Following are some basic tips and tricks for finding the fares and flights that best meet your needs:

Travelport is able to offer up to 60+ flights/flight packages in response to your air search.  Because there are infinite fares in the airline world, but a finite number of choices that can be offered to you online, the search criteria you select will play a very big part in the quality of the choices returned to you.

Our statistics tell us that the average corporate telephonic reservation takes from two to four phone calls to actually complete the transaction.  In line with that statistic, Travelport has a 1:3 “Look to Book” ratio.  That means that the typical business traveler does three air searches before actually clicking the “Buy It” button.  Following are some helpful hints to make all of your searches more successful and in line with the current Look to Book ratio.

1. When Schedule is Most Important – In cases in which you’re looking for very specific flight times and you have little to no flexibility in your schedule, always use the Build-A-Trip tab and keep the time window as narrow as possible (+1/-1 or +2/-2).  Additionally, if you have a preferred carrier in that market, or if you know that there is one non-stop carrier, several connection carriers and you want the non-stop, ask for it.  You can do that in one or both, of two ways.  You can ask the system to look for “non-stops” and/or you can specify the preferred carrier.  By narrowing the search with the “must-have” criteria, you greatly increase the likelihood of getting the desired results returned.  You may still be offered lower fares as alternatives to your primary request, should any exist within your search criteria.

·         Use Build-A-Trip option
·         Narrow “Time Window”
·         Specify “Preferred Carrier” and/or “Search For (non-stop vs. best fare vs. connection)”

2. When Fare is Most Important – In cases in which you have a great deal of flexibility in order to obtain the lowest possible fare, use the Round Trip, One Way, or Multi-Segment tabs.  Although it seems logical to open all of the search criteria as much as possible, Travelport does not return the best results using that method.  Similar to the way your travel agent, and other Internet airfare sites work, you may need to do up to three searches (one primary, two revised) in order to determine the best fare and a reasonable schedule.  Keep in mind that the flight options returned by selecting “Yes” in the “Search All Area Airports” box are filling up those 60+ spaces, whether the fare is lower than the primary airport(s) or not.  Also, even though fare may be your number one priority, if you do have a preference for a particular airline, or flight type, make sure you include that in your original search.  You can always broaden the criteria if you are not satisfied with the initial search results.

·         Use Round Trip, One Way or Multi-Segment
·         Do not exceed a six-hour (+3/-3) “Time Window”
·         Narrow your criteria where you’re able (specific airline, all preferred airlines, flight type, etc.)

Using Alternate Area Airports:

·         Start with your preferred city pair.  If you’re not satisfied with the fares returned, or would simply like to compare with other city pairs, go back and revise your search to specify your 2^nd preferred airport(s) or city pairs.

·         Be wary of airports like Washington Dulles, LAX, or JFK as they more than one alternate airports; the greater Los Angeles area has five airports.  With many airports to check, your results will fill up very quickly – and perhaps not necessarily with the desired choices. 

 Time Windows:

·         Only use the 8-hour and all day time window searches if you have narrowed the rest of the criteria down to flight type, specific airport and preferred carrier.