Travel retailing, defined plainly.

ACMI

Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance — the four cost components an operator typically charges for in a wet-lease or charter arrangement. Pricing models often break out each component for transparency.

Ad-hoc charter

A single-flight or short-series charter booked outside a framework agreement. Pricing is usually quoted per request rather than from a contract rate sheet.

Ancillary revenue

Revenue earned beyond the base air fare — including bags, seats, lounges, upgrades, food, Wi-Fi, and bundles. The fastest-growing line item on most airline P&Ls.

Attach rate

The percentage of bookings that include a given ancillary or bundle. The most-cited single merchandising metric.

Branded fares

Named fare bundles (e.g. Light, Smart, Comfort, Flex) that group fare rules, ancillary inclusions, and creative into a single product travelers compare.

Bundle attach

Specific case of attach rate measuring the proportion of bookings that include a multi-component bundle.

Cost-plus pricing

Pricing strategy that builds a quote from explicit cost components (e.g. ACMI, fuel, positioning, fees) plus a target margin. Common in ad-hoc charter quotation.

Dynamic pricing

Pricing that adjusts continuously based on demand, channel, traveler context, and competitive signals.

Fare family

A named bundle of fare rules and inclusions presented to travelers — Light, Smart, Comfort, Flex are common examples.

GDS (Global Distribution System)

Aggregator network connecting airlines, hotels, and other travel suppliers to indirect distribution channels — Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport.

Merchandising

The discipline of deciding what offer to surface to which traveler at which step of the funnel.

Meta-search

Aggregator platforms (e.g. Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak) that surface offers from multiple sellers in a single comparison view. A direct distribution channel for many airlines and a long-tail acquisition surface.

Multi-language localization

Native support for the languages travelers shop in. AncillaryOffers ships with English, Arabic, French, and Turkish; geo-based targeting handles currency, copy, and creative per market.

NDC (New Distribution Capability)

An IATA-developed XML-based data transmission standard for travel distribution that enables airlines to merchandise offers and ancillaries to indirect channels with the richness available on direct channels.

NSOP (Non-Scheduled Operator)

An operator running flights outside published timetables — typically charter, ACMI, or ad-hoc operations. Quotation, pricing, and contracting workflows differ materially from scheduled operations.

Offer

A composed, ready-to-shop bundle of air, ancillary, and partner content presented to a traveler at a specific moment, with a price valid for a defined window.

Offer-and-order

An NDC-aligned architectural pattern in which the airline owns a unified offer and order representation across all distribution channels.

Order

The post-purchase representation of what a traveler bought. In NDC, the offer transitions to an order at confirmation.

Personalization

Tailoring offers to individual travelers based on their context, history, and predicted preferences.

PSS (Passenger Service System)

The core airline reservation, inventory, and departure-control system. Common providers: Amadeus Altea, Sabre, Navitaire, HP/Sabre Sonic.

RPK (Revenue per Passenger Kilometer)

A standard airline revenue density metric. In retailing contexts, often extended to include ancillary RPK.

Social commerce

Selling travel within social-network surfaces — embedded offers, in-app checkout, creator-led merchandising. An emerging distribution channel that requires native offer-engine support to scale.

Wet lease / dry lease

A wet lease provides aircraft and crew (sometimes maintenance and insurance — ACMI). A dry lease provides only the aircraft. Pricing structures and certifications differ.

Yield-based pricing

Pricing strategy that targets a yield (revenue per available seat-kilometer or per-block-hour) rather than recovering a defined cost. Common in scheduled and yield-managed charter operations.