TAA Reservation

Making a Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) flight reservation…before computers! 

In 1972 the TAA Reservations room located at 50 Franklin Street, Melbourne, was dominated by a huge flight status board which allowed Reservations staff to book and confirm flights.

But how did the process work? The board was divided into regions – from the left, the three main regions were;

·       Flights to northern destinations (Sydney, Brisbane and North Queensland) 

·       Flights to southern destinations (Tasmania)

·       Flights to western and central destinations (Adelaide, Perth, Darwin)

Daily flights were displayed by flight number, departure and arrival times plus date availability. The individual flight status was indicated for each of the next 30 days, using a variety of plastic symbols placed in each date box – some examples were:

Reservations staff sat at long desks, facing the status board, and calls were automatically directed to the next available staff member on duty. So by using the information displayed on the board, experienced reservations staff could confirm a booking in a matter of minutes!  An example follows;  

Good morning, TAA Reservations, Peter speaking, how may I help you?

Customer:   Hello, I need to get to Sydney next Wednesday on the first morning flight.

Res:  Certainly, so that would be Wednesday July 5th?

Customer: Yes.

Res:  And what class would you like? First or Economy?

Customer:  Economy

Res:  I have just checked the 7am flight to Sydney on July the 5th and note that we have an operations change for that day. Do you mind waiting a moment while I check?

Customer:  OK! (Place call on hold and call Res control) 

Res:  Hello I’m back …due to runway works at Sydney Airport there is a 15 minute departure delay which means an arrival time of 8:30am. Is that still OK?

Customer:  Yes, that’s fine.

Res:  And what about a return flight?

Customer:  Can I have an open return? I’m not sure when I’ll be finished in Sydney so I’ll book it with TAA in Sydney.

Res:  That’s fine…..now what name and contact number do we use for the booking?

(Details are progressively written on a booking card during the conversation)

Res:  So I can now confirm an economy class seat for Mr John Smith on TN flight 572 on Wednesday July 5th departing Melbourne at 7:15 am and arriving in Sydney at 8:30 am, with an open return. The fare is $27.30 each way for a total of $54.60.

Customer:  Thank you …can I pick up the ticket at the airport before departure?

Res:  Certainly! Please be there at least 60 minutes before departure to collect your ticket and to check in.

Customer:  OK! Thanks.

Res:  Thank you for calling TAA reservations. During the call the details were written by hand on a booking card called a Passenger Name Record (PNR).

The PNRs were then collected and sent to a punch room next door to the Reservations room where the details were coded into the mainframe computer for future reference and to generate passenger lists for flights. Any return flight details were then automatically sent to the respective city’s reservation centre.

The PNR cards were returned to the Reservations room be filed in alphabetical surname order, by flight and date.

Further information such as ticket numbers, interstate contacts and any booking amendments could then be manually added in the days before travel.

What happened to the Status Board?

In late 1972 TAA introduced a new computerised reservations system called TAARSAN – (TAA’s Reservations System Automatic Network)

The Reservations Room was refurbished to incorporate desktop computer terminals for each staff member.

When all staff were trained and the new computer system was on line, the status board was no longer required.

By 1973 it was dismantled and the new era of computer based reservations had arrived!

Details provided by the TAA/Australian Airlines Museum, 7 York Street. Airport West, VIC 3042