How to Read an Amadeus PNR
4 min read
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 real PNR line by line.
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` is the responsible office and the queuing office — the agency office identifiers that own and manage the booking. `AA/SU` is the agent sign: the duty code and the initials of the agent who last touched the file. `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 = confirmed; 1 = number of seats |
| Departs | 0240 | Local departure time (24-hour) |
| Arrives | 0930 | Local arrival time (24-hour) |
| Source | *1A/E* | Booked in Amadeus (1A); E = electronic ticket |
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, waitlist closed |
Status codes drive action. HK needs nothing; TK means the airline changed the schedule and you should reissue or reconfirm; UN means the flight is gone and the itinerary must be rebooked.
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. The ticketing element shows the ticket time limit (TTL) — the deadline by which the booking must be ticketed or it risks automatic cancellation by the airline. You might see a line like `T.TAW/18JUN/0900` which means the agent must issue the ticket by 09:00 on 18 June. Once ticketed, the element is replaced by the actual ticket number, confirming the itinerary is paid and secured.
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.
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.