Ahnaf Travel Agency — The travel-agency | ahnaftravelagency.com
Between 'I want to fly' and a confirmed seat there are six steps, each with its own code, deadline and document requirement — this page lists them in order.
Step one is the itinerary request: travel dates, origin and destination, cabin class and every passenger's name spelled exactly as in the passport. That spelling matters because the ticket name must match the travel document letter for letter, and corrections after issuance can mean a reissue.
Step two is the availability search. The agent works in a global distribution system — Amadeus, Sabre or Galileo — which shows bookable seats by fare class. Step three is the reservation itself: the held flights are stored under a booking reference, the PNR, six alphanumeric characters such as K3T9QF.
A PNR is a file, not a guarantee. Attached to it is a time limit — the deadline by which the fare must be paid and ticketed, set by the airline's fare rules. If the time limit passes unpaid, the reservation cancels automatically and the seats return to inventory.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Step four is the document check, done before money moves: passport validity for the destination and any visa requirement, with Schengen's 90-days-in-180 limit and its 6-months-to-15-days application window as the standard example — detailed on the Visa and Entry Rules Checklist (/visa-and-entry-rules).
Step five is payment; step six is issuance. Payment converts the reservation into an electronic ticket with a 13-digit number — a 3-digit carrier code plus a 10-digit serial, for example 016-2419384561. The ticket is valid one year from its issue date, and both outbound and return must be flown inside that year.
From issuance on, the e-ticket number is the reference that matters for everything after-sales: changes, cancellations and refunds are all filed against it, as Flight Changes and Refunds Explained (/changes-and-refunds) sets out.
Further reading