Air Tariff, Currency Regulations & General Rules — The Complete Guide for Travel Professionals
Air Tariff, Currency Regulations & General Rules — The Complete Guide for Travel Professionals
Every airline ticket has a story hidden in its fare code, routing rules, and currency calculations. Understanding air tariff construction is one of the most technical — and most valuable — skills in the travel trade. Here is the complete framework.
PAT = Passenger Air Tariff — the reference book published jointly by IATA and SITA that contains all industry rules and fare rules for air travel worldwide. All airlines must abide by the rules in PAT, even though each airline also has its own manual. PAT has been published since after World War II and is the ultimate authority on air fare construction.
PAT information is divided into three categories: General Rules, Worldwide Fares, and Maximum Permitted Mileages (MPM).
TC2 (Traffic Conference Area 2): Entire Europe + Africa + adjacent islands
TC3 (Traffic Conference Area 3): Asia + Australia + New Zealand + adjacent Pacific areas
Global Indicators determine the routing of international fares and affect the fare price. For example, flying from Hong Kong to Washington costs more via Atlantic than via Pacific.
F = First Class · P = First Class Premium · J = Business Class Premium · C = Business Class · Y = Economy Class · H = Peak Season · L = Lean Season
Restricted Normal Fares (Secondary) — Cheaper but with restrictions on stopovers/transfers: Y2, J2, F2
PEX Fare — Purchase Excursion Fare. No advance payment required but penalties for rebooking/cancellation.
Late Booking Fare — Cheapest fare. Booked within 24 hours of departure for unsold seats.
Excursion Fare — For weekend/vacation travellers. Maximum/minimum stay restrictions. No penalty for cancellation/rebooking.
International air travel involves multiple currencies. To construct a fare involving multiple countries, all currencies must be converted to a common standard: the Neutral Unit of Construction (NUC).
Example: EUR 858 ÷ IROE 0.7616 = NUC 1126.57
NUC → Local Currency: Multiply by IROE
Example: NUC 1893.61 × IROE 1.463335 = NZD 2771
NUC expressed to 2 decimal places (not rounded). Local currency rounded to nearest digit.
◆ IATA 3 Traffic Conference Areas: TC1 (Americas) · TC2 (Europe + Africa) · TC3 (Asia-Pacific)
◆ Global Indicators: WH, EH, AT (Atlantic), PA (Pacific), PN (Trans-Pacific)
◆ Prime class codes: F (First) · J (Business Premium) · C (Business) · Y (Economy) · H (Peak) · L (Lean)
◆ APEX = Advanced Purchase Excursion Fare — advance booking required
◆ PEX = Purchase Excursion Fare — no advance booking, penalties for changes
◆ Late booking fare = cheapest — within 24 hours of departure
◆ NUC = Neutral Unit of Construction — standard currency for international fare comparison
◆ LCF to NUC = divide by IROE · NUC to LCF = multiply by IROE