Flight disruption handling

How do we handle an airline schedule change or cancellation so every connected hotel, car and transfer booking is rebooked or unwound and written to the booking system?

Treat the airline's message as the start of one case for the whole trip. When a schedule change or cancellation arrives from the carrier, Callvu classifies it (a minor time change, a significant change under the fare rules and the DOT definitions, a cancellation, a misconnect it creates) and identifies every dependent booking on the itinerary (the hotel's first night, the car pickup, the transfer, the tour start), checks each against the supplier's cancellation terms and cutoffs and the traveler's policy, routes the rebooking or unwind decision to the agent or the traveler in the Decision Desk with only the allowed options (accept, rebook within policy, refund), executes the changes with each supplier before its cutoff, and writes the new itinerary and every cancellation and refund to the booking system with the traveler told once.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: classify, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The flight was cancelled at nine in the evening; the hotel charged a no-show at midnight; the car sat at the counter until noon.

Today, without Callvu

An airline cancellation arrives as a queue message to the agency. The agent rebooks the flight, if they see it in time, and the rest of the trip stays as booked: the hotel's first night is lost to the no-show rule, the rental car is a no-show, the transfer driver waits, the tour operator holds a seat for a traveler who lands a day later. Each supplier has a cutoff, and the cutoffs pass while the message waits.

Disruption handling is a dependency problem with clocks: the carrier's change and its classification under the fare rules and the DOT's significant change definitions, the traveler's rights (a refund for a significant change or cancellation, reaccommodation under the contract of carriage), each dependent supplier's cancellation terms and cutoff, the corporate travel policy on rebooking, and the booking system that must end up right. The whole itinerary is the case, not the flight.

A disruption handled as one case, before the cutoffs, is a trip saved; handled as one segment, it is a chain of no-show fees.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A schedule change, a cancellation or an irregular operations message arrives from the carrier through the GDS queue or the carrier's feed. Callvu opens one case for the itinerary.

Traveler: Is told once, chooses between the allowed options on a secure screen where the policy gives them the choice, and receives the new itinerary.
Travel agent or travel counselor: Decides rebooking and unwinds in the Decision Desk where the rules require a person.
Suppliers (hotel, car, transfer, tour): Receive the change or cancellation before their cutoff and confirm it.
Callvu: Classifies the change, maps the dependencies, checks the terms and the cutoffs, routes, executes and writes back.

Classify the change
The carrier's message is read and classified: a minor time change within the fare rules' tolerance, a significant change (the DOT definitions: a departure or arrival moved by more than three hours domestic or six hours international, a different origin or destination airport, added connections, a downgrade), a cancellation, or a change that breaks a connection; the traveler's rights under the fare rules, the contract of carriage and the DOT rules are set from the classification, with the itinerary's dependent bookings listed.
Map the dependencies and the cutoffs
Every booking that depends on the flight is identified from the itinerary (the hotel's first or last night, the car pickup and return, the transfer, the tour or cruise start, the insurance dates), each with its supplier's cancellation terms, change rules and cutoff from the supplier contract or the rate rules, and the traveler's policy on rebooking limits; the case shows the earliest cutoff and the time left.
Decide
A change inside the rules (a minor time change with no dependency affected, a protected rebooking the carrier made that fits the policy) is accepted by rule and the traveler told; a significant change, a cancellation or a broken connection goes to the agent in the Decision Desk with the options the rules allow (accept the carrier's reaccommodation, rebook within policy on the carrier or another, refund under the DOT or the fare rules) and the dependent changes each option implies; where the policy gives the traveler the choice, they choose on a secure screen through the schedule change acceptance process.
Execute and write back
The chosen option is executed: the flight is rebooked or refunded, each dependent booking is changed or cancelled with its supplier before its cutoff with the confirmation captured, the refunds are recorded for the supplier refund recovery, the insurance dates are updated, and the whole new itinerary with every cancellation, confirmation and refund is written to the booking system, with the traveler receiving one new itinerary and the agency's duty of care record updated.

Where it ends: The disruption was handled as one case for the whole trip, each dependent booking was changed before its supplier's cutoff, the traveler chose where the policy allowed, and the booking system holds the new itinerary with every confirmation and refund. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the dependency map and the decision; the Audit Trace shows the carrier's message, each supplier action with time against its cutoff and the writes.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

US DOT refund rules (14 CFR 260) and the significant change definitions: An airline must refund automatically, to the original form of payment, within seven business days for card payments and twenty days for other payments, when it cancels a flight or makes a significant change (a departure or arrival moved by more than three hours domestic or six hours international, a change of airport, added connections, a downgrade in class or a less accessible aircraft) and the passenger does not accept the alternative; the classification applies these definitions to the carrier's message.
Carrier contract of carriage and the reaccommodation and irregular operations commitments (14 CFR 259.5 customer service plans): The carrier's contract of carriage sets the rebooking and reaccommodation obligations for controllable and uncontrollable disruptions, and the customer service plan commits to notification, rebooking and amenities; the options offered to the traveler reflect the carrier's obligations and the agency's own policy.
Supplier and fare rules: The fare rules set whether a schedule change allows a free change or a refund of a non-refundable fare, and the dependent suppliers' rate rules and contracts set the cancellation cutoffs (commonly 24 to 72 hours before arrival for hotels, with no-show charges after) and the change fees; the dependency map carries each one.
Travel policy: The corporate or agency travel policy sets the rebooking limits (class, fare, carrier, cost difference), who may approve an exception and whether the traveler chooses or the agent does; the Decision Desk options are the policy's.

Company policies

A disruption opens one case for the itinerary; the dependent bookings are handled with the flight, never after.
The earliest supplier cutoff drives the clock; nothing waits in a queue past it.
The traveler is offered only the options the rules allow, once, and chooses where the policy lets them.
The booking system is the system of record for the new itinerary and every cancellation and refund.

Controls

Message classification against the DOT definitions and the fare rules.
Dependency map with supplier terms and cutoffs.
Rule-based acceptance of minor changes.
Decision Desk with policy-bound options.
Supplier execution with confirmations before cutoffs.
Booking system write and traveler notification.

Clocks and deadlines

Earliest supplier cutoff: The nearest cancellation or change deadline across the dependent bookings, on the case from the start.
Refund: Seven business days for card payments and twenty days otherwise under the DOT rules where a refund is due.
Traveler choice: The window the agency sets before the agent decides on the traveler's behalf under the policy.

Documents and checks

The carrier's message and its classification
The dependency map with terms and cutoffs
The decision and the traveler's choice
Each supplier confirmation and refund
The new itinerary in the booking system

In the Decision Trace

The classification and the rights it sets.
The dependency map and each cutoff.
The decision, the options offered and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The carrier's message with time.
Each supplier action with time against its cutoff.
The writes and the traveler notification.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

The carrier's queue message or feed; the traveler chooses on a secure screen where the policy allows.

The back office

The agent decides only significant changes and cancellations with the options and the dependencies in view; the queue is not worked by hand.

The Decision Desk

A significant change, a cancellation or a broken connection goes to the agent in the Decision Desk with the dependency map and only accept the reaccommodation, rebook within policy, or refund, each with its dependent changes.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

What counts as a significant change?

Under the DOT rules, a departure or arrival moved by more than three hours domestic or six hours international, a change of airport, added connections or a downgrade; the classification applies these and the fare rules to each message.

What happens to the hotel and the car?

Every dependent booking is listed with its supplier's cutoff the moment the case opens, and each is changed or cancelled before that cutoff as part of the option chosen.

Does the traveler choose?

Where the travel policy gives them the choice, they pick from the allowed options on a secure screen; otherwise the agent decides in the Decision Desk with the same options.

Related processes

Rebooking and itinerary changes Schedule change acceptance Hotel and car cancellations Missed connection and reaccommodation Try it in the sandbox All travel and ecommerce processes

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