Request the itinerary
From request to e-ticket
Booking an international flight through a travel agency is a numbered chain: an itinerary request, a reservation held under a six-character reference, payment against a deadline, and a 13-digit e-ticket. This page walks the chain in order and pins each step to the code, deadline or rule that governs it — including the visa windows, the 24-hour refund rule and the baggage numbers that attach along the way.
Request the itinerary
Receive the PNR
Clear the document check
Pay before the time limit
Get the e-ticket number
Meet the airport clock
An agency booking is six moves: request, search, reserve, verify, pay, ticket.
Everything starts with an itinerary request: dates, route, cabin and each passenger's name exactly as printed in the passport. The agent searches a global distribution system — Amadeus, Sabre or Galileo — and holds the chosen flights as a reservation.
The reservation is stored under a booking reference, the PNR: six alphanumeric characters such as K3T9QF. No money has moved yet, and the file lives only until the fare's time limit — the ticketing deadline set by the airline's fare rules.
Payment converts the file into a contract. Once the fare is paid, the system issues an e-ticket with a 13-digit number — a 3-digit carrier code plus a 10-digit serial, for example 016-2419384561 — valid for one year from its issue date.
The PNR finds your reservation; the e-ticket number proves you paid.
The PNR is created the moment flights are held, and it is what an agent retrieves to change dates, add services or cancel. Six characters, letters and digits, nothing more.
The e-ticket number appears only after payment: 13 digits, written like 016-2419384561. Every flight coupon of the trip rides on it, and any refund is calculated against it.
Confusing the two is the classic traveller mistake. A PNR can exist unpaid; a ticket cannot. Quote the PNR to change a booking — quote the e-ticket number to get money back.
Visa and passport checks happen before ticketing, because a refused boarding is the traveller's problem, not the airline's.
For a Schengen short stay the governing numbers are 90 and 180: at most 90 days inside any rolling 180-day period, counted backwards from each day of the trip.
The application window is fixed too: a visa file can be lodged six months before departure at the earliest and 15 days before it at the latest. Ticketing a trip inside that window without a visa in hand is selling a risk.
Passport validity is checked against the destination's own rule, and the ticket name must match the passport letter for letter. The full checklist is on the Visa and Entry Rules page (/visa-and-entry-rules).
Every figure on this page uses a real format from reservation systems or a published rule.
For US-touching trips, the first 24 hours after purchase are a free exit.
Under the US Department of Transportation rule, a US-touching trip bought at least seven days before departure can be cancelled within 24 hours of purchase for a full refund to the original form of payment.
Both conditions must hold: the itinerary must touch the United States, and the purchase must be at least seven days out. A ticket bought three days before departure has no 24-hour protection.
Outside that window, the fare rules issued with the ticket decide what comes back — the full decision logic is on Flight Changes and Refunds Explained (/changes-and-refunds).
| What is measured | Standard value | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Booking reference (PNR) | 6 alphanumeric characters | Amadeus, Sabre and Galileo reservation systems |
| E-ticket number | 13 digits (3-digit carrier code + 10-digit serial) | Every issued electronic ticket |
| Full-refund window after purchase | 24 hours | US-touching trips bought at least 7 days before departure |
| Ticket validity | 1 year from date of issue | Outbound and return flights of the same ticket |
| Schengen short-stay limit | 90 days | Within any rolling 180-day period |
| Schengen visa application window | 6 months to 15 days before departure | Short-stay visa files |
| Checked bag, international economy | 23 kg (50 lb), 158 cm combined dimensions | Standard carrier allowance |
| Gate closure before departure | 15–20 minutes | Passengers expected at gate 45–60 minutes early |
The list below names the rule families behind each figure rather than inventing citations.