Sabre Web Services

Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services

July 15, 2014 v1.40

Sabre Web Services: Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, July 15, 2014 v1.40
2003-2014 Sabre Holdings Inc. All rights reserved.
This documentation is the confidential and proprietary information of Sabre Inc. Any unauthorized use,
reproduction, preparation of derivative works, performance, or display of this document, or software
represented by this document, without the express written permission of Sabre Inc., is strictly prohibited.
Sabre, Sabre Holdings, Sabre Travel Network, and Sabre Web Services are trademarks and/or service
marks of an affiliate of Sabre Holdings Corporation. All other trademarks, service marks, and trade names
are the property of their respective owners.
Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability
This software and any compiled programs created using this software are furnished as is without
warranty of any kind, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a
particular purpose. No oral or written information or advice given by Sabre, its agents or employees shall
create a warranty or in any way increase the scope of this warranty and you may not rely on any such
information or advice.
Sabre does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use, or the results of the
use, of this software, compiled programs created using this software, or written materials in terms of
correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise. The entire risk as to the results and
performance of this software and any compiled applications created using this software is assumed by
you. Neither Sabre nor anyone else who has been involved in the creation, production or delivery of this
software shall be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages (including damages
for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, and the like) arising out of
the use of or inability to use such product even if Sabre has been advised of the possibility of such
damages.
Sabre Holdings Inc.
3150 Sabre Drive, Southlake, TX 76092
Tel: 682 605 1000
www.sabre-holdings.com

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 2

Table of Contents
Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
Sabre Web Services Resources ........................................................................................................................... 9
Sabre Web Services Usage Requirements ....................................................................................................... 11
External Resources ............................................................................................................................................... 14
Technical Support.................................................................................................................................................. 16
Chapter 1: Introduction to Sabre Web Services ....................................................................................... 17
About Sabre Web Services .................................................................................................................................. 18
Types of Web Services ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Standards and Specifications .............................................................................................................................. 22
Requesting Payload Content ............................................................................................................................... 26
Security ................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Network Connectivity ............................................................................................................................................ 28
Sabre Web Services Connections ...................................................................................................................... 28
Errors ....................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Chapter 2: SOAP Formats/Requirements ................................................................................................ 30
SOAP Message Overview .................................................................................................................................... 30
SOAP Message Sequence and Format ............................................................................................................. 34
Chapter 3: Sabre XML ............................................................................................................................. 55
WSDL Documents for Sabre XML ...................................................................................................................... 55
Sabre XML Schemas ............................................................................................................................................ 62
Technologies for Working with Web Services ................................................................................................... 66
Versioning of Sabre XML Schema and WSDL Documents ............................................................................ 69
Chapter 4: Connection Management ....................................................................................................... 73
Sabre Web Services Connections ...................................................................................................................... 73
Connection Management Messages .................................................................................................................. 74
Chapter 5: Business and Application Logic.............................................................................................. 97
Maintaining Session State .................................................................................................................................... 97
Sabre Web Services Workflows ........................................................................................................................ 101
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 3

Minimizing Scans ................................................................................................................................................. 103

Chapter 6: Sabre Web Services Environments ...................................................................................... 104
Chapter 7: Common Error Responses/Corrective Actions ..................................................................... 106
Appendix A: SOAP Field Size Quick Reference .................................................................................... 112
Appendix B: Identifying Documents for Sabre Web Services ................................................................. 114
Appendix C: Sample Travel Workflows .................................................................................................. 118
Glossary ................................................................................................................................................ 122

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 4

Preface
About This Guide
This document provides guidance in developing, accessing, and consuming Sabre Web
Services.

Caution
When a client or solution books travel arrangements utilizing a URL that resolves to
the back-end production system, the transactions are recorded in the live, production
Sabre system, and real-time inventory is decremented. This applies to the following
URL:

https://webservices.sabre.com/websvc

Please be sure to cancel any bookings created for test purposes. If these bookings
are not canceled, you and possibly your customers will be billed by suppliers or other
vendors for all associated fees.
Scan charges may apply whenever a client application interacts with any of the
environments established for Sabre Web Services. Please consult your contract for a
description of these charges. For tips on minimizing scans please refer to the section
of this document titled, Minimizing Scans.

Advisories
To assist with capacity planning, advanced notification is required for the following
activities.

Performance and heavy load testing. These types of tests require notification a
minimum of 5 business days before conducting the tests.

Planned production dates and projected volumes. Notification must be a minimum of 120
business days prior moving to production.

Changes to production volumes on an ongoing basis.

For complete information about the systems and environments available for client use, please
refer to the section of this document titled, Sabre Web Services Environments.

Organization

The preface outlines the recommended background for developing clients that
consume Sabre Web Services, system requirements, and resources. The preface
also outlines where to find information about Web services, standards, and other
Internet technologies.

Chapter 1 introduces the Sabre Web Services product, the standards and

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 5

specifications the product is designed to meet, the versioning strategy for the TPF
Connector-based Sabre Web Services, and includes a discussion related to
connectivity and security.

Chapter 2 describes the format and sending sequence of the SOAP messages used
to connect to the Sabre Web Services gateway to consume Sabre Web Services.
Complete requirements are also provided in Appendix B.

Chapter 3 discusses the Sabre XML specifications, versioning of the WSDL and
schema documents, as well as the versioning system that is applied to the TPF
Connector-based Sabre Web Services.

Chapter 4 presents Sabre Web Services connection strategies, including connection

pools and Sabre sessions.

Chapter 5 includes topics related to business and application logic, managing content in a
Sabre session, and requesting service versions.

Chapter 6 describes the environments that are available for consuming Sabre Web
Services.

Chapter 7 includes information related to troubleshooting general and system errors.

Appendix A provides the SOAP message reference.

Appendix B illustrates how to identify the URLs for WSDL documents and their
associated schema documents.

Appendix C illustrates several common travel workflows.

The Glossary defines the terms and acronyms utilized in this document.

Use
Prior to designing and developing Web services-based clients or other solutions using Sabre
Web Services, it is strongly recommended that application developers first read this
document. This document discusses topics of great importance, such as the SOAP
message requirements, connection strategies, and environments for consuming Sabre Web
Services.
In addition to this document, it is also important to study the documentation available on the
Sabre Web Services Developer Resource Center, commonly referred to as the DRC, which
is accessible via https://drc.sabre.com. The Developer Resource Center contains service
descriptions, design documents, as well as WSDL/schema documentation which are all
essential to successfully utilize the product. Accessing this resource center requires a user
name and password, which is provided when clients sign up for the product.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 6

Document Conventions
Terms
The use of terminology in this document is defined in the following table. For additional terms
and information please refer to the glossary.
This term

Refers to

Client

An application that uses or consumes a Web service.

It is the requester of a service.

Connection

An open channel to the Sabre Web Services

infrastructure.

Developer Resource
Center
(DRC)

The private registry and repository of artifacts and

information for all Sabre Web Services.

Domain

One of the security credentials used to establish a

connection with Sabre Web Services. When the
documentation references a domain, send the value you
are given for Domain when you are set up to access
Sabre Web Services.

Internet Pseudo City Code The code that identifies your organization. Application
developers are given a value for Organization as part of
(IPCC)
the security credentials provided for accessing Sabre
Web Services. The code may or may not be an IPCC; it
may be a PCC or other identifier.
All Web services provided by Sabre Holdings. These
Sabre Web Services
services include those that obtain their content from the
Sabre global distribution system or Sabre open systems
as well as services used to connect to the Sabre Web
Services infrastructure.
TPF Connector-based
Sabre Web Services

Web services that retrieve content from the Sabre global

distribution system, also referred to as the Sabre host
system or PSS (Passenger Service System).

Open systems-based
Sabre Web Services

Web services that obtain their content with direct

connections to a variety of open systems of service
providers within Sabre Holdings.

Session managementbased Sabre Web

Services

Web services managed by the Sabre Web Services

gateway (also referred to as the USG) that connect to,
verify, and disconnect from the Sabre Web Services
infrastructure.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 7

RQ/RS

An abbreviation for request and response message pairs.

Sabre session

A terminal address (TA).

Sabre system

The Sabre GDS or host system, the system that stores

travel inventory and itineraries. This system is the source
of the travel- related content for TPF Connector-based
Sabre Web Services and other systems and applications.

Sabre work area/AAA

The Agent Assembly Area (AAA) or buffer in the Sabre

system where data is retained while a Sabre session is
active.

Sabre XML

Sabre XML specifications are the WSDL and schema

documents for Sabre Web Services which have been
modified from the OpenTravel specifications to
accommodate proprietary data in the Sabre system and
other Sabre applications.

Security token

The binary security token that is returned to the client

after successfully connecting to the Sabre Web Services
gateway with the SessionCreateRQ Service. This security
token is returned in the wsse:BinarySecurityToken
element in the SessionCreateRS response message.

Subscriber

A travel organization that is a contracted customer of

Sabre Holdings and Sabre Web Services. Sabre
subscribers include businesses or other entities such as
travel agencies, on-line travel providers, travel suppliers
(including airlines) and travel software development
organizations who are involved with travel marketing
and/or travel distribution. Sabre subscribers must have a
valid Sabre access agreement to use Sabre Web
Services.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 8

Sabre Web Services Resources

The following resources are all available via the Developer Resource Center (DRC). The
URL is https://drc.sabre.com. Accessing this resource center requires a user name and
password, which is provided when clients sign up for the product.
Sabre Web Services Developer Start-up Kit
The information in the Sabre Web Services Developer Start-up Kit helps developers get
started quickly.
This kit contains:

Sabre Web Services Quick Start Guide

Sabre Web Services Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services
Sabre Web Services Connection Management: Best Practices and Strategies
TPF Connector-Based Sabre Web Services Versioning Standards
Sabre Web Services Common Infrastructure Error Messages
List of all available Sabre Web Services
Sabre Web Services FAQs
Sabre Web Services Microsoft .NET Framework Installation Tips
SOAP Message Field Lengths
TPF Connector-Based Java Rundemo Sample Client

Web service Documentation

Each Web service has an asset on the DRC.
Each asset contains:

A request design document

A response design document
A set of sample payloads
Service schemas
A service WSDL.

Note: Please consult these documents for the valid list of elements and attributes that are
included in the service. The design documents list the valid elements and attributes for the Web
service and version, along a brief description and sample values. They also contain the
equivalent Sabre formats for users familiar with native Sabre.
Note: The majority of Sabre Web Services are based on OpenTravel specifications, and
consequently, the associated schemas may contain elements and attributes defined by
OpenTravel that Sabre Web Services do not use. Therefore, it is important to format request
payloads to use only the elements and attributes that are present in the request and response
design XML documentation.
Sample Clients
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 9

The following sample clients are available on the DRC. They assist with developing and
consuming the session management and TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services. Each
sample is contained in a ZIP file which describes the sample, has installation information for
the platform of the sample, steps for running the sample, and any required JAR files.
The following samples are available:

Sample Java test client for non-WSDL consumption. This client can execute any of
the session management services and TPF Connector-based Web Services, one at a
time, in sequence. The purpose of this utility is to demonstrate how to connect to
Sabre Web Services. This has the JAR files needed to run the sample and the
licenses.

Sample C# client code that consumes a TPF Connector-based Web service with
WSDL using the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Sample Java client code that consumes a TPF Connector-based Web service with
WSDL using Apache Axis. This has three source code files that consume both the
session management messages and a TPF Connector-based Web service. It also
includes the necessary Axis JAR files needed to run this client.

Sabre System Formats, Keyword, and Functionality Assistance

Sabre Travel Network customers can consult Sabre FormatFinderSM. To access or
download this reference system, visit https://eservices.sabre.com, and choose FormatFinder
from the Support menu. Please note that a Sabre system login ID is required to log in. The
login ID for the Sabre system is the same as your Sabre Web Services security credentials.
Sabre Airline Solutions customers can consult FOCUS, the Automated Reference System.
Access to this reference system is available via any Sabre terminal emulator by simply typing
FOCUS on the command line.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 10

Sabre Web Services Usage Requirements

Technical and System Access
There are several general requirements for being successful in developing with Sabre Web
Services:
Access to a Sabre Subject Matter Expert (SME)
While Sabre Web Services masks many of the complexities related to accessing content
within the various Sabre Holdings systems it is important to consult with an SME to ensure
that the client application being developed utilizes the most effective workflows and
processes.
Connectivity
If the application being developed is behind a corporate firewall, the application developer
needs the following proxy server-related information to be able to access the Internet:

Proxy host name

Proxy port
Proxy user name
Proxy password

JAVA-Based Developer Tool Kits

If developing with Java, the client needs to procure the necessary hardware, operating
systems, files, and libraries that support Java development. Please note that Java Software
Development Kit (J2SE) Version 1.3.1_04 is the minimal version required.
The following is also required:

Java Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE) and related JAR files

Java Web Services Developer Pack and related JAR files
XML parser and related JAR file

For Java-based clients using SSL, Java Runtime Environment versions 1.3.1_10 and later,
1.4.1_06 and later, 1.4.2_03 and later
Apache Axis versions 1.1/1.1.1 can be used to consume Sabre Web Services.
For the development kits, see the Sun Microsystems Web site at the following URL:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 11

Microsoft .NET-based Developer Tool Kits

If developing with Microsoft .NET Framework the client needs to procure the necessary
hardware, operating systems, files, and libraries that support .NET development.
The Microsoft Windows operating platform must be one of the following: Windows XP
Professional or Home edition with Service Pack 1 or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or
greater.
Minimum requirements to generate proxy classes from the WSDL documents for Sabre Web
Services are listed below.
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Requirements
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 The WSDL documents require SP1.
(Optional) Visual Studio 2003
Visual Studio patch VS7.1 - KB823639-X86-Enu.exe
Service Pack 1 patch KB892202 This patch fixes proxy client generation for Service Pack
1.
For more information about .NET Framework, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/
netframework/.
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Requirements
It is possible to use the .NET Framework 2.0 with Visual Studio 2005 to generate proxy code.
Special instructions for Sabre Web Services are not necessary.
Session Resources
When a client is set up to access Sabre Web Services, an Internet pseudo-city code (IPCC)
is created. Each IPCC comes with an associated pool of session-related resources
commonly referred to as a session pool, or a TAM pool. Please note that each IPCC comes
with a finite number of session-related resources. For complete information about
connection and session management, please refer to the section of this document titled,
Connection Management. For information about the various available Sabre Web Services
environments, please refer to the section of this document titled, Sabre Web Services
Environments.
Client Accounts
Each IPCC is allocated one administrative user account (sometimes, this user name is
referred to as a user sign or Sabre sign). The administrative account can be used to change
the passwords of the non-administrative user accounts.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 12

Each IPCC is allocated 1 non-administrative account for every 50 Sabre sessions in its
session pool. (Sabre sessions are also referred to as TAs, and the session pool and TAM
pool are the same.)
An accounts security credentials consist of the following:

Username
Password
Organization
Domain

Note: The passwords of user IDs for connecting to Sabre Web Services do not expire
because the IDs are set up as robotic accounts. As a result, it is not necessary to change
them every 90 days.
Format Finder
(Optional) Sabre Travel Network-based customers who want to use Format Finder require a
login ID for the Sabre system. Format Finder is available via https://eservices.sabre.com.
Sabre Web Services security credentials can be used to log into this system.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 13

External Resources
To learn more about XML, SOAP, WSDL, the W3C, Web services, OpenTravel, and other
related technologies and organizations, please visit the Web sites below:
To obtain this...

Visit this Web site...

Information about the global consortium

that develops e-business standards,
including ebXML

http://www.oasis-open.org

Guidance, best practices, and

resources for developing solutions with
Web services

http://www.ws-i.org

This site also has samples of

implementations of Web services created
by various vendors.
Information about XML and its
components, such as XSLT, XLink, XML
schema, including tutorials

http://www.w3c.org/XML/Schema

OpenTravel specifications and

information about creating and
implementing industry- wide applications
using these open e-business
specifications

http://www.opentravel.org

Information about vendors of Web

services, industry news and articles,
and developing with Web services

http://www.webservices.org

Information about working groups for

architecture, protocols, descriptions,
and choreography of Web services

http://www.w3c.org

Specifications, information about

working groups, and industry updates,
especially ebXML Message Service
Specification V2.0

http://www.ebxml.org

WSDL

http://www.w3c.org

Information about SOAP

http://www.w3c.org

Technology updates, including Web and

Web services information

http://www.zdnet.com

and
http://www.ebxml.org/specs

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 14

To obtain this...

Visit this Web site...

Information from The Apache Software

Foundation about open source software,
in particular, Apache Axis software
development tools

http://www.apache.org

Apache Web services Axis project site,

where you can read about Apache Axis
and select software tools

http://ws.apache.org/axis/index.html

The Axis binary file needed to consume

Web services with Apache Axis is
available on this page.
Axis Reference Guide: WSDL2Java
Reference

http://ws.apache.org/axis/java/
reference.html

Information about WSDL and Microsoft

.NET Framework from the developer
center
Downloads of Microsoft .NET
Framework tools, including the SDK,
Visual Studio, and code samples

http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework
http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 15

Technical Support
There are several ways to obtain technical support. Please note that a pseudo-city code, or PCC,
is required.
Telephone:
When reporting production or other critical/time sensitive issues, please contact us via the
telephone:

USA: 800-678-9460
Canada: 682-605-5570
International: 598-2-518-6020, or your regional Sabre Software help desk.

Email:
Email is monitored 24 x 7 with a response within 24 hours or less:

[email protected]

Providing the support desk with the necessary files at the time of initial contact improves our ability
to troubleshoot and provide a timely resolution.

In order to better serve you please note the following:

Please include the Sabre pseudo-city code (PCC) where the issue is occurring.
When reporting an issue with Sabre Web Services, input and output payloads are required.
Please attach the payloads as separate files, and name them clearly.
To help ensure that our environment is free of viruses, our policy mandates that all
messages received by Sabre from external sources follow special file name guidelines.
File names must end in ".sabre.zip" or the zipped attachment will be removed by the e-mail
server (for example, docs.zip would need to be renamed to docs.sabre.zip).
If your correspondence is regarding a previously reported issue, please include the service
incident (SI) number in the subject line of the message.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 16

Chapter

1
Chapter 1: Introduction to Sabre Web Services
Sabre Web Services makes it possible for organizations to integrate their business processes and
applications with systems and data centers under the Sabre Holdings Inc. umbrella via SOAP/XMLbased Web services messaging.
Chapter one introduces Web services technology, and outlines the features and benefits related to
utilizing Sabre Web Services. Chapter one also discusses the standards and specifications that
Sabre Web Services are designed to meet, including the Sabre XML specification.

Web Services
Web services are programmatic interfaces for application-to-application communication exposed via
the Internet.
A client application calls a Web service by sending an XML message as a request, and the Web
service infrastructure returns an XML response to the client. Because all communication is
formatted in XML, a Web service is not tied to any particular operating system, programming
language, or platform.

XML
XML is the basis for Web services and Web services technologies that exchange data. XML is
used to define and describe the format of the data, its layout, and its logical structure through a
schema. Software programs are usually written to transform this XML-formatted data to formats
that other software applications and systems can understand, and then to transform the data
back to XML.

SOAP
SOAP stands for simple object access protocol, and is a mechanism for transporting data from
one network to another. In the Sabre Web Services world a SOAP-based message is
composed of the following parts:

An envelope that contains communication information

A header with attributes that describe the communication

A body that contains the message or information about the message

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 17

WSDL
WSDL stands for Web Services Definition Language and uses a common format to describe
and publish the formats, operations, and protocols of a Web service. WSDL elements
describe data using one or more XML schemas. These schemas are passed to the Web
service. The description of the data tells the receiver how to process the data, and the
binding to a protocol or transport instructs the sender how to send the data. Both parties
must have access to the same XML schema. WSDL is usually used with SOAP.

About Sabre Web Services

Sabre Web Services is the preferred programmatic method for subscribers to access Sabres
content and functionality. This content and functionality is exposed via a common access
gateway infrastructure in the form of structured XML messages. This infrastructure manages
sessions, security, logging, and routing of messages.
Sabre Web Services are delivered over HTTPS. SOAP is the message protocol that
encodes Web services messages before they are sent.
All requests are sent to a URL that is the single endpoint into Sabre Web Services. URLs for
several environments are available for client testing and production. For details about the
environments and the URLs, please refer to the section of this document titled, Sabre Web
Services Environments.
Sabre Web Services use document style information for the messages. The document style
is used with both XML and WSDL.
Sabre Web Services utilize the Sabre XML specifications, which is an extension of the
OpenTravel specifications, specifically tailored to meet the needs to Sabre and its clients.
The Web services artifacts, such as the WSDL and schema documents, and their URLs
are available to subscribers via the DRC.

Types of Web Services

When clients are developed to consume Sabre Web Services, they are actually using multiple
types of services: Web services that manage connections along with Web services that
retrieve travel- related content. Of the travel-related Sabre Web Services currently in place,
four general types exist: Session management services, TPF Connector-based services,
open systems-based services, and orchestrated services.

Session Management-Based Sabre Web Services

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 18

Messages that are used to establish and manage connections to the Sabre Web Services
infrastructure are referred to as session management-based Sabre Web Services. These
services are used to request new Sabre Web Services sessions, validate existing sessions,
and close existing sessions, ending the allocated Sabre session behind the scenes. For
additional information please refer to the sections of this document titled, SOAP
Formats/Requirements, and Connection Management.

TPF Connector-Based Sabre Web Services

TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services retrieve their content from the Sabre legacy host
system. These services are a fast, reliable mechanism for accessing content in the Sabre
legacy host system, handling the complexities of HSSP connection management, Sabre Data
Source (SDS) conversion, as well as screen scraping where applicable, thereby eliminating
the need for developers to deal with these aspects of the legacy Sabre host system.
TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services provide access to air, car, hotel, Passenger
Name Records (PNR), and other miscellaneous processing, such as queue-based
functionality within the legacy Sabre host system.
These Web services represent a powerful set of Sabre system commands, similar to building
blocks. These Web services contain little to no business logic.
Being that these services utilize the legacy Sabre host system behind the scenes there are
several important concepts to be aware of when using them.
The most important thing to be aware of is session management. Whenever a client
application configured to access the TPF Connector-based services signs into the Sabre
Web Services infrastructure a host session is allocated from the pool of available sessions
associated with the particular point of sale location, commonly referred to as a session pool
or a TAM pool. Within the session/TAM pool there are a finite number of sessions available
to each user so it is critical that the client application manages them efficiently by not
exceeding the maximum number of sessions available at any given time, and by explicitly
closing sessions that are not needed rather than letting them time out on their own. Please
note that Sabre Web Services sessions and Sabre host sessions remain active until they are
explicitly closed or time out.
Another important item that client applications need to be aware of is the host buffer,
commonly referred to as the Sabre work area, or AAA. The Sabre work area/AAA retains the
content that is retrieved by the TPF Connector-based services. There are several instances
where TPF Connector-based services depend on the presence of previously retrieved
content in the Sabre work area/AAA. The most common illustration of this is modifying an
existing Passenger Name Record (PNR). In order to modify an existing PNR the client
application must first explicitly retrieve the record, which causes the legacy Sabre system to
load the content into the Sabre work area/AAA. Once the content is loaded into the Sabre
work area/AAA it can then be modified via subsequent Web service calls. Please note that
the content remains in the Sabre work area/AAA while the session is active, or until the client
saves and finalizes the content within the work area via the EndTransactionLLSRQ service.
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 19

Open Systems-Based Sabre Web Services

Open systems-based Sabre Web Services obtain their content from various back-end
systems under the Sabre Holdings umbrella, outside of the legacy Sabre host system. These
Web services provide access to functionality that is not available in the host system. An
excellent example of an open systems-based Web service is OTA_AirTaxRQ, which is used
to retrieve tax-related information for a specified fare basis code/flight leg.

Orchestrated Sabre Web Services

Orchestrated Sabre Web Services combine multiple operations into a single service call.
There are presently several orchestrated services available for consumption,
PassengerDetailsRQ, Enhanced_AirBookRQ, and Enhanced_AirBookWithTaxRQ.
PassengerDetailsRQ combines several TPF Connector-based services to create a basic
Passenger Name Record.
Enhanced_AirBookRQ combines several TPF Connector-based services for booking and
pricing flight segments.
Enhanced_AirBookWithTaxRQ combines several TPF Connector-based services for booking
and pricing flight segments, and also includes the open systems-based OTA_AirTaxRQ for
retrieving tax-related information for a specified fare basis code/flight leg.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 20

Message Structure
The messages for Sabre Web Services conform to the following specifications:

The ebXML of the SOAP envelope conforms to SOAP with Attachments

The content of the payload attachments conforms to Sabre XML

The structure of the messages is based on Internet standards such as HTTP, HTTPS, and the
MIME mail extensions. HTTPS is the communications protocol.
The SOAP with Attachments protocol is a MIME multipart message with the following MIME parts:

The header container This is a SOAP envelope, which is an XML document.

The payload container This is the application payload, and it is formatted as Sabre
XML.

The SOAP with Attachments protocol is used to format the messages for Java clients, and
the payload is sent as an attachment.
Instead of sending the payload as an attachment, however, it can instead be included inside
the SOAP wrapper. Java Axis clients include the payload inside the SOAP wrapper. If
WSDL and Microsoft .NET Framework are used to format messages, the payload is included
inside the SOAP wrapper.
For the format and sending sequence of the SOAP envelopes and payloads, please refer to
the section of this document titled, SOAP Formats/Requirements. For specific tag
requirements, please refer to the section of this document titled, SOAP Field Size Quick
Reference.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 21

Standards and Specifications

The standards and specifications that Sabre Web Services are based upon are listed
below:

HTTP/1.1 [RFC2616] This is used for the transport protocol. Load balancing for
the Sabre Web Services infrastructure closely adheres to this protocol; hence
HTTP messages headers that connect to Sabre Web Services must conform to
this.

MIME specifications [RFC2045], [RFC2046], and [RFC2387] These are used

for the message headers and instructions.

SOAP, ebXML, and W3C XML standards These are used to define and describe the
SOAP messages.

SOAP Messages with Attachments specification [SOAPAttach] This is used

for the ebXML messages, which include the header and payload containers.

SOAP 1.1 [SOAP] This is used for the ebXML message packaging.

The ebXML Message Service Specification Version 2.0 (http://www.ebxml.org/

specs/ebMS2.pdf) This is used for the header containers.

OpenTravel and Sabre Web Services have adopted ebXML messaging infrastructure for the
packaging because ebXML specifies well-defined semantics for various messaging
exchange patterns in the area of messaging over the Internet and Intranet. The Organization
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) drafts and maintains the
ebXML standard.

WS-Security WS-Security standards have been partially adopted for some

security elements.

W3C XML 1.0

WSDL 1.1 Sabre XML schemas have been simplified to comply with WSDL version
1.1.

OpenTravel specifications (http://www.opentravel.org) These are the basis for

the travel-based request and response XML payloads. Sabre Web Services are
updated as needed to meet the newest OpenTravel specifications.

Sabre XML schema documents These are the schemas that validate the payloads in
all Sabre Web Services. The majority of them are based on OpenTravel message
specifications.

WSDL documents for Sabre XML The WSDL documents are based on
recommendations from the W3C, and conform to WS-I Basic Profile 1.0
Specification. When consuming Sabre Web Services with WSDL, they are
required to generate proxy code.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 22

Sabre XML Specifications

As mentioned previously the majority of the Sabre Web Services messages are based on
OpenTravel specifications.
In the absence of approved specifications by OpenTravel, Sabre XML specifications are
created utilizing the best practices concepts of OpenTravel. Therefore, some of the Sabre
XML schemas have undergone slight modifications.
The types of modifications may include the following:

The use of TPA_Extensions These are elements that are added to the
OpenTravel specifications

Constraints on data types

New elements

For information about working with WSDL, such as generating proxy classes, please refer to
the section of this document titled, Working with WSDL.
For more information related to managing Web Services connections and sessions, please
refer to the section of this document titled, Connection Management. For the format and
sending sequence of the SOAP envelopes and payloads, please refer to the section of this
document titled, SOAP Formats/Requirements. For specific tag requirements, please refer
to the section of this document titled, SOAP Field Size Quick Reference.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 23

Sabre Web Services Versioning Strategy

Individual, Sabre Web Services are versioned to distinguish changes that are made to the
payload content of a Web service from one release to another. The first version of a Web
service includes basic content, and upgraded versions include enhancements to existing
content, new content, as well as corrections, i.e. bug fixes.
A new version of a Web service is created whenever any of the following occurs:

Changes are made to a service that causes the request or response structure of the XML
to change, i.e. an enhancement.

Changes are made to a service that causes the underlying functionality of the service to
change, i.e. a bug fix.

Sabre Web Services simultaneously supports up to five versions of a Web service. The
services that are frequently upgraded have more versions available for consumption than
those services which are seldom upgraded. Older service versions beyond the five
supported versions are periodically removed from the system. The list of services being
removed from the system are available on the Developer Resource Center,
https://drc.sabre.com, via the Sabre Web Services Service Version Removal asset.
Customers are a provided with a minimum of 90 days advance notification prior to a
particular service version being removed.
When Web Services are upgraded, their corresponding WSDL and schema documents are
also versioned in the same manner. Please note that we resolve schema issues in the
applicable service version schema and notify clients of the change via the applicable release
notes where the change is being implemented. Clients should check the release notes,
which are available on the DRC, to ensure that they are aware of any changes/updates being
made.
Bug fixes and other corrections are incorporated into a new, upgraded version of a Web
service.
The new version becomes the baseline, and future versions are based on the content in the
baseline.
The first release of a Web service is assigned an initial version number. Whenever changes
are made to the service the first, second, or third numeral is incremented depending upon the
nature of the change.
If the change causes a major request or response change, i.e. a service rewrite, or an entire
platform upgrade, the first numeral, i.e. the major version level, is incremented, i.e. 2.0.0.
These types of changes are not deemed backward compatible with previous service
versions, i.e. service version 2.0.0 is not backward compatible with service version 1.0.0. In
these instances application developers will need to increment the major level digit,
incorporate the functionality contained in the new major version into their application, and
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 24

retest.
If the change causes a structural request or response change, i.e. an enhancement or a bug
fix resulting in a schema change, the second numeral, the minor version level, is
incremented, i.e. 2.1.0. These types of changes are not deemed backward compatible with
previous service versions, i.e. service version 2.1.0 is not backward compatible with service
version 2.0.0, or service version 2.0.1. In these instances application developers will need to
increment the minor level digit, add the new functionality contained in the new minor version
into their application, and retest.
If the change is to simply resolve a minor issue, i.e. a bug fix that doesnt require any sort of
schema change, the third numeral, the patch version level, is incremented, i.e. 2.0.1. These
types of changes do not require schema updates so they are deemed backward compatible
between service versions sharing the same minor patch level, i.e. service version 2.0.1 is
backward compatible with service version 2.0.0. In these instances application developers
simply need to increment the patch level digit in their application and retest.
The client calls a service version by specifying the desired version in the request payload at
run-time.
Guidelines for Upgrading Client Applications:
Type of Service Upgrade
Platform Upgrade, Major
Service Enhancement / ReWrite
(The major level portion of the
service version number is
incremented, i.e. 2.0.0)

Minor Enhancement / Bug Fix

With a Schema Change
(The minor level portion of the
service version number is
incremented, i.e. 2.1.0)

Action
If clients want to take advantage of a
platform upgrade, or a major
enhancement/service re-write, they
must upgrade their application to
consume the upgraded, major level
version. Please note that these types of
changes are not deemed backward
compatible between major versions, i.e.
service version 2.0.0 is not backwards
compatible with service version 1.0.0.
If clients want to take advantage of a
minor enhancement, i.e. new request or
response elements/attributes, or a bug
fix that resulted in a schema change,
i.e. new request or response structures,
or where the data type associated with
an existing element or attribute is
changed, they must upgrade their
application to consume the upgraded,
minor level version. Please note that
these types of changes are not deemed
backward compatible between minor
versions, i.e. service version 2.1.0 is not
backwards compatible with service

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 25

Type of Service Upgrade

Action
version 2.0.0.

Minor Bug Fix (Without a

Schema Change)
(The patch level portion of the
service version number is
incremented, i.e. 2.0.1)

Service Version Removal

If clients want to take advantage of a

bug fix contained in a new service
version, they must upgrade their
application to consume the upgraded,
patch level version. This upgrade
simply consists of incrementing the
patch level digit, and retesting. These
types of changes are deemed backward
compatible with the current minor
version, i.e. service version 2.0.1 is
backwards compatible with service
version 2.0.0.
The client must upgrade their
application to consume a newer
version.

Requesting Payload Content

Payload content is requested by including the action code that corresponds to the service
being called and the desired version number of the Web service itself.
A unique action code identifies the request and response payloads for every one of the
Sabre Web Services. The name of a particular Web service and its action code,
represented by the eb:Action element, are the same. The client provides the value for the
action in the SOAP envelope. For more information about actions, please refer to the
section of this document titled, Basis for Payload Content. The action codes for each
service are stated in the service overview provided for all Sabre Web Services on the DRC.
The payload requests of TPF Connector-based Web services must also include the desired
version of the Web service being consumed. Each of the TPF Connector-based Web
services has at least one version, and can have multiple supported versions at a given time.
Payloads for a given version can vary slightly, so it is important to consult the DRC-based
service documentation for the differences among versions.

Security
Sabre Web Services has implemented multiple layers of security for client applications.
These layers include line security, authentication, authorization, and confidentiality.

Line Security
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 26

Line security is the layer that secures the data traveling on the line over the Internet
between Sabre data centers and external systems. Sabre Web Services support point-topoint synchronous transport HTTPS using SSL with 128-bit encryption.
Clients that consume Sabre Web Services must implement line security with a secure
sockets layer, and they must secure the payloads with HTTPS.

Authentication
Authentication is the layer that allows consuming applications access to Web Services.
The URL for consuming Sabre Web Services and security credentials provides
authentication. Security credentials are the wsse:Username, wsse:Password, Organization,
and Domain elements present in the SOAP envelope in the request message of the
SessionCreateRQ service. Application developers receive the values for these elements
when they are set up to use Sabre Web Services.
The Sabre Web Services infrastructure authenticates the requestor of the service or
consuming client using the security credentials in the request.
An example of the wsse:Security node that shows the security credentials is shown in
Figure 1.
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext"
xmlns:wsu="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/utility">
<wsse:UsernameToken>
<wsse:Username>USERNAME</wsse:Username>
<wsse:Password>PASSWORD</wsse:Password>
<Organization>IPCC</Organization>
<Domain>DEFAULT</Domain>
</wsse:UsernameToken>
</wsse:Security>

Figure 1. Security Credentials in the wsse:Security node of SessionCreateRQ

Authorization
The authorization layer gives clients access to specific services or product packages.
When a client sends a request, the Sabre Web Services infrastructure authorizes access to
all services in the product packages to which an organization has subscribed.

Confidentiality
The confidentiality layer maintains the privacy of the data in a payload during its transmission.
Sabre Web Services use HTTPS with 128-bit SSL encryption.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 27

Network Connectivity
Access to Sabre Web Services for external clients is available through the Internet.
Consequently, resources used to develop and deploy production applications must
have Internet access.

Sabre Web Services Connections

A Sabre Web Services connection is created when a correctly formatted SessionCreateRQ
request is sent to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure, and a binary security token
(security token) is returned. When an exchange of messages between a client and a
business application, such as the Sabre system, takes place, a Sabre Web Services session
is also allocated, which is associated with the connection being used. A conversation ID and
security token identify the connection, and are used together throughout the Sabre Web
Services session.
A simplified example showing the flow of a Sabre Web Services connection and session
follows:
1. The client opens a connection to Sabre Web Services by sending the
SessionCreateRQ service request. This is the only request message that
includes the security credentials.
Security credentials in the SessionCreateRQ message (of the SessionCreateRQ
Service) consist of the wsse:Username, wsse:Password, Organization, and
Domain elements. In addition to these credentials, the client also generates and
includes a conversation ID.
2. The Sabre Web Services gateway receives the request, authenticates and
authorizes it, processes it, creates a connection, and returns the security token
with the SessionCreateRS message. The infrastructure also returns the same
conversation ID sent in the request. The client stores the connection ID,
consisting of the security token and conversation ID from the response in a
connection pool or elsewhere for use when it sends a business workflow.
3. The client and business application exchanges one or more Sabre Web Services
messages that represent a business workflow with the service provider to
retrieve travel-related content. The client includes the connection ID with each
SOAP request in the messages in the workflow.
4. If the client is maintaining a connection pool, the client returns the connection
ID to the pool when it ends the workflow.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 28

5. When the Sabre Web Services connection is no longer needed, the client closes
the connection by sending the SessionCloseRQ service request with the
conversation ID and security token of the connection it is closing.
When the business workflow is sent, a Sabre session is allocated. All request messages in a
particular session include the connection ID. (The connection ID consists of the conversation
ID and security token.) Only one conversation ID must exist per business workflow.
When a client connects to Sabre Web Services using security credentials that require a TA,
the infrastructure allocates a Sabre session at the same time. With this type of user ID, a
Sabre Web Services connection and a Sabre session are treated the same. When a Sabre
Web Services connection is in use, the Sabre host session is active; when the Sabre Web
Services connection ID is returned to a connection pool, the Sabre session is returned to the
session pool.
If activity has not occurred within the pre-determined time-out limit, the Sabre Web Services
connection is not guaranteed to be alive.

Errors
Several types of errors are possible.

Sabre Web Services errors These types of errors occur within the Sabre Web
Services infrastructure, and are caused either by clients or Sabre Web Services.
The infrastructure detects and generates these errors, and returns them as
SOAP faults, with or without ebXML headers.

Business application errors Business applications that are situated behind the
Sabre Web Services infrastructure generate errors which are caused by clients or
the Sabre system. They are returned to clients in ErrorRS format.

System errors generated by clients Clients cause these errors which are external to
Sabre Web Services. They occur in the development environment, and are returned to
the client.

When a response contains the <soap-env:fault> node, an HTTP status code of 500 is
returned. If no SOAP fault exists, HTTP Status Code 200 is returned.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 29

Chapter

2
Chapter 2: SOAP Formats/Requirements
Chapter two illustrates the sequence and format of the SOAP messages used to
successfully connect to and consume Sabre Web Services.

SOAP Message Overview

The SOAP Message with Attachments specification has two MIME parts: the header
container, which is the SOAP envelope, and the payload container, which where the
payload is placed. For simplicity, this document refers to these two MIME parts as the
SOAP envelope and payload.

SOAP Envelopes
The ebXML-based MessageHeader inside the SOAP envelope contains routing information
for the message as well as other important information, such as the /ConversationId, the
/Service, and the /Action.

Payloads
The payload is the business or application content of the message. It corresponds to the
request for the service being called. The payload is based on approved Sabre XML
vocabularies for clients that consume Sabre Web Services.
Sabre XML messages support one payload per envelope. Depending upon how the client
consumes Sabre Web Services, the payload is either sent as an attachment or included
inside the envelope. For those software development tools that do not support attachments,
the payload can be included inside the envelope.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 30

For Java clients, the payload is a MIME part following the SOAP with Attachments
Specification. While it is preferable to send the message as an attachment, it is also
possible to format the payload inside the SOAP envelope when using Java.
For clients that consume Web services with WSDL, including clients that are developed with
Microsoft .NET Framework or Apache Axis, the messages must conform to the WSDL
standard by including the payload inside the SOAP envelope.
The Sabre XML schemas define the required formats for the content in the message payloads,
including the extended elements and attributes that are defined for use with the Sabre system and
other Sabre applications. (These are child elements of the TPA_Extensions nodes.)
Note: Each Web service has unique service-specific values for the SOAP envelopes and

payloads. For this information, please consult the description documents that correspond to
the Web services on the DRC. For the valid list of elements and attributes in a Web service,
consult the design documents. The schemas provide the formats and constraints for the data
elements themselves.

XML Request and Response Message Pairs

Each Web service consists of an XML request and an XML response. The request is the
message that a client sends to the appropriate Sabre system or application for processing,
and the response is the message that Sabre Web Services return to the client for
consumption.
The basic types of functionality available in these messages are as follows:

Read functionality. These types of messages find information and retrieve it for
display. Services with read functionality are for viewing data, such as fare displays,
vehicle rates and rules, air schedules, and availability.

Write functionality. These messages create or modify records in the Sabre

system, such as PNRs. Services which are based on write functionality create or
add to something in the Sabre system.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 31

Message Structure
The messages for Sabre Web Services conform to the following specifications:

The ebXML of the SOAP envelope conforms to SOAP with Attachments.

The content of the payload attachments conforms to Sabre XML.

The structure of the messages is based on Internet standards such as HTTP, HTTPS, and the
MIME mail extensions. HTTPS is the communications protocol.
The SOAP with Attachments protocol is used to format the messages. The preferred
format has the payload as an attachment, as shown in Figure 2. HTTPS is the transport
protocol.
Figure 2. Structure of an ebXML Message with a Payload Attachment
Communication Protocol Envelope (HTTPS)
SOAP with Attachments MIME Envelope
MIME Part
SOAP-ENV: Envelope
SOAP-ENV: Header
eb: MessageHeader
eb: Action
eb: Etc.
other: Etc.

Header Container
SOAP-ENV: Body
eb: Manifest
eb: Etc.
other: Etc.

MIME Part
Payload

Payload container

(Sabre XML)

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 32

The SOAP Messages with Attachments specification is a multipart message with two
MIME parts: the header container and payload container.
The SOAP message consists of the following elements:

SOAP header This is the mechanism to add features to the SOAP

message, including header elements that are specific to ebXML.

SOAP body This is the container for the control data of the message
service handler and information about the payload parts of the message. If
the payload is sent as an attachment, the ebXML <eb:Manifest> element
references the attached payload in the SOAP body.

Header container
The header container has a SOAP envelope, which is an XML document.

Payload container
The payload container is the application payload. It is formatted as Sabre
XML. The content is either the business logic or data without business
logic.

Instead of sending the payload as an attachment, it can be included inside the SOAP
wrapper, replacing eb:Manifest inside the SOAP envelope. This is shown in Figure 3. If
WSDL is used to format the messages, the payload is included inside the SOAP wrapper.
Figure 3. Structure of an ebXML Message with the Payload Inside the SOAP Body
Communication Protocol Envelope (HTTPS)
SOAP with Attachments MIME Envelope
MIME Part
SOAP-ENV: Envelope
SOAP-ENV: Header
eb: MessageHeader
eb: Action
eb: Etc.
other: Etc.

SOAP-ENV: Body
Payload
(Sabre XML)

other: Etc.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 33

SOAP Message Sequence and Format

When clients consume Sabre Web Services, they use two types of messages: session
management messages and travel content-related messages. This topic reviews the
message formats and use in a conversational style connection. The messages are
presented in their required sending sequence. For detailed requirements about formatting
the data elements in the messages and values, please refer to the section of this document
titled, SOAP Field Size Quick Reference.
The names of the message pairs for each Web service end with RQ and RS, where RQ
represents the request, and RS represents the response.
Some nodes and requirements in the SOAP messages are the same for all Sabre Web
Services, while other requirements are specific to the specific Web service itself. The
session management services also have some unique nodes and formats in the SOAP
envelopes. For all service- specific values, please consult the service description/developer
notes available on the DRC.
Sabre Web Services is built to conform to several standards/specifications, including
ebXML and WS-Security. Therefore, the SOAP envelopes contain namespaces, elements,
and attributes that these standards and specifications require. For the standards and
specifications please refer to the section of this document titled, Introduction to Sabre Web
Services/Standards and Specifications.
Some fields have maximum lengths. Any data values exceeding the maximum number of
characters results in an error which is returned to the client, preventing the client from
creating a connection. For information related to the maximum field size of these data
elements please refer to the section of this document titled, SOAP Field Size Quick
Reference.

SessionCreateRQ Request Message

Consumers of all types of Sabre Web Services use the same SessionCreateRQ/RS
messages to open connections to the Sabre Web Services gateway.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 34

Example 1. SessionCreateRQ SOAP Envelope

(001) <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
(002) <SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
(003)
xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/messageHeader"
(004)
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
(005)
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema">
(006)
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
(007)
<eb:MessageHeader SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(008)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]</eb:ConversationId>
(009)
<eb:From>
(010)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(011)
</eb:From>
(012)
<eb:To>
(013)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">webservices.sabre.com</
eb:PartyId>
(014)
</eb:To>
(015)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(016)
<eb:Service eb:type="sabreXML">Session</eb:Service>
(017)
<eb:Action>SessionCreateRQ</eb:Action>
(018)
<eb:MessageData>
(019)
<eb:MessageId>mid:20031209-133003-2333@clientURL</eb:MessageId>
(020)
<eb:Timestamp>2003-12-09T11:15:12Z</eb:Timestamp>
(021)
<eb:TimeToLive>2003-12-09T11:15:12Z</eb:TimeToLive>
(022)
</eb:MessageData>
(023)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(024)
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext"
(025)
xmlns:wsu="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/utility">
(026)
<wsse:UsernameToken>
(027)
<wsse:Username>USERNAME</wsse:Username>
(028)
<wsse:Password>PASSWORD</wsse:Password>
(029)
<Organization>yourIPCC</Organization>
(030)
<Domain>DEFAULT</Domain>
(031)
</wsse:UsernameToken>
(032)
</wsse:Security>
(033)
</SOAP-ENV:Header>
(034)
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
(035)
<eb:Manifest SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(036)
<eb:Reference xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xlink:href="cid:SessionCreateRQ" xlink:type="simple"/>
(037)
</eb:Manifest>
(038)
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
(039) </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Example 2. SessionCreateRQ Payload Message

(040) <SessionCreateRQ>
(041)
<POS>
(042)
<Source PseudoCityCode="yourIPCC"/>
(043)
</POS>
(044) </SessionCreateRQ>

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 35

SessionCreateRQ SOAP Envelope

Format the SOAP envelopes and payloads for the requests as shown in Examples 1 and
2, respectively.
The client application does the following for each connection:

Generates a globally unique value for eb:ConversationId (line 008)

Generates a value for eb:MessageId (line 019)

Generates values for eb:Timestamp (lines 020 and 021)

Includes the appropriate values for eb:From and eb:To (lines 009014)

Includes the required value for eb:CPAId (line 015). This is the same value as
<Organization>.

Includes the service specific values for eb:Service, eb:type (line 016), and
eb:Action (line 017)

Includes security credentials in the wsse:Security node (lines 024032)

(Payloads sent as attachments) Sets the reference to the payload attachment in the
xlink:href attribute of the eb:Reference element (line 036)

(Payloads included in SOAP envelopes) Substitutes the payload for eb:Manifest

in the first MIME part

SessionCreateRQ Payload
The client creates the payload, either as an attachment or included in the SOAP body.

In the MIME Header, include the value for the content ID. This must match the value
of xlink:href in eb:Reference in the SOAP envelope.

Specifies the document root element. It is recommended that this value match
the value for content ID in the MIME Header and eb:Reference/xlink:href (line
036).

Passes the value for Source/PseudoCityCode (line 042). The is the same
value sent with eb:CPAId and Organization in the SOAP envelope.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 36

SessionCreateRS Response Message

Example 3. SessionCreateRS SOAP Envelope with wsse:BinarySecurityToken
(001) <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
(002) <SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
(003)
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
(004)
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
(005)
<eb:MessageHeader xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/
messageHeader" eb:version="2.0" SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1">
(006)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]</eb:ConversationId>
(007)
<eb:From>
(008)
<eb:PartyId>webservices.sabre.com</eb:PartyId>
(009)
</eb:From>
(010)
<eb:To>
(011)
<eb:PartyId>clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(012)
</eb:To>
(013)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(014)
<eb:Service eb:type=sabreXML>Session</eb:Service>
(015)
<eb:Action>SessionCreateRS</eb:Action>
(016)
<eb:MessageData>
(017)
<eb:MessageId>mid:[email protected]</eb:MessageId>
(018)
<eb:Timestamp>2003-12-09T11:15:13Z</eb:Timestamp>
(019)
<RefToMessageId>mid:20031209-133003-2333@clientURL</RefToMessageId>
(020)
</eb:MessageData>
(021)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(022)
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext">
(023)
<wsse:BinarySecurityToken valueType="String"
(024) EncodingType="wsse:Base64Binary">Shared/IDL:IceSess\/SessMgr:1\.0.IDL/Common/

!ICESMS\/RESA!ICESMSLB\/RES.LB!4845652307057192441!339520!0</
wsse:BinarySecurityToken>
</wsse:Security>
</SOAP-ENV:Header>
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
<eb:Manifest xmlns:eb=http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/messageHeader
eb:version="2.0">
(029)
<eb:Reference eb:id=SessionCreateRS xlink:type="simple"
xlink:href="cid:SessionCreateRS"
(030)
<eb:Description xml:lang=en-US>Response Message</eb:Description>"/> (031)
</eb:Reference>
(032)
</eb:Manifest>
(033)
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
(034) </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

(025)
(026)
(027)
(028)

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 37

Example 4. SessionCreateRS Payload Message

(035) <SessionCreateRS xmlns=http://www.opentravel.org/OTA/2002/11version=1
status="Approved">
(036)
<ConversationId>[email protected]</ConversationId>
(037) </SessionCreateRS>

SessionCreateRS Response Format

For the format of the response, see examples 3 and 4.
Note the following in the SessionCreateRS response:

The Sabre Web Services infrastructure returns a security token in

wsse:BinarySecurityToken, a child of wsse:Security (lines 022025).

The infrastructure returns a unique message ID in <eb:RefToMessageId>.

This is a reference to the message ID of the corresponding request (line 020).

The payloads of the session request messages do not have an xmlns attribute
with the document root element, but this attribute is returned in the payload of
the responses (line 034).

The eb:version attribute returns a number, but this version is independent

of the versioning strategy for TPF Connector-based or open systemsbased Sabre Web Services (line 034).

Consuming the SessionCreateRQ Service

The client sends the SessionCreateRQ request message to the endpoint for consuming
Sabre Web Services over HTTPS. For complete information about the URLs and
environments, please refer to the section of this document titled, Sabre Web Services
Environments.
The Sabre Web Services gateway receives and authenticates the request, and creates a
connection. The infrastructure then authorizes the security credentials. If required, it
allocates a Sabre session upon authorization.
The infrastructure returns a unique, encrypted security token to the requester on the client
side in wsse:BinarySecurityToken in the SOAP envelope of the SessionCreateRS response.
It also returns the same conversation ID and a reference to the message ID in the request.
The connection ID consists of the returned security token and the conversation ID. Its
return means the connection to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure is alive and a Sabre
Web Services session (also called a TA) is allocated.
For every connection it creates, the client parses the eb:ConversationId and the entire
wsse:Security node with wsse:BinarySecurityToken and stores them for subsequent use in
requests for travel content that use the connection and Sabre session. This makes it
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 38

possible to reuse the connection when a connection pool is implemented. For complete
information about techniques for handling connectivity, please refer to the section of this
document titled, Connection Management.
Note: Remember that when using a specific Sabre Web Services connection and session, the
following values must match the values that were used to open the connection with
SessionCreateRQ: eb:ConversationId, eb:CPAId (eb:Organization), and in the payload,
PseudoCityCode.
The same value returned via wsse:BinarySecurityToken in the SessionCreateRS must be sent in
all messages using the connection.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 39

Request Messages for Travel Content

All open systems and TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services adhere to the same model
for the SOAP envelopes of the requests and responses, as shown in the following examples,
but some tags and values in the SOAP envelopes are specific to the Web service,
connection, and service provider. Examples that can be cited include the value for eb:Action,
which is a unique, service-specific value, and the value for eb:ConversationId, which is
unique to a Sabre Web Services connection and session. The use of the eb:Timeout tag
itself is implemented by the a service provider. Currently this tag is read only by the TPF
Connector, and so it can be included in the SOAP envelopes of TPF Connector-based Sabre
Web Services.
The payload messages for all TPF Connector-based and open systems-based Sabre
Web Services follow similar models.
Some of the exceptions are noted as follows:

Each service provider specifies how to use the Version and PseudoCityCode
attributes.

The <HostCommand> element is returned in the responses of TPF Connector-based

Sabre Web Services.

The TPF Connector-based Web service, OTA_HotelAvailLLSRQ, is used in Examples 5

and 6. For the service-specific payload messages and formats, please refer to the
service documents published on the DRC.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 40

Example 5. SOAP Envelope of a Request for Travel Content

(001) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
(002) <SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
(003)
xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/messageHeader"
(004)
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
(005)
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema">
(006)
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
(007)
<eb:MessageHeader SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(008)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]</eb:ConversationId>
(009)
<eb:From>
(010)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(011)
</eb:From>
(012)
<eb:To>
(013)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">webservices.sabre.com</
eb:PartyId>
(014)
</eb:To>
(015)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(016)
<eb:Service eb:type="sabreXML"> OTA_HotelAvailLLSRQ</eb:Service>
(017)
<eb:Action>OTA_HotelAvailLLSRQ</eb:Action>
(018)
<eb:MessageData>
(019)
<eb:MessageId>mid:20031209-133003-2334@clientURL</eb:MessageId>
(020)
<eb:Timestamp>2003-12-09T11:15:14Z</eb:Timestamp>
(021)
<!-- <eb:TimeToLive>2003-12-09T11:16:12Z</eb:TimeToLive> -->
(022)
<eb:Timeout>50</eb:Timeout>
(023)
</eb:MessageData>
(024)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(025)
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/
secext">
(026)
<wsse:BinarySecurityToken valueType="String"
(027)
EncodingType="wsse:Base64Binary">SShared/IDL:IceSess\/SessMgr:1\.0.IDL/Common/
!ICESMS\/RESA!ICESMSLB\/RES.LB!-4845652307057192441!339520!0</
wsse:BinarySecurityToken>
(028)
</wsse:Security>
(029)
</SOAP-ENV:Header>
(030)
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
(031)
<eb:Manifest SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(032)
<eb:Reference
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
(033)
xlink:href="cid:OTA_HotelAvailRQ"
(034)
xlink:type="simple"/>
(035)
</eb:Manifest>
(036)
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
(037) </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 41

Example 6. Payload of a Request for Travel Content

(038) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
(039) <OTA_HotelAvailRQ xmlns="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2003/07"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/
2001/XMLSchema-instance" Version="2003A.TsabreXML1.4.1">
(040)
<POS>
(041)
<Source PseudoCityCode="yourIPCC"/>
(042)
</POS>
(043)
<AvailRequestSegments>
(044)
<AvailRequestSegment>
(045)
<StayDateRange Start="2006-11-22T00:00:00" End="2006-11-25T00:00:00"/>
(046)
<RoomStayCandidates>
(047)
<RoomStayCandidate>
(048)
<GuestCounts>
(049)
<GuestCount Count="2"/>
(050)
</GuestCounts>
(051)
</RoomStayCandidate>
(052)
</RoomStayCandidates>
(053)
<HotelSearchCriteria>
(054)
<Criterion>
(055)
<HotelRef HotelCityCode="DFW" ChainCode="MC"/>
(056)
</Criterion>
(057)
</HotelSearchCriteria>
(058)
</AvailRequestSegment>
(059)
</AvailRequestSegments>
(060) </OTA_HotelAvailRQ>

Request SOAP Envelopes

Format the SOAP envelopes and payloads for the request as shown in Examples 5 and
6, respectively, using service-specific data values and formats. For detailed common
requirements, please refer to the section of this document titled, SOAP Field Size Quick
Reference.
The client includes the following:

The value for eb:ConversationId which is extracted from the connection being used

The same value for eb:CPAId that was used to open the connection (line 015)

Values for <eb:MessageId> and eb:Timestamp, and optionally, eb:Timeout

(lines 019020)

Optionally, the generated value for eb:Timeout. This value must be less than the
system default value on the service. Currently, only the TPF connector has
implemented this for TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services and
orchestrated Web services. If the value is greater than the default value on the
service, the TPF Connector ignores it and uses the default. (line 022)

If sending a time-out value, exclude eb:TimeToLive because these are

mutually exclusive. Note, also, that TimeToLive is not supported. (line

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 42

021)
For more information about the service time-outs, see eb:Timeout.

Appropriate values for eb:From and <eb:To> (lines 009014), eb:CPAId (line 015),
eb:Service, eb:type (line 016), and eb:Action (line 017)

The wsse:Security node, which includes wsse:BinarySecurityToken, extracted

from the SessionCreateRQ request that opened the Web Services connection
being used (lines 025028)

(Payloads sent as attachments) The reference to the payload attachment in the

xlink:href attribute of the eb:Reference element (line 032)

(Payloads included in SOAP envelopes) The payload in place of the eb:Manifest

element in the first MIME part

Request Payloads
The client includes the following:

In the MIMEHeader, the value for the content ID. This must match the value of
xlink:href in eb:Reference (line 032)

The document root element. It is recommended that this value match the
value for content ID in the MIME Header and eb:Reference /xlink:href.
(line 039)

The value for the xmlns attribute of the document root element. Application
developers need to refer to the developer notes for the Web service being
used. (line 039)

A value for the Version attribute that is applicable to the version of the Web
service your client is consuming. Obtain the applicable versions and correct
format in the service documentation on the Developer Resource Center. (line
039)

The value for the Source/PseudoCityCode. This value must match the values
sent with eb:CPAId and Organization in the SOAP envelope of the
SessionCreateRQ message that opened the connection. (line 041)
The values for the following three must be the same:

In all payloads, the IPCC in POS/Source/PseudoCityCode

In all SOAP envelopes, eb:CPAId

In the SOAP envelope of SessionCreateRQ, the Organization element

Remember that for all messages sent in a given connection, the value for PseudoCityCode
and eb:CPAId must match the value in the SessionCreateRQ message that was used to
create the Web Services connection being used.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 43

For the valid version attribute values, MDR subsets, and document root elements, please
consult the design documents, service descriptions, and developer notes.

Response Messages with Travel Content

Responses of all TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services conform to the following format,
shown in examples 7 and 8.

Example 7. SOAP Envelope of a Response for Travel Content

(001) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
(002) <soap-env:Envelope xmlns:soap-env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/ ">
(003)
<soap-env:Header>
(004)
<eb:MessageHeader xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/
messageHeader" eb:version="2.0" soap-env:mustUnderstand="1">
(005)
<eb:From>
(006)
<eb:PartyId eb:type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">webservices.sabre.com</
eb:PartyId>
(007)
</eb:From>
(008)
<eb:To>
(009)
<eb:PartyId eb:type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(010)
</eb:To>
(011)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(012)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]</eb:ConversationId>
(013)
<eb:Service eb:type=sabreXML>Hotel Availability</eb:Service>
(014)
<eb:Action>OTA_HotelAvailLLSRS</eb:Action>
(015)
<eb:MessageData>
(016)
<eb:MessageId>mid:[email protected]</eb:MessageId>
(017)
<eb:Timestamp>2003-12-09T11:15:15Z</eb:Timestamp>
(018)
<RefToMessageId>mid:[email protected]</
eb:RefToMessageId>
(019)
</eb:MessageData>
(020)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(021)
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext">
(022)
<wsse:BinarySecurityToken valueType="String"
EncodingType="wsse:Base64Binary">Shared/IDL:IceSess\/SessMgr:1\.0.IDL/Common/
!ICESMS\/RESA!ICESMSLB\/RES.LB!-4845652307057192441!339520!0</
wsse:BinarySecurityToken>
(023)
</wsse:Security>
(024)
</soap-env:Header>
(025)
<soap-env:Body>
(026)
<eb:Manifest SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(027)
<eb:Reference xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
(028)
xlink:href="cid:OTA_HotelAvailRS"
(029)
xlink:type="simple"/>
(030)
</eb:Manifest>
(031)
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
(032) </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Example 8. Payload of a Response for Travel Content

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 44

(033) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

(034) <OTA_HotelAvailRS xmlns="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2003/07"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/ XMLSchemainstance" Version="2003A.TsabreXML1.4.1">
(035)
<Success/>
(036)
<RoomStays MoreIndicator="Y">
(037)
<RoomStay>
(038)
<RoomRates>
(039)
<RoomRate RPH="001" RoomTypeCode="STD" RatePlanCode="RAC"/>
(040)
<RoomRate RPH="001" RoomTypeCode="C1D" RatePlanCode="COR"/>
(041)
<RoomRate RPH="001" RoomTypeCode="STD" RatePlanCode="GRR"/>
(042)
<RoomRate RPH="001" RoomTypeCode="A1K,N1K,B2Q,N2Q,C1D,NS1"
RatePlanCode="GRT"/>
(043)
<RoomRate RPH="011" RoomTypeCode="STD" RatePlanCode="RAC"/>
(044)
<RoomRate RPH="011" RoomTypeCode="STD" RatePlanCode="BBA"/>
(045)
<RoomRate RPH="011" RoomTypeCode="STD" RatePlanCode="COR"/>
(046)
<RoomRate RPH="011" RoomTypeCode="STD" RatePlanCode="GRR"/>
(047)
</RoomRates>
(048)
<BasicPropertyInfo ChainCode="HI" HotelCode="51645" HotelName="HOLIDAY INN EX STES
DFW" HotelCityCode="DFW" AreaID="003NW">
(049)
<TPA_Extensions>
(050)
<Line RPH="001"/>
(051)
<Distance Ind="M"/>
(052)
<CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
(053)
<MinRate Amount="94.00" CurrencyCode="USD" DecimalPlaces="2"/>
(054)
<MaxRate Amount="159.00" CurrencyCode="USD" DecimalPlaces="2"/>
(055)
<DirectConnect>
(056)
<DCSellParticipant Ind="true"/>
(057)
<DCAvailParticipant Ind="true"/>
(058)
<UnAvail Ind="false"/>
(059)
<RequestFail Ind="false"/>
(060)
</DirectConnect>
(061)
<LocationDescription Code="G">
(062)
<Text>GRAPEVINE</Text>
(063)
</LocationDescription>
(064)
</TPA_Extensions>
(065)
<Position Latitude="32.921900" Longitude="-97.080400"/>
(066)
<Address>
(067)
<TPA_Extensions>
(068)
<AddressLine>309 STATE HWY 114 WEST</AddressLine>
(069)
<AddressLine>GRAPEVINE TX 76051</AddressLine>
(070)
</TPA_Extensions>
(071)
</Address>
(072)
<ContactNumbers>
(073)
<ContactNumber PhoneNumber="817-442-5919"/>
(074)
<TPA_Extensions>
(075)
<FaxNumber PhoneNumber="817-442-5960"/>
(076)
</TPA_Extensions>
(077)
</ContactNumbers>
(078)
</BasicPropertyInfo>
(079)
<BasicPropertyInfo ChainCode="HI" HotelCode="53766" HotelName="HOLIDAY INN ADDISON"
HotelCityCode="DFW" AreaID="013E">
(080)
<TPA_Extensions>
(081)
<Line RPH="011"/>
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 45

(082)
<Distance Ind="M"/>
(083)
<CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
(084)
<MinRate Amount="117.99" CurrencyCode="USD" DecimalPlaces="2"/>
(085)
<MaxRate Amount="139.00" CurrencyCode="USD" DecimalPlaces="2"/>
(086)
<DirectConnect>
(087)
<DCSellParticipant Ind="true"/>
(088)
<DCAvailParticipant Ind="true"/>
(089)
<UnAvail Ind="false"/>
(090)
<RequestFail Ind="false"/>
(091)
</DirectConnect>
(092)
<LocationDescription Code="G">
(093)
<Text>ADDISON TX</Text>
(094)
</LocationDescription>
(095)
</TPA_Extensions>
(096)
<Position Latitude="32.958500" Longitude="-96.827000"/>
(097)
<Address>
(098)
<TPA_Extensions>
(099)
<AddressLine>4960 ARAPAHO ROAD</AddressLine>
(100)
<AddressLine>ADDISON TX 75001</AddressLine>
(101)
</TPA_Extensions>
(102)
</Address>
(103)
<ContactNumbers>
(104)
<ContactNumber PhoneNumber="1-972-490-1212"/>
(105)
<TPA_Extensions>
(106)
<FaxNumber PhoneNumber="1-972-233-4283"/>
(107)
</TPA_Extensions>
(108)
</ContactNumbers>
(109)
</BasicPropertyInfo>
(110)
</RoomStay>
(111) </RoomStays>
(112) <TPA_Extensions>
(113)
<HostCommand>ARS01S093HOTDFW/22NOV-25NOV2/MC</HostCommand>
(114) </TPA_Extensions>
(115)</OTA_HotelAvailRS>

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 46

Consuming a Travel-Based Service

Please note the following in the response:
SOAP Envelope

The Sabre Web Services gateway returns a unique message ID and a

reference to the message ID of the corresponding request in
<eb:RefToMessageId> (lines 016017).

The security token is returned in wsse:BinarySecurityToken (line 022).

Payload

For TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services, the Version attribute of the
document root element returns the service version requested (line 034).

For TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services, the business application

returns the Sabre system command used to format the request in
<HostCommand> (line 113).

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 47

SessionCloseRQ Message
The model for the SessionCloseRQ message, which is required to close Sabre Web Services
connections, is shown in examples 9 and 10.

Example 9. SessionCloseRQ SOAP Envelope

(001) <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
(002) <SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
(003)
xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/messageHeader"
(004)
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
(005)
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema">
(006)
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
(007)
<eb:MessageHeader SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(008)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]</eb:ConversationId>
(009)
<eb:From>
(010)
<eb:PartyId eb:type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(011)
</eb:From>
(012)
<eb:To>
(013)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">webservices.sabre.com</
eb:PartyId>
(014)
</eb:To>
(015)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(016)
<eb:Service eb:type="sabreXML">Session</eb:Service>
(017)
<eb:Action>SessionCloseRQ</eb:Action>
(018)
<eb:MessageData>
(019)
<eb:MessageId>mid:20031209-133003-2335@clientURL</eb:MessageId>
(020)
<eb:Timestamp>2003-12-09T11:15:16Z</eb:Timestamp>
(021)
<eb:TimeToLive>2003-12-09T11:15:16Z</eb:TimeToLive>
(022)
</eb:MessageData>
(023)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(024)
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext">
(025)
<wsse:BinarySecurityToken valueType="String"
(026)
EncodingType="wsse:Base64Binary">Shared/IDL:IceSess\/SessMgr:1\.0.IDL/Common/

!ICESMS\/RESA!ICESMSLB\/RES.LB!4845652307057192441!339520!0</
wsse:BinarySecurityToken>
(027)
</wsse:Security>
(028) </SOAP-ENV:Header>
(029)
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
(030)
<eb:Manifest SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(031)
<eb:Reference xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
(032)
xlink:href="cid:SessionCloseRQ" xlink:type="simple"/>
(033)
</eb:Manifest>
(034)
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
(035) </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 48

Example 10. SessionCloseRQ Message Payload

(036) <SessionCloseRQ>
(037)
<POS>
(038)
<Source PseudoCityCode="yourIPCC"/>
(039)
</POS>
(040) </SessionCloseRQ>

SessionCloseRQ SOAP Envelope

Format the SOAP envelopes and payloads for the requests as shown in examples 9 and
10, respectively.
Note: For any values not specifically called out or described in the reference section,

format the messages as shown. For detailed common requirements, see Appendix A.
Your client does the following for each connection:

Passes the conversation ID of the connection to close for <eb:ConversationId>

(line 008)

Generates a value for <eb:MessageId> and eb:Timestamp (lines 019020)

Includes the appropriate values for <eb:From> and eb:To (lines 009014)

Includes the required value for eb:CPAId (line 015). This is the same value as
<Organization> in the SessionCreateRQ used to open the connection.

Includes the service specific values for eb:Service, eb:type (line 016), and
<eb:Action> (line 017)

Passes the security token of the connection to close in

wsse:Security@wsse:BinarySecurityToken (lines 024027)

(Payloads sent as attachments) Sets the reference to the payload attachment in the
xlink:href attribute of the <eb:Reference element (line 032)

(Payloads included in SOAP envelopes) Substitutes the payload for <eb:Manifest

in the first MIME part

SessionCloseRQ Payload
The client creates the payload, either as an attachment or included in the SOAP body.
The client does the following:

In the MIME Header, includes the value for the content ID. This must match the value
of xlink:href in eb:Reference in the SOAP envelope.

Specifies the document root element. It is recommended that this value match
the value for content ID in the MIME Header and eb:Reference / xlink:href (line

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 49

036).

Passes the value for Source/PseudoCityCode (line 042). The is the same value
sent with eb:CPAId and Organization in the SOAP envelope.
Note:

In all request messages using a given connection, the values for following
must be the same:
In payloads, the IPCC in POS/Source/PseudoCityCode
In SOAP envelopes, eb:CPAId
In SOAP envelope of SessionCreateRQ, the Organization element

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 50

SessionCloseRS Message
The SessionCloseRQ service terminates both the Sabre Web Services connection and
its associated Sabre Web Services session, and renders the security token invalid.

Example 11. SessionCloseRS SOAP Envelope

(001) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
(002) <soap-env:Envelope xmlns:soap-env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/ ">
(003)
<soap-env:Header>
(004)
<eb:MessageHeader eb:version="1.0" soap-env:mustUnderstand="1"
xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/messageHeader">
(005)
<eb:From>
(006)
<eb:PartyId eb:type="URI">webservices.sabre.com</eb:PartyId>
(007)
</eb:From>
(008)
<eb:To>
(009)
<eb:PartyId eb:type="URI">clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(010)
</eb:To>
(011)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(012)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]</eb:ConversationId>
(013)
<eb:Service eb:type="sabreXML">Session</eb:Service>
(014)
<eb:Action>SessionCloseRS</eb:Action>
(015)
<eb:MessageData>
(016)
<eb:MessageId>mid:[email protected]</eb:MessageId>
(017)
<eb:Timestamp>2006-06-23T15:29:09</eb:Timestamp>
(018)
<RefToMessageId>mid:20031209-133003-2335@clientURL</eb:RefToMessageId>
(019)
</eb:MessageData>
(020)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(021)
<wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext">
(022)
<wsse:BinarySecurityToken valueType="String"
(023)
EncodingType="wsse:Base64Binary">Shared/IDL:IceSess\/SessMgr:1\.0.IDL/Common/
!ICESMS\/RESA!ICESMSLB\/RES.LB!-4845652307057192441!339520!0</
wsse:BinarySecurityToken>
(024)
</wsse:Security>
(025)
</soap-env:Header>
(026)
<soap-env:Body>
(027)
<SessionCloseRS status="Approved" version="1" xmlns="http://
www.opentravel.org/OTA/2002/11"/>
(028)
</soap-env:Body>
(029) </soap-env:Envelope>

Example 12. SessionCloseRS Message Payload

(030) <?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8 ?>
(031) <SessionCloseRS xmlns=http://www.opentravel.org/OTA/2002/11version="1" status="Approved" />

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 51

SessionCloseRQ Response Format

If the connection is closed successfully, the SOAP envelope and payload messages
are returned. For an example of the response payload, see example 12.
Please note the following in the responses:

The Sabre Web Services gateway returns a unique message ID with a

reference to the message ID of the corresponding request in
<eb:RefToMessageId>. (lines 016017)

The payloads of the session request messages do not have an xmlns attribute
with the document root element, but this attribute is returned in the payload of
the responses.

The eb:version attribute returns a number, but this independent of the

versioning standards of TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services. (line
030)

Only the root element and attributes are returned when a connection is closed
properly. (line 030)

Consuming the SessionCloseRQ Service

When a Sabre Web Services connection is closed successfully, the following happens:

The associated Sabre session is released

The SessionCloseRS MessageHeader is returned to the requester

The security token becomes invalid.

If a Sabre session or TA was allocated, the content in the Sabre work area/AAA
is discarded and the Sabre session is returned to the session pool.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 52

Payloads Formatted Inside SOAP Envelopes

For Java clients that consume Web services without WSDL, sending the payload as an
attachment to the SOAP envelope is preferred. If a particular Web services development tool
does not support attachments, it is also possible to send the payload inside the envelope.
If the client consumes services with WSDL, it must include the payload inside the body of the
first MIME part or SOAP envelope. This is shown in example 13.
To include the payload inside the SOAP envelope, do the following:
1. Modify an existing message using the SOAP with Attachments protocol.
2. Provide requirements that are specified by Sabre Web Services for the
envelopes and payloads.
3. Insert the payload of the second MIME part into the first MIME part. Remove the
eb:Manifest node from the SOAP envelope, and insert the payload. Lines 28 through
49 represent the payload.
Example 13. Message Payload Inside SOAP Envelope Body
(001)<SOAP-ENV:Envelope
xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
(002)
xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/messageHeader"
(003)
xmlns:xlink=http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/
1999/XMLSchema">
(004)
<SOAP-ENV:Header>
(005)
<eb:MessageHeader SOAP-ENV:mustUnderstand="1" eb:version="2.0">
(006)
<eb:ConversationId>[email protected]<eb:ConversationId/>
(007)
<eb:From>
(008)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">clientURL</eb:PartyId>
(009)
</eb:From>
(010)
<eb:To>
(011)
<eb:PartyId type="urn:x12.org:IO5:01">webservices.sabre.com</
eb:PartyId>
(012)
</eb:To>
(013)
<eb:CPAId>yourIPCC</eb:CPAId>
(014)
<eb:Service eb:type="OTA">Hotel</eb:Service> (015)
<eb:Action>OTA_HotelDescriptionRQ</eb:Action>
(016)
<eb:MessageData>
(017)
<eb:MessageId>mid:20031209-133003-2333@clientURL</eb:MessageId>
(018)
<eb:Timestamp>2003-12-09T11:15:12Z</eb:Timestamp>
(019)
<eb:Timeout>55</eb:Timeout>
(020)
</eb:MessageData>
(021)
</eb:MessageHeader>
(022) <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext">
(023)
<wsse:BinarySecurityToken valueType="String"

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 53

(024) EncodingType="wsse:Base64Binary">Shared/IDL:IceSess\/SessMgr:1\.0.IDL/Common/

!ICESMS\/RESC!ICESMSLB\/RES.LB!4954987477210575357!252506!0</
wsse:BinarySecurityToken>
(025) </wsse:Security>
(026)
</SOAP-ENV:Header>
(027)
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
(028) <OTA_HotelAvailRQ xmlns="http://www.opentravel.org/OTA/2002/08"
Version="2003A.TsabreXML1.0.1">
(029)
<POS>
(030)
<Source PseudoCityCode="yourIPCC"/>
(031)
</POS>
(032)
<AvailRequestSegments>
(033)
<AvailRequestSegment>
(034)
<StayDateRange Start="2003-10-29" End="2003-10-30"/>
(035)
<RoomStayCandidates>
(036)
<RoomStayCandidate>
(037)
<GuestCounts>
(038)
<GuestCount Count="2"/>
(039)
</GuestCounts>
(040)
</RoomStayCandidate>
(041)
</RoomStayCandidates>
(042)
<HotelSearchCriteria>
(043)
<Criterion>
(044)
<HotelRef HotelCode="62532"/>
(045)
</Criterion>
(046)
</HotelSearchCriteria>
(047)
</AvailRequestSegment>
(048)
</AvailRequestSegments>
(049) </OTA_HotelAvailRQ>
(050)
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
(051)</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 54

Chapter

3
Chapter 3: Sabre XML
Chapter three describes the design of the WSDL and schema documents for Sabre XML. It also
explains the numbering scheme and naming patterns of the WSDL and schema documents, as well
as how they are versioned.
The Sabre XML specifications are the WSDL and schema documents tailored specifically for use
with Sabre Web Services.
The Sabre XML specifications consist of the following:

A unique WSDL document This is used by WSDL software tools to build proxy
classes. The tools reference the WSDL documents at run-time.

A set of Sabre XML request and response XSD schema documents They validate
the XML payloads. If using WSDL tools, the WSDL document references them at runtime.

An intermediate schema for every Web service This imports the request and
response schemas.

The content of the payloads.

Session management messages for connecting to Sabre Web Services.

A set of common schemas shared by all TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services.

Every version of every Web service has its own set of Sabre XML documents.
The payload content is assigned a version number that is incremented whenever the content is
enhanced or corrections are made to the code.
The WSDL and schema documents are available by searching DRC for the name of the Web
service.

WSDL Documents for Sabre XML

Application developers can use the Sabre XML WSDL documents to develop and consume
Sabre Web Services by using development frameworks such as Microsoft .NET Framework
or Apache Axis. WSDL documents simplify development of clients by generating proxy
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 55

classes for the client code. The proxy classes provide objects that let application developers
access and update the underlying structure of the message, which is ebXML.
The WSDL documents are based on recommendations from the W3C. They conform to WSI Basic Profile 1.0 Specification.
All TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services can be consumed with Microsoft .NET
Framework and Apache Axis. The Sabre XML WSDL document format does not currently
support the SOAP with Attachments model, so the SOAP envelope must include the
message payload.
All data formats in the Sabre XML WSDL documents are defined as either character strings
or integers. Most of the date formats are string types. The reason for this is various
frameworks often define formats for the same data types differently, and these formats are
incompatible among the different frameworks. By simplifying the data types, a single WSDL
document for Sabre XML can accommodate multiple frameworks for WSDL.

Format and Common Schemas

The WSDL document includes a reference to an intermediate schema. This schema points
to the request and response schemas for the Web service. The WSDL document also
imports common Sabre XML schemas that provide instructions and data for consuming the
Web service. These common schemas are used to build proxy classes.
The WSDL document structure has the standard definitions, import statements, and
parent elements of <message>, <portType>, <binding>, and <service>. An example of a
WSDL document that conforms to the WS-I recommendation is shown in Figure 4. The
schemaLocation attribute of the xsd:import element in the types node has a fully qualified
namespace. (See lines 210.)

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 56

Figure 4. WSDL Document That Conforms to WS-I Recommendations

(001)

(002)
(003)
(004)
(005)
(006)
(007)
(008)
(009)
(010)
(011)
(012)
(013)
(014)
(015)
(016)
(017)
(018)
(019)
(020)
(021)
(022)
(023)
(024)
(025)
(026)
(027)
(028)
(029)
(030)
(031)
(032)
(033)
(034)
(035)
(036)

<definitions xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsd1="http://
webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2003/07" xmlns:tns="https://
webservices.sabre.com/websvc" xmlns:eb="http://www.ebxml.org/
namespaces/messageHeader" xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
xmlns:wsse="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/secext"
targetNamespace="https://webservices.sabre.com/websvc">
<types>
<xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xsd:import namespace="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/
2003/07" schemaLocation="OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RQRS.xsd"/>
<xsd:import namespace="http://www.ebxml.org/namespaces/
messageHeader" schemaLocation="msg-header-2_0.xsd"/>
<xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"
schemaLocation="xmldsig-core-schema.xsd"/>
<xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
schemaLocation="xlink.xsd"/>
<xsd:import namespace="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/
" schemaLocation="envelope.xsd"/>
<xsd:import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"
schemaLocation="xml.xsd"/>
<xsd:import namespace="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2002/12/
secext" schemaLocation="wsse.xsd"/>
</xsd:schema>
</types>
<message name="OTA_AirAvailInput">
<part name="header" element="eb:MessageHeader"/>
<part name="header2" element="wsse:Security"/>
<part name="body" element="xsd1:OTA_AirAvailRQ"/>
</message>
<message name="OTA_AirAvailOutput">
<part name="header" element="eb:MessageHeader"/>
<part name="header2" element="wsse:Security"/>
<part name="body" element="xsd1:OTA_AirAvailRS"/>
</message>
<portType name="OTA_AirAvailPortType">
<operation name="OTA_AirAvailRQ">
<input message="tns:OTA_AirAvailInput"/>
<output message="tns:OTA_AirAvailOutput"/>
</operation>
</portType>
<binding name="OTA_AirAvailSoapBinding"
type="tns:OTA_AirAvailPortType">
<soap:binding style="document" transport="http://
schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
<operation name="OTA_AirAvailRQ">
<soap:operation soapAction="OTA"/>
<input>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailInput" part="header"
use="literal"/>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailInput" part="header2" use="literal"/>
<soap:body parts="body" use="literal"/>

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 57

(037)
(038)
(039)
(040)
(041)
(042)
(043)
(044)
(045)
(046)
(047)
(048)
(049)
(050)

</input>
<output>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailOutput" part="header" use="literal"/>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailOutput" part="header2" use="literal"/>
<soap:body parts="body" use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
</binding>
<service name="OTA_AirAvailService">
<port name="OTA_AirAvailPortType"
binding="tns:OTA_AirAvailSoapBinding">
<soap:address location="https://webservices.sabre.com/websvc"/>
</port>
</service>
</definitions>

import Elements
The majority of the Sabre Web Services conform to the OpenTravel specifications.
Because of the complexity and nesting of the OpenTravel schemas, Sabre Web Services
import the schema files inside the WSDL document, which is not a common practice. The
following example shows one of the import statements in a Sabre XML WSDL document.
<import namespace="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2003/07"
schemaLocation="OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RQRS.xsd"/>
Of particular interest is the OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RQRS.xsd intermediate schema pointed
to by the schemaLocation attribute in the first import instruction.
This schema serves as a reference to two separate request and response schemas:

OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RQ.xsd and OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RS.xsd

The implementation of an intermediate schema is needed for two reasons:

o

The same namespace is defined within the request and response schemas. Within a
WSDL document, repeatable namespace imports cannot be defined, and therefore,
duplicate namespace imports are not permitted.

The intermediate schema enables tools such as wsdl.exe to handle the complexity of
WSDL documents so that the documents can be consumed by these tools.

Each WSDL document for Sabre Web Services imports an intermediate schema specific to
its corresponding Web service. The intermediate schema has references to namespace
attributes and references to the request and response schemas specific to the Web service
being called. The request and response schemas each define the payloads for the
OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ service operation.
The WSDL file imports a set of common schemas that provide instructions for building
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 58

proxies and references to other schemas. This single set of common schemas is the same
for all TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services.
Most of the common schemas are either imported into the WSDL documents for Sabre XML
or referenced by other common schemas.

message Elements
The <message> element defines the data elements of an operation. Each message can be
composed of one or more parts, with each part being equivalent to parameters of a function
in a software program. An example from a Sabre Web Services WSDL document is shown
below.
(009)
(010)
(011)
(012)
(013)
(014)
(015)
(016)
(017)
(018)

<message name="OTA_AirAvailInput">
<part name="header" element="eb:MessageHeader"/>
<part name="header2" element="wsse:Security"/>
<part name="body" element="xsd1:OTA_AirAvailRQ"/>
</message>
<message name="OTA_AirAvailOutput">
<part name="header" element="eb:MessageHeader"/>
<part name="header2" element="wsse:Security"/>
<part name="body" element="xsd1:OTA_AirAvailRS"/>
</message>

Sabre Web Services define two message elements in the WSDL documents, one for the
request (lines 009013) and one for the response (lines 014018). Each message has
multiple part elements that create the SOAP message header and body. While there are two
major parts, there are actually three part parameters defined for each message because the
header section is split into a MessageHeader and Security part. The body part creates the
payload.

portType Element
The <portType> element defines the Web service, the operations that the Web service
performs, and the messages that are involved. The portType element is the equivalent to a
class in object-oriented programming. The operation is similar to a function call in structured
programming. The operation and name combination calls an operation or function, and the
function returns data. The request message is like the function and the response is like the
data that the function returns. An example from a Sabre Web Services WSDL document is
shown below.
(019)
(021)
(022)
(024)

<portType name="OTA_AirAvailPortType"> (020)

<operation name="OTA_AirAvailRQ">
<input message="tns:OTA_AirAvailInput"/>
<output message="tns:OTA_AirAvailOutput"/> (023)
</operation>
</portType>

The port defines the connection to a Web service.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 59

In general, WSDL documents can define several types of operations, such as one-way,
notification, or request-response. The WSDL documents for Sabre Web Services define
the request-response type of operation. This is because a client sends a request and
receives a response when consuming the Web service.
WSDL documents for Sabre Web Services define two messages per operation. Lines 21
22 represent the input or request message, and the output or response message.

binding Elements
The <binding> element defines the data format and protocol for each port.
The <operation> element defines each operation that the port exposes. For each operation,
the corresponding SOAP action is defined, and the method of encoding for the input and
output must be specified. An example from a Sabre Web Services WSDL document is
shown below.
(025)
(026)
(027)
(028)
(029)
(030)
(031)
(032)
(033)
(034)
(035)
(036)
(037)
(038)
(039)
(040)

<binding name="OTA_AirAvailSoapBinding" type="tns:OTA_AirAvailPortType">

<soap:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/
soap/http"/>
<operation name="OTA_AirAvailRQ">
<soap:operation soapAction="OTA"/>
<input>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailInput" part="header"
use="literal"/>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailInput" part="header2" use="literal"/>
<soap:body parts="body" use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailOutput" part="header" use="literal"/>
<soap:header message="tns:OTA_AirAvailOutput" part="header2" use="literal"/>
<soap:body parts="body" use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
</binding>

The binding element has two attributesname and type. The name attribute defines the
name of the binding and the type attribute points to the port for the binding (line 25). In the
example, the port is OTA_AirAvailPortType.
The soap:binding element has two attributesstyle and transport (line 26). In general, the
style attribute can be rpc or document. Sabre Web Services use the document style. The
transport attribute defines the SOAP protocol to use. In the case of Sabre Web Services,
this is HTTP because the transport protocol is SOAP/HTTP.
The <operation> element (line 27) defines each operation that the port exposes. For each
operation, the corresponding SOAP action has to be defined, and the method of encoding
for the input and output must be specified.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 60

The OTA_AirAvailRQ operation has an input message called OTA_AirAvailInput (line 30), and an
output message, OTA_AirAvailOutput (line 35).
The message elements define parts of each message and their associated data types. The
parts are soap:header and soap:body (lines 030032 and 035037).
In terms of object-oriented programming, OTA_AirAvailPortType is a class, and
OTA_AirAvailRQ is a function with the parameters OTA_AirAvailInput and
OTA_AirAvailOutput.

service Element
In a WSDL document, the <service> element, subelements, and attributes define the Web
services, the port, and the endpoint. An example from one of the Sabre Web Services
WSDL documents is shown below.
(041)
(042)
(043)
(044)
(045)

<service name="OTA_AirAvailService">
<port name="OTA_AirAvailPortType" binding="tns:OTA_AirAvailSoapBinding">
<soap:address location="https://webservices.sabre.com/websvc"/>
</port>
</service>

The <service> element in a Sabre XML WSDL document defines a single Web service. The name
attribute (line 041) is the name of the Web service, OTA_AirAvailService.
The specific Web service is defined with the port element and name attribute (line 042). The
combination of soap:address and location identify the endpoint into Sabre Web Services. All
WSDL documents for Sabre Web Services include the production endpoint or URL (line 043).

Common Schemas for All Travel-Based Sabre Web Services

Some of the common schemas imported in the WSDL documents provide namespace
declarations for the ebXML SOAP extensions for the envelope, header, and body
elements. Other import elements reference common schemas that are specifications. One
set of common schemas has been created for use by all Sabre Web Services. Brief
descriptions of these common schemas follow:

msg-header-2_0.xsd Used for the message header

xmldsig-core-schema.xsd Used for XML signatures and encrypting data

xlink.xsd Used for NMTOKEN

envelope.xsd Used for namespaces. This file references env.xsd, which is

used for the SOAP envelope.

xml.xsd Defines attributes and an attribute group

wsse.xsd Used for the WSSE security specification

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 61

datatypes.xsd The data types used in the XML schema documents

XMLSchema.dtd The data type definitions, of definitions of data types, used in the
XML schema documents

Sabre XML Schemas

To provide more content with the Web services and to accommodate the use of proprietary
data in Sabre systems and applications, the Sabre XML request and response schema
documents have the following types of modifications that are not present in the OpenTravel
specifications:

The use of TPA_Extensions

The term extension refers to an element or attribute that is added to the
OpenTravel specifications. Extensions let organizations use proprietary
content that is not present in the OpenTravel specifications so that they can
exchange content among their trading partners.
Many Sabre XML schemas incorporate TPA_Extensions.

Constraints on data types

Many Sabre XML schemas have specific requirements for the values that are
provided with some of the elements and attributes in the payloads. These
requirements are referred to as constraints. Constraints include data types,
restrictions on valid values that the elements and attributes can send, and
whether an element or attribute is required or optional.

New elements
Elements have been added to some requests to make the data conform to the
proprietary data format in the Sabre system. These modifications are minimal.

Sabre Web Services use published XML schemas that specify the syntax of the
messages. Document type definitions are not used. These Sabre XML schemas include
the following information about the elements and attributes in the XML requests: data type,
length, valid values, sending sequence, and minimum and maximum occurrences.
Note: The majority of the schemas for the Sabre Web Services are based on OpenTravel
specifications. Consequently, they contain many elements and attributes that Sabre Web
Services do not use.
The XML design documentation for each of the Sabre Web Services lists the elements
and attributes that are valid for the particular XML request and response payloads. While
designing client applications, it is important to consult these design XML documents for
the valid lists of data.

Request and Response Schemas

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 62

Each of the Sabre Web Services normally corresponds to one unique pair of request
and response Sabre XML schemas. Many of the Sabre XML schemas are based on a
pair of OpenTravel specifications for a request and response message. For example,
the pair of schemas that corresponds to the OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ service are
OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RQ.xsd and OTA_AirAvailLLS1.10.1RS.xsd.
Some exceptions to the request and response pair exist. Several of the TPF Connectorbased Sabre Web Services with hotel content share an additional common XSD schema.
The enhanced versions of the WSDL and schema documents for the OTA_HotelResLLSRQ,
HotelPropertyDescriptionLLSRQ, HotelRateDescriptionLLSRQ, and OTA_HotelAvailLLSRQ
services all reference the HotelCommonTypes.xsd schema. The HotelCommonTypes.xsd
schema combines the data types for guarantee information that these hotel-based Web
Services share to ensure commonality across all of them.
Application developers can use these schemas to validate their XML payloads for non-WSDL
consumption. If application developers are consuming Web Services with WSDL, they can
use them to review the structure of the data in the payloads.

Basis for Payload Content

The content of the payloads for Sabre Web Services is based on the OpenTravel
messages. The OpenTravel request message is the basis for the request payloads and the
responses are based on the OpenTravel responses.
Because the content of the payloads varies for each Web service, action codes are used to
distinguish the payloads. Like OpenTravel, each request and response message for each
Web service has a unique action code. Please note that for the TPF Connector-based Sabre
Web Services, the action code is also the same as the name of the service, for example,
OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ is the action code for the Web service named OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ.
How to pass the action codes in the SOAP envelopes is shown in the section of this document
titled, eb:Action.

Data Types, Descriptions, and Constraints

The Sabre XML schema documents provide some or all of the following information about the
data to include in the payloads.

Data types
The data types are defined in the schemas so that they can be validated. Most of
the data types are text. The schemas also define constraints on the values that
are sent in the payloads, such as character type (alphabetic, numeric,
alphanumeric, or other) and length.

If applicable, valid values for elements and attributes

In some cases, elements and attributes require valid values to process
the requests successfully. If valid values are not provided in the requests,

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 63

the services fail.

In other cases, providing valid values is preferred, but not required, to process
the services successfully. If the provided values are not valid, the service
substitutes default values during processing, and the content in the responses is
associated with the substituted values.

Whether the data is required or optional

While the schemas often provide this information, it is recommended that
application developers refer to the appropriate Sabre Web Services design
documents for required data elements.

Sequences for sending the data

Minimum and maximum occurrences

This is the quantity of times the data can be requested in a payload.

Descriptions of elements and attributes

Tips for Finding and Formatting Data

A starting place for identifying data types is to open the request schema document that is
associated with a specific service, and then look in the design XML document for the list of
data elements in the request. Next, search the schema for those elements and attributes,
and note the data types, valid values, sending sequences, and minimum and maximum
occurrences.
1. For the complete list of required and optional data to include in the request
payloads, always use the design XML documents. In many cases, the payload
examples in the service documents show the minimal data in the requests, while
the design documents list all possible data.
2. Occasions occur when an element is optional but its attribute is required.
When this happens, the attribute is required only if the element is included
in the payload.
3. Look at the annotations for information. They provide descriptions, and
sometimes they provide restrictions on valid values.
4. The response schemas describe the data elements in the responses, and the
design XML documents list all possible data elements that can be returned,
depending on the elements in the request.
5. The design XML documents have annotations about incompatible
combinations of elements and attributes in a request. This means they
cannot be combined in a single request payload.
6. If application developers require more information or need help finding an
element, they can try appending the suffix Type to the name of the element. F or
example, if they cannot find CodeRef, they can try searching for CodeRefType.
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 64

There may be information about the element in the annotation.

7. Use an XML editing tool that provides various views, such as the views
described below:

A text view that displays all text in hierarchical fashion

A schema or design view that expands elements to display associated

children, types, and other information

A grid view that provides a graphical representation of the elements

8. Use the service description, design XML, schema documents, and developer
notes for complete information about the Web Services, including comparable
Sabre system formats for the elements and attributes. The developer notes on
the DRC describe the required service-specific values for the SOAP envelopes.
Sample request and response payloads are also available.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 65

Technologies for Working with Web Services

Application developers can create clients and consume Sabre Web Services in the
language of their choice, working directly with XML or with WSDL.
Instructions on how to set up the development environment for .NET Framework 1.1 are located in
the Sabre Web Services Microsoft .NET Framework Installation Tips which is contained in the
Sabre Web Services Developer Start-Up Kit on the DRC. Some information about set-up with
Apache Axis and XML-Java appears in the readme files for these respective sample clients, which
are also available on the DRC.

Working Directly with XML

Application developers can develop clients to consume Web services in the language of their
choice, such as Java. To consume Sabre Web Services and use the sample Java code, the
minimal required version of the Java Software Development Kit (J2SE) is Version 1.3.1_04.
The preferred JDK version is 1.5.0_11.
When consuming Sabre Web Services with clients such as Java and XML, application
developers are free to use the parser of their choice. Please note that the parser must be
namespace aware.
Responses are returned as XML documents. The client code parses the XML or uses APIs
to map the XML to objects, and queries the objects for the data.

Working with WSDL

Application developers can use tools that are designed to consume Web services at run-time,
such as Microsoft .NET Framework or Apache Axis. With tools like these, they can create clients
using a variety of programming languages, and a combination of languages and operating
platforms can be used to generate proxy code from WSDL documents. With WSDL, clients can
consume Web services written in any language that is available with the Web services
development framework.
Working with WSDL is easier than working directly with XML because WSDL creates a
proxy class in the language of your choice. The proxy class has instructions for mapping
the XML response to objects. The client code has to parse the XML, but it does not need to
map the XML to objects.
Another benefit of using tools to consume Web services at run-time is that errors on the client
side are minimized.
Validation of the XML messages is done remotely at the URL where the WSDL documents
for the Web service reside.
The WSDL documents define interfaces to Web services as a collection of operations with an
endpoint. A WSDL document is a specific type of XML schema that defines a language for
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 66

expressing Web services interfaces that XML software understands and uses. WSDL was
designed to use SOAP as the message transport.
The WSDL documents for Sabre Web Services are simplified Sabre XML schemas. These
WSDL documents support the document-oriented style of SOAP binding.
The following tools are recommended for consuming Sabre Web Services with WSDL:

Apache Axis for Java clients

Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio when developing C# and
Visual Basic clients

Generating Proxy Classes and Consuming Services

The WSDL and schema documents are used at build time to create proxy classes. The
WSDL document creates proxy classes that are then used to build client code, and the
schemas determine the format of the messages. When consuming Web services with
WSDL, in other words at run-time, the application developer must direct their development
tool to the location of the WSDL document. The WSDL document, in turn, references the
appropriate XML schemas.
Whenever a WSDL or schema document undergoes any modification, and the application
developer wants their client to use the modifications, they must regenerate the proxy classes
at build time to use the changes.

Run-Time References to WSDL Documents

The WSDL and schema documents are used at build time to generate proxy classes.
Whenever a schema or WSDL document undergoes a modification, whether major or minor,
and an application developer wants their client to use the modifications, they must regenerate
the proxy classes.
When consuming Web services with WSDL, in other words at run-time, the application
developer must direct their development tool to the location of the WSDL document. The
URL for the WSDL documents on the DRC can be found by searching for the name of the
Web service.
Apache Axis
Apache Axis is an implementation of SOAP proposed by the Apache Software Foundation.
With Axis Framework, application developers can develop clients with Java, and clients
consume Web services with WSDL. The Axis binary file, JAR files, and reference guide are
required and available on the Apache Software Foundations Web site at
http://ws.apache.org/axis/.
Microsoft .NET Framework
With the .NET Framework, application developers can develop in any language available with the
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 67

framework, such as C++, C#, or Visual Basic. Application developers can use a combination of
languages and operating platforms to generate proxy code from WSDLs using .NET tools.
The SDK has the programs and files needed to develop clients, including the wsdl.exe and
intermediate disassembler programs, and .NET Framework includes all the system tools and files
needed for run-time operation.
For more information about WSDL and .NET, visit the following Microsoft URL:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework.

Validating XML Payloads

It is recommended that application developers validate their XML documents during development
and testing as an off-line process. Real-time validation in production is not recommended, doing
so permits a disruption in connectivity that may negatively impact production operation and can
affect the performance of clients. If the client application is consuming services without WSDL,
developers can validate their XML payload documents locally. To do local validation, download
the latest schemas that correspond to the Web services and validate offline. It is the customers
responsibility to ensure they have the correct common schema and versions.
If application developers need to do run-time validation of the XML documents, they can point to
the local file (file:///) URL that corresponds to the desired version of the schema. The URLs for the
WSDL and schema documents are available on the Developer Resource Center (DRC). Again, it
is the customers responsibility to ensure they have the correct common schema and versions.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 68

Versioning of Sabre XML Schema and WSDL

Documents
This versioning strategy applies to the TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services, which
obtain content from the legacy Sabre system.
An artifact, in the context of Web services, is anything that assists in the discovery and use of
a service. Some examples of Sabre Web Services artifacts include, but are not limited to, the
WSDL and schema documents, design XML documents, sample payloads, and action codes.
Each of these artifacts exists as a separate entity.
Artifacts are not generally shared among Web services, although some minor exceptions
exist, such as the common schemas that are used across multiple Sabre Web Services.
Web services have no programmatic dependencies on each other, so the artifacts for a given
Web service are also independent of other Web services.
Metadata is data about a Web service. Examples of metadata for a Web service
include the name of the Web service, the SOAP action associated with the particular
service, etc
It is important to be able to identify and obtain the artifacts for a specific version of specific
Sabre Web Services so that application developers can discover, consume, and troubleshoot
them. To help, discussions follow on versioning and file naming standards for schema and
WSDL documents, numbering system for Web Services and documents, naming conventions
for documents, and naming standards for the corresponding URLs.

Versioning and File Naming Standards

Sabre Web Services simultaneously supports up to five versions of a particular Web service
and its corresponding WSDL and schema documents. Therefore, multiple versions of a
specific Web service and its corresponding set of WSDL and schema documents coexist for
many of the Web Services. The version is incremented whenever enhancements or
corrections are made to the request or response messages.
The most recent versions of the schema and WSDL documents for a service that are
released in production are maintained along with the most recent versions of the
corresponding Web service. When corrections are necessary, a new version of the Web
service and its corresponding WSDL and schema documents is created, and the changes
are made to the artifact requiring the correction, either the WSDL or schema document, or
the Web service itself.

Version Numbering System for Web Services and Documents

The numbering system affects Web service versions, the file names of WSDL and schema
documents, and the URLs where the WSDL and schema documents reside. With the
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 69

exception of the initial version, the WSDL and schema document versions match the version
numbers of their corresponding Web services. The request and response design XML
documentation also follows the same model.
The three-part version number is applied to the file names of the documents as well as
the Web services themselves.
The format of the version number is 1.0.1, where:
1.0.1 = is the version number, and the second digit is incremented

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 70

Naming Conventions for WSDL and Schema Documents

Each of the Sabre Web Services has a set of documents and naming conventions that are
aligned with the numbering system. Most of the file names in the document sets contain a
root that is the base action code of the Web service request and response, with RQ or RS
omitted from the base.
For example, the action code of the request for the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service is
IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ. For the response, the action code is IgnoreTransactionLLSRS.
Therefore, the base action code, with the RQ or RS omitted, is IgnoreTransactionLLS.
The examples in the table illustrate the file naming patterns for the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ
service.
The file names of the initial versions of WSDL and schema documents are without version
numbers. The file names of additional, new versions include the three-part version number.
Document Type

File Naming
Convention

WSDL document

Base action code

+ version + RQ +
wsdl file extension

IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ.ws IgnoreTransactionLLS2.
dl
0.0RQ.wsdl

Common schema

Base action code

+ version + RQ +
RS + xsd file
extension
Base action code
+ version + RQ +
xsd file extension

IgnoreTransactionLLSRQRS. IgnoreTransactionLLS2.
xsd
0.0RQRS.xsd

Request schema

Response schema

Base action code

+ version + RS +
xsd file extension

Examples of File Names for

Initial Versions

Examples of File
Names for
Version 2.0.0

IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ.xsd IgnoreTransactionLLS2.
0.0RQ.xsd
IgnoreTransactionLLSRS.xsd IgnoreTransactionLLS2.
0.0RS.xsd

Using File Names to Identify WSDL and Schema Document

Versions
Version identifiers are present in the WSDL and schema documents.
WSDL Documents
The following line is present in all versions of WSDL documents. If the file name does not
have a version number, it indicates the WSDL document is the initial version.
<import namespace="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2011/10"
schemaLocation="IgnoreTransactionLLS2.0.0RQRS"/>

Intermediate Schemas

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 71

The combination of include/schemaLocation point to the request and response schemas.

Schemas with a version number in their file names have been upgraded beyond the initial
version, which omits a version number in the file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<schema targetNamespace="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2011/10"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:tns="http://
webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2011/10" elementFormDefault="qualified"
attributeFormDefault="unqualified">
<include schemaLocation="IgnoreTransactionLLS2.0.0RQ"/>
<include schemaLocation="IgnoreTransactionLLS2.0.0RS"/>
</schema>

Obtaining WSDL, Schema, Design, and Other Service

Documents
All documents for all Sabre Web Services are available DRC, either by viewing them in a
browser window or by downloading them. To obtain the documents, application developers
need a user name and password, which is provided when their user accounts are set up.
The WSDL and schema documents are also available by directly accessing them via a URL.
To access them directly, application developers must become familiar with the URL and file
naming patterns of the documents. A description of the URL naming standards and specific
instructions on how to identify the WSDL and schema documents appear in the section of
this document titled, Identifying Documents for Sabre Web Services."

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 72

Chapter

4
Chapter 4: Connection Management
Chapter four discusses connections and connection strategies for Sabre Web Services.

Sabre Web Services Connections

Connections are open channels to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure.
When a client requests a connection with Sabre Web Services and the client is
authenticated and authorized, an open channel to Sabre Web Services is created. If a
Sabre Web Services session is required, it is allocated at the same time.
The distinction between the terms connection and session is purely semantic. A client
application requests a connection to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure, and upon
success, a Sabre Web Services session is created simultaneously with a business
application or data center within Sabre Holdings. A connection is on the client side, and a
session is on the Sabre side, as illustrated in Figure 5. The time-out value for a connection
and session are synchronized, occurring simultaneously.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 73

Figure 5. Connection versus Session

A connection is not a client side shopping cart and it does not maintain state in the AAA
(referred to as the Sabre work area/AAA) of the Sabre host system.

Connection Management Messages

In addition to using OpenTravel specifications for Sabre XML request and response schemas,
Sabre XML has added messages for managing Web services connections.
The SessionCreateRQ and SessionCloseRQ services open and close connections explicitly.
These services use the SessionCreateRQ/RS message pair and the SessionCloseRQ/RS
message pair, respectively.
Another session management service, OTA_PingRQ, is used to keep the Web services
connections alive.
More information about these services also appears in the service description and XML design
documentation.

Connecting to Sabre Web Services

There is one way to connect to Sabre Web Services. The general steps are for the client to
send the SessionCreateRQ service to request a connection including security credentials,
conversation ID, and other required values, let the gateway authenticate and authorize the
security credentials, and receive a security token in the response. The return of the security
token means a connection has been created successfully.
A summary of the process to connect is presented as follows:
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 74

Request 1
The SOAP message for the SessionCreateRQ service is created on the client side.

Create the SOAP envelope in the required format for Sabre Web Services.
Include the required values for the SessionCreateRQ Envelope. Generate the
value for eb:ConversationId, and include the values for eb:CPAId and your
security credentials in wsse:Security node. Ensure the value for eb:Action for this
request is SessionCreateRQ.

Create the payload, either as an attachment or incorporated into the SOAP body.

Send the SessionCreateRQ request message to the endpoint for consuming

Sabre Web Services over HTTPS. The client can connect to the Production URL
or a URL representing one of the certification or development systems. For
complete information about the URLs and environments, please refer to the
section of this document titled, Sabre Web Services Environments.

Response 1

The Sabre Web Services gateway receives the request, authenticates it, and
creates a connection. The infrastructure then authorizes access to the business
application or system within Sabre Holdings based on the security credentials.
Upon authorization, it allocates a Sabre session if required. (A Sabre session is
another name for a TA; Sabre session is used in this documentation. Sabre
sessions are discussed later in this chapter.)

The gateway returns a unique, encrypted security token to the client side in
wsse:Security@wsse:BinarySecurityToken in the SOAP envelope of the
SessionCreateRS response. It also returns the same conversation ID and a
reference to the message ID that was in the request.

The connection ID consists of the returned security token and the conversation
ID. Its return means the connection to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure is
alive and a Sabre session is allocated.

The client extracts and stores the eb:ConversationId and the entire
wsse:security@wsse:BinarySecurityToken node for inclusion in
subsequent workflows and requests that use this connection.

When sending Web service requests for travel content, the connection ID is
needed for all transactions with the Sabre Web Services infrastructure that use a
specific connection, whether the client maintains state or not.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 75

Closing Connections
When the client application needs to close a Sabre Web Services connection, it must include
the connection ID of the connection that it wants to close in the SessionCloseRQ message. A
summary of the process is presented as follows.
Request 1
The SOAP message for the SessionCloseRQ service is created on the client side.

Create the SOAP envelope in the required format for Sabre Web Services.
Include the required values for the SessionCloseRQ SOAP envelope. It is
especially important to include the values for eb:ConversationId, eb:CPAId, and
the security token of the connection to be closed. These values were sent in the
SessionCreateRQ request and returned in SessionCreateRS response. Ensure
the value for eb:Action for this request is SessionCloseRQ.

Create the payload, either as an attachment or incorporated into the SOAP body.

Send the SessionCloseRQ request message to the endpoint for the Sabre Web
Services environment where the connection lives. (For complete information
about the URLs and environments, please refer to the section of this document
titled, Environments for Using Sabre Web Services.)

Response 1

The Sabre Web Services gateway receives the request. The infrastructure closes
the connection and returns the previously allocated Sabre session to the session
pool. The Sabre work area/AAA is cleared, and the security token is rendered
invalid. The MessageHeader of SessionCloseRS message is returned to the
client.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 76

Relationships Between Connections and Sessions

As stated previously, when a requesters security credentials are authorized, a Sabre Web
Services session is allocated along with the connection. The type of session depends on
the configuration of the user ID that was used to open the connection.

Sessions with TPF Connector-Based Sabre Web Services

The TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services obtain their content and functionality from
the legacy Sabre host system, therefore, the security credentials and user IDs of subscribers
who consume TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services are specifically configured to
create sessions with the legacy Sabre host system.
A Sabre host session is a specific type of session. This type of session is associated with a
particular LNIATA residing in the native, legacy TPF-based Sabre systems (also referred to
as PSS). The user IDs of the Sabre system require and use LNIATAs or TAs. They are
assigned a finite quantity of TAs in a TAM pool for each IPCC they have. (The TAM pool is
referred to as a session pool in this discussion and document.)
Allocation of Sabre Web Services Sessions
Whenever security credentials that require a Sabre session open a connection, the Sabre
Web Services gateway creates a new connection to Sabre Web Services and allocates a
Sabre session from the subscribers session/TAM pool. The Sabre session becomes active
and is no longer available in the session pool until the connection is closed or the
connection/session time out.
The Sabre session and connection are synchronized, sharing the same time-out values.
Shopping Cart Functionality and the Sabre Work Area/AAA
A Sabre session has an active AAA (the AAA is referred to as the Sabre work area in this
discussion and document). The Sabre work area/AAA provides shopping cart functionality
on the client side. When the client calls TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services, content
from the Sabre host system is temporarily placed in the work area. The client can use the
host content in the Sabre work area/AAA in a stateful or stateless way. Some TPF
Connector-based Sabre Web Services rely on content placed in the work area by previous
service calls in the same session, while other services do not have dependencies on services
to place content in this work area.
As long as a client uses the security token and conversation ID from a specific connection
and there is activity, the connection remains alive, the Sabre session is active, and content in
the Sabre work area/AAA is retained.
To store transactions in the Sabre work area/AAA in a specific Sabre session, the client must
use the Web service designed to end the transaction when the workflow is completed. This
Web service is EndTransactionLLSRQ.
When reusing a connection, the client is strongly advised to clear the Sabre work area/AAA
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 77

before sending messages in a new workflow. The IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service can be

used to clear the Sabre work area/AAA. This prevents mingling content from the new
workflow with content from the previous use of the Sabre session.
Note: If the client crashes or experiences a network outage while a Sabre session is active,

the content that was retrieved during the session remains in the work area until it times out.
If the client or network is brought online before the time-out period expires, the content from
the Sabre session remains. Moreover, if the new client instance re-uses a connection ID that
was active before the system outage, the content for the Sabre session remains in the Sabre
work area/AAA because the connection was not closed explicitly. By not specifically clearing
the work area, the client risks mingling content from the re-used, recovered connection ID
and associated Sabre session with your new workflow.
Release of Sabre Sessions
When a client or connection manager successfully closes a connection using the
SessionCloseRQ service, the Sabre Web Services connection is terminated and the
security token is rendered invalid. The content in the Sabre work area/AAA is discarded,
and the Sabre session (or TA) is released and returned to the session pool.
If the client lets unneeded connections time out instead of closing them properly with
SessionCloseRQ, it is possible that all connections and sessions in the session pool will be
in use and unavailable until they time out.
Letting sessions time out on their own puts client applications in a situation where they will
not have any connections available for log in, causing them to have to wait until the
connections time out before they can log in.
If all Sabre sessions in the session pool are allocated, the client will receive an error
message when it tries to log in and open another session.
Sunday System Housekeeping
The Sabre system maintenance program known as NORMOAA runs every Sunday
morning between 00:15 and 00:20 Central time. NORMOAA clears all the AAAs in Sabre
and that logs out any open SWS sessions when AgSS is synchronized with ICE.
There is a window just before NORMOAA runs during which clients with active sessions
receive a warning message in response to any command. The warning would look like this
if the client sent a request via SabreCommandLLSRQ:
<SabreCommandLLSRS
xmlns="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2003/07"
Version="2003A.TsabreXML1.6.1">
<Response><![CDATA[SYSTEM HOUSKPING REQUIRES AAA TO BE
CLEARED
RE-ENTER LAST INPUT THEN COMPLETE OR
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 78

END TRANSACTIONS IN ALL AREAS

ENTER SOALL WITHIN 04 MINUTES AND THEN
SIGN BACK IN TO CONTINUE WORKING]]></Response>
</SabreCommandLLSRS>
The warning would look like this if the client sent most other TPF Connector-based
SWS requests:

<TravelItineraryRS xmlns="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2003/07"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<TPA_Extensions>
<HostCommand>ARS01S093JX PNR</HostCommand>
</TPA_Extensions>
<Errors>
<Error ErrorCode="SessionFailure-103" Severity="High"
ErrorMessage="Parameter not supported">
<ErrorInfo>
<Message>SYSTEM HOUSKPING REQUIRES AAA
TO BE CLEARED
RE-ENTER LAST INPUT THEN COMPLETE OR
END TRANSACTIONS IN ALL AREAS
ENTER SOALL WITHIN 04 MINUTES AND THEN
SIGN BACK IN TO CONTINUE WORKING</Message>
</ErrorInfo>
</Error>
</Errors>
</TravelItineraryRS>
The WITHIN 04 MINUTES string will vary based on how many minutes are left until
NORMOAA runs. If a client receives this response when performing stateless transactions
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 79

(availability, shopping, etc.) they should simply close and reopen the session. If they are in
a stateful transaction, i.e. building a PNR the client should immediately end transaction,
close and reopen the session, and retrieve the PNR to continue. If NORMOAA runs before
the PNR is closed all changes since the last end transaction will be discarded. Data in the
work area before a PNR has been created will be lost entirely.
To refresh all active sessions in use at 00:15 Central time on Sunday the client should
send SessionCloseRQ followed by SessionCreateRQ. The client does not need to receive
the warning message before refreshing the session. Sabre recommends that clients who
maintain a pool of open sessions close and reopen them after 00:15 Central time on
Sundays as part of routine maintenance.
If pooled sessions are not refreshed in this way the active binary security tokens will be
expired by NORMOAA and the client will receive a USG_INVALID_SECURITY_TOKEN
error. By anticipating NORMOAA and performing a routine refresh client applications will
avoid this inconvenience.

Sessions with Open Systems-Based Sabre Web Services

For subscribers who use open systems Sabre Web Services, a session is created for use,
as required by business applications and systems of other service providers within Sabre
Holdings. This session is not necessarily a Sabre host session or TA.

Allocation of User Names to Connections and Sessions

As stated in the requirements, subscribing organizations receive one non-administrative user
ID for every 50 Sabre sessions in the IPCCs session pool. The purpose of these user IDs is
to log in and connect to Sabre Web Services.
When client applications create Sabre Web Services connections, it is recommended for
them to rotate user IDs, in round-robin fashion, using a different user ID for each session to
provide for failover. An example is as follows:
If a user ID or password becomes unusable for any reason, such as the password is
compromised or the ID is corrupted, the client application can continue to create new
connections with the uncorrupted user IDs. The sessions with the uncorrupted user
IDs remain in use.
To do this, the client must set up every EPR (user ID) the same way.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 80

Time-Outs on Sabre Web Services Connections

A Sabre Web Services connection remains active until either of the following occurs:

The SessionCloseRQ service messages are exchanged.

The period of permitted inactivity has been exceeded for the connection and it times
out.

Each Sabre Web Services connection has a time-out value associated with it. The default
time- out value is 15 minutes. The default is set when security credentials are created for
client use. (For more information, contact your Sabre account representative.)
It is very important for consuming clients and connection managers to
know the time-out values associated with their security credentials used for
Sabre Web Services.
Note:

To prevent an established Sabre Web Services connection and associated Sabre session
from timing out, a client can send any Web service. Sending the OTA_PingRQ service with
a valid conversation ID and security token is recommended for this purpose. The
OTA_PingRQ service has no effect on content in the Sabre work area/AAA.
It is not advisable to let connections time out. It is the responsibility of the client to either
close Sabre Web Services connections explicitly with SessionCloseRQ before the time-out
values are reached or to keep their connections alive while they are needed. If activity has
not occurred within the pre-determined time-out limit, Sabre Web Services connections are
not guaranteed to be alive.

User-Defined Time-Outs on TPF Connector-Based Sabre Web

Services
A Web service time-out is not to be confused with a system time-out on a connection or
session. The service time-out is a time-out on the Web service transaction. Every Sabre
Web service has a system-defined time-out value which a user cannot override. The TPF
Connector, however, accepts user-defined time-outs on TPF Connector-based Web services
that are less than or equal to the system default time-out value on the service. Currently, all
TPF Connector-based Web services have a default time-out of 60 seconds, and these values
are published on the DRC.
The client application can decrease the default time-out on any individual TPF Connectorbased Web service by passing a value that is less than the default in the SOAP envelope in
eb:Timeout, as shown below.
<eb:Timeout>40</eb:Timeout> <!--6 character maximum. This value is in seconds.-->

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 81

If the client application sends a value greater than the default time-out, it is ignored. If the
client application includes eb:Timeout in the SOAP envelope for any of the non-TPF
Connector-based Sabre Web Services, providers other than SWS Orchestration and TPF
Connector may ignore it.

Connectivity Handling Approaches

The following solutions for handling connections using Sabre Web Services are discussed:

Basic connections This solution creates a conversation for one time use.
Connection managers and connection pools This solution stores and
retrieves open connections maintained in a pool.

Basic Connections
Basic connections are the simplest approach for connecting to Sabre Web Services. A basic
connection is similar to a conversation. The client application starts a conversation (open a
connection with the SessionCreateRQ service), exchanges requests for content and receives
the responses (send and receive Sabre Web Services messages in the form of TPF
Connector-based or open systems-based Sabre Web Services), and then ends the
conversation (close the connection with the SessionCloseRQ service). The client to
connection ratio is 1:1, in other words, one client equals one connection. This is illustrated in
Figure 7.

Figure 7. Basic Connection

When a client application needs a connection to the Sabre Web Services gateway to send a
business workflow, it opens a new connection. With this solution, the client retains and
resends the connection ID in all Sabre Web Services requests in a business workflow, but
the client does not store the connection ID for use beyond the current connection. The client
can temporarily store the connection ID in memory or elsewhere until it is done using the
connection. When the client opens a new connection, it stores the new security token,
overwriting the previous one. The conversation ID can be reused in a new connection.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 82

The client can actually send multiple workflows before closing the connection. The point of
the basic connection is for a single client to open one connection, to send one or more
workflows using the same connection ID, and to close the connection when the workflows are
completed. This simultaneously terminates the Sabre Web Services session allocated with
the connection.
An example of the flow using a single, basic connection sending multiple workflows follows.
Request 1

The client creates the SOAP message for the SessionCreateRQ service in the
required format with the required values, and sends it to the endpoint for
consuming Sabre Web Services over HTTPS.

Response 1

The Sabre Web Services infrastructure authenticates and authorizes the client,
and creates the connection. Upon authorization, a Sabre Web Services session
is also allocated from the subscribers session pool, as required.

In the SOAP envelope of the SessionCreateRS response, a unique, encrypted

security token is returned to the client in
wsse:Security@wsse:BinarySecurityToken and the conversation ID is returned.

Request 2

The client sends the first message in a business workflow, requesting travel
content.

In the SOAP envelope, the client extracts the values for eb:ConversationId and
wsse:BinarySecurityToken that were returned in the SessionCreateRS response
message, and includes them in the request.

The client formats the payload as described in the section of this document titled,
Request Messages for Travel Content.

The client requests a specific Web service version in the Version attribute, and
includes other service-specific elements and values. The client includes the IPCC
for the PseudoCityCode attribute, which is the same value as eb:CPAId and
Organization in wsse:Security in the SessionCreateRQ SOAP envelope.
Note:

For the service-specific values and valid data elements in the payload of
the Web service please consult the design, schema, and developer notes
on the DRC.

Response 2

The service providers business application within Sabre Holdings retrieves the
requested content and returns it in the response payload. The security token and
conversation ID in the request are returned.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 83

The client parses the content it wants from the response payload along with the
security token and conversation ID, which it stores for use in all messages in the
workflow.

Request 3

The client sends the remaining requests for travel content in the workflow,
formatting the SOAP messages as in Request 2, including the extracted
security token and conversation ID.

Response 3

The business application retrieves the requested content and returns it in the
response payload and SOAP message as described previously in Response
2.

When the client has parsed all content it wants from the payload and is
done with the workflow, it ends the transaction.

Request 4

The client sends the EndTransactionLLSRQ service to save the transaction and PNR
that are temporarily in the Sabre work area/AAA of the Sabre system.

Response 4

Sabre Web Services return a record locator for the PNR to the client.

Request 5

(Optional) The client sends messages in a second workflow, formatting the

messages for travel content the same way as the first travel workflow. Because
this is a single client using a single connection, the client passes the same
conversation ID, security token, and value for eb:CPAId used to open the
connection in all requests.

Response 5

The service providers business application obtains the requested content and
returns it in the response payloads.

Request 6

The client sends the EndTransactionLLSRQ service to save the transaction and PNR
in the Sabre system.

Response 6

Sabre Web Services return a record locator to the client.

Request 7
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 84

The client requests termination of the connection by sending the SessionCloseRQ

service. The SOAP envelope includes the same values for eb:ConversationId,
wsse:BinarySecurityToken, and eb:CPAId used to open the connection.

Response 7

The Sabre Web Services infrastructure ends the session and closes the
connection simultaneously. It also renders the security token invalid. The
SessionCloseRS response message is returned to the client.

When to Use Basic Connections

If the need for connections is low in volume or if the client application is performing batch
processing, this solution is suggested. Low volume is defined by several hundred
connections per hour, that is, fewer than 0.25 TPS or an average of 900 individual Sabre
Web Services calls per hour during peak times.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantages of implementing basic connections are low cost and simple architecture.
The drawbacks are little or no session recovery, no failover, and limited scalability.

Connection Pools
Implementing a pooling design for caching and managing connections is recommended.
Connection pooling is a widely-used practice for managing connections effectively.
A connection manager opens and maintains multiple concurrent connections based on
projected volumes and business model. These connections are stored in a connection pool,
a repository of multiple open connections which are kept alive and ready when clients need
to send travel workflows. The connection pool has multiple open connections to Sabre Web
Services. With a connection pool, applications can have multiple clients. A many-to-one
ratio of connections to clients exists; generally more open connections than clients.
Designing and implementing a connection manager is more complicated than using the
basic connection approach.
The connection pool is one component of a connection manager. With connection pools, a
connection manager creates the connections it needs by sending multiple SessionCreateRQ
service requests and storing the connection IDs. Again, the connection ID includes the
conversation ID and security token. With a pool, the connection manager also needs to store
a client ID as a reference to the client instance using the connection, a time stamp, and
connection status. The connection manager persists the connection IDs so that clients can
reuse them.
When needed, a client obtains an available connection from the pool to send Sabre Web
Services service requests that make up a business workflow. As connections are needed,
a client retrieves an available connection from the pool, and passes the connection ID in all
messages in the workflow it sends to Sabre Web Services. When the client is done, the
connection ID is returned to the pool for reuse. The connection manager refreshes the
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 85

open connections in the pool to prevent them from timing out.

A connection manager has thresholds defined for high and low volume traffic, and tries to
maintain the clients needed during the high and low volumes. Then when traffic volumes
are low, the connection manager closes some of the connections.
An example of a workflow that obtains an open connection from a connection pool follows,
using the TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services for the travel messages. The details
of special values to pass are not included in this example. To view this information, please
refer to Appendix A as well as the service documentation on the DRC.
The connection manager sends multiple SessionCreateRQ service requests to create Sabre Web
Services connections for the connection pool on the client side.
Request 1

The connection manager is initialized. It opens multiple connections per the

threshold defined at initialization. It uses the SessionCreateRQ Service in the
required format with the required values, and sends them to the endpoint for
consuming Sabre Web Services over HTTPS.

In particular, the SOAP envelopes of all requests include a unique clientgenerated value for eb:ConversationId, the assigned value for eb:CPAId, and the
security credentials for consuming Sabre Web Services in the wsse:Security
node as follows: wsse:UsernameToken, wsse:Password, Organization, and
Domain.

Response 1

The Sabre Web Services infrastructure authenticates and authorizes access based on
the security credentials in the request

For user IDs that require Sabre host access, allocates one Sabre session per
connection

For every request, returns a unique security token in the BinarySecurityToken element
in the SOAP envelope of each SessionCreateRS response messages

Returns the same conversation ID to each request

Note: Remember that when a client uses a specific Sabre Web Services connection
and Sabre session, the following values must match the values that were used to open
the connection with SessionCreateRQ:

eb:ConversationId, eb:CPAId (eb:Organization), and in the payload, PseudoCityCode.

The same value returned in wsse:BinarySecurityToken in SessionCreateRS must be
sent in all messages using the connection.

The connection manager stores the connection IDs in the connection pool. The
connection IDs are in the pool, waiting for a client to request one. The connection
manager extracts and stores the conversation ID and security token from the

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 86

SessionCreateRS response. It also stores the time stamp and creates a client ID.

The client requests a connection ID from the connection pool. When the client needs
to send a travel workflow, the client requests an open connection from the connection
pool.

The connection manager clears the Sabre work area/AAA before handing over the
connection ID to the client. The connection manager sends the
IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service, which discards any content that remains from a
previous Sabre session that used the connection ID. Remember that the connection ID
consists of the security token and conversation ID used to create the connection.
While it is using the connection, the client stores the connection ID for use in all
requests in the workflow.

The client exchanges Web services messages that represent a travel workflow. The
client includes connection ID information in all request messages in this workflow.

An example of a travel workflow is an exchange of messages that search for air

availability, request an air segment, and then find lower fares.

While using the connection, the client sends the request messages one at a time,
waiting for a response before sending the next request.

When finished with a TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services workflow, the client
stores the transactions in the Sabre system by sending the appropriate Web service, in
this case, EndTransactionLLSRQ.

The client has ended the workflow and returns the connection ID to the pool for reuse
by another client.

A new client requests a connection from the pool. In concurrence with the first client
using a connection ID, a second client can also request an open connection from the
pool, send a workflow, and return the connection ID when finished with the workflow in
similar fashion. As many clients as your business model needs and your capacity
planning will allow can independently retrieve open connections from the pool and send
workflows.

The connection manager clears the work area before it hands a connection ID to a
client. When the connection manager retrieves an existing connection from the pool, it
retrieves the connection ID and clears the Sabre work area/AAA of any content that
lingers from the previous Sabre session by sending the appropriate TPF Connectorbased service, in this case IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ. Depending on the business
model, application developers can clear the Sabre work area/AAA when a workflow is
completed or just before beginning a new one.

The connection manager refreshes the open connections in the pool to prevent timeouts. The connection manager keeps the connections open or alive by time stamping
them with the OTA_PingRQ service.

The connection manager closes excessive connections. When traffic volume is low
and fewer connections are needed, the connection manager closes some connections
to maintain the minimum threshold it has defined.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 87

The connection manager obtains the connection IDs of the connections to close by
using the conversation ID and security token used to open the connections.

When the SessionCloseRQ service is successfully consumed, all of the internal

resources held by the connection/individual session are released, and the current
quantity of active Web services sessions is decremented. The Sabre session becomes
inactive and is returned to the subscribers session pool.

The connection manager stores the connection IDs and other connection information in the
connection pool in a separate database or file. The use of a connection pool creates
persistent connections and allows for reuse of connections as needed. When a workflow is
complete, the client returns the connection ID to the connection pool, requesting a
connection again when the need to send a workflow arises. This can be any free and
available connection in the pool.
When calling TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services, which again, obtain their content
from the Sabre host system, the client or connection manager has the responsibility of
clearing the data in the Sabre work area/AAA that lingers from a previous session.
When to Use Connection Pooling
When there is a need for multiple clients, and the quantity of connections needed exceeds
the quantity of clients available, this form of management is recommended. For a steady
volume of 1 to 2 transactions per second, this technique is suitable. If the clients business
process needs multithreaded processes, it will need multiple, open connections. That is the
only way to send simultaneous service calls.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of a connection pool are the ability to have multiple clients and make
simultaneous Sabre Web Services calls, while reducing the overhead of excessive requests
to open and close connections. This saves time and resources by reusing connections
instead of creating them every time the client application needs to retrieve travel content.
The disadvantages are that additional hardware is required for the connection manager, and
the architecture is not as simple or inexpensive to implement and maintain as the basic
connection solution.

Connection Managers
A connection manager, the most complex solution, is also the most reliable architecture. The
connection manager includes the following:

A strategy for connection management

The opening and closing of connections

A connection pool

The storage of connection IDs and updates about the status

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 88

Load balancing

Failover and connection recovery

A connection pool is a component of a connection manager. The connection manager opens

and maintains multiple, concurrent connections, and persists the connection IDs, enabling
multiple clients to request open connections and reuse them. A connection manager goes
beyond connection pooling by using load balancing. The design can eliminate points of
failure by adding redundancy and storing the connection IDs on a separate box so that they
can be recovered, making failover automatic and recovery possible. An example of a simple
implementation with some built-in redundancy is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Connection Manager Architecture with Limited Redundancy

As shown in Figure 9, multiple clients are routed through a load balancer to the connection
manager to request connections. The connection manager is housed on two boxes,
eliminating a point of failure. The connection information is also stored separately so that the
connection IDs can be recovered in the event of failure.
The implementation of a connection manager helps ensure that an adequate quantity of
available connections is available when needed, without over-allocating your resources, that
is, the quantity of Sabre Web Services connections and Sabre sessions in your session
pool.
When to Use This
If the client applications environment is high volume, implementation of a connection
manager with a level of redundancy needed is essential. If the client application cannot
afford to have down time, a solution with full redundancy is recommended. Multiple
simultaneous connections are also needed for multi-threaded processes.
Advantages and Disadvantages
This solution has the highest rate of reliability, automated failover, and fast session recovery.
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 89

If the connection manager is fully redundant, it has no single point of failure, and connections
are used efficiently, saving time and resources while eliminating overhead. This architecture
is also highly scalable.
To effectively consume Sabre Web Services, efficient management of connections is
essential. Efficient connection management has the following benefits:

Accelerates or expedites response times

Minimizes errors

Facilitates recovery from failures on the consumer or business application side

In addition to being complex to design and implement, other disadvantages are greater
cost and the need for additional hardware and systems administration.

Responsibilities and Duties of a Connection Manager

The duties and responsibilities of a connection manager are explained as follows.

Define a specific and configurable quantity of open connections

This pool of open connections is designed to grow or shrink to a predefined
threshold to accommodate the volume of traffic requesting connections from the
pool.
The number of connections also depends on the subscriber's TAM pool size. If
the client has multiple IPCCs, each IPCC is allocated a quantity of session in its
specific session pool. (In legacy systems, a session pool was referred to as a
TAM pool.)
When the connection manager opens a connection, not only is one of the
connections being used, but one of the Sabre sessions in the session pool is also
allocated and in use.
The quantity of TAs available is based on information provided to the Sabre
account representative up front, and is defined in the Sabre Web Services
contract. This information is used by capacity planning to determine the
required allocation of Sabre TAs. (If additional resources are justified, please
contact your Sabre account representative.)

Create connections to Sabre Web Services

The connection manager begins its business logic by initializing the connection
pool. This entails the creation of the predetermined and configurable number of
connections by invoking the SessionCreateRQ service.

Throttle the quantity of open connections

The connection manager ensures the availability of a minimum number of Sabre Web
Services connections during the lifetime of the application.
The connection manager is responsible for throttling the number of open
connections to accommodate fluctuations in traffic volumes. The connection
manager adjusts the quantity of connections during the day to handle peak and

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 90

low traffic volumes.

This throttle should be distributed across the different instances of a client
application, if they do not use a common pool between the application instances.
If the connection manager determines that fewer live connections are needed,
the connection manager closes some connections. If more connections are
needed, the connection manager opens more. At any point, the minimal
threshold of connections should not be exceeded.

The connection manager is a proxy between the client and the network
instead of a separate repository of connection information.
The job of the connection manager is to monitor activity and refresh sessions
efficiently, therefore, transactions must pass through the connection manager.

Manage the connections by storing them in a pool

The connection manager stores and tracks the connection information for
each of the live connections.
The connection information can be stored in a centralized database, memory,
or another form of storage during application run-time. Basic connection
information to store includes the security token, conversation ID, time stamp,
connection status, that is, whether the connection is free or in use, and client
ID, in other words, which client is using it.
The connection manager caches and stores the connection information,
and updates the information with a new time stamp and the status.
All clients must be able to obtain the connections repeatedly with a
given Web services connection.

The connection manager keeps connections alive, ensuring that the minimal
quantity of Sabre Web Services connections is available for use when
needed. The connection manager must know the time-out value assigned to
the security credentials used to open the connections. To prevent the
connections from timing out, the connection manager refreshes the
connections by sending the OTA_PingRQ message.

Destroy connections
The connection manager terminates connections when the threshold for low
volume traffic is reached, the connection is no longer usable, or when
connections need to be cleaned up. The connection manager closes the
connections by invoking the SessionCloseRQ service. Remember that this Web
service also terminates the allocated Sabre session, and returns the Sabre
session to the session pool. All of data in the Sabre work area/AAA is discarded.

Clean up connections
The connection manager cleans up all live connections before the application
is closed, shut down, or restarted. This makes the connections available to
other instances of the client that use the same security credentials.
The connection manager uses the SessionCloseRQ service to terminate the

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 91

connections. The connection manager also closes connections on a regular basis to

refresh the pool and reinitialize it. Sabre Web Services connections are no longer
usable when they time out; they have to be created again.

Clean up Sabre sessions

When a client requests a connection from the pool, the connection manager
clears the content in the Sabre work area/AAA before giving the connection ID to
the client. This relieves the client of clearing the work area before sending a
workflow. Some workflows may be designed to clear the work area after the last
transaction in a workflow. Doing this depends on the applications business
process logic.

Handle connection-related errors

The connection manager handles exceptions and time-outs that occur during the
life cycle of all Sabre Web services connections. These errors can be servicespecific or connection- specific. Depending on the error received, the result may
be the termination of the current connection and the creation of a new one.

Connection Manager Implementation

To effectively manage Web services connections, basic connection information must be
stored to enable clients to retrieve connections from a pool as needed, and to let the
connection manager track the connections and keep them alive. Each entry inside the pool
has the format shown in Figure 10.

This field

Is used as follows

Security Token
Time Stamp

The security token returned with the creation of the

connection
A time and date value that determines when the
connection was last used. It also enables the Status field
to be updated when the connection requires validation.

Conversation ID

The conversation ID used to create the connection

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 92

This field

Is used as follows

Connection Status

A value showing whether a connection is free or in use

Client ID

Identifies the client that is using the connection to

associate the client instance with a particular connection
ID in the pool

When the box with the connection pool is started and the pool is opened, connection
manager sends the SessionCreateRQ messages the number of times equal to the quantity of
connections it is configured to initialize.
Once the connections have been created, the connection manager is ready to begin service
requests from the clients in need of connections. All Sabre Web Services requests must
obtain a valid connection from the pool. This can be implemented in the connection manager
as follows:
1. A client instance requests an available or free connection ID from the connection pool.
2. The connection manager sets the connection ID status flag to in use.
3. The connection manager sends the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service to clear the Sabre
work area/AAA of content lingering from previous use of the connection ID.
4. The connection manager provides the connection ID to the client.
5. The client sends messages representing the travel workflow using the connection ID.
6. When the client is done and has stored content it wants, the client returns the connection
ID to the pool.
7. The connection manager sets the connection ID status flag to available or free.
8. The connection manager updates the time stamp of the connection ID.
During some configurable interval, the connection manager inspects the status indicator of all
connections in the pool. All free connections with a time stamp older than the time-out value
are either revalidated or closed. This decision is made on the basis of the current connection
pool size.
The recommended keep-alive value should be less than the connection time-out value. The
connection keep alive is used only to maintain a minimum number of connections in the pool.
If the application has low traffic or use, it is advisable to close the connections until the
minimum threshold limit in the pool is reached. However, if the application is running with
less than the minimum threshold, keeping connections alive using the OTA_PingRQ service
is recommended.
As part of its clean-up activities, the connection manager must terminate all active
connections in the pool. This can be a fixed, automated process or a manual maintenance
activity. Even when the client is restarted or stopped, it is necessary to invoke the
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 93

SessionCloseRQ service. This makes all of the connections in the pool available to the client
when the client starts up.
All system-related errors and time-outs result in the closing of the connection and the
creation of a new connection. This minimizes the number of orphan connections in the client.

Session Recovery and Failover

To enable session recovery and failover, the connection manager stores the connection ID
with the corresponding client ID on a different machine from the connection manager and
connection pool. To recover connections and active Sabre sessions, the client is restarted
with the connection IDs that are stored on the other machine.
To eliminate points of failure, the system architecture should be redundant. Clients can
choose which components to duplicate, or can replicate all components, as shown in Figure
11. This enables failover, load balancing, and recovery. Business needs dictate how clients
design their architecture.

Figure 11. Connection Manager Architecture with Full Redundancy

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 94

Implementation Scenarios
Some sample scenarios are presented in this topic.
Scenario 1
When the machine with the connection pool is started and the connection pool is
opened, the connection manager sends the SessionCreateRQ messages the number
of times equal to the quantity of connections it is configured to initialize. Let us say
this quantity is 20. The connection manager stores the connection IDs of the open
connections that are in the pool, monitoring use of the connections. When the
threshold of connections in use is reached (say the threshold is 16), the connection
manager opens 10 more connections. Sixteen connections is close to the threshold of
20, and to avoid running out of open connections, the connection manager is
configured to open 10 more. When 30 connections are open, and only 11 are in use,
the connection manager is configured to close 10 connections. 30 are open, 11 in
use, and 19 are unused. Because 11 are fewer than the threshold of 16 open
connections, there is no need to have 19 unused connections, therefore 10 are
closed.
Scenario 2
This scenario has a client whose IPCC has been allocated a pool of 100 sessions. A
15 minute time-out value has been assigned to the connections and sessions.
At any point, the connection manager wants to maintain 10 connections in the
pool. During times when traffic is very low, the client requires a maximum of 20
sessions. This is the low threshold value for the connection pool. During times of
high traffic, the client can increase the pool size on demand as traffic increases.
Because the time-out is 15 minutes, the client refreshes or clears connections in the
pool every 13 minutes. If there are less than 20 unused connections, the client
refreshes the connections by sending the OTA_PingRQ Service. If the pool has more
than 20 unused connections, the client calls the SessionCloseRQ service until the
threshold of 20 unused connections is reached.
When the client shuts down, it closes all connections in the pool.
The pool size has a maximum value of less than 100 connections. This minimizes the
errors the client receives about unavailable resources from the Sabre Web Services
infrastructure.
Sabre session creation and removal must be minimized by the reuse of connections. Careful
study of the scenarios depicted on the connection manager sequence diagram in Figure 12
shows that several Sabre Web Services were invoked before the connection was returned to
the pool. The connection manager will guarantee that the connection remains active
between Sabre session retrieval and removal calls.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 95

Figure 12. Sequence Diagram for a Connection Manager

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 96

Chapter

5
Chapter 5: Business and Application Logic
Chapter five contains topics about travel workflows and the implementation of business and
application logic in the client.

Maintaining Session State

In addition to designing clients to manage connections, application developers must include
business logic to obtain the content desired, and manipulate the business application that
provides the content by way of requests.
The Sabre system has some functionality that is stateful and other functionality that is
stateless. The AAA (referred to as the Sabre work area throughout this document) is
designed for state maintenance in the Sabre host system. The Sabre work area/AAA
provides shopping cart functionality. The content retrieved via a Sabre format or a related
TPF Connector- based Web service is stored in the work area until it is specifically cleared
out, closed, or a time out occurs.
A Sabre session has a LNIATA or terminal address (TA). (The TA is referred to as a Sabre
session throughout this document). The user IDs of TPF Connector-based Sabre Web
Services subscribers require Sabre host access, therefore, a Sabre session is allocated
when the connection to Sabre Web Services is authorized.
When a client connects to the Sabre Web Services gateway and a Sabre session is
allocated, the Sabre work area/AAA is also initialized. This lets the client talk to the work
area.
While all Sabre Web Services are stateless, many of the functions associated with Sabre
Web Services are stateful. The term stateful, according to the Webopedia Web site, is the
last- known or current status of an application or a process. The terms maintaining state
and/or managing state refer to keeping track of the condition of the process.
A Sabre Web Services session that sends and receives any of the stateful Web
services functions can maintain the last-known or current content in the Sabre work
area/AAA.
A client can consume TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services in a stateless or stateful
way, depending on the specific TPF Connector-based Web services being consumed. It is
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 97

the client that decides whether to use content retrieved from a previous service or not. The
design of the client and the workflow, and the sequencing of the services let the client
retrieve content from previous services.
Take the TravelItineraryReadLLSRQ service as an example. The command upon which this
service is based is a stateless Sabre system command. This Web service simply retrieves a
passenger name record, i.e a PNR, and places it in the work area.
An example of a stateful function in the Sabre system is the request to search for and display
air availability. The Sabre system remembers the flights that it displays via this Sabre format.
The TPF Connector-based Web service that requests air availability, OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ, is
stateless, but a client can use other Web services to obtain further information about selected
flights placed in the work area by OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ. The client references the flights it
wants in another Web service to obtain fare rules, search for lower fares, etc. It is the client
that is using the services in a stateful way.
The Sabre system tracks and maintains the content or state of the Sabre work area/AAA
when proper techniques are implemented.
The proper techniques for maintaining state in a Sabre session are as follows.

Obtain the conversation ID and security token associated with the Sabre session.
If this is a new connection, extract the wsse:Security node with the
BinarySecurityToken from the SessionCreateRS response message. In both
cases, include the conversation ID and security token in all requests using the
session. Sending the same conversation ID and security token with every
request message in the session maintains state in the Sabre work area/AAA.

When a client reuses a connection and its associated Sabre session, it must
ensure the work area is cleared before sending a new workflow. A connection
manger can also do this.

When finished with a workflow, the client stores the content by invoking the
EndTransactionLLSRQ service.

When Web services representing stateful functions are called, the content from all requests
in a specific Sabre session is stored in the Sabre work area/AAA. The Sabre work area/AAA
can be thought of as the session state buffer. The content in this buffer can be displayed,
created, updated, and removed in a single Sabre session. If clients have shopping cart
functionality, the shopping cart reflects the content in the Sabre work area/AAA. The client
can parse content from each of the responses, and again, before it ends the transaction.
The sequencing of the messages, referred to as orchestration, is especially important for
workflows that use stateful functions. This is because stateful functions can create and
maintain content in the Sabre work area/AAA. Sending a message in the wrong sequence
can overwrite the content in this work area. Application developers must be aware of the
content that is being created and stored there at all times. Ending a Sabre session properly
with EndTransactionLLSRQ saves the content in the Sabre system and records it in the PNR.
When client applications start their workflow by retrieving and reusing a connection from the
pool, the content from the previously-used session associated with the connection remains in
the Sabre work area/AAA. Therefore, application developers must design their client to clear
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 98

the Sabre work area/AAA before sending the messages that represent a new workflow.
Sabre Web Services functions are either stateless or stateful. The effect of each service on
state in a specific Sabre session is dependent on the service. Some services only require a
valid security token. Other services depend on the content placed in the Sabre work
area/AAA by yet other services so they can perform their functions.
Sabre Web Services functions that are stateless can perform their functions independently of
other Web services by sending a valid security token. The responses of stateless functions
do not have references to content in other responses, for example, when the
OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ service request is sent, the Sabre system processes it and returns a
response. The OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ service does not depend on any content placed in the
Sabre work area/AAA by other Sabre Web Services, but it leaves content in the work area
that can affect subsequent commands, for example, 1*.
The service descriptions of Web services note when the services depend on content
retrieved from a previous service.
Stateful functions depend on content that is placed in the Sabre work area/AAA from
responses to other Web services. To complete a transaction, other service requests may
need to be sent after a particular service.
The modification of a PNR is presented as an example:
1. Assuming a PNR exists, the client first reads or displays it in the Sabre work
area/AAA. The TravelItineraryReadLLSRQ service request accomplishes this
by loading the content from the PNR into the active Sabre work area/AAA.
2. Next, the client sends the TravelItineraryModifyInfoLLSRQ service request with
updated content. The TravelItineraryModifyInfoLLSRQ service is a stateful
function, and depends on the TravelItineraryReadLLSRQ service to load the
content into the work area. When the content is loaded, the
TravelItineraryModifyInfoLLSRQ service can modify the content. It parses or
extracts any data it needs from the response.
3. Finally, the client sends the EndTransactionLLSRQ service to complete the
PNR, and to receive and end the PNR record. This stores the updated record in
the Sabre system.

Parsing and Storing Content

To store the transactions in the Sabre work area/AAA that occur in a given workflow, the
client application needs to send the EndTransactionLLSRQ service. This stores the
changes in the PNR and assigns a record locator. If needed, the client application can also
parse and store other information it receives in any of the responses.

Clearing Content in the Sabre Work Area/AAA

When a connection manager is implemented in a client, Sabre Web Services connections
and the Sabre sessions that are allocated with the connections are reused. Multiple
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 99

business workflows can also be sent in a single session.

When the connection needs to be retrieved from the pool for reuse, the client must ensure
that the Sabre work area/AAA is cleared or empty before sending a new workflow. Clearing
the Sabre work area/AAA eliminates the possibility of content from a previous Sabre session
remaining and becoming intermingled with content in the Sabre session that follows.
After retrieving a connection from the connection pool, the client application can clear the
Sabre work area/AAA by invoking the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service.
This flow assumes that a new Sabre Web Services connection has already been created and
is in the connection pool. The client retrieves an existing connection from the pool, along
with the conversation ID and security token. The client clears the Sabre work area/AAA with
the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service. A business workflow that consists of one or more
travel- based Sabre Web Services is sent. At the end of this workflow, the client sends the
EndTransactionLLSRQ service to save the transaction and record locator in the Sabre
system. The client then returns the session along with the conversation ID and security
token to the connection pool for reuse.
When another connection is needed, the client retrieves one from the pool. The client again
sends the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service to clear the content from the previous workflow
in the Sabre work area/AAA.
The client sends another business workflow. At the end of the workflow, the application sends the
EndTransactionLLSRQ service to save the transaction and record locator in the Sabre system.
As long as connections are needed, the client continues to retrieve existing sessions from the
pool and send workflows, clearing the Sabre work area/AAA before sending each new
workflow. If the traffic volume is low and it is necessary to close some existing connections,
the client sends the SessionCloseRQ service to close the unneeded connections. The
SessionCloseRQ service releases the Sabre session and connection associated with the
conversation ID and security token, invalidates the security token, and clears the Sabre work
area/AAA.
Regardless of the workflow and commands sent, all content in the Sabre work area/AAA is
removed when one of the following occurs:

The client logs out with the SessionCloseRQ service

The Web Services connection and session time out

The IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ is sent - This Web service clears everything

associated with a PNR, but leaves other content, such as availability
displays.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 100

Sabre Web Services Workflows

The flexible design of Sabre Web Services allows application developers to create travel
workflows any way that they want. When designing client applications and travel workflows,
the application developer needs to select the services whose payload messages represent
the content that they want to request and retrieve, and determine their sending sequence. To
determine which of the Sabre Web Services to incorporate into a client, application
developers should review the content in the XML payload requests and responses to decide
which data elements to send, and which elements to parse and integrate into the client
application. For a list of the content in the payloads, application developers can consult the
request and response design documents located on the DRC. One pair of request and
response design documents and a description document is provided for every Web service,
and can be obtained via the DRC.
There are choices for sending workflows with Sabre Web Services, and the needs of the
business determine which are most suitable. Some of the ways that can be used to manage
workflows are as follows:

Open a new connection to send a single or multiple workflows in a Sabre session,

and then close the connection. This is the basic connection strategy.

Reuse connections to send workflows using more than one client. Each client
reuses the connections and sessions. This strategy uses connection pools and a
connection manager.

A number of strategies must be considered with this approach:

Clearing the Sabre work area/AAA after the completion of each workflow

Clearing the Sabre work area/AAA at the beginning of the workflow

Clearing the Sabre work area/AAA at the beginning of the workflow, retaining the
content in the Sabre work area/AAA, and sending another workflow using the same
Sabre session

Note that clearing the work area after completing each workflow is not as reliable a way to
clear the content as clearing the work area at the beginning of client workflows.
Regardless of how application developers implement workflows, when the client application
is finished with each workflow, it can save or ignore the transaction and return the connection
to the connection pool for reuse. For complete information about Sabre Web Services
connection strategies and connection pools, please refer to the section of this document
titled, "Connection Management."

Single Workflow Using a Single Sabre Session

When a single session contains more than one workflow, application developers must ensure
that the work area is clear before sending the next workflow. When the workflow is complete,
the client application can save the content in the Sabre system by ending the transaction with
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 101

the EndTransactionLLSRQ service or can clear the Sabre work area/AAA with the
IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service.
An example of a simple travel workflow that uses one Web service is the use of the
OTA_AirFlifoLLSRQ service. In this workflow, the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service is
consumed, clearing the work area. Then the OTA_AirFlifoRQ/RS messages are exchanged
to retrieve information about a specific flight and display the results. In this example, the
client does not store any transactions in the Sabre system when it consumes this service, but
it parses content it wants, which is the latest flight information, and provides it to an end
consumer or other process.

Multiple Workflows Re-Using a Sabre Connection

To send more than one workflow with a single Sabre Web Services session, the client
application must first obtain a connection from the connection pool, followed by the exchange
of messages representing the travel workflow. The client application completes the workflow
by exchanging messages that store the transaction in the Sabre system.
The next choice is to send messages that either clear the work area or represent another
travel workflow that uses some content remaining in the work area from the previous
workflow. The needs of the business and end users dictate how to design these workflows,
and whether it is necessary to clear the work area or retain the content before sending
subsequent workflows that use the same Sabre session, before returning it to the pool for
reuse.
When finished with the workflows, the client application can save the transaction in the Sabre
system and return the connection to the connection pool for reuse. This automatically frees
up the Sabre session and returns it to your session pool for reuse. Remember that a Sabre
Web Services connection and Sabre session are synchronized. They are allocated and
released simultaneously. One caveat is that the content remains in the Sabre work area/AAA
after a Sabre session is released, until the connection is closed or times out.
Client applications can repeat this process until they want to terminate the Web
Services connection or the connection is no longer usable.

Single and Multi-threaded Workflows

The client application can also pass the conversation ID and security token among threads,
processes, and machines. For example, by replicating and managing connections correctly,
you can use a set of machines to provide failover features to a system.
Note: Do not share the connection, Sabre session, security token, or conversation ID among

multiple threads.
Single threads
To minimize the quantity of Sabre sessions used in the session pool in a single process,
clients must pass the same conversation ID and security token for the connection they are
using in all messages in the thread.
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 102

Multithreaded processes
For multithreaded workflows or processes, use a separate Sabre Web Services connection,
each with its own conversation ID and security token, in each thread. If a client is generating
multiple, simultaneous requests, either by multiple end consumers or other means, use one
connection for each of the requesters.

Minimizing Scans
Clients are billed for scan charges whenever their client makes requests against the production
Sabre system.
This applies to the following URL:

https://webservices.sabre.com/websvc

When clients consume Sabre Web Services, three types of scan charges may be applied:
basic, fare, and search. Basic type scans cost less than fare or search type scans.
Application developers may want to take into account the type of scans that are associated
with each Web service. This may help with client design and user interaction by limiting the
more expensive searches and caching responses.
As an example, application developers may want to impose constraints on the types of
searches end consumers can do and the quantity of searches they can perform. Letting end
consumers search for all availability and fares without specific dates is more expensive than
searches based on specific dates.
Developers may also want to cache responses whenever it makes sense, but they must also
be aware of limitations on the data retrieved from the Sabre system, such as the length of
time for which data is valid.
Sabre Web Services does not limit the flexibility when it comes to creating meaningful
workflows for organizations and customers. However, there are efficient ways to build client
applications and workflows to minimize scans, which helps to minimize costs.
Reusing connections to send workflows reduces scans because client applications do not
send the SessionCreateRQ and SessionCloseRQ services between each workflow. Sending
the IgnoreTransactionLLSRQ service before beginning a new workflow may possibly incur
fewer transactions than clearing the work area after every workflow. Reducing scans and
designing workflows for efficiency not only reduces costs, but it also improves total client
response times.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 103

Chapter

6
Chapter 6: Sabre Web Services Environments
Chapter six describes the systems and environments that are available for developing clients,
testing, and consuming Sabre Web Services.
We provide several environments for consuming Sabre Web Services for the following
general purposes: client development, customer acceptance testing, and production. The
following table and topics fully describe these environments.
Caution
When a client or solution books travel arrangements utilizing a URL that resolves to
the back-end production system, the transactions are recorded in the live, production
Sabre system, and real-time inventory is decremented. This applies to the following
URL:

https://webservices.sabre.com/websvc

Please be sure to cancel any bookings created for test purposes. If these bookings
are not canceled, you and possibly your customers will be billed by suppliers or other
vendors for all associated fees.
Production

https://swssts.cert. sabre.com

Customer
acceptance
testing
https://sws-crt.cert.
sabre.com

Points to the Production Sabre

Web Services application and
Sabre system

No

No

Yes

Points to the TSTS test Sabre

host and associated systems

Yes

No

No

Points to the CERT test Sabre

host and associated systems

No

Yes

No

Test PNRs must be cancelled

No

No

Yes

Use and Availability

Development

URL or endpoint for client

application access

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

https://
webservices.sabre
.com/websvc

Page 104

Sabre scan charges apply

No

No

Yes

Production Sabre sessions

(TAs) are shared across
multiple Sabre Web Services
environments

No

No

Yes

URL and targeted system is

available
24 x 7 x 365

No

No

Yes

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 105

Chapter

7
Chapter 7: Common Error Responses/Corrective
Actions
In some situations Sabre Web Services (SWS) may respond with an error. SWS error are
returned via the /soap-env:Fault structure which contains two key elements /faultcode and
/StackTrace. ../faultcode provides a coarse-grained error categorization, and /StackTrace
provides additional details. This pattern focuses on utilizing the /StackTrace element to properly
diagnose and respond to SWS error responses.

The following table contains a list of the most common error messages that a SWS customer is
likely to encounter. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of SWS errors. However, the
errors omitted from this list are internal, system-related errors that generally cannot be generated
or corrected through client action.
Error String Included in
/StackTrace
SC_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE

Cause

Corrective Action

Internal

USG_AUTHENTICATION_FAIL
ED

Invalid credentials presented

in SessionCreateRQ

USG_AUTHENTICATION_NOT_

Credentials in the request

rather than a Binary Security

1. The client application

needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
2. If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
1. The client application
needs to stop processing
and the applications
credentials need to be
checked/corrected.
2. If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
1. The client application
needs to stop processing
and the applications

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 106

ALLOWED

Token
2.

USG_AUTHORIZATION_FAILE
D

Not permitted to access the

requested service

1.

2.

USG_CONNECTOR_IS_BUSY

Internal limit of concurrent

requests for a given service
family has been reached

1.

2.

USG_CONVERSATION_ID_RE
QUIRED

eb:ConversationId element
is missing or null in SOAP
header

1.

2.

USG_COULD_NOT_COMPLET
E_REQUEST

Internal

1.

2.

USG_IIOP_OBJECT_NOT_EXIS
T

Internal

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

1.

SOAP envelope need to

be checked/corrected.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
The client application
needs to stop sending the
service call that is
generating this error.
Please contact Web
services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing
and the applications
SOAP envelope need to
be checked/corrected.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
Page 107

USG_IIOP_TRANSIENT_EXCE
PTION

Internal

USG_INVALID_ACTION

Incorrect service name in the

<eb:Action> node of the
SOAP envelope

USG_INVALID_EBXML

Required ebXML element or

attribute is missing or
incorrectly formed in SOAP
envelope

USG_INVALID_SECURITY_TO
KEN

Session has been closed or

has expired and the Binary
Security Token is invalid

USG_INVALID_SESSION

Occurs when client attempts

to use a session in the
middle of the close process

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

2. If step 1 does not resolve

the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
1. The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message
2. If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
1. The client application
needs to stop processing
and the applications
SOAP envelope need to
be checked/corrected.
2. If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
1. The client application
needs to stop processing
and the applications
SOAP envelope need to
be checked/corrected.
2. If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
1. The client application
needs to stop utilizing this
session, and open a new
one.
2. If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Webservices support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
1. The client application
needs to stop processing,
and the applications
workflow needs to be
updated to eliminate the
simultaneous usage of
single sessions.
2. If step 1 does not resolve
Page 108

USG _IS_BUSY

Internal limit of concurrent

requests for some
combination of
PCC/IP/Service name been
reached

1.

2.

USG_NO_RESPONSE_FROM_
JMSRECEIVER_IN_TIME

Internal

1.

2.

USG_PASSWORD_CHANGE_R
EQUIRED

Password change is
required

1.

2.

USG_PASSWORD_NOTFOUN
D

<wsse:Password> node is
missing or null

1.

for SessionCreateRQ
2.

USG_RESOURCE_UNAVAILAB
LE

Client has exhausted

available sessions (TAM
pool)

1.

2.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

the issue, please contact

Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing,
and the clients CREATE
agent needs to reset the
applications password.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
The client application
needs to stop processing
and the applications
SOAP envelope need to
be checked/corrected.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com for additional
assistance.
The client application
needs to stop attempting
to open new sessions and
close unused, existing
sessions.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Page 109

USG_SECURITY_ICE_ERROR

Internal

1.

2.

USG_SERVICE_IS_BUSY

Internal limit of concurrent

requests for a given service
has been reached

1.

2.

USG_SERVICE_PROVIDER_E
RROR

Internal

1.

2.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Web services support at

webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.
The client application
needs to stop processing
for at least 500
milliseconds before
attempting to retry the
message.
If step 1 does not resolve
the issue, please contact
Web services support at
webservices.support@sa
bre.com.

Page 110

Errors Related to Web Service Versions

Request payloads must include the Version attribute and valid versions of the Web services
being consumed, in the correct format. If the request is successfully processed, the
requested version number is returned with the document root element in the response
payload. If this requirement is not accurately fulfilled, error messages are returned in the
<Errors><Error> nodes as follows:
Error

Cause

Corrective Action

errors.INVALID_VERSION

Returned if the
payload sends an
invalid version for the
Web service

Send a valid version for the Web

service in the correct format

errors.MISSING_VERSION

Returned if a version
is not present

Include the following in the

document root element of the
payload:
The Version attribute
A valid version number
in the correct format

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 111

Appendix

A
Appendix A: SOAP Field Size Quick Reference
All service providers support the fields shown in the following table:
For service-specific SOAP envelope values, please consult the documentation related to each
Web service.
Maximum
Field Size

SOAP Field Name

Definition

eb:ConversationId

Identifies the set of related

messages that make up a
connection and its associated
session

255

eb:CPAId

Identifies the point of sale location

participating in the connection

20

eb:MessageId

A globally unique identifier for each

message

255

eb:RefToMessageId

RefToMessageId has a cardinality of

zero or one, and when present, it
MUST contain the MessageId value
of an earlier ebXML message to
which this message relates

255

eb:PartyId

Identifies the party that originated

the message

255

eb:PartyId eb:type=

Attribute type in the element

<eb:PartyId>

255

eb:Service

Identifies the service that acts on

the message

128

eb:Service eb:type=

Attribute type in the element

<eb:Service >

255

eb:Timestamp

Represents the time that the

message header was created
conforming to a date-time

30

eb:TimeToLive

The time, expressed as UTC, by

which a message should be

25

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 112

delivered.
This is not supported.
It is mutually exclusive with
eb:Timeout.
eb:Timeout

The time-out value, expressed in

seconds (must be less than 60
seconds)

Applies to TPF Connector-based

Sabre Web Services.
It is mutually exclusive with
eb:TimeToLive.
eb:Action

Identifies the action that acts on the

service

48

wsse:Username

Specifies a username

20

wsse:Password

Specifies the password associated

with the particular username

30

wsse:NewPassword

NewPassword is not currently

supported, but upon implementation
it will allow for passing a new
password into the system

30

Organization

A Sabre extension that specifies the

point of sale location associated
with the particular username and
password

20

Domain

A Sabre extension that specifies a

domain location (Sabre partition)
that is associated with the particular
username, password, and
organization

20

wsse:BinarySecurityToken

The security token that is used in

conjunction with the
eb:ConversationId to allow
messages to be exchanged

200

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 113

Appendix

B
Appendix B: Identifying Documents for Sabre
Web Services
Appendix B describes the naming pattern for the URLs that point to the WSDL documents of
TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services, and how to display WSDL and schemas on a
URL using the naming pattern.
Each of the Sabre Web Services has its own set of WSDL, schema, and design documents.
Moreover, each version of a Web service has its own set of WSDL, schema, and design
documents. A service description document is also provided that gives an overview of the
Web service, service version, and other service-specific values for the SOAP messages.
All documents and tools, such as the Java test client and release notes, are available on
the Sabre Web Services DRC. To obtain the documents, you need a username and
password for the DRC.
After logging in, you search for the Web service and select the version you want. You can
view the documents in a browser or download them. To obtain the URL for the WSDL and
schema documents, display them in a browser.
The WSDL and schema documents are also available by directly accessing them via a URL
instead of logging in to the DRC. To access them directly, outside the DRC, you must
become familiar with the URL and file naming patterns of the documents.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 114

TPF Connector-Based WSDL and Schema

URLs
It is important to be able to identify the artifacts that correspond to the Web service version you
are consuming. This enables you to discover, consume, and troubleshoot Web services.
The file names of the schema and WSDL documents are part of the URL where these files reside.
When you search for and select a Web service on the Sabre Web Services Web site, you can also
display the WSDL and schema documents. They appear in a browser from which you can view or
download them.
As stated previously, the three-part version number is applied to file names of upgraded WSDL
and schema documents, and consequently, to the URLs. Most of the URLs for the XML schema
and WSDL document set conform to the pattern illustrated below.

URL Pattern:

Example: http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQ.wsdl

In this example:

http://webservices.sabre.com represents the root URL.

/wsdl indicates the directory where the WSDL and schema files are stored.
/tpfc/ represents the business application utilized to fulfill the request.
OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQ.wsdl represents the file name.

Example SWS PROD URL Examples:

http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQ.wsdl

http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQ.xsd

http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQRS.xsd

http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RS.xsd

Example SWS CERT URL Examples:

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 115

http://wsdl-crt.cert.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQ.wsdl

http://wsdl-crt.cert.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQ.xsd

http://wsdl-crt.cert.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RQRS.xsd

http://wsdl-crt.cert.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirPriceLLS2.0.0RS.xsd

Finding WSDL and Schema Documents via a URL

Once you become familiar with the file naming patterns and URIs for the WSDL and schema
documents, you can access the URIs directly from a browser window.
To view or download the documents from a URI, you enter the complete URL of the
document you want in a browser. You can copy and paste the URI into your development
tools, or download the schemas to validate your payloads locally.
The following example shows you how to display the schema and WSDL documents for the
2.0.0 version of the OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ service.
1. Enter the base URL, along with /wsdl. The URL should look like the following example:
http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/
2. Add a slash character /, and append the abbreviation for the business application to the
URL. It should look like the following example: http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc
3. Add a slash character /, and add the base action code of the service plus .wsdl to the
URL. The URL should look like the following example:
http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQ.wsdl
4. The URL is complete. Display the WSDL document associated with the URL in the
preceding step.
5. In the WSDL document, look for the following line: <import
namespace="http://webservices.sabre.com/sabreXML/2011/10"
location="OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQRS.xsd"/>
6. Copy OTA_AirAvailLLSRQRS.xsd from this line and substitute it for
OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQ.wsdl in the URL. It should look like the following example:
http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQRS.xsd
7. Display the document associated with the URL in the preceding step.
8. The OTA_AirAvailRQRS.xsd schema has two lines that refer to the request and response
schema files. Look for the lines that are shown below: <include
schemaLocation="OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQ.xsd"/> <include
schemaLocation="OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RS.xsd"/>
9. Copy OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ.xsd from the appropriate include line. Replace
OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQRS.xsd with OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQ.xsd in the URL. It should
look like the following example:
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 116

http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQ.xsd
10. Display the XML request schema associated with the URL in the preceding step.
11. Display the schema for the header and SOAP wrapper again by entering the following URL
or by clicking the Back button on the browser:
http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RQRS.xsd
12. In the OTA_AirAvail2.0.0RQRS.xsd schema, look for the line shown below: <include
schemaLocation="OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RS.xsd"/>
13. Copy OTA_AirAvailLLSRS.xsd from this line. Replace OTA_AirAvailLLSRQRS.xsd with
OTA_AirAvailLLSRS.xsd in the URL. It should look like the following example:
http://webservices.sabre.com/wsdl/tpfc/OTA_AirAvailLLS2.0.0RS.xsd
14. Display the XML response schema associated with the URL in the preceding step.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 117

Appendix

C
Appendix C: Sample Travel Workflows
Appendix C describes several, common travel workflows. The XML-based equivalents to
these workflows are available on the DRC as part of the Sabre Web Services - Sample
Workflows asset.

Sample Air Workflow

The following air workflow is broken down into two paths, the shopping path, and the booking
path.
During the shopping path the client application is shopping for flights on behalf of an end user.
There are several air shopping services available, i.e. the BargainFinderMaxRQ service, or the
OTA_AirLowFareSearchLLSRQ service. These services contain many qualifiers for further
filtering/tailoring the result set; however at a minimum the client simply needs to specify a
market, a date, and a class of service. When these services respond they provide air
itineraries in accordance with the options that were requested. The client application needs to
allow the end user to select an itinerary, which the client application will then use on the
booking path.
During the booking path the client application is taking the air itinerary that the end user
selected during the shopping path, and combining it with several other pieces of passengerrelated information in order to create a passenger name record (PNR).
It is oftentimes far simpler to add the passenger-related information into the PNR prior to
selling the air itinerary. To add passenger-related information into the PNR client applications
can leverage the PassengerDetailsRQ service. The PassengerDetailsRQ service allows client
applications to add agency address information, customer numbers, email addresses,
passenger names, passenger types, phone numbers, received from information, remarks,
retention segments, SSRs, and ticket time limit-related information. The service also allows
client applications to specify to queue place the record to a particular queue, or to simply end
and retrieve the record.
At a minimum the client application needs to provide agency address information, passenger
names, phone numbers, and ticket time limit-related information prior to selling an air itinerary.
With this information in place the client application can then book the air itinerary.
To book an air itinerary client applications can leverage the EnhancedAirBookRQ service.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 118

The EnhancedAirBookRQ service is used to book air itineraries, and it can also be used to
price the air itineraries. To book an air itinerary clients simply need to specify the flight
numbers, the airline codes, the dates/times, the classes of service, as well as the markets
associated with the segments. All of this information is returned in the shopping service
responses. To price the air itinerary clients simply need to specify the number of passengers,
along with the pertinent passenger types.
Once this step is complete the client application simply needs to receive and end the record.
PassengerDetailsRQ can be used to receive and end the record.
Workflow summary:
1. Shop (BargainFinderMaxRQ, OTA_AirLowFareSearchLLSRQ)
2. Book (PassengerDetailsRQ, EnhancedAirBookRQ)
3. Finalize the record (PassengerDetailsRQ)
Complete details on each these services, as well as XML-based workflows are available on
the DRC as part of the Sabre Web Services - Sample Workflows asset.

Sample Vehicle Workflow

The following vehicle workflow is broken down into two paths, the shopping path, and the
booking path.
During the shopping path the client application is shopping for vehicle reservations on behalf
of an end user.
The OTA_VehAvailRateLLSRQ service is used to search for vehicles/rates. This service
contains many qualifiers for further filtering/tailoring the result set; however at a minimum the
client simply needs to specify a city code, the reservation dates/times, as well the number of
vehicles to be reserved. When this service responds it provides vehicles/rates in accordance
with the options that were requested.
To view more in depth rate-related information clients can utilize the VehRateRulesLLSRQ
service.
To view in depth rental location-related information clients can utilize the
OTA_VehLocDetailLLSRQ service.
The client application needs to allow the end user to select a vehicle/rate, which the client
application will then use to fulfill the subsequent booking steps. At a minimum the client
application needs to keep track of the vehicle rental chain code, the city code associated with
the rental location, the reservation dates/times, and the vehicle type code, which are all
returned in the OTA_VehAvailRateLLSRQ response.
During the booking path the client application is taking the vehicle/rate that the end user
selected during the shopping path, and combining it with several other pieces of passengerrelated information in order to create a passenger name record (PNR).

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 119

When booking a vehicle the passenger-related information must be added into the PNR prior
to selling the vehicle segment. Client applications must add names prior to attempting to book
the vehicle segment. If this information is not present in the PNR, the client application will
receive an error response when attempting to book the vehicle segment. To add passengerrelated information into the PNR client applications can leverage the PassengerDetailsRQ
service. The PassengerDetailsRQ service allows client applications to add agency address
information, customer numbers, email addresses, passenger names, passenger types, phone
numbers, received from information, remarks, retention segments, SSRs, and ticket time limitrelated information. The service also allows client applications to specify to queue place the
record to a particular queue, or to simply end and retrieve the record.
The OTA_VehResLLSRQ service is used to book a vehicle reservation. To book a vehicle
reservation, clients simply need to specify the rental city code, the reservation dates/times, the
vehicle type, as well the number of cars to be reserved that were gathered from the
OTA_VehAvailRateLLSRQ response.
Once this step is complete the client application simply needs to receive and end the record.
PassengerDetailsRQ can be used to receive and end the record.
Workflow summary:
1. Shop (OTA_VehAvailRateLLSRQ, VehRateRulesLLSRQ, OTA_VehLocDetailLLSRQ)
2. Book (PassengerDetailsRQ, OTA_VehResLLSRQ)
3. Finalize the record (PassengerDetailsRQ)
Complete details on each these services, as well as XML-based workflows are available on
the DRC as part of the Sabre Web Services - Sample Workflows asset.

Sample Hotel Workflow

The following hotel workflow is broken down into two paths, the shopping path, and the
booking path.
During the shopping path the client application is shopping for hotels on behalf of an end user.
The OTA_HotelAvailLLSRQ service is used to search for hotels. This service contains many
qualifiers for further filtering/tailoring the result set; however at a minimum the client simply
needs to specify a city code, a date, and the number of guests. When this service responds it
provides hotels in accordance with the options that were requested.
Oftentimes after a user has selected a hotel they look at the hotels property description. The
HotelPropertyDescriptionLLSRQ service is used to display hotel property description-related
information. This response also contains rate-related information.
To view more in depth rate-related information clients can utilize the
HotelRateDescriptionLLSRQ service.
The client application needs to allow the end user to select a hotel, which the client application
will then use to fulfill the subsequent booking steps. At a minimum the client application needs

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 120

to keep track of the hotel chain code, the hotel property number, the stay dates, the number of
guests, and the hotel rate code.
During the booking path the client application is taking the hotel that the end user selected
during the shopping path, and combining it with several other pieces of passenger-related
information in order to create a passenger name record (PNR).
When booking a hotel the passenger-related information must be added into the PNR prior to
selling the hotel segment. Client applications must add names, as well as agency addressrelated information prior to attempting to book hotel segments. If this information is not
present in the PNR, the client application will receive an error response when attempting to
book the hotel segment. To add passenger-related information into the PNR client
applications can leverage the PassengerDetailsRQ service. The PassengerDetailsRQ service
allows client applications to add agency address information, customer numbers, email
addresses, passenger names, passenger types, phone numbers, received from information,
remarks, retention segments, SSRs, and ticket time limit-related information. The service also
allows client applications to specify to queue place the record to a particular queue, or to
simply end and retrieve the record.
The OTA_HotelResLLSRQ service is used to book a hotel reservation. To book a hotel,
clients simply need to specify the hotel chain code, the hotel property number, the stay dates,
the number of guests, and the hotel rate code.
Once this step is complete the client application simply needs to receive and end the record.
PassengerDetailsRQ can be used to receive and end the record.
Workflow summary:
1. Shop (OTA_HotelAvailLLSRQ, HotelPropertyDescriptionLLSRQ,
HotelRateDescriptionLLSRQ)
2. Book (PassengerDetailsRQ, OTA_HotelResLLSRQ)
3. Finalize the record (PassengerDetailsRQ)
Complete details on each these services, as well as XML-based workflows are available on
the DRC as part of the Sabre Web Services - Sample Workflows asset.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 121

Glossary

Glossary
AAA
An abbreviation for Agent Assembly Area. See Sabre work area/AAA.
artifact
As it relates to Web services, an artifact is anything that assists in the discovery and use
of a service. Some examples of artifacts for Sabre Web Services include the Sabre XML
WSDL and schema documents, and action codes. Each of the artifacts exists as a
separate entity, and artifacts are not shared among Web services.
Compare metadata.
basic connection
Basic connection is the simplest approach for handling connecting to Sabre Web
Services. It is similar to a conversation. You open a connection with the
SessionCreateRQ Service, next you exchange requests for travel content and receive
the responses using TPF Connector-based or open systems-based Sabre Web
Services, then you close the connection with the SessionCloseRQ Service. The client to
connection ratio is one-to-oneyou have one client and one connection.
binary security token
This document uses the term security token See security token.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 122

connection
A connection is an open channel to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure. After a client
or other process is authenticated and authorized, an open connection to Sabre Web
Services is successfully created, and at the same time, a Sabre Web Services session is
allocated.
A connection is not a client side shopping cart and it does not maintain state in the Sabre
work area/AAA of the Sabre host system.
The distinction between the terms connection and session is semantic. A client
requests a connection to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure, and upon successful
connection, a Sabre Web Services session is created simultaneously with a business
application or data center within Sabre Holdings. A connection is on the client side, and a
session is on the Sabre side. The connection and session are synchronized. Compare
Sabre session and Sabre Web Services session.
connection ID
A connection ID consists of the security token and conversation ID returned to the
requester in the SessionCreateRS response SOAP envelope. Its return means the
connection to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure is alive and a Sabre Web Services
session is allocated. The connection ID is required for all transactions with the Sabre
Web Services infrastructure that are using the connection.
connection manager
The practice of managing Sabre Web Services connections to ensure that connections
are available without over-allocating resources. The client is responsible for
implementing a connection manager.
The connection manager is an implementation of a strategy for handling multiple,
concurrent connections. It has several components, such as a connection pool, and
manages many tasks. Some of the tasks include opening and maintaining connections,
persisting the connection IDs, and refreshing the connections. A connection manager has
thresholds defined for high and low volume traffic and tries to maintain the connections
needed to accommodate the fluctuations in traffic volumes. It also provides failover and
recovery.
connection pool
A connection pool is a repository of multiple open connections whose connections are
maintained and available for clients who need to use them to request travel content and
send travel workflows. From the perspective of Sabre Web Services, the connections in
the pool are open channels to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure. With a connection
pool, you have more open connections than clients. The connection pool is one
component of a connection manager. See also connection manager.
constraint
Specifies the data type of an element or attribute, such as a string or integer, and
whether the values for an element or attribute are restricted and required to be present.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 123

conversation
A term of the W3C and ebXML. It is the exchange of messages among trading partners. A
conversation is the same thing as a basic Sabre Web Services connection. See basic
connection.
ebXML
Electronic Business Using Extensible Markup Language. ebXML is an enabling
technology sponsored by UN/CEFACT and OASIS, and the OpenTravel specifications
are based on OASIS and UN/CEFACT.
extension
Any addition, such as an element or attribute, to the OpenTravel specifications.
Extensions let organizations use proprietary content that is not present in the
OpenTravel specifications so that they can exchange content with their trading
partners.
Many Sabre XML schemas incorporate extensions, enabling Sabre Web Services to use
proprietary content in the Sabre system and other Sabre applications.
See also Sabre XML.
GDS
global distribution system. The Sabre system is a GDS.
See PSS and Sabre global distribution system (Sabre GDS).
IPCC
Internet Pseudo City Code
metadata
All data or information about a Web service. Metadata for Sabre Web Services includes,
but is not limited to, service implementation date and version, name of the service, and
previously required orchestration.
Compare artifact.
open systems-based Sabre Web Services
Sabre Web Services that obtain their content from a variety of open systems within Sabre
Holdings via direct connections to those systems. The open systems services are
sometimes referred to as direct services.
OpenTravel Alliance
The OpenTravel Alliance provides standards for the travel industry. OpenTravel
specifications provide a common reference point that eliminates duplication of
common data elements. It separates data and reduces it to the data element level,
making it possible for two parties to
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 124

communicate individual data elements. The parties decide whether to use specific data
elements and how many times. Suppliers use this standard and the TCP/IP
infrastructure of the Internet to communicate with numerous other organizations.
Passenger Name Record
See PNR.
PCC
Pseudo City Code
PNR
Passenger Name Record. The record stored in the Sabre system that contains
information related to a passengers trip. It is identified with a unique record locator.
PSS
Passenger Service System
Sabre global distribution system (Sabre GDS)
This document uses the term Sabre system. See Sabre system.
Sabre session
A Sabre session is a specific type of session. It is associated with a LNIATA in
native Sabre systems (also referred to as a PSS). The user IDs of Sabre system
subscribers require and use LNIATAs or Terminal Addresses (TAs).
A Sabre session is a session that is established with the Sabre host system when a
Sabre Web Services connection is opened with a user ID that requires use of the
Sabre system. A Sabre session, also known as a TA, is allocated from the users
session pool and becomes active. The connection and session are synchronized, and
therefore, both the connection and Sabre session remain active until either a time-out
occurs or the connection is closed explicitly.
Sabre system
The Sabre global distribution system, or Sabre host system. This is the system that
stores travel inventory and itineraries, and is the source of travel-related content for TPF
Connector-based Sabre Web Services as well as some other open systems and
applications.
Sabre Web Services
All Web services provided by Sabre Holdings. Under the umbrella of Sabre Web Services
are TPF Connector-based Web services, open systems-based Sabre Web Services, and
session management-based Web services.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 125

See also open systems Sabre Web Services, session management Sabre Web
Services, and TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services.
Sabre Web Services infrastructure
The combined components which provide connections, security, logging, and route
incoming requests to the appropriate service providers business application, and route
the responses to the requester upon receipt from the service provider. One component
of the infrastructure, the Sabre Web Services gateway, provides a single point of
access using a standard communication path, SOAP, and promotes a standard
interface for access to services using XML.
External access to Sabre Web Services is through the Sabre Web Services infrastructure.
Sabre Web Services session
A session that is allocated when a client makes a connection to the Sabre Web
Services infrastructure. The session is synchronized with the connection, which is on
the client side. The type of session that is allocated depends on the security
credentials used to open the connection. Users of TPF Connector-based Web
services are allocated a Sabre session when they connect to Sabre Web Services,
while users of open systems may be allocated another type of session.
See also Sabre session and connection.
Sabre work area/AAA
Refers to the buffer in the Sabre system where content is retained while a Sabre host
session is active. Other terms for the Sabre work area include Agent Assembly Area
and AAA. This document uses the term Sabre work area/AAA.
The Sabre work area/AAA provides shopping cart functionality on the client side.
When TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services are called, the content from requests
in a specific Sabre session is temporarily stored in this work area. The client application
can use the content in the Sabre work area/AAA in a stateful or stateless way. Some
TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services rely on content placed in the work area by
previous service calls in the same Sabre session, while other services do not have these
dependencies.
Sabre XML
XML messages used by Sabre Web Services that are formatted to include the proprietary
data, elements, and attributes of the Sabre system and other applications within Sabre
Holdings. Some of these messages are based on OpenTravel specifications and other
messages are not.
Many of these data elements are added into the messages as child elements of the
TPA_Extensions element.
The WSDL documents for Sabre Web Services are also under the umbrella of Sabre
XML. They are modified for compatibility with Sabre Web Services and various
frameworks for developing and consuming Web services with WSDL.
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 126

See also extension.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 127

Sabre XML specification

Sabre XML specifications encompass the following: Sabre XML request and response
schema documents for all services, WSDL documents for Sabre XML, the content of
the payloads, any constraints on data, and messages for managing Sabre Web
Services connections. See also Sabre XML.
SDS
Sabre Data Source.
security token
The binary security token that is returned to a client in the SessionCreateRS response
SOAP envelope in the wsse:BinarySecurityToken element. It is returned after a client
creates a connection to the Sabre Web Services infrastructure and has been
authenticated and authorized. Binary security token is a WS-I term.
service
A discrete unit of data or content that consists of business logic or host command input
and output. It is exposed via a common access infrastructure.
session management-based Sabre Web Services
Web services that are designed to connect to and disconnect from the Sabre Web
Services infrastructure. The session management services are SessionCreateRQ,
SessionCloseRQ, and OTA_PingRQ. These messages are also part of the Sabre
XML specifications.
session pool
User IDs that are tied to Sabre host sessions are allocated a finite quantity of Sabre
sessions for their use with the Sabre system. This collection of Sabre host sessions is
referred to as a session pool or a TAM pool.
The use of TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services requires a user ID that also use a
Sabre host session. User IDs that use open systems Sabre Web Services do not use
TAs or TAM pools.
When your client or connection manager successfully connects to Sabre Web Services
with the SessionCreateRQ Service, one of the Sabre sessions in your TAM pool is
allocated and active. The Sabre session is no longer available in the pool until the
connection is closed or the session times out.
Compare with connection pool and see also TAM pool.
SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol. A mechanism for transporting the data from one
network to another.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 128

state and stateful

The Sabre system is stateful. The Sabre work area/AAA is designed for state maintenance in
the Sabre system. The content is remembered or stored in the work area until specifically
cleared out.
A client can consume TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services in a stateless or
stateful way, depending on which of those Web services it calls. The client decides
whether to use content it has retrieved from a previous service or not.
subscriber
A travel organization that is a contracted customer of Sabre Holdings and Sabre Web
Services. Sabre subscribers include businesses or other entities such as travel
agencies, online travel providers, travel suppliers (including airlines), and travel
software development organizations which are involved with travel marketing and
travel distribution. Sabre subscribers must have a valid Sabre access agreement to
use Sabre Web Services.
TA
Terminal Address. See also Sabre session.
TAM
Terminal Address Management
TAM pool
In the Sabre system, a pool of TAs is allocated to subscribers whose user IDs require
Sabre host sessions. This pool of TAs is generally referred to as a session pool or a
TAM pool. See also session pool.
TPA_Extensions
OpenTravel provides standards for the travel industry, and it also provides the
TPA_Extensions element for adding elements that do not exist in its specifications.
Elements that are added to the OpenTravel specifications are referred to as extensions.
The use of extensions allow Sabre Web Services and other Sabre systems/applications
to exchange proprietary content that is not present in the OpenTravel specifications with
its trading partners. Because Sabre Web Services use XML schemas that have
extensions, Sabre XML includes messages with these extensions.
See also Sabre XML.
TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services
The offering of Sabre Web Services which obtain their content from the Sabre system or
PSS via a TPF-based application. The TPF Connector-based Sabre Web Services are
fine-grained, and generally, one service is equivalent to one Sabre system command.
They use a Sabre session and the Sabre work area/AAA.
The letters LLS appear in the names and action codes of TPF Connector-based Sabre
Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40
Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 129

Web Services, for example, OTA_AirAvailLLSRQ, which distinguishes them from open
systems Sabre Web Services. Open systems Web services obtain their content from
other business applications within Sabre Holdings.
Compare session management Sabre Web Services.
UN/EDIFACT
United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport. A
travel message distribution protocol that has syntax rules for exchanging data.
This protocol is based on sentence structure. The two parties who are exchanging data
must agree on the set of messages they plan to exchange in a specific transaction, for
example, the availability of flights and seats at 2:00 on Friday between point A and point
B. OpenTravel and ebXML specifications are sponsored by UN/EDIFACT.
Web service
A software system that uses XML to define the format and data in messages. The
messages are sent over the Internet.
WSDL
Web Services Description Language.
XML
Extensible Markup Language.

Sabre Web Services - Guide to Accessing and Consuming Services, v1.40

Sabre Holdings Inc. Confidential

Page 130