Guides

Time limits

Read the deadlines off the booking and act before them
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A booking carries deadlines. Each one marks a point by which you must act, and missing one releases the seats. Read them off the booking and enforce them on your side. Never assume a deadline; use the value the API returns.

The deadlines

Time limitWhere you find itWhat it means
reservationTimeLimitSearch response, in the fare policiesHow long the searched fare and hold stay valid.
confirmationTimeLimitBooking response, in ruleInfo.tpaextensionsConfirm the booking before this point.
updateTravellersTimeLimitBooking response, in ruleInfo.tpaextensionsAdd or change travelers before this point.
ticketTimeLimitTicketing details on the bookingIssue the tickets before this point.

Reading them back

Call OTA_ReadRQ with the W1 record locator whenever you need the current values. The time limits sit under ruleInfo.tpaextensions, and the ticketing deadline sits with the booking’s ticketing details.

1"ruleInfo": {
2  "tpaextensions": {
3    "confirmationTimeLimit": "2026-05-17T10:49:00Z",
4    "updateTravellersTimeLimit": "2026-05-17T10:20:00Z"
5  }
6}

The group deadline

For a group booking, add the passengers and issue the tickets no later than 72 hours before departure. This is measured from the train’s departure, not from when you made the booking. A booking made well ahead of time still has until 72 hours before the train leaves. Miss it and the booking is released. See Booking models.

If a deadline passes, the booking will be invalid and you will not be able to generate the tickets for this booking and if cancel request initiated it will be applying the agreed cancellation and refund policies.