Airline Taxonomy

Overview

The Airline Taxonomy is a shared language for Airlines to describe their products and services to Sellers and a way for Sellers to optionally request specific features in an Offer.

Codeset

The Taxonomy is a hierarchy of related items which is used to convey the context of the product or service and can be found in this section.

As the Taxonomy is a hierarchy, the level of granularity can be customized, for example, by adding ‘0064' for ‘Flight' as an Airline Taxonomy, the Airline is describing that the Service is a flight, however by stipulating ‘04B0’ for 'Breakfast’, the airline is also advising that Breakfast is part of a Meal Service, which is on the Flight.

Management of the Airline Taxonomy

The Airline Taxonomy is a codeset managed by Airlines through the Standards Settings Governance. During a release, the Standards Group can add items to the Airline Taxonomy at any time. Items can only be changed or removed in a new release.

To request changes to the Airline Taxonomy, email standards@iata.org or contact a representative within the Offer Group.

Airline Taxonomies at Different Levels

The Airline Taxonomy is attached at various items such as a Service, Service Definition, Offer Item etc; which potentially leads to various implementations. These below examples try to explain the preference on how the Airline may use this to appropriately describe their products and services.

1. Passenger Segment Taxonomy vs. Offer Level

   1. If ‘Snacks’ were offered to all passengers on a flight, it would make sense to add the Airline Taxonomy at the Passenger Segment Level or the Dated Operating Leg Level to signify that regardless of the passengers Service, they would receive Snacks (05DC).

   2. Conversely, if Snacks were an optional item, or included in the Offer specifically, then it would make sense to add the Snack (05DC) to the Service Level or the Offer Item Level, as Snacks may not be available for all Offers on that flight.

2. Offer/Order Item vs Service Level

   1. If an item relates specifically to a Service within an Offer Item, for example, a wheelchair (0898), then it makes sense to add this taxonomy item at the service level as it defines the Service being offered.

   2. Conversely, an Airline may add an Airline Taxonomy at the Offer Item level which will apply to everything with that OfferItem, such as Change (012C) denoting that the OfferItem and all services within are changeable.

3. Consolidating Airline Taxonomies

   1. If an Offer/Order Item has three Services, and those Services all have the same Taxonomy item, which has not been derived from a PaxSegment, ServiceDefinition or Dated Operating Leg, for example, Refundable (0190), the Airline may be consolidated up to the Offer/Order Item Level. As this is within the Offer or Order structure.

   2. Conversely, it does not make sense to consolidate Airline Taxonomies from the Pax Segment, Dated Operating Leg or Service Definition to the Offer/Order Item level as these can be derived.

Request Services using the Airline Taxonomy

Requesting a Specific Service using the Airline Taxonomy

A Seller may use the Airline Taxonomy (or bilateral) to request specific products or services within the Offers to be returned. In this example, the Seller requests Offers with WIFI.

<iata:shoppingcriteria>
<iata:servicecriteria>
<iata:taxonomycode>0258</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicecriteria>
</iata:shoppingcriteria>

Requesting not to return Specific Services

A Seller may wish to filter the other way by specifically requesting that one or more services are not returned. In this example, the Seller requests that the Airline does not return any Offers which have alcoholic drinks included.

<iata:shoppingcriteria>
<iata:servicecriteria>
<iata:includeind>false</iata:includeind>
<iata:taxonomycode>0258</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicecriteria>
</iata:shoppingcriteria>

Requesting Multiple Services using the Airline Taxonomy

The Seller may choose to have any Offer which contains any of the following services.

<iata:shoppingcriteria>
<iata:servicecriteria>
<iata:taxonomycode>0258</iata:taxonomycode>
<iata:taxonomycode>01F4</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicecriteria>
</iata:shoppingcriteria>

Requesting Services as Bilaterally Agreed between Parties

A Seller may specifically request a service that has been bilaterally agreed between the Airline and the Sellers previously. In this example, the Seller understands that the value ZZZA is a Pet Grooming Service, which the Seller would like within the returned Offers.

<iata:shoppingcriteria>
<iata:servicecriteria>
<iata:taxonomycode>ZZZA</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicecriteria>
</iata:shoppingcriteria>

Bilateral Content

It is possible to use bilaterally agreed content, however the Airline Taxonomy can also be updated to include new items to better describe a product or service.

Responding with Services within the Airline Taxonomy

Responding with a Taxonomized Service

An Airline may return a Service which is described using the Airline Taxonomy. In this example, the Airline has returned Lounge as defined within the Airline Taxonomy. (Airport -> Lounge)

<iata:servicetaxonomy>
<iata:desctext>Lounge Access</iata:desctext>
<iata:taxonomycode>1B58</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicetaxonomy>

Responding with multiple Taxonomies for a Service

An Airline can describe a service with multiple Taxonomies. Here, the Airline describes its Lounge as having a Shower and Internet access.

<iata:servicetaxonomy>
<iata:taxonomycode>1BBC</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicetaxonomy>
<iata:servicetaxonomy>
<iata:taxonomycode>1BBC</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicetaxonomy>

Responding with Bilaterally agreed Taxonomies

An Airline may not find an appropriate Taxonomy structure for its product and may choose to add its own definitions to the structure bilaterally. In this example, the Airline is offering a Pet Grooming Service onboard. They’ve used the Shared Taxonomy to describe Pet but used their own value to describe it’s a Grooming Service.

This can be done by the airline assigning a value and detailing this within its developer guidance. The Airline or Seller may, if they choose, bring this to the Standard Settings Group to add this in to the Shared Taxonomy if desired.

<iata:servicetaxonomy>
<iata:taxonomycode>ZZZA</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:servicetaxonomy>

Responding Airline Specific information around that Service

An Airline may also send additional information through a simply Key-value pair associated with a Taxonomy value. In this example, the Airline states that it has Internet (via WI-FI) and choose to further specify information around the Internet service Onboard. The Keys are values are not defined at an industry level; this is up to the Airline to use.

<iata:airlinetaxonomy>
<iata:desctext>Onboard Wi-Fi Internet Service</iata:desctext>
<iata:servicefeature>
<iata:codesetcode>speed</iata:codesetcode>
<iata:codesetnamecode>BILATERAL</iata:codesetnamecode>
<iata:valuetext>50</iata:valuetext>
</iata:servicefeature>
<iata:servicefeature>
<iata:codesetcode>altitude</iata:codesetcode>
<iata:codesetnamecode>BILATERAL</iata:codesetnamecode>
<iata:valuetext>10000</iata:valuetext>
</iata:servicefeature>
<iata:taxonomycode>01F4</iata:taxonomycode>
</iata:airlinetaxonomy>

Airlines Developer Guide

With a bilaterally agreed feature set, the airline should advise the integrators the expected Keys to be delivered within a Taxonomy, similar to the below example.