Boarding Pass: A permit to board a ship, plane, train or other form of transportation.

Booking: A reservation.

Booking Fee/Transaction fee: The charge levied by the travel agency for handling a reservation.

Carrier: Any organization that deals in transporting passengers or goods.

Commission: The amount paid by the supplier (carrier, hotel, tour operator, etc) to the travel agent for selling transportation, accommodations or other services.

Common Carrier: Any company engaged in the transport of people or goods for profit.

Confirmed Reservation: An oral or written confirmation by a supplier that it has received and will honor a reservation.

Confirmation Number: An alphanumeric code used to identify and document the confirmation of a booking.

Global Distribution System(GDS): An international computer reservation system that accesses many databases of suppliers, airlines, etc. in different countries, such as AMADEUS.

Preferred Suppliers: A travel agency's list of the products they prefer to sell the most. These suppliers sometimes offer extra commissions, but also often make special offers available to the consumer through that travel agent. This usually results in a win-win situation for both the agency and the traveler the agency can rely on the preferred supplier for integrity and a quality product, and the traveler gets a good value at a fair price.