Peter47
21st Jan 2011, 20:18
Here's a rather obscure question someone in a commercial department or who works for a travel agent may be able to answer. My Mum booked a flight on Malaysia Airlines and asked me to check her booking (she thinks that I understand these things).
She had a standard six alphanumeric digit booking code which you get with most airlines. There was also a five digit check digit check in code. I tried the MH website which did not recognise the booking reference - when I rang the airline they said that it was the travel agency code - nothing to do with them.
This made me think. There are about 1 billion combinations of six letters / numbers (excluding 'O' & 'I') - doubtless more than the number of outstandong reservations with all the world's airlines at one time. But how are they generated? Is it randomly? Presumably there is a system so that they are unique amongst all airlines (when I did a booking on BA/QF both airlines used the same booking for the itinerary). Can you glean any information from the booking reference?
Also, is there any connection with the 13 digit e-ticket reference, where the first three digits identify the airline (125 = BA, 074 = KLM for example)? Some airlines like KLM seem to use the e-ticket code quite a lot, others just refer to the six digit booking reference.
She had a standard six alphanumeric digit booking code which you get with most airlines. There was also a five digit check digit check in code. I tried the MH website which did not recognise the booking reference - when I rang the airline they said that it was the travel agency code - nothing to do with them.
This made me think. There are about 1 billion combinations of six letters / numbers (excluding 'O' & 'I') - doubtless more than the number of outstandong reservations with all the world's airlines at one time. But how are they generated? Is it randomly? Presumably there is a system so that they are unique amongst all airlines (when I did a booking on BA/QF both airlines used the same booking for the itinerary). Can you glean any information from the booking reference?
Also, is there any connection with the 13 digit e-ticket reference, where the first three digits identify the airline (125 = BA, 074 = KLM for example)? Some airlines like KLM seem to use the e-ticket code quite a lot, others just refer to the six digit booking reference.