Relationships between Offers, OfferParts, Products and Fares

The entities offer, offerpart, product and fare represent different concepts.

An offer spans the trip consisting of segments. An offerpart spans a segment or - in the case of through fares - multiple segments. An offerpart references zero or two products. Mostly, the relationship is one-to-one (zero in case of included seat reservation, whereas two products are only referenced in some rare TGV-TER scenarios).

A fare is not necessarily bound to segments but reflects the tariff worlds. A fare often starts or ends at country borders where no train station exist. This border points are thus called virtual border points which can be modelled by ConnectionPoints. Fares are combined following a fare combination model to an offer.

Relationships between Offers, OfferParts, Products and Fares

Note: This example assumes that the complete trip can be priced.

Ways to Access Fares

There are three ways for a retailer to access fares.

First Scenario: Complete Offline Import of Fares

A retailer imports all fares of a given railway using a batch import from the OSDM-Offline platform.

The fares contain all relevant information to create offers, bookings and fulfillments (aka. tickets). If a booking occurs the RU informs the RU of the fare sold using UIC 301.

Second Scenario: Import of Relevant Fares at Offer Step

At offer time, a retailer looks up the fares for a given origin/destination in its database. If it doesn’t find it the retailer imports the relevant fares online. If a booking occurs the RU informs the RU of the fare sold using UIC 301.

Third Scenario: No Explicit Import of Fares

For a given origin/destination and date of travel the relevant fares are returned as part of the Offer.

If the fare is sold as part of an offer then the fare is booked online at the offering retailer.

Attributes of an Online Fare

Attributes of An Online Fare

Roles of Fare Attributes in the Booking and After Sales Processes

The fare contains all information so that a retailer can calculate correct prizes, render a valid fulfillment and account correctly.

The following sections describe which fare attributes are used at which step:

Offer Creation Step

Relevant fare attributes for the offer creation step are:

  • price

  • regionalConstraint

    Examples: a list of stations, a list of zones or a list of train link,…

    A retailer needs to guarantee that the whole trip is covered by fares.

  • serviceConstraint

    Examples: IC, TGV, BEX, …

    A retailer can create offers only if the trip/segment is run by the service.

  • carrierConstraint

    Examples: Thalys, Eurostar, …

    A retailer can create offers only if the trip/segment is run by the carrier.

  • regulatoryConditions

    Examples: CIV, MD or EU-PER

    The regulatory conditions need to be indicated in the offer to inform the customer.

  • serviceClass

    Examples: HIGH, BEST, STANDARD or BASIC

    A retailer needs to consider serviceClass depending on the FareCombinationModel applied.

    The service class needs to be indicated in the offer to inform the customer.

  • travelClass

    Examples: FIRST or SECOND

    The comfort class needs to be indicated in the offer to inform the customer.

  • accommodationDetails

    Example: SEAT, COUCHETTE, BERTH or VEHICLE

    If the train is a night train or car carriage the accommodation details need to be reflected in the offer.

  • afterSalesCondition

    Example: Non-refundable after departure.

    A retailer needs to consider afterSalesCondition depending on the FareCombinationModelapplied.

    The refund/exchange conditions need to be indicated in the offer to inform the customer.

  • combinationConstraint

    Examples: SEPARATE_CONTRACTS model, SEPARATE_TICKETS model, CLUSTERING model or COMBINATION model

    A retailer can only combine fares respecting the combination models.

  • fulfillmentConstraint

    Examples: SIP, SID or SIS

    A retailer can only create offers which respect the constraints concerning the ticket control. If fulfillmentConstraint are mixed, then all constraints need to be served.

  • reductionConstraint

    Example: 1085_GA where 1085 denotes SBB, 1080_Bahncard50, where 1080 denotes DB, …

    A retailer can create offers only if the passenger(s) own(s) the reduction(s).

  • travelValidityConstraint

    Example: Valid 24h after departure

    The travel validity constraint needs to be communicated in the offer to inform the customer.

  • placeSelection

    Example: Selected places in a graphical seat map, reference place for adjacent reservation or place preferences

    A retailer most respect the selected places. The other types are optional to be respected by the retailer.

  • coveredSection

    Example: Start and end location

    A retailer has to create an offer that covers the whole trip from start location to end location.

Booking Step

Relevant fare attributes for the booking process step are:

  • price

  • reservationDetails

    Example: Wagon 19, Seat 44

    The reservation details need to be communicated at the pre-booking step to the customer.

  • legacyAccountingIdentifier

    The legacy accounting identifier information is used to write a correct 301 record.

Fulfillment Step

Relevant fare attributes for the fulfillment step are:

  • price

    The price needs to be communicated to the passenger(s), e.g. printed on the ticket.

    Additionally, it needs to be encoded in the security element(s).

  • regionalConstraint

    The regional constraint need to be communicated to the passenger(s), e.g. printed on the ticket.

    Additionally, it needs to be encoded in the security element(s).

  • regulatoryConditions

    The regulatory conditions need to be communicated to the passengers(s), e.g. printed on the ticket.

  • reservationsDetails

    The reservation details need to be communicated to the passengers(s), e.g. printed on the ticket.

    Additionally, it needs to be encoded in the security element(s) in case of mandatory reservations.

  • serviceClass

    The service class need to be communicated to the passengers(s), e.g. printed on the ticket.

    Additionally, it needs to be encoded in the security element(s).

  • travelValidityConstraint

    The date are needed to create valid barcode and control data.

    Additionally, it needs to be encoded in the security element(s).

  • passengerConstraint

    Example: Age between 6 and 16 years

    The passenger constraint need to be communicated to the passengers(s), e.g. printed on the ticket.

After Sale

Refund Offer Creation Step

Relevant fare attributes for the creation of a refund offer are:

  • price

  • afterSaleConditions

    A retailer can create offers only if the after sale condition support its creation.

Exchange Offer Creation Step

Relevant fare attributes for the creation of a refund offer are the afterSaleConditions as well as all the attributes for offer creation.