Booking flow
Capabilities
AI search
Find destinations, better dates, and the right time to book.
Live search
Confirm accurate live prices for the traveler’s exact request.
Book
Add travelers, preferences, extras, loyalty details, and payment.
Manage
Support voluntary changes, cancellations, and refunds.
Build the flow
- AI search: help the traveler choose a destination, find dates, or decide when to book.
- Live search: confirm accurate live prices for the traveler’s exact request.
- Build trip: add the selected fare, travelers, contact details, preferences, and extras.
- Payment: create checkout, collect payment, and follow ticketing.
- Manage: retrieve the booking and handle changes and cancellations.
Test flights in sandbox
Use Jinko Airline (ZZ) to test the complete flight flow in sandbox. It is the only sandbox airline designed to support search, booking, ticketing, extra bags, refunds, voids, and exchanges end to end. It sells no seat selection: test seats on a real airline (see Seats).
Jinko Airline behaves predictably and each flight number triggers a documented success or failure scenario. Use flight ZZ101 for the normal flow. Search one of its supported routes, such as JFK to LHR, from tomorrow onwards and filter on carrier ZZ.
Real airlines can also appear in sandbox, but their test inventory is limited and can change without notice. Keep automated end-to-end tests on Jinko Airline, then use production to validate real airline content.
See MCP sandbox setup and Testing in sandbox for routes and scenarios.
AI search
Jinko provides a set of AI search tools that help the agent reason through and answer complex questions from its customers. Destination and date tools use cached fare data to explore many options quickly, before the traveler has chosen an exact flight.Find a destination
find_destination answers open-ended questions about where to go. It starts from one or more departure airports, then compares destinations by price within the traveler’s dates, trip length, cabin, stop preference, and budget.
Example questions
- “Where can I go from Paris for a long weekend under €250?”
- “Find a warm destination from London in March, direct flights only.”
- “What are the cheapest business-class destinations from New York next month?”
Find the best dates
find_dates is for travelers who know the route but can move their dates. It returns a varied shortlist of the cheapest date combinations across their travel window, instead of clustering every result around the same few days.
Example questions
- “When is the cheapest time to fly from Paris to New York in June?”
- “Find the best weekends for a four-day trip from London to Lisbon.”
- “Show me a few affordable dates for one week in Tokyo.”
Know when to book
flight_price_advice compares the current fare with typical prices for similar flights. It forecasts the price one day and three days ahead, estimates the probability of an increase, decrease, or no change, and recommends whether to buy now or wait.
Example questions
- “Is this a good price for this flight?”
- “Should I book now or wait?”
- “How likely is this fare to increase over the next three days?”
Price advice is available when the request has enough statistical coverage. Initial numeric coverage focuses on one adult, nonstop flights, and USD fares.
Use AI search results to compare possibilities, answer the traveler’s questions, and build a shortlist. Because destination and date results use cached data, confirm the selected option with
flight_search before showing a final, bookable price.Live search
Turn the traveler’s exact request into live flight options.flight_search uses live supplier pricing rather than the AI search cache. It returns accurate prices and availability for the exact search at that moment, ready to continue into booking.
Jinko can combine route, dates, passengers, cabin, budget, airline, airport, schedule, baggage, fare conditions, and connection preferences in one search. The result is a set of live, bookable fares that respect those constraints.
Search preferences
- Exact dates, one-way trips, round trips, adults, children, and lap infants
- Economy, premium economy, business, or first class
- Direct flights or a maximum number of stops
- Preferred or excluded airlines
- Departure and arrival time windows for each direction
- Minimum and maximum connection times
- Preferred or excluded connection airports
- Same-airline itineraries and no cross-city airport changes
- Maximum journey time and total trip budget
- Refundable or changeable fares
- Fares that include checked baggage
- Nearby or alternate airports
- “Find two seats from Paris to New York next Friday, returning Sunday evening, direct only.”
- “I need a refundable business-class flight that arrives before 3 PM.”
- “Show me flights with one checked bag, no Heathrow connection, and no layover longer than two hours.”
- “Compare the cheapest option with the best schedule and explain the tradeoff.”
Book
Build the booking around the traveler, not just the flight.Travelers and contact details
Add the passenger information required for ticketing and one contact for booking updates. Jinko supports adults, children, and infants traveling on an adult’s lap.Fare and baggage
Let the traveler compare fare families and understand what each one includes. Before payment, Jinko can show cabin and checked baggage allowances and add extra bags when the airline offers them. See Bags for included allowances, selection, and booking outcomes.Seats
Show available seats by traveler and flight segment. The traveler can choose a seat number based on the listed characteristics, such as window, aisle, or extra legroom. The seat map can load after the trip is priced: a seat offer withseat_map_status: "pending" has no seats yet, so read the trip again until it is "ready".
In sandbox, test seats on a real airline: Jinko Airline sells no seat selection. See Testing in sandbox.
See Seats for the seat map page, selection flow, confirmation, charges, and refunds.
Other services
Other services, such as special assistance, sports equipment, priority boarding, lounge access, and insurance, are not in the catalog and cannot be added to a Jinko booking.Loyalty program
Loyalty is a traveler detail, not an extra: it never appears in the ancillary catalog. Send each traveler’s membership asfrequent_flyer: {airline, number} on the traveler when you add travelers to the trip (upsert_travelers), before checkout. airline is the IATA code of the program issuer, such as LH for Lufthansa Miles & More, which can differ from the operating carrier. The trip returns it on the traveler.
Example questions
- “Book this fare for two adults and one child.”
- “Does this ticket include a checked bag? Add one if it does not.”
- “Can we sit together, with one window seat?”
- “Add a second checked bag for the child.”
- “Use my Air France loyalty number for this booking.”
Checkout and confirmation
Jinko presents the final itinerary, fare conditions, extras, and total before payment. After payment, Jinko follows fulfillment through ticketing and returns the Jinko booking reference and airline reference when available.Manage after booking
Keep supporting the traveler after the ticket is issued. Jinko starts by retrieving the booking and checking what each flight item allows. A guest can access the flow with the Jinko booking reference and the lead traveler’s last name.Voluntary exchange
When the traveler wants to change a flight, Jinko can search alternatives for one leg or the full journey, price the selected option, and show the new itinerary, fare conditions, airline fee, and exact amount to pay or receive. The change is only submitted after the traveler confirms. Example questions- “Move my return flight to Sunday evening.”
- “What would it cost to fly one day earlier?”
- “Change only the outbound flight and keep my return as booked.”
Voluntary cancellation
Before canceling, Jinko previews whether the ticket can be voided or refunded. It shows the penalty, the amount returned to the traveler, and any extras handled separately. Nothing is canceled until the traveler confirms the quoted amount. Example questions- “Can I cancel this ticket, and how much will I get back?”
- “Cancel my flight and track the refund.”
- “Was my paid seat refunded too?”
Changes made by the airline
Jinko does not detect a schedule change or a cancellation the airline makes after ticketing. No webhook reports one, andget_booking returns the itinerary as it was booked. See Webhooks.