Can my customers buy extra baggage on my portal when they book a flight, or do they have to sort that out at the airport?

Yes, in many cases extra baggage can be added on your portal at the time of booking, but it depends entirely on the airline and on what the flight API you are connected to supports. Low cost carriers usually sell baggage as an add on and most APIs pass those options through, so your customer sees the available weight choices and the cost before paying. Many full service airlines include a baggage allowance in the fare itself, so there is nothing extra to sell, and some of them do not open up paid baggage through the booking API at all.

Where it is supported, the flow is straightforward for your staff. After the flight is selected, the portal shows the baggage choices returned by the airline for that specific fare, your customer picks what they need, and the charge is added to the total they pay you. The allowance is then attached to the ticket, so it shows on the confirmation and the passenger does not have to pay again at the counter.

Where it is not supported, your customer either travels on the included allowance or buys the extra bag directly from the airline, usually on the airline website or at check in. Your portal cannot create an allowance the airline has not made available to us, and we would rather tell you that plainly than have a passenger turned away at the desk.

The sensible next step is to tell us which routes and airlines you sell most, and we will confirm which of them return paid baggage options on your connection so your staff know when to offer it and when to point the customer to the airline.