In GDS bookings, the airline usually sends the ticketing deadline into the PNR as a message, and it is usually worked out from when the booking was made. Airlines tend to shorten it close to departure or when seats are scarce. The fare rules can also set their own deadline for ticketing, and the two can differ.

Example: an agent holds a London to Bangkok booking for a client on Monday, and the PNR shows a ticketing deadline of Wednesday. If the ticket has not been issued by then, the seats are cancelled, and the price may have gone up when the agent rebooks.

Worth knowing

• A held booking does not hold the fare. The fare is not guaranteed until the ticket is issued.

• Rebooking to extend a deadline breaks airline rules. Repeatedly cancelling and rebooking to get round a ticketing time limit, known as churning, is banned by airline policies, and airlines charge agents for it through agency debit memos.

• NDC works differently. Airlines return an offer expiry time and a payment time limit for unpaid orders instead.

• ATOL. The main exemptions that let agents sell flights on their own without ATOL protection depend on a confirmed ticket being issued as soon as the customer pays. Taking a customer’s money while holding an unticketed booking falls outside them, so the sale needs ATOL cover unless another exemption applies. See flight-only.