Housekeeping

The Flight Inbox module lists all flights booked/processed by an end-user.

How to work with ATPI-CrewLink – see here
In this manual, we will review how to work with the Flight Inbox module using the Instone travel interface.

So, first, you need to set up a connection with Instone.

Step 1: Go to Setup > Global Options > Datagroups > Travel Interface:

Open

Please select Instone from the dropdown menu, then provide the URL for a server that will process your bookings, your Client ID, login ID & password; Agency information.
Server URL, Client ID, Login section are mandatory as they should contain your credentials for data exchange with your travel agent.

Mandatory fields. You can as well define whether Admin code & Cost center will be required as mandatory fields for your flight bookings.

Show XML before/after send/receive. This is more of an administrative option for debugging.

When it is turned on, you will see each XML to be sent/received when you create bookings & get confirmations from the processing center.

Step 2: Create Admin & Cost Center Codes

These fields are necessary for managing ATP & can be defined in Setup > General Codes > Travel:

Click button to add needed codes:

Open

You can also allocate Cost Center & Account Number for corresponding Cost Centre general code (various teams can have the same Cost Center but different Account Nr.).

Setting the checkbox (in an appeared window) for an organization level will make current code available for this level only:

Functionality

The Flight Inbox module manages the flight's requests for a crew member-created In the Adonis Personnel Manager and follows all processions of flights performed by the end-user.

It is not available if any other interface is used.
Currently, there are two places in APM where this integration is implemented:

For details, see the Booking from Flight Details/Crew Change sections below.

After you book travels from the Crew Change module or Flight Details data group, it is added to the Flights Requested tab of the Flight Inbox module with PENDING status.

Then you proceed to work there.
To access the module, click the icon on the Modules ribbon or press Ctrl+Alt+T hotkeys:

1. Views Filtering
   You can filter the records to review My Flights & All Flights pages.
   
   They respectively display flights booked by the current user or by all users.
   
   You can also switch between From Vessel/To Vessel views.
   They respectively display flights booked:
   
   for Off-signers (From Vessel);
   for On-signers (To Vessel).
   
   

2. Flights Requested tab contains information for bookings that were sent to the travel agent for processing but you have not yet received any feedback with flight options. These are normally bookings with PENDING status.
   
   If it's with NONE status - the booking is created but is not sent to ATPI.
   
   Just click the Refresh button -to update the latest status for tagged bookings. 
   
   The options Received tab displays the flight options for a booking, received from the travel agent. 
   
   Each flight option provides detailed information on how to get to the requested destination point.
   
   -An option can contain several segments that correspond to transit airports (connections) that appear on your destination. 
   
   The confirmed tab displays bookings that are confirmed by the user, but not ticketed by ATPI yet.
   
   The cancel Request tab displays all bookings & flight options that were canceled but the cancellation has not yet been confirmed by the travel agent.
   
   -You can cancel the flight request on the following process stages (tabs) – Options Received, Confirmed, and Ticketed. 
   
   The ticketed tab displays the bookings for which the tickets have been issued by the agent. 
   
   The canceled tab displays canceled bookings & flight options that have been confirmed by a travel agent. 
   
   The expired tab contains expired requests.

Menu buttons

We provide you with several menu buttons to perform operations over existing bookings.

Booking Statuses list:

Requests sent from APM:

1. Login request – receive Login confirmation.

2.  New booking request – receive confirmation that booking request is received.

3.  Refresh Booking List request – receive a List of bookings that currently exists in the queue, each booking in the list has the"secure Item Id" that is used by us to request details of a booking.

4.  Request Details of booking using received "secure Item Id" – receive Details of booking (e.g. air segments info, ticket number, amount, fare, etc.).

5.  Accept/Cancel request - send a list of PNRs that should be accepted/canceled – receive confirmation that request is received.

6.  Group Cancel request – send PNR and list of PAX names that should be canceled

7.  Renew PNR request – refresh all booking data.

Booking from Flight Details Datagroup

A booking can be created in the Flight Details data group for one person at a time.
Please select the correct person in your crew list then switch to the data group: click the icon on the Datagroups ribbon or press Ctrl+I hotkeys.

You'll see the following screen, use button or command from right-click menu to create a booking for a tagged person.

In the Book Flight form input all needed information, e.g.:

You should first select the Direction of your trip. It will define which fields are mandatory and which are disabled:

And vice versa:

Departure/Arrival Airport and Vessel to be Charged are mandatory for any direction.

Select an airport from the drop-down list.

the button is disabled until all mandatory fields are filled in and the Departure Date is chosen correctly.

After all requested data are filled, click Book! button.

To get the last update from Instone, click the Refresh button. 

the button will remove the selected record.
To view the flight itinerary, click the Itinerary button.
To add travel costs record, click  button.

To leave some notes, click  the button. Then they will be visible for all users here and in the Notes data group.

Booking from Crew Change Module

To access the Crew Change module, click the icon on the Modules ribbon.

To perform bookings, please select the required crew change port & switch to its Flight Booking tab:

1. Select the target view in the View Filter section to operate with:
   
   From Vessel (for Off-signers);
   To Vessel (for On-signers).
   
   

2. the button will open Add Crew box containing all the crew that is assigned for On-/Off-signing crew change respectively.
   
   Tag the pins that you want to book flights for & click the Copy Selection button to proceed. 
   
   Requests with NONE/Created status for crew members will be added to the Flight Booking tab: 
   
   
   

   
   Use the Remove button if you do not want to create a booking request for some tagged persons.
   
   Certain fields are mandatory to fill before you can book.
   
   You can add some travel information in a batch. If you update/select the Nearest Airport, Dpt. Date, Dpt. after time & click Apply button, this airport will be added as Arrival or Departure Airport (for tagged On-/Off-signers respectively). 
   
   You can as well tag needed persons & select Admin Code & Cost Center for any of them, then this value will be populated for all tagged crew members.
   
   Note that Admin Code & Cost Center can be set up as mandatory fields in Global Options.
   Standard grid functionality enables you to change columns order, sort by any field & hide some columns that are not relevant for your workflow.
   
   Once you've filled in all necessary fields, tag your crew members & click the Book Flight button. A progress window will be displayed to see persons being processed. 
   
   The status of processed bookings is changed from NONE to PENDING.
   
   As of now, your flight booking can be found in the Flight Inbox module at the Flights Requested tab and all further steps should be done there.
   
   Refresh – used to update the latest status for tagged bookings. The request to a travel agent is re-sent to force the update of a booking status & get the latest information. 
   
   Email Agent - opens your email client, setting the Agency Email (from Global Options). The subject of the email is generated as Vessel Name + PNR + Person Name. 
   
   Click the Notes button, to leave some comments, if needed.

References

Flight Inbox module is developed especially for Instone and CrewLink travel interfaces.
It is not available if any other interface is used.

The CrewLink Travel Interface user manual you can find here