What Passive segment means
A normal (active) segment is a request: the GDS sends a message to the airline, the airline sells a seat and confirms it. A passive segment skips that step. The agent types in the flight details with a passive status code and the GDS simply records them in the PNR.
The legitimate reason is ticketing. If a booking was made directly with the airline, for example by a call centre or on a group desk, the agency's GDS has no copy of it. Entering matching passive segments lets the agency price and issue the e-ticket from its own system. Agencies and online booking tools also use passive entries to show trips booked elsewhere on one itinerary.
Status codes differ by system. American Airlines' booking guidance identifies passives by GK or YK in Sabre and MK or ML in Worldspan. Lufthansa's booking policy refers to non-billable "ghost segments" with Amadeus status GK. Travelport Smartpoint offers AK and BK statuses, where BK sends a message to the airline and AK does not.
Airlines police passives because they cost money and can be abused. A GDS may bill segment fees on them, and passives can be used to fake productivity figures or to dress up a booking so that it prices at a lower fare. A 2011 Travelnews report described Travelport charging US agencies for passive segments above a threshold, and US Airways passing GDS costs back to agencies. Rules today are set airline by airline in their GDS booking policies.
How Passive segment works
Used correctly, a passive segment is a short-lived bridge between an airline-held booking and an agency-issued ticket.
- Check whether a claim is possibleSome airlines let agencies claim the airline-created booking into the GDS instead. Delta says passives are not permitted when the Delta PNR can be claimed.
- Enter matching segmentsThe agent adds segments with the passive status used by that GDS, copying flight, date, class and passenger names exactly from the airline booking.
- Add the airline locatorThe airline's record locator is added so the ticket and booking can be matched. Delta may reject a passive with status NO if no matching itinerary is found.
- Price and issue the ticketThe agency prices the itinerary and issues the ticket, which the airline then associates with its own booking.
- Clean upPassives that are not ticketed are cancelled. Air India counts passives left unticketed and uncancelled at month end as violations.
Passive segment in practice
Verified rules from airline agency policies (always check the current version for each carrier):
| Airline | Stated rule |
|---|---|
| Delta | A passive must be entered only to ticket and must match an existing booking. Passives for GDS productivity, to get around fare rules or for administration are not allowed. |
| Turkish Airlines | Passives only to ticket confirmed segments, not to produce invoice or itinerary copies; EUR 35 per PNR for passives other than those generated through the airline system and ticketed by the agency. |
| Air India (policy effective October 2023) | Passives only for ticketing a live Air India booking; USD 10 per passenger per segment for violations. |
| American Airlines | Avoid passive PNRs whenever possible; they are subject to unproductive segment fees. |
Who uses it
Advantages and limitations
Advantages
- Lets an agency ticket a booking that was created outside its own GDS.
- Keeps the full trip in one PNR for itinerary documents, reporting and traveller tracking.
- Non-messaging statuses avoid sending duplicate sell requests to the airline.
Limitations
- Rules and penalties differ by airline, so agents must check each carrier's GDS policy.
- Unticketed or unmatched passives can lead to debit memos and segment fee charges.
- Passive segments do not hold inventory, so they give no guarantee that a seat exists.
- Status codes and behaviour differ between Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport systems.
Frequently asked questions about Passive segment
What does GK status mean in a GDS booking?
In Sabre and Amadeus, GK marks a passive segment that has been confirmed by the agent rather than sold through the airline. It records the flight in the PNR without requesting a seat. Lufthansa's policy, for example, permits only non-billable ghost segments with Amadeus status GK on its flights.
Why do airlines charge agencies for passive segments?
Airlines may pay GDS fees on segments, and passives that are never ticketed create cost without revenue. They can also be misused to inflate productivity or bypass fare rules. Policies such as Turkish Airlines' EUR 35 per PNR fee and Air India's USD 10 per segment penalty recover those costs.
Is a passive segment the same as a confirmed reservation?
No. A passive segment is only a copy entered by the agent. The real reservation must already exist in the airline's system. If no matching booking exists, the passenger has no seat, and some airlines, such as Delta, will reject the passive with status NO.
When should an agent claim a PNR instead of creating passives?
Where the airline and GDS support it, claiming moves the airline-created booking into the agency's GDS with its real segments, which avoids manual re-entry errors. Delta's policy says passives are not permitted when it is possible to claim a Delta-created PNR instead.
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- Delta — Booking policy definitions
- Turkish Airlines — Agency booking rules
- Air India — ADM policy on GDS misuse (effective 1 October 2023)
- American Airlines SalesLink — GDS booking monitoring policy
- Lufthansa / Austrian — Booking policy (January 2016)
- Travelport — Selling passive segments (Smartpoint help)
- Travelnews — Passive segments: who bears the cost? (October 2011)