Can my customers see budget airlines in the flight search results on my portal?

Yes, budget airlines can appear in the flight results on your portal, although which ones show up depends on the suppliers connected to your account and the plan you are on. Full service airlines usually reach the portal through one type of supplier, while many low cost carriers are connected separately, either directly with the airline or through an aggregator that groups several of them together. If a budget airline you expect to see is missing, it normally means that particular connection is not switched on for your account yet, rather than that the portal cannot handle it.

It helps to know that low cost carriers behave differently from traditional airlines once a seat is chosen. They often need payment and ticketing at the moment of booking, so there is no holding the seat and paying for it later in the day. Fares are frequently non refundable, and the things a customer may assume are included, such as checked baggage, seat selection or a meal, are usually paid extras offered as separate options. Your portal will display whatever the airline makes available, but it cannot add an inclusion the airline does not sell.

Changes and cancellations also work differently. Some low cost carriers let your staff amend or cancel through the system, while others expect that to be done on the airline's own site or through the airline's agent desk, and some apply a fee that can only be confirmed at the time of the change. For that reason, your team should read the conditions shown for each fare rather than assume they match the last booking they made.

Have a word with us about which low cost airlines matter most in the markets you sell, and run a test search to see whether those carriers are already appearing with the fare conditions your staff need.