Series fares are blocks of airline seats that a consolidator or agency commits to in advance, usually on busy routes and dates. Bought well, they offer better margins than published fares and guaranteed seats in peak seasons. Managed badly, they become unsold seats and lost deposits. A flight extranet is the tool that keeps series inventory under control. This guide explains the full lifecycle.
How series fares work
The agency agrees with an airline to take a number of seats on specific flights over a period, often with a deposit. The airline creates group bookings, and the agency must provide passenger names before a deadline. Seats that are not named in time may be released back to the airline, sometimes with penalties depending on the agreement.
Step 1: Loading the inventory
- Create each series with airline, flight numbers, route, dates and times.
- Record the number of seats per departure and the group booking reference.
- Enter the purchase cost, taxes and baggage allowance.
- Note the name-submission and release deadlines for each departure.
Bulk upload from a spreadsheet saves time when a series covers months of departures.
Step 2: Pricing for demand
Series seats do not need a fixed sale price. Many agencies adjust prices based on demand:
- Higher prices for peak dates and fast-selling departures.
- Lower prices as the deadline approaches and unsold seats remain.
- Different prices for agent groups and for direct customers.
A good extranet lets you change prices per departure in a few clicks and see the margin each change produces.
Step 3: Selling through your channels
Publish series inventory to your B2B portal so agents can book it alongside GDS fares, and optionally to your B2C website. Each booking reduces the available seat count instantly, and the passenger names are stored against the series.
Step 4: Name lists and deadlines
As the deadline approaches, the extranet should:
- Show how many seats are named and how many remain.
- Generate the name list in the format the airline requires.
- Alert the team a few days before each deadline.
- Record ticket numbers once the airline issues tickets.
Step 5: Handling unsold seats
Before the release deadline, decide what to do with remaining seats: discount them, offer them to top agents, or release them according to your airline agreement. The extranet's unsold-seats report makes this decision easy to see.
Step 6: Reviewing performance
After each series, review the numbers: seats sold, average selling price, margin, unsold seats and penalties. Over time this data shows which routes and dates are worth committing to and which are too risky.
In practice: one route, one season
Suppose an agency commits to 30 seats a day on a Delhi–Dubai flight for six weeks of the holiday season. In week one, early departures sell quickly, so the team raises prices on those dates. Mid-season dates sell slowly, so it offers top agents a lower net rate for those dates only. Ten days before each name deadline, the dashboard shows remaining seats, and the team runs a short campaign for those dates on its B2C site. By the end of the season the series has sold through, and the performance report shows which weeks were most profitable, which guides next year's commitment. None of this is possible without one system tracking every seat.
Common mistakes
- Selling the same seats on two systems without a shared seat count.
- Missing a name deadline because it was tracked only in email.
- Keeping prices fixed until the last minute instead of reacting to demand.
Frequently asked questions
Can agents see series fares and GDS fares together?
Yes. When the extranet is connected to the booking engine, series fares appear in the same results with their own labels and rules.
Who issues the tickets for series bookings?
Usually the airline issues tickets against the group booking once names are submitted, or the consolidator issues them through its ticketing arrangement, depending on the agreement.
Key takeaways
- Track every series from purchase to name submission in one system.
- Adjust prices by demand and deadline, not just at launch.
- Use deadline alerts and unsold-seat reports to avoid losses.
Manage series fares, name lists and agent sales in one place with our flight extranet system and series fare portal.
