Learning Outcome 1 Arrange Flight Itinerary Using A Map and Planner

Objectives At the end of this lesson, the learner is expected to:

1. describe the functions involved in managing travel arrangements for leisure travel;

2. plan a flight itinerary using a map and flight planner; and

3. accomplish a booking card for travel, a tour voucher/exchange order and

purchase order

Flight Itinerary Planning Flight itinerary planning is the process by which cities to be visited
are arranged in the desired sequence to conform with the passenger‘s desired travel plans,
starting from the point of origin to the destinations to be visited in the desired sequence.
Claravall (2008) suggested ways on how to plan for your itinerary:

1. identify the city-pairs involved – origin/destination or where a sector begins and where it ends. 
A round trip journey will have two city-pair, example: Manila/Singapore and Singapore/Manila. 
Once city-pairs are identified, select the suitable flights between the city-pairs on the basis of
schedule (ETD/ETA) and frequency (day of a week).

2. A good knowledge of the world geography- airline flight geography and how to be oriented by a
map are essential in itinerary planning.

3. Knows how to read maps  In reading maps, the top portion represents north, unless an arrow
indicates that point of the compass. The left side of the page is west, the right side is east, and the
bottom side is south.  To get proper orientation, draw an imaginary circle around the point of
origin.

4. Have an idea of the distance involved -the scale is the proportional difference between the actual
size of the area and the size of the map.

Don’ts in Flight Itinerary Planning:

1. Avoid crisscrossing
Crisscrossing: Manila /Bangkok /Hong Kong /Singapore /Manila Should be: Manila /Hong
Kong /Bangkok /Singapore /Manila or VV
2. Avoid backtracking
Crisscrossing: Manila /New Delhi /Bangkok /Colombo /Manila Should be: Manila
/Bangkok /New Delhi /Colombo /Manila or VV
3. ―The less carriers used, the better‖ - this has more to do with the competitive airfares than
anything else
Basic Procedure in Flight Itinerary Planning

- The simplest procedure in itinerary planning is to select direct, non-stop flights from one
point to another, until final destination. However, it is not always that simple.
Sometimes there are no direct flights from a point of origin.
- It is easy to find flights to the desired destination or to the next hub city – this is known
as hub city or transfer airport. –
- Should there be no direct flights from Bangkok to Madrid, another hub city or transfer
airport is required.
- The required connections in the hub cities provide stopover opportunities for travelers,
under normal conditions, at no extra charge.
- When selecting the hubs, take into account the political stability of the countries in
question so as to insure the safety and security of the passengers transiting or passing by
these countries. –
- The best thing for you to do is to use the OAG (Official Airline Guide) flight planner, or
the individual flight schedules in travel portals.
- - It is important to note and list down all the city-pairs, flights involved, arrival/departure
times, and convenient connections of the itinerary.
- 24-hour Time and Time Zones
- The arrival and departure of the airlines are always expressed in local time.
- These are given in the 24-hour system (military time) wherein hours are expressed in
four digits.
- Thus, 6:00 a.m. is 0600H (oh-six hundred hours) and 11:30 a.m. is 1130H (eleven thirty
hours). Afternoon hours are expressed as 1300H (thirteen hundred hours) for 1:00 p.m.,
1830H (eighteen thirty hours) for 6:30 p.m. and 2345H (twenty-three forty-five hours)
for 11:45 p.m.
- It is important to be able to convert time in this system.
- It is also important to understand International Time based on the world‘s 24-time
zones.
- Every degree of longitudes, i.e. the vertical lines running from north to south or vice-
versa in all world maps, represents one hour time difference from the other.
- How to read the OAG Flight Planner
- Departure City (1) – the English spelling of the city of departure, its airline code and
time variation from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
- Arrival City (2) – cities served from the point of departure by through or connecting
flights. If the city of arrival has more than one airport, the name and the code of each is
given.
- Flight information (3) – flights are shown in order of departure time. Through-flights are
listed before connecting flights. Some cities are served by connecting flights only.
- Key to the through-flight information:(4-14)  Validity (16) – flight information is valid
between the dates shown. Through and connecting flights operating for shorter periods
are indicated by first/last date of operation.
- Days of service – M-Monday; T-Tuesday; W-Wednesday; Thursday; F-Friday; S-Saturday
and Sun-Sunday.
- Departure and Arrival times (17-23) – Bold type is used for departure time from the city
of origin and arrival at the final destination. Arrival and departure times at transfer
connection airports are shown.
- Flight Number (19 and 21) – the two-letter airline code is used, followed by the flight
number.
- Aircraft type (12) – abbreviated type of aircraft.
- Class (13) – the classes of service offered.  Stops (11) – the number of intermediate
stops on each flight