; a connecting one-way contains two or more.
SOAP legacy: Simple Object Access Protocol. An older, XML-based web-service protocol still used by some GDS and airline systems. Tripgic abstracts SOAP suppliers behind its modern REST/JSON API.

T

Ticketing: The process of issuing a confirmed e-ticket against a booked reservation. After ticketing, the airline considers the booking paid and revenue-recognized.
TLS security: Transport Layer Security. The cryptographic protocol that secures HTTPS connections. All Tripgic API traffic is protected by TLS 1.2 or higher.
TMC acronym: Travel Management Company. A specialist agency that handles corporate travel programs for medium and large companies, often layered on top of a GDS and corporate booking tool.
Travelport code: 1G / 1V: One of the three major Global Distribution Systems (GDS codes 1G Galileo and 1V Apollo). Operates the Galileo, Apollo, and Worldspan platforms and the Universal API (UAPI).

U

UAPI acronym: Universal API. Travelport's unified web-service interface for searching and booking across its Galileo, Apollo, and Worldspan platforms.

W

White-Label: A platform sold to other businesses to be re-branded as their own. Tripgic powers white-label OTAs, hotel groups, and SaaS booking tools.

X

XML format: Extensible Markup Language. A text-based data format used by older airline and GDS systems including SOAP services and the underlying NDC message specification.

Travel API Glossary.

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