The two letters next to each flight in an airline booking are its status code. HK means the seat is held and confirmed, HL means you are on the waiting list, KK means the airline has just confirmed a request, TK means the airline changed the times, and UN or UC mean there is no seat at all. Below is where to find the code, a table of the common ones with the wording of the booking systems themselves, and what a confirmed status still doesn't tell you.
Where the status code appears
You see status codes when a travel agent sends you the booking as text copied from a booking system. Here is a made-up flight line in the usual Amadeus layout, for a booking with two passengers:
| Line as sent | 2 TK1587 Y 03FEB 3 ISTFRA HK2 0820 1010 |
| Flight | TK 1587, booking class Y |
| Date and route | 3 February, Istanbul to Frankfurt |
| Status | HK2: holds confirmed, two seats on this line |
| Times | Departs 08:20, arrives 10:10 |
Travelport puts it simply: "A status code indicates the status of an air segment", and segment here means one flight of the trip (Travelport, PNR status codes). Its Smartpoint help adds that status codes are "identified by 2 letter alpha code" and that HK, when it "appears on the segment in the PNR, means confirmed" (Travelport, PNR Viewer: status HK). In the example the number after the letters matches the two passengers on the booking, which is why the same flight reads HK1 on a booking for one.
The common codes and what they mean
The meanings below are quoted from two Travelport references: its Universal API list and its Galileo list (Travelport, Galileo air status codes). Where the two word it differently, both are given.
| Code | Travelport's wording | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| HK | "Holds confirmed" | The seat is yours on this booking |
| KK | "Carrier confirmed"; "Confirming" | The airline has just said yes to a request; the agent usually turns it into HK |
| RR | "Reconfirm"; "Reconfirmed" | A confirmed seat that has been reconfirmed |
| SS | "Sell segment"; "Sold Within This Transaction" | Seen while the agent is still making the booking |
| HL | "Holds waitlist"; "Have Listed (on waiting list)" | No seat yet: you are on the waiting list |
| LL | "Add to waitlist" | A request to join the waiting list |
| KL | "Waitlist confirmed"; "Confirming from Waiting List" | A seat came free from the waiting list |
| NN, PN | "Requesting segment"; "Pending need" | Asked for, no answer from the airline yet |
| TK | "Schedule Change. Advise passenger of new scheduled times." | Still confirmed, but the times changed: check them |
| WK | "Schedule change of a confirmed segment"; "Was Confirmed" | The old version of a flight the airline changed |
| UC | "Unable to confirm or waitlist"; "Unable – Segment Closed" | The airline refused: no seat, no waiting list |
| UN | "Unable - no flight"; "Unable – Service not Provided" | The flight doesn't operate as booked |
| US, UU | "Unable to sell"; "Unable to confirm. Waitlist requested" | No seat, waiting list asked for instead |
| NO | "No action taken" | The airline did nothing with the request |
| HX | "Cancel confirm hold"; "Cancelled – Inventory Adjusted" | The seat that was held has been cancelled |
| XX | "Cancel segment" | The flight has been taken off the booking |
Travelport's list holds dozens more, most of them for agents only: passive segments, group bookings, EMD codes. If you meet a code that isn't here, the list linked above is the place to look it up.
What happens to a code after the airline changes something
Codes such as KK, TK and UN are not meant to stay on a booking. They are the airline's messages, and the agent or the system answers them. Travelport's page on schedule changes shows what the Galileo system does when a change is accepted (Travelport, accepting schedule changes):
- KK, KL or TK become HK: the flight is confirmed, on the new times if they changed;
- US or UU become HL: the flight goes to the waiting list;
- HX, NO, UC or UN: the flight is cancelled from the booking.
The same page warns that "Air status codes, and status code changes vary by provider", and the Apollo and Worldspan systems follow slightly different rules. So if your booking shows TK, the seat is still yours, but read the new times. If it shows UN or UC, you have no seat on that flight, whatever the rest of the booking says.
Confirmed is not the same as paid
HK says a seat is held in your name. It says nothing about money. A ticket is a separate record with its own 13-digit number, and it appears only when the fare is paid; our guide to the PNR number shows the two side by side.
That is why a reservation for a visa application can show HK on every flight and still have no ticket. The seats are held until the airline's ticketing deadline, and then the airline cancels the booking. In our experience that takes anything from about 15 minutes to several weeks, sometimes a month, and the departure date matters most: for a flight tomorrow, don't expect the hold to last even a day; for a flight two months away, it may stay for weeks. These are likelihoods, not promises. The airline decides. Our article on the temporary flight reservation explains the deadline in more detail.
1G, 1V, 1P: codes for the booking system
Not every short code next to a booking is a status. Codes that start with a digit usually name the booking system that holds the record. Travelport lists its own as "Galileo (1G)", "Worldspan (1P)" and "Apollo (1V)" (Travelport, content providers). So "1G" on an itinerary tells you the agent booked in Galileo. It says nothing about the airline or the status of your seat.
What to look for on a reservation for a visa
When a checklist asks for a flight reservation, the person checking it can type your booking code into the airline's or the booking system's website and looks at the flights. Before you hand it in:
- Every flight shows HK (or the word "Confirmed"). HL means a waiting list, not a seat.
- No UN, UC, HX or XX. Any of these means that flight is gone from the booking.
- After TK, the times still match your application. A changed departure can move your arrival to another day.
- The code still opens the booking. Look it up yourself shortly before the appointment; our guide to checking a PNR online lists the sites.
Our flight reservation is a real booking in the airline system, in your name, with a booking code you can check. It is usually ready in about 5 minutes; if the automatic booking doesn't go through, we make it by hand within 24 hours. A sample ticket is a different thing: a document laid out like a ticket with no booking behind it, for travel plans, drafts and mock-ups, not for anyone who checks the booking.
Got a booking as text from a travel agent? Paste it into our free PNR converter: it turns the lines into a readable itinerary and prints the common status codes as words, "Confirmed" for HK, KK, RR and SS and "Waitlisted" for HL and LL.
Questions people ask
What does HK1 mean on a flight booking?
HK is "holds confirmed": the seat is held on the booking. The number after it is the count of seats on that line, so HK1 is one confirmed seat.
What does HK2 mean?
The same status for two seats, typically a booking with two passengers on that flight.
Is KK confirmed?
Yes. Travelport describes KK as "Carrier confirmed": the airline has accepted a request. Once the change is accepted it becomes HK.
Does HK mean I have a ticket?
No. HK means a confirmed seat. A ticket has its own 13-digit number and exists only after the fare is paid.
What should I do if my booking shows UN or UC?
Treat that flight as cancelled: UN means the flight doesn't operate as booked, UC that the airline couldn't confirm or waitlist it. Ask whoever made the booking for a new flight.
In short
HK, KK and RR mean a confirmed seat; HL, LL and the U-codes mean you don't have one; TK and WK mean the airline changed the times; HX and XX mean the flight is gone. None of them tells you whether a ticket was paid for. And when an itinerary shows 1G or 1V, that is the booking system, not the status.
