How to Read an Amadeus PNR
6 min read · Published · Updated
An Amadeus PNR — Passenger Name Record — is the booking file a travel agent or airline holds for a trip. On screen it looks dense and cryptic: every segment packs the carrier, flight number, booking class, route, status and times into a single row. Once you know where each field sits, the whole record becomes easy to read. This guide walks through a sample PNR line by line. All names, offices and references in it are made up.
A complete Amadeus PNR
Here is a short two-segment PNR for one passenger. We will decode each line below.
RP/AMM1A0980/AMM1A0980 AA/SU 18JUN/0830Z ABCDEF
1.SMITH/JOHN MR
2 EK 902 Y 20AUG 4 AMMDXB HK1 0240 0930 *1A/E*
3 EK 374 Y 20AUG 4 DXBKUL HK1 1045 2150 *1A/E*The header line
The first line is the PNR header. `RP/AMM1A0980/AMM1A0980` holds two Amadeus office IDs: the first is the office responsible for (owning) the booking, the second the office of the agent who last worked on it. They are the same here, but differ when one office handles another's booking. The office ID itself encodes a city (AMM) and the system (1A is Amadeus's code). `AA/SU` is the sign of the agent who last updated the record: their initials, then their duty code. `18JUN/0830Z` is the date and time the record was last updated, in GMT (the trailing `Z` means Zulu/UTC time). The six characters at the end, `ABCDEF`, are the record locator — the unique PNR address you quote to retrieve the booking.
The name element
`1.SMITH/JOHN MR` is element 1, the passenger name. Amadeus stores the surname first, then a slash, then the first name, followed by a title. So this passenger is Mr John Smith. Multiple passengers are numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on; an infant is attached to an adult and shown with an `(INF...)` tag.
Flight segments
Lines 2 and 3 are the flight segments — the heart of the PNR. Reading the first one, `2 EK 902 Y 20AUG 4 AMMDXB HK1 0240 0930 *1A/E*`, field by field:
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Element no. | 2 | Position of this segment in the PNR |
| Carrier | EK | Marketing airline (IATA code) — Emirates |
| Flight no. | 902 | Flight number; quoted as EK902 |
| Booking class | Y | Reservation booking designator (RBD) / fare class |
| Date | 20AUG | Departure date |
| Day | 4 | Day of week (1 = Monday … 7 = Sunday) |
| City pair | AMMDXB | Board point AMM (Amman) → off point DXB (Dubai) |
| Status | HK1 | HK = holds confirmed; 1 = number of seats |
| Departs | 0240 | Local departure time (24-hour) |
| Arrives | 0930 | Local arrival time (24-hour) |
| Indicators | *1A/E* | 1A = Amadeus; E = the segment is e-ticket eligible |
The second segment, `EK 374 ... DXBKUL`, continues the journey from Dubai (DXB) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL). Read together, the two segments describe a one-stop trip from Amman to Kuala Lumpur via Dubai, both flights confirmed in economy.
Status and action codes
The two-letter status code tells you the state of each segment. The most common ones you will see in a retrieved PNR are:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| HK | Holds confirmed — the segment is booked and confirmed |
| HL | Waitlisted |
| HN | Have requested — segment requested, awaiting reply |
| TK | Schedule change confirmed — advise the passenger |
| UN | Unable — flight cancelled or no longer operating |
| UC | Unable — not confirmed and not waitlisted |
Status codes drive action. HK needs nothing; TK means the airline changed the schedule and you should check connections, advise the passenger and acknowledge it; UN means the flight is gone and the itinerary must be rebooked. The full list is in the status-codes glossary.
Booking class vs cabin
The single letter after the flight number — `Y` here — is the booking class, also called the RBD. It is not the same as the cabin. Many booking classes map to one cabin: for example Y, B, M and H are all economy classes that sell at different fare levels and conditions. The booking class determines the fare rules, mileage accrual and upgrade eligibility, which is why agents read it carefully even when two passengers are sitting in the same cabin.
Ticketing elements
After the flight segments, a complete PNR typically contains ticketing and time-limit elements. In Amadeus the ticketing arrangement is the TK element. Before issue it usually carries a ticketing time limit (TL), the deadline after which the airline may cancel unticketed seats. After issue it typically reads `TK OK` followed by the date and office. The ticket numbers themselves appear in FA elements, one per passenger, such as `FA PAX 176-0000000001/ETEK/...`. Here `ET` marks an electronic ticket and `EK` is the validating airline. If there is no FA line, the booking is not ticketed, whatever the segment status says.
Other common elements include the SSR (Special Service Request) lines for meal preferences, wheelchair assistance or passport data (DOCS), and the OSI (Other Service Information) field used for free-text messages to the airline. These do not change how you read the segment lines, but they round out the full picture of what a PNR holds.
Common reading mistakes
- Reading HK as ticketed. HK is a seat status; look for TK OK and FA lines to confirm issuance.
- Assuming the times share a time zone. Both times on a segment are local to their own airport, so you cannot subtract them to get the flight time on international routes.
- Forgetting the year. Amadeus dates such as 20AUG have no year; on bookings made far ahead, confirm which year is meant.
- Overlooking an arrival on a later day. Check the arrival date or day-change marker on overnight flights before quoting arrival to a passenger.
- Copying only one screen. Long PNRs run over several pages; a display ending in )> has more to scroll (MD) before you copy.
From raw PNR to a clean itinerary
Reading a PNR is one thing; handing a passenger something legible is another. Rather than forwarding raw terminal output, paste it into the FlyTix Amadeus formatter. It rebuilds the record as a clean itinerary with full airport names, calculated durations and clear arrival-day offsets — entirely in your browser, with nothing uploaded or stored.
Examples on this page use made-up data. Spotted an error or something that differs in your GDS? Send us a correction.