Paper 03: Aviation Industry: Ticketing & Frontier Formalities

Module 35: OAG (Official Guides) Concept, Meaning and Importance

THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Principal Investigator Prof. S. P. Bansal, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi University, Rewari

Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Prashant K. Gautam, Director, UIHTM, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Paper Coordinator Dr. Sandeep Walia, Head of Department, UITHM, Chandigarh University

Paper Co-Coordinator Dr. Jaswinder Sharma, Assistant Professor UIHTM, Panjab University Chandigarh Dr. Syed Ahmad Rizwan, Content Writer ITS, Lucknow

Content Reviewer Prof. C. M. Parsheera, Director, IVS, MTA, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla

ITEMS DESCRIPTION OF MODULE Subject Name Tourism and Hospitality Paper Name Aviation Industry, Ticketing and Frontier Formalities Module Title OAG (Official Airlines Guides) Concept, Meaning and Importance Module Id Module No-35 Pre- Requisites Basic knowledge about three letter codes and fares Objectives To understand the concept of consulting official airlines guide

Keywords Blue OAG, Red OAG, MCT, Stopovers, Thorough Connections

TABLE OF CONCEPTS 1. Learning Outcomes 2. Introduction 3. Volumes of OAG 4. How to Use OAG 5. The Departure City 6 Check In Times 7 Rails 8 Buses 9 The Destination City 9.1 Direct Flights 9.2 Flight No. 9.3 Aircraft 9.4 Class 9.5 Stops 10. Transfer Connection 11. Unpublished Transfer Connection 12. Summary

1. Learning outcomes After completing this module, students you will be able to: Understand what OAG is Will be able to extract information from OAG. Designing air connections The concept of MCT-Minimum Connecting Time

2. INTRODUCTION Different air carrier issues their own timetable and information guides in the form of small booklets. The function of this timetable is to provide details about the timetable and schedules of the flights that they are operating. Handling so many multi timetable booklets and keeping a track of the flights is an uphill task. As a solution a one single timetable of global airlines was conceived known as ABC World Airways Guide.

3. VOLUMES OF OAG Some of the expert remark that in the acronym OAG “O” stands for the globe whereas others refute saying that it is the short form for Official represented by “O”. The ABC World Airways Guide or ABC comprises of two separate volumes. During the print and paper ticket era it was mandatory for all the agencies to have a copy of OAG in their agencies. It was as sacred as the bible for the travel fraternity. It was irreplaceable because of the global availability and coverage. Its print schedule was monthly in two different volumes.

As this volume of the guide had all the from A-M and was blue in color so it is known as Blue OAG in day-to-day parlance. The main sections in this volume are:  STOP PRESS INFORMATION the last minute information just before publication.

 CONTENTS to guide the reader to the desired section.

 HOW TO USE detailed description of using the guide for planning itineraries.

INFORMATION this section will include details of codes of currency, airlines, city/, MCT, etc.

WORLDWIDE CITY-CITY SCHEDULES FROM A-M VOLUME TWO OR RED OAG OR N-Z

As this volume had all the airports from n-z and was red in color it is known as Red OAG in day to day parlance. The main sections in this volume are:  WORLDWIDE CITY-CITY SCHEDULES FROM N-Z

 AIRLINES FEATURE SECTION

 INTERNATIONAL CAR HIRE

 NORTH AMERICAN PROMOTIONAL FARES

 DESTINATION DATA OR “FARE SUMMPLEMENT”

4. HOW TO USE OAG This is the chapter with which the OAG open with discussing “HOW TO USE” post Table of Contents. This section has all the details about the flight information for both parts of the guide. It is the key and will explain all the codes of both volumes. It will explain all the signage uses and the airport codes, flight codes, flight numbers, days of the week, different types of aircrafts, number of stops, classes of services available on a particular flight, departure and arrival times.

5. THE DEPARTURE CITY There is a prescribed way of reading flight schedules. The format used for city to city timetables is “FROM TO” format. The initial step is to search for the departure city which for easy tracking is printed in a bold typeface. Before the city “FROM” in bold and smaller format is written. The city names are published in bold and is in English and follows alphabetic order. In case the city details are extended to mere than one page then the name of the departure city is repeated at the top of the each page on the upper left hand side of the schedule listings. Selecting CHICAGO IL USA CHI as an example where city is Chicago situated in the Illinois state in the country USA.

One need not worry about the decoding as it is provided in the “General Information” section of the guide, under the heads “Two Letter State Codes” for “IL”. “CHI” is mentioned just after where CHICAGO is written, it is the three letter code of the city. Just beneath the city one can see the “LT” or the “LOCAL TIME” variation from GMT applicable during the period of validity of the flight schedules shown in the guide. The example quoted above mentions GMT-0500 (-0600 from 30th Oct to 02 Apr). The “.” Is mentioned from the airport and will be mentioned before all the airports of the particular city. In case a city is served by more than one airport the name and the relevant three letter code of the airport will be mentioned. In case the mentioned airports have multi terminals then a list of terminals along with the airlines or specific flights operating from that particular terminal is also mentioned. The information for each airport of the departure city is mentioned as: AIRPORT NAME along with its 3 letter code when it is different from the city code like LHR for LON. DISTANCE FROM THE CITY CENTRE in miles –mls and in kilometers too – kms. The box mentioned above shows that CHI is served by six airports in total. O’Hare airport is served by six airports. O’Hare –ORD is 17 mls or 27.2 kms from northwest of Chicago. Midway – MDW is 10 mls or 16 kms southwest of Chicago. The locations of airports are mentioned from the city centre. NW is Northwest of Chicago and SW means Southwest of Chicago.

6 CHECK IN TIMES This indicates the time before the flight that one has to report at the airport to complete the flying formalities. One has to report in advance before the schedule of the flight for the airlines as well as governmental formalities. Check in time is mentioned in hours and in minutes. It will differ depending upon the airlines or even specific flights. The abbreviations commonly seen in this section are DOM Domestic Flights INT International Flights Mins Minutes Hrs Hours

Again for a multi terminal airport the information is provided in a complete list in the “General Information Section” at the starting of the OAG guide under Airport Terminals.

7 RAILS The head is for the “surface transportation by rail”. It informs the readers about the different terminals and surface transportation services between the city centers and airports. It will mention the average transportation times “journey time”. Check in times at terminals in case it needs to be mentioned. The example quoted above CHI has a subway elevated train services from downtown and the journey time is thirty five minutes. It may have also information on the surface transportation services operated between the airports and neighboring cities which are served by the same airport.

8 BUSES The head here will be “Surface Transportation by Bus”. In the above mentioned example Greyhound Airport Express Services are available from the cities mentioned in the example mentioned above.

9 THE DESTINATION CITY After the departure city has been located to complete the itinerary the destination needs to be checked out for. This will be again in an alphabetical order under the departure city. They will also be printed in Bold Interface. The city name is mentioned with its three letter code. In case several airports exist in the city then the code and name of each airport where arrival take place will be mentioned. The OAG guide contains all the flights are it direct or with stopovers. First the direct flights will be mentioned and then the ones with transfer connections which will involve change of flights between the departure and destination city, it could be one or many.

9.1 DIRECT FLIGHTS The direct flights are mentioned first in the list provided that too in alphabetic order of departure. Each flight is listed on one single line except places where a special note application exists or applies. This note will appear on the line just below the flight

details. The arrival and departure time top attract attention are in bold and uses the 24 hour clock timings. The details of flights should be deciphered across the line starting from the left to right. VALIDITY (From To): The dates, which appear in this column, indicates the first day (“From”) and the last day (“To”) of operations of the flight. If no date is mentioned then this can be interpreted as that the flight will operate from/during/up to the entire period of validity.

DAYS OF SERVICE: The days of service means the days of the week and is represented by numbers 1234567 where 1 stands for Monday and 7 stands for Sunday. So 246 mean that the flight operates on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Dep: This column indicates that the departure time from the departure city this will be mentioned in the local time of the country. The time will be proceeded by the three letter code of airport for cities which have more than one airport. Example: 1040 LHR means that the flight leaves London at 1040 from the Heathrow airport. Arr: This column indicates the arrival time at the destination, in the local time of the destination. The time here too is proceeded by the three letter airport codes for the cities which have more than one airport. This code is explained on the arrival city line. If the flight does not arrive on the same day the following symbols are used: * Arrival on the next day + Arrival on the third day § Arrival fourth day ℓ Arrival on the previous day in case the date lines cross over takes place. For example *1815 SIN will indicate that the flight arrives at Singapore at 1815 hours the next day.

9.2 FLIGHT NO. The flight number is divided into two parts the two letter alphabetic code which is the IATA airlines code and second is the number. The airlines two letter codes are mentioned in the general information section the head “Airlines Designator” of OAG guide. Example AI 111 informs the reader that it is AI or Air India flight. 111 is the route number of the airlines.

9.3 AIRCRAFT or the type of equipment is also mentioned in the OAG guide. These are explained in the “General Information” section under the head “Aircraft Codes” (Encoding and Decoding) of the OAG guide. Example 747 mean that the equipment used for this flight is Boeing 747. 767 J the “J” here stands for pure jet and it means that it is 767 equipment.

9.4 CLASS The classes of services are also been mentioned and the bookings that are applicable. The codes are mentioned clearly in the “How To Use” leafs at the start of OAG guide. For example: R Supersonic P Premium F First Class A First Class Discounted Y In the column named class ♢this symbol represents the flight is a “Shared Designator” or a “Code Share” flight which means that the airlines designator used in the number actually does not operate the flight. In the table section “Shared Airlines Designator Codes” is also mentioned in the section of OAG guide in the head “General Information”. 9.5 STOPS After the direct flights there are other flights mentioned which make an intermediate stops which are taken enroute. Till the no. 8 stopovers are mentioned post which “M” as a symbol is used which stands for multi sector. Just under the head “Flight Routings” the Multi Sector flight routings is mentioned. The airlines two letter codes are laid out in alphabetic order and the flights in a numeric order. Nonstop flights are not mentioned. In case any specific note or piece of information which is pertaining to that specific flight will proceed on the line immediately below the concerned flight. For example US 2807 plane change at an intermediate point. It is also possible that operations of a flight may be under the same number but may have different route chart on different days of operation. This is mentioned in detail in the flight routing section in the OAG guide. Example: BA (British Airways)

009 LHR-BKK-SYD-MEL until 25 Mar 009 LHR-BKK-MEL-ADD Day 4 and 7 009 LHR-BKK-SYD-BNE Day 2 and 6 009 LHR-BKK-SYD-MEL from 30 Mar NOTE: While reading the time table it is mandatory that the full line is read from left to right. The typeface or size of the font of ABC or OAG guide is small reason being that the volume of the guide has to be minimal. To make the following detail easy to read use a ruler, or a folded piece of paper or even a magnifying glass becomes very handy. For an example flight timetable of AMS- Amsterdam to CHI-Chicago will be picked up. For example flight KL 611 shown on the first line operates from 1-Monday to 7 Sunday. It leaves AMS Amsterdam at 1115 hours and arrives at o’Hare International Airport, Chicago at 1355 hours on the same day. It is operated by KLM; the aircraft used is 74 M, it offers club class, and economy class and operates non- stop to Chi-Chicago.

SAMPLE EXERCISE With the help of an OAG extract provided select the flights which operate between AMS Amsterdam and CHI Chicago on 3-Wednesday, departing between 1000 and 16000 hours from 2nd November onwards? Fill the information in a form of a table:

AIRPORT DEPARTURE ARRIVAL FLIGH AIRCRAF CLASS STOPS CODES T T FRO T TIM DAY/DAT TIM DATE/DA M O E E E Y

Solution: AIRPORT DEPARTURE ARRIVAL FLIGH AIRCRAF CLASS STO CODES T T PS FRO TO TIM DAY/DAT TIM DATE/DA M E E E Y AMS ORD 1115 3 1310 3 KL611 74M CSMB 0 V AMS ORD 1240 3 1500 3 RO 005 310 CDM 0

Hint: While extracting information from ABC or OAG guide make sure that it is read from lef6t to right that too entire line. In case of a slightest doubt refer to the “How to Use Pages” which are at the starting of the guide. This section describes all the symbols and codes. As the typeface is small hence there are more chances of making errors to avoid it a magnifying glass, a paper sheet, or a ruler becomes handy.

10. TRANSFER CONNECTION The OAG or the ABC does not only provide the direct connections but also contain transfer connections i.e. schedule of flights where change of flights will take place between the origin and destination, which could be one or many. Scarcity of space does not permit the publication of all the information. A travel executive can consult individual ’s timetable too to construct an itinerary by joining connections. It will depend on the transfer and the cities involved. The transfer connections are displayed in the second part of the listings just under the thorough flights with a heading as “Transfer Connection”. In case the destination lacks direct flights then the information starts with a transfer connection. These transfers have to be done keeping in mind the MCT minimum connecting time, which is the time difference, necessary to be maintained between the two connections. Transfer connections are published in two lines or may be more which will depend on the number of connecting flights. The flights follow a chronological order starting from the departure city, then the transfer points and finally the destination. In this the times only of the departure and final destination will be mentioned in bold typeface rest of them are in normal font. The flight information follows the same format as that

of the direct flights. Airport codes are used to identify the transfer points and are also shown for multi-airport departure and arrival cities.

EXAMPLE Consulting the extract of schedule from AMS Amsterdam to CHI Chicago focus on the transfer connection check and finalize the first one for the above mentioned departure on the 20th of September, Wednesday?

AIRPORT DEPARTURE ARRIVAL FLIGHT AIRCRAFT CLASS STOPS CODES FROM TO TIME DAY/DATE TIME DATE/DAY

SOLUTION: AIRPORT DEPARTURE ARRIVAL FLIGHT AIRCRAFT CLASS STOPS CODES FROM TO TIME DAY/DATE TIME DATE/DAY AMS LHR 0730 3 0840 3 KL 113 310 CSMBL 0 LHR ORD 1030 3 1300 3 AA87 M11 FCYBM 0

The extract shows that this is a single connection and involves a single change in craft. The transfer point is Heathrow airport, London. The connection is valid up to 22nd Oct. the day of service is shown only on the line no one.

11. UNPUBLISHED TRANSFER CONNECTION It is a possibility that OAG will not publish all transfer connection. Client may have his restrictions. May be he/she wants to travel on a particular day where not a single flight seems to be mentioned or the transfer available does not fit into the traveler’s scheme of things. Under such a scenario the travel executive has to work on a suitable itinerary and have to construct a transfer connection by help of published flights.

For the construction of a suitable itinerary and timetable the information that needs to be gathered from the client is 1) Requested date, time of departure and or arrival 2) Requested carrier 3) A specific wish/objection/restriction with regards to the possible transfer cities or airports. With this information at disposal the executive can start up the job searching for through flights to the destination and from the selected transfer points. One has to keep in mind that minimum connecting time MCT restrictions have to be respected. MCT will depend on the carrier used, connecting points, terminals used and sometimes class of journey too. Information on the MCT is available in the “General Information” section of OAG guide under the head “Minimum Connecting Time”. These time have to be adhered to and respected while planning and designing itineraries. The MCT takes care of the average time needed for arrival and departure formalities as well as walking or inter airport transfer time from arrival to departure areas. The MCT will take care of: The average or minimum time required for arrival and departure formalities. Transportation time needed to departure areas or terminals or airports. Hence we can conclude that the shortest time interval needed to transfer from one flight to a connecting flight is the MCT.

12. SUMMARY The business of aviation is a chain of several series, which are clubbed together to make a end product or a final product. The OAG or the ABC guide helps the passengers to get to know the various formalities desired while one has to undertake a travel. Therefore such booklets, which contain information regarding several procedures, are of utmost importance to the travelers or the passengers. Now days we have seen that the OAG or the ABC guide may have stopped coming in print but it was, is and will be a tool for the travel fraternity. Reading information and extracting one for the traveler is easy and follows a sequence, which is easy to follow.