Introduction

With the introduction of the new Offline Booking Approval feature, you can import bookings made outside our system, ensuring complete visibility and management of all travel arrangements.

This document provides information on how you can set it up and activate it in the administrative portal


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Admin Setup

The main setting is located in Offline PNR Import menu option in the Travel Group settings.
 All parameters for Offline Booking Approval are located between the two red lines on this screen shot.

 

  • Offline Approval Queue: that is the queue where you will place offline PNRs to be imported for approval. Thomalex will read this queue in intervals and when a PNR is present in that queue, it will be imported into Thomalex and submitted for approval.


 IMPORTANT: Only un-ticketed, agent-booked PNRs must be placed in this queue by the fulfillment agency if approval is required.

There is no consistent way to know if the trip is compliant with all corporate rules so Thomalex relies on the fulfillment agency to make that determination and then place it in the Offline Approval queue, which tells Thomalex it needs to go through the approval process.

  • Offline Approval Error Queue: if an error is encountered during the import, Thomalex will place the PNR that was not imported on this queue. An email will be sent to you with the error message describing the reason for rejection. Once you correct the information, you can place the PNR again on the Offline Approval Queue for import.

  • Offline queue read cycle: this defines at which intervals Thomalex will read the queue. This should be a number defined in minutes so if, for example, you put in 10, Thomalex will read this queue every 10 minutes to check for PNRs on the approval queue.

In the event that Thomalex is unable to process the agent-booked PNR, the PNR is queued here by Thomalex (instead of the Approval Hold queue), for reasons such as:

  • Any internal Thomalex error
  • bad formatting of data
  • reservation (PNR) has already been ticketed

This allows TMCs to monitor a specific queue and take action to ensure they can be approved before the traveler's departure.

 

  • Match PNR with traveler from (select one of the 2 possible options):
    1. Email address in the PNR email field: in this case, Thomalex will read the first email address that is in the PNR and will try to match it to a username that is in Thomalex.
       If there is a match, Thomalex will import this PNR into the company and travel group that this traveler belongs to.


Important note: the match of email in PNR will be done with the login Username and not a traveler email address from the traveler profile. This method can be used only when your travelers’ Userids are emails. If you travelers’ Userids are something else (like names or some text), you should use the second method described below.

  1. Remark in PNR with username that has format: here you will input a text keyword that will specify to Thomalex how to find the traveler to match this PNR to.
     For example you can put the text “USER-“.


By doing this you are specifying to Thomalex that there is a remark in the PNR that starts with the text USER- and that will contain the username of this traveler.
The remark in an Amadeus PNR might be “RM USER-username of traveler”.
In Sabre PNR you would create a remark like “5 USER-username of traveler”.
 Note that in this text field:

  • You can put any text you want, USER- was just an example
  • You will not put the remark transaction code (like RM or 5).

For example, if mu userid was “rastkoilic”, and in this text field you put USERNAME-, you remark in an Amadeus PNR would look like RM USERNAME-rastkoilic



Created By

Note that once the PNR is successfully imported into Thomalex, the Created By element will show “Offline Agent”, as per this example:

Image 1. - Created By Information Location


 Known Limitations and Clarifications

  • Regardless of the trip state or approval configuration settings, PNRs placed in the offline approval queue will trigger the approval email to the manager/ approver. Do not place PNRs on this queue unless:
  1. Approval is required
  2. PNR is unticketed (air/rail)
  3. PNR originated offline
  • The offline approval process does not apply policy. It will only send the trip to the approver. The manager/approver could call the agency for more detail but it will not be available in the email or in Thomalex.
  • This feature does not work for non-profiled travelers.
  • This feature is only available in B2B corporate mode, it is not available for B2C sites as B2C does not have approval flows. There are 3 different offline imports in Thomalex now:
    1. Offline PNR import for B2C only: when travel agent wants to import a B2C PNR into the Thomalex booking list. No other specific action is taken on the imported PNR. Here is the panel for the B2C only setting available from the “Booking/View bookings” menu:

Image 2. - Import Offline PNR for B2C Agencies

 

 

    1. Offline PNR import for approval (B2B only): the hereto described feature. Here are the settings for the 2 B2B only offline imports available in the travel group under Import “Offline PNR import” menu.
                                                      Image 3. - Import For Approval Settings
    2. Offline PNR import for request for assistance (B2B only): imports an offline PNR following a request for assistance that a corporate traveler has made through the Thomalex booking tool as per below. For settings see above.

Image 4. - Request Assistance from Travel Agent

 

Activation & Support

You can start using this new feature from June 3rd, 2025.
For any question or issue, please open a ticket with our support team.


Features commercials

There is no charge to activate this feature, and any admin can set it up as per the above procedure.
 All imported offline PNRs will be charged a per PNR fee, like any PNR as per your current contract.