How to check flight coupons and tickets

A flight booking is a complicated thing. There are multiple parts, and all parts have to be in sync with each other for you to be able to board your flight. There is: a booking (your PNR), tickets, and; flight coupons. It’s usually quite easy to check your booking by using your reference number on the carrier’s website. However, checking the tickets and flights coupons is a harder task.

Why would you want to check tickets and coupons? Well, sometimes you’ll purchase an itinerary, or make changes to one, and although the booking might reflect the correct itinerary, the tickets and coupons may not. For example, say you booked Toronto – Frankfurt – Amsterdam. Later, you called Aeroplan to change your reservation to Toronto – Amsterdam direct. You think things are all good to go, but on the day of departure, you’re not allowed to check-in because you don’t have a ticket for the direct flight. Your booking reflects that you’re on the direct flight, but what happened is tickets and corresponding flight coupons weren’t issued.

Whenever I make a booking or make a change to one, I will always monitor the tickets and coupons to make sure they’re in sync with what I want. To do so, go to Saudia Airline’s website (random, eh?). Click on “Manage Booking,” and enter your ticket number and last name. You can find your ticket number by looking at your reservation on the carrier’s website, and is 13 digits long, with the first 3 digits being the ticket issuer’s ticketing code (Aeroplan/Air Canada’s code is 014). This will pull most ticket information.

From there, you can see your ticket information, including attached coupons. You should make sure that all the coupons match-up with your reservation information, and that the coupon status is Open, Airport Control, Flown, or Boarded. This all indicates that the coupons are open for use, or have been used. If the status shows Exchanged, NOGO, Void, Refunded, Suspended, or Closed, you won’t be able to use those coupons to fly. If Exchanged, check if you have a new ticket number assigned that hasn’t been linked with your reservation. Otherwise, consult with the ticket issuer to make sure your tickets and flight coupons are properly issued and synced with your reservation.