Reservation

Making a reservation for a traveler is more than just issuing a ticket. The reservation clerk has to know something about the purpose of the journey so that he can advice his client on the most satisfactory way of arranging his whole itinerary. Most travelers have special needs or problems, they may have a very tightly organized time table, or they want to work on their papers and documents in the aircraft, or they want hotels booked for them at the end of their journey.

A good reservation clerk can do much to smooth the path of every traveler. In many cases, too, he can show the busineesman how to adjust his plans slightly to provide time for relaxation – a very necessary ingredient of high – pressure business trip.

Nowadays, a computer shows upon request all the schedules and alternative routings for any chosen journey, and indicates whether the proposed sectors are already fully booked or whether space is still available for more passengers.

Before computers were installed, reservation clerks had to look up each proposed routing in a bulky manual, check the fares separately and then inquire by telephone or in some cases by tele – printer, to see if space was available for the prospective traveler.