Seating Layouts

Seating layouts let you define seat maps for products that require assigned seating -- flights, buses, ferries, theaters, or any venue with numbered seats. You create a grid layout, configure individual seats with characteristics and pricing, and then assign passengers to specific seats when they book.

How it works

You create a layout by specifying the number of rows and columns. The system automatically generates a seat grid with labels (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc.). You then customize individual seats -- marking some as window seats, aisle seats, blocked, or premium -- and assign pricing either per-seat or through rate categories.

Key concepts

Layout properties

Seat grid

When you create a layout, all seats are generated automatically. Each seat gets a label combining its row number and column letter (e.g., 1A, 1B, 12F). Seats are arranged in a grid that you can customize afterward.

Seat properties

Each seat has:

Seat characteristics

Seats can have one or more characteristics that describe their physical properties:

Characteristics are flags, not categories. A single seat can combine multiple characteristics at once -- for example, a seat might be Window + Extra Legroom + Preferred Seat. Select as many as apply to accurately describe each seat's properties.

Rate categories

Instead of setting prices on every individual seat, you can create rate categories that define standard pricing tiers. Rate categories are managed on their own tab (Rate Categories) under Data > Seating Layouts. They are shared across all layouts in your workspace -- you define them once and reuse them on any layout.

When you assign a rate category to a seat, the seat inherits the category's pricing. If you update a rate category's prices, the change applies to all seats linked to that category on your master layouts. This makes it easy to update pricing for an entire tier at once.

When a layout is copied to a trip product, rate-category prices are resolved into flat per-seat prices on the copy. Later changes to the rate category do not affect trip products that already have a copy of the layout.

Seat assignments

When a customer books a product with a seating layout, their participants can be assigned to specific seats. Each assignment records the participant being assigned, the seat they are assigned to, the date (for multi-day products), and the rate charged.

Resizing a layout

If you change the number of rows or columns on a layout that already has seats, the existing seats are deleted and new ones are generated. This is a destructive operation -- any custom pricing, characteristics, or assignments on the existing seats are lost. You must explicitly confirm the regeneration.

Assigning layouts to trip products

Seating layouts defined here are master templates. They are not used directly on trips. Instead, when a trip product needs assigned seating, you copy a master layout onto that trip product. The copy resolves rate-category pricing into flat per-seat prices so the trip product has its own independent seat map. Changes to the master layout after copying do not affect trip products that already have a copy.

A trip product can have at most one seating layout at a time. You can remove the layout from the product (provided no seats are currently reserved by booking participants) and copy a different one.

Seat selection mode

Each trip product with a seating layout has a seat selection mode that controls whether passengers must choose seats:

Seat blocking on trip products

Once a layout is copied to a trip product, you can block and unblock individual seats on that product without changing the master layout:

• Block -- Marks a seat as unavailable for booking. Blocked seats appear on the seat map but cannot be selected by customers. You can add a note explaining why the seat is blocked.
• Unblock -- Removes the block, making the seat available again.

Only seats that are not already reserved by a booking participant can be blocked. Reserved seats cannot be blocked; to change a reserved seat's status you must first release the reservation.

Common tasks

Creating a seating layout

The Seating Layouts page has two tabs: Layouts and Rate Categories.

1. Navigate to Data > Seating Layouts (you land on the Layouts tab)
2. Click Add
3. Enter the layout Name and Description
4. Set the Total Rows and Total Columns
5. Click Save
6. The seat grid is generated automatically

Configuring seats

1. Open the action menu on a layout and select Configure
2. The seat configuration panel opens, showing the full seat grid
3. Select seats to customize
4. Set characteristics (window, aisle, exit row, etc.)
5. Set per-seat pricing or assign a rate category
6. Mark seats as blocked if they should not be available for booking
7. Save your changes

Setting up rate categories

1. Navigate to Data > Seating Layouts and switch to the Rate Categories tab
2. Click Add
3. Enter the category Name and Description
4. Set Adult Rate, Child Rate, and Infant Rate
5. Choose a Color for visual identification on the seat map
6. Set the Order Index to control display order
7. Click Save
8. Assign the category to seats in your layouts from the seat configuration panel

Bulk updating seats

You can update all seats for a layout at once. This is useful when you need to apply pricing changes across the entire layout or mark a block of seats with specific characteristics.

How it connects

• Trips -- Master layouts are copied onto trip products. Each trip product gets its own independent seat map with resolved pricing.
• Inventory -- Inventory products that require assigned seating (flights, buses, ferries) reference seating layouts.

Managing rate categories

Rate categories let you define reusable pricing tiers -- such as Standard, Premium, or Extra Legroom -- that you assign to seats across any layout. Instead of setting prices on every seat individually, you create a category once and apply it wherever it fits. All seats linked to the same category share the same adult, child, and infant rates, so a single price change updates every seat in that tier at once.

Rate categories are workspace-wide. They are not tied to a specific layout. You create them separately and then assign them to seats on any layout you choose.

How rate categories connect to pricing

Each rate category holds three prices: adult, child, and infant. When you assign a category to a seat, the seat uses those prices instead of any per-seat rates. This gives you centralized control over pricing tiers.

When you copy a master layout onto a trip product, the system resolves the category prices into flat per-seat prices on the copy. After that point, the trip product's seat prices are independent. If you later change the rate category's prices, only future copies pick up the new prices -- existing trip products keep the prices that were in effect when the layout was copied.

Adding a rate category

1. Navigate to Data > Seating Layouts and switch to the Rate Categories tab
2. Click Add
3. Enter a Name (e.g., "Economy", "Premium", "Extra Legroom")
4. Enter an optional Description to clarify what the category covers
5. Set the Adult Rate, Child Rate, and Infant Rate
6. Choose a Color -- this color appears on the seat map so you can visually distinguish pricing tiers at a glance
7. Set the Order Index to control where this category appears in lists (lower numbers appear first)
8. Click Save

After saving, you can assign the new category to seats from the seat configuration panel on any layout.

Editing a rate category

1. Navigate to Data > Seating Layouts and switch to the Rate Categories tab
2. Find the category in the list
3. Open the action menu on that row and select Edit Details
4. Update the fields you want to change (name, description, rates, color, or order)
5. Click Save

Price changes take effect immediately on all master layouts that use the category. Trip products that already have a copy of the layout are not affected -- they keep the prices that were resolved at copy time.

Deleting a rate category

1. Navigate to Data > Seating Layouts and switch to the Rate Categories tab
2. Find the category in the list
3. Open the action menu on that row and select Delete
4. Confirm the deletion in the dialog that appears

Deleting a rate category cannot be undone. Before deleting, consider whether any layouts still use the category. Seats that were linked to a deleted category lose their category assignment and fall back to their individual per-seat pricing (if any was set).