Most agencies in Pakistan run on a mix of tools: a GDS terminal, airline agent portals for PIA, AirBlue, AirSial and the Gulf carriers, a spreadsheet of sub-agent balances, and a WhatsApp number that never stops. Travel agency software is supposed to pull that together. This guide sets out what matters when you choose it, in the order agencies usually discover they needed it.
1. Decide who you are selling to
An agency sells through two kinds of door. One is B2C: travellers, families and walk-in clients who want a fare, a hotel or an Umrah package. The other is B2B: sub-agencies in other cities who sell your fares under their own name and settle with you. Many platforms do one well and bolt the other on. Before you look at features, write down how much of your revenue comes through each door, because it decides which half of the product you will use every day.
JetNova is built around both doors on one record: the B2C bot for the public and Buraq B2B for sub-agencies, sharing the same content, pricing rules and ledger.
2. Whose content is it?
The most important question is whose GDS and airline accounts the software searches. If the platform resells its own content, your fares, commissions and negotiated deals belong to someone else. Look for software where you connect your own accounts: your Sabre, Amadeus or Travelport (Galileo) credentials, your PIA agent account, your flydubai or Air Arabia account. Ask whether credentials are encrypted and whether anyone at the vendor can read them back.
Also ask what each connection can actually do. Search and pricing are common; reservation, ticketing, void and refund through the same connection are not. See connecting Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport for the detail.
3. The airlines your customers actually fly
A Pakistani agency's top routes run into Dubai, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, Doha and Muscat, and increasingly to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. Check that the software reaches the carriers on those routes, directly where the airline sells through NDC or Navitaire and through the GDS where it does not. JetNova lists five Pakistani airlines, seventeen in the Middle East and Türkiye and thirty-three in the Far East as airline-direct templates, on the platform page.
4. Money with sub-agents
If you have sub-agents, the software must hold their money properly: a wallet per sub-agency, a credit limit, a hold window for reservations, and a ledger line for every debit and credit with the balance after. Ask how top-ups work (gateway and bank slip), who approves a slip, how settlement bills are produced, and how a void or refund returns money to the wallet. Our guide to sub-agent wallets and credit limits goes through each step.
5. Markups and pricing rules
You will want different prices for different sub-agents, routes and airlines, and promotions with start and end dates. The useful test is whether you can see why a price came out as it did. A price check that shows each rule considered and whether it fired saves hours of disputes with sub-agents.
6. WhatsApp is the real front desk
Customers in Pakistan and the Gulf ask before they book, and they ask on WhatsApp. Software that only offers a search form misses where the conversation happens. Look for a booking assistant on the official WhatsApp Business platform that answers with your live fares and hands over to a person when it should. More in WhatsApp booking bots for travel agencies.
7. Umrah and religious travel
Umrah is a product of its own: flights into Jeddah or Madinah, Makkah and Madinah hotel nights, transfers, visas and a documents checklist. Check that packages can be built, priced per room type and sold by both the public and sub-agents. See Umrah booking software.
8. Your brand, not the vendor's
Travellers and sub-agents should see your name, logo, colours and emails, on your own domain. Ask whether e-tickets and invoices carry your brand, whether sub-agencies can have their own, and whether the vendor's attribution can be hidden. See white-label booking engines.
9. Control and records
Automated booking is only safe when you control it. Look for switches that keep booking and live ticketing off until you enable them, a review queue for anything sensitive, and audit trails for sign-ins, settings changes, chats, booking steps and wallet movements. Ask where the system runs, whether staging and production are separate, and how recovery works.
10. Will your staff actually use it?
The last test is the simplest: sit a ticketing agent in front of it. Is there a GDS terminal for the staff who prefer to type entries? Is there help inside the console? Is there a manual that names each control as it appears on screen? JetNova's manual is public, so you can read it before you speak to us.
Next step
Try the live demo of the B2C bot with real fares, compare the plans, or book a walkthrough on your own content.