Short answer
After ticketing, check the group's flights against the airline's current schedule at fixed points: every week or two, then 30 days, 7 days and 48 hours before travel. Fix any change that breaks a connection, a transfer or a hotel night before the client hears about it from a traveler. On travel days and on the return, follow the flights live and tell the client only the totals and the exceptions.
Key points
- Airlines change schedules after ticketing, often weeks before travel.
- Check at fixed points, not only when a notice arrives.
- A small time change can break a connection or a transfer.
- Tell the client about a change once it is solved, with the new plan.
- The return needs the same care as the outbound.
Why the work continues after ticketing
For a group, the ticket is the start of the follow-up. Between ticketing and travel, airlines adjust their schedules, merge flights, change aircraft and sometimes cancel a route for a season. Each change can affect a few travelers or the whole group.
- Time changes: a flight leaves 20 minutes earlier or 2 hours later.
- Flight number changes, often with the same times.
- Cancelled flights, with travelers moved to another flight or another day.
- Changed connections, where the new times leave too little time to connect.
- Changed arrival times that no longer fit the transfer or the hotel check-in.
Most of these reach you as a notice from the airline or your booking system. Some do not, and some land in a busy inbox. A fixed routine catches both.
A follow-up routine from ticketing to travel
Pick fixed dates for a full check of every flight in the group, and put them in your calendar on the day you ticket.
| When | What to check |
|---|---|
| Every 1 or 2 weeks after ticketing | Times and flight numbers against the airline's current schedule |
| 30 days before travel | Every connection, plus transfer and hotel times against the new landing times |
| 7 days before travel | Full list again, plus any traveler who changed their own booking |
| 48 hours before travel | Final times, terminals, and a clean list for the ground team |
| Travel days | Live status, delays, cancellations and missed connections |
Catch changes before travel day
A change found 30 days out is an email. The same change found at the airport is a missed flight. When you find one, work through it in this order.
Confirm the change
Check the airline's current schedule for that flight and date, and note the old and new times.
Check what it breaks
Connection time, arrival time at the destination, transfer wave, hotel check-in, and any program on the first evening.
Fix or accept
If the connection is now too short or the arrival no longer works, ask the airline for an alternative while there is still choice.
Update the master list
Change the flight in one place, so everyone works from the new version.
Tell the people who act on it
The ground team or DMC first, then the client, then the traveler if their own plans change.
If you still need to gather flights for travelers who booked on their own, our guide to collecting guest flight details covers that step.
Keep the client informed without extra work
Your client, whether a company, a couple or an association, wants to feel that someone is on top of the flights. They rarely want every detail.
- Send a short note after each full check: all confirmed, or what changed and what you did.
- Report a change once it is solved, with the new times and what it means for the program.
- Call, rather than write, when a change affects the program or many travelers.
- On travel days, give the client a live view so they do not need to ask for updates.
Our guide to keeping your client updated on arrivals explains what to share on the travel days themselves.
Travel days
On the day the group flies, the questions change from schedules to status: who is in the air, who landed, who is delayed, and who might miss a connection. Have the full list open early in the morning, in the local time of each airport.
When a flight is delayed or cancelled on the day, our guide to delayed or cancelled flights sets out who to tell and in what order.
The return
Return flights get less attention, yet they change just as often, and travelers are more likely to change them on their own during the trip.
- Run the same 7 day and 48 hour checks for the return flights.
- Ask travelers during the trip whether anyone has changed their return.
- Send the ground team the final departure list, by day and airport, for pickups.
- On the return day, follow each departure until the group is in the air and close the file only when the last flight has landed.
For pickups and timing on the last day, see our guide to getting a group to the airport on time.