Integration of the Air Freight Booking Portal for managing air freight bookings in Scope — including ad hoc spot and contract rates.
Order this feature
This feature is subject to a charge. For general information about the feature, please read: What is the Air Freight Booking Portal in Scope?
Please contact sales@riege.com for an inquiry.
Booking shipments
Airline bookings via CargoAi can be created for Air Export Direct and Back to Back shipments, Air Export Master and Air Export (customer) bookings (Extras > Book flight via CargoAi, or context menu (right-click) in the Master AWB number field).
To be able to book a flight via CargoAi, no other airline booking must have been created yet.
Click on 'Book flight via CargoAi' in Extras or in the context menu (right-click) of the AWB number field.
1st page (data entry and verification)
The data on this page is used to query flights and rates via CargoAi and to make a booking.
The data is defaulted as far as possible in the shipment, but can be modified for the booking.
CargoAi allows a maximum period of 5 days for a search, which we make full use of here in order to minimize the number of chargeable search queries.
The possible values for the product field reflect the possible option in the providers search API.
ℹ️ When package details are defaulted from shipment data, they are classified as “stackable” per default. This behavior is in sync with typical booking portal web behavior.
When package details are entered, setting packages to “stackable” rather the default “non-stackable” might have a major impact on the offered rates and costs. Packages that are stackable, turnable or top loadable should be flagged accordingly to find the best rate and cost option.
2nd page — Select flight — display of search results (flights and rates)
It may take a while to compile all the search results. The status of the search is displayed below the table. Scope queries the status of the search with CargoAi every 4 seconds and displays the partial results available up to that point. Even during the search, flights can be selected from the partial results and details can be viewed.
The search result pane summarizes the search query, shows the result and offers various options:
On top of the table, from right to left, it is possible to filter the result to
- hide flight offerings where the airline did not allow instant booking via API, by option
[ ] show instant bookable flights only
(also indicated via the "Bookable" column) - hide flight offerings where the airline did not provide a price by option
[x] show priced flights only
This option is activated by default in context of booking a shipment - hide flight offerings with a total cost higher than the flight option with the earliest arrival (STA) and
hiding flight options which arrive later than the flight option with lowest total costs,
by option
[ ] show suggested flights only
The "Easy" column indicates flight offerings which are
- ⭐ suggested flight offering(s)
- 💲 lowest cost flight offering(s)
- ⏱️ fastest flight offering(s) (earliest STA)
- 🍃 greenest flight offering(s) (lowest CO₂ emissions)
The “Add later flights” button triggers an additional search for the subsequent period of days and adds the result to the shown rows.
The "Net Rate Info" button shows net rate info related to the given query parameters if this master data is available.
"Net Rate Info" and "Easy" column are available with Scope 25.2.
Show details
The "Show details" button is available for a selected flight options.
The details shown are especially useful on non-bookable flight options because in most cases the details reveal the reason why the option is not bookable, which might be airline specify (e.g. some airlines do not allow instant booking of non-stackable packages).
Easy Selection
The "Easy selection" action (above the table) toggles the view into a different view which displays three flight options: the a most economical , the earliest arrival and a balanced option. (Easy Selection is available with Scope 25.2)
3rd page (check flight details and finalize booking)
The details of the selected flight are displayed.
Depending on the flight/airline, it may be necessary to add an AWB number for a booking.
Click on “Book flight” to make a binding booking for the selected flight.
After booking
As with other bookings, the booked data is visible as 'Airline booking' in Shipment / Master / Booking. In the case of a CargoAi booking, the dialog opens in read-only mode.
In the dialog 'Airline booking' there is an additional tab in which the booked costs are displayed.
Right-click options for accessing booking details and status (CargoAi) as well as a quick option to cancel the booking.
When calculating costs and revenues, the booked rate (including other charges) is used for the provision to the airline.
Check booking status
In the event that the booking has not been declined but not immediately confirmed by the airline, the status of the booking must currently be checked manually via the airline booking dialog. We are working with CargoAi on an automated solution.
In the airline booking dialog you will find an action in the booking status to check the status of the booking via CargoAi
Cancel booking
CargoAi bookings are canceled — in the same way as other airline bookings — by deleting the airline booking.
The following screenshot illustrates the options once again from the airline booking dialog after selecting “Airline Booking” from the right-click context menu:
Options for status check and cancellation in the airline booking dialog