IATA Foundation (Aggregate Prep) study plan
IATA Foundation (Aggregate Prep) · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Airfares, Ticketing and Reservation Procedures
Define fare basis codes, journey types (one-way, return, circle trip, open jaw) and the passenger-type and seasonal restrictions that modify them
Break a published fare into its components: NUC, conversion/ROE factor, fare construction ladder and total
Calculate the check-in and ticketing time limits from a sample itinerary
Interpret fare rules categories commonly tested: minimum stay, maximum stay, advance purchase, penalties
Your checkpoint
A one-page fare-construction worksheet showing 10 fully worked fare builds with all components labelled; target 8 of 10 correct against a self-made answer key
Airfares, Ticketing and Reservation Procedures & The Travel and Tourism Industry: Structure, Stakeholders and Careers
Build a PNR element by element: name, itinerary, contact, ticketing arrangement, received-from and optional SSRs
Distinguish SSR from OSI entries and select the correct one for a given passenger need
Describe the e-ticket lifecycle: issue, coupons, status codes, revalidation, reissue and refund
Map how IATA, ICAO and the agency/BSP relationship sit inside the industry structure
Your checkpoint
A 15-question self-written quiz on reservations and ticketing procedure, answered at 80% or better, with a written correction note for each missed item
World Geography, Destinations and Travel Time Calculation & The Travel and Tourism Industry: Structure, Stakeholders and Careers
Recall the three IATA Traffic Conference Areas and their sub-areas and name the continents and principal regions within each
Calculate elapsed journey time across time zones, including date-line crossings and daylight-saving offsets
Match 25 city, airport and airline codes to their locations and operators
Identify the roles of the main intermediary types: tour operator, consolidator, GDS, OTA, TMC
Your checkpoint
A code-and-time-zone drill sheet: 25 code matches plus 10 elapsed-time calculations, scored and dated
Air Transport Essentials: Airlines, Routes and Aircraft & The Travel and Tourism Industry: Structure, Stakeholders and Careers
Compare airline business models: full-service, low-cost, charter, regional and cargo, with their fare and network consequences
Explain the global alliances and the practical meaning of codeshare and interline for a booking
Classify common aircraft by wide-body/narrow-body, range band and typical route use
Explain freedoms of the air and cabotage and apply them to sample route scenarios
Your checkpoint
A 40-question mixed mock covering Domains 1 through 4, taken closed-book, scored at 70% or above with a mistake log by domain
Customer Service and Travel Sales
Run a needs analysis using open and closed questions to turn an enquiry into a defined travel requirement
Handle price objections and competitor comparisons without discounting the service
Apply a complaint-handling sequence: acknowledge, clarify, resolve, follow up, record
Draft upsell and ancillary recommendations matched to traveller type
Your checkpoint
A written role-play script for two customer scenarios (a price objection and a service failure) with the response logic annotated at each step
Travel Documentation, Industry Regulations, Safety and Security & Payments, Accounting and Financial Procedures in Travel
Determine passport validity, visa and health-entry requirements for a set of sample nationalities and destinations
List the key safety and security obligations of an agent: secure booking data, PNR data protection, prohibited-item and advance-passenger-information basics
Compare payment methods accepted by agencies and state the fraud indicators for each
Record the standard agency accounting entries for a sale, a refund and a supplier invoice, including BSP settlement
Your checkpoint
A two-part pack: a documentation compliance checklist for five passenger itineraries, plus 10 correctly balanced accounting entries in a simple ledger
Payments, Accounting and Financial Procedures in Travel & Airfares, Ticketing and Reservation Procedures
Reconcile a sample BSP statement and identify the cause of each discrepancy
Explain ADM and ACM issuance, dispute routes and the effect on agency cash flow
Recompute the three fare constructions missed in earlier weeks until each is correct unaided
Track and rank remaining weak sub-topics from every domain
Your checkpoint
A completed reconciliation of one sample BSP statement with every discrepancy explained, plus a ranked weak-topic list of no more than 10 items
The Travel and Tourism Industry: Structure, Stakeholders and Careers & World Geography, Destinations and Travel Time Calculation & Air Transport Essentials: Airlines, Routes and Aircraft & Airfares, Ticketing and Reservation Procedures & Customer Service and Travel Sales & Travel Documentation, Industry Regulations, Safety and Security & Payments, Accounting and Financial Procedures in Travel
Sit two full-length timed mock exams under test conditions
Review every incorrect answer back to the source concept rather than memorising the option
Rehearse the ten highest-risk facts until recall is immediate and error-free
Confirm exam-day logistics: timing per question, flagging strategy and permitted materials
Your checkpoint
Two completed timed mocks scoring 80% or above, with a one-page final revision sheet of the retained weak points
Milestones
Week 2: Ticketing and reservations self-quiz passed at 80%, and the PNR element checklist reproduced from memory without notes
Week 4: First closed-book mixed mock on Domains 1 to 4 scored at 70% or above, with every miss tagged to a sub-topic
Week 6: Documentation checklist and 10 accounting entries both completed and verified; BSP sale, refund and settlement entries balance
Week 8: Two timed full-length mocks at 80% or above, and no sub-topic on the weak list remaining unexplained