PNR Status Codes Explained: What HK, HL, UN, TK and XX Mean

Travellers usually meet PNR status codes in a forwarded itinerary or a travel agent’s screen: a line such as "EK 501 Y 12OCT BOMDXB HK1". The two letters before the passenger count are the segment status. Knowing what they mean tells you whether a seat is confirmed, still pending or gone.

This page includes a quick decoder, a reference table of the common codes, an explanation of how status differs from ticketing, and the steps for checking a booking on the airline site. The code meanings follow the Travelport Galileo air status code list; other systems use the same core codes, with minor variations.

Status codes are internal shorthand, so the airline’s customer-facing website often translates them into words such as "Confirmed" or "Waitlisted". If you see a raw code, the decoder and table below give the usual meaning.

What Does Each PNR Status Code Mean?

Enter the two letters exactly as shown. If your code is not listed, ask the airline or agent; some codes are system-specific.

Which Codes Do Travellers See Most Often?

Codes are listed in Travelport’s Galileo reference. Amadeus and Sabre use the same core meanings for HK, HL, KK, TK, UC, UN, NO and XX.

Does a Confirmed Status Mean a Ticket Is Issued?

No. Status describes the seat on the segment. Ticketing is a separate step that produces a 13-digit ticket number. A booking can show HK and have no ticket, for example while it is within the airline’s ticketing time limit. Our guide to e-ticket number versus PNR explains the difference.

How Do You Check the Live Status on the Airline Site?

1. Find the airline code at the start of the flight number, such as EK or QR.

2. Open that airline’s official site or app and choose "Manage booking".

3. Enter the booking reference and the passenger surname.

4. Read each segment’s status in words, and check the ticket number if one is shown.

5. If the site shows something different from the itinerary you were given, trust the airline site.

For screenshots and a step-by-step example, see our PNR verification walkthrough.

What Do Schedule-Change Codes Mean for You?

TK, TL and TN mean the airline changed the timing of a confirmed, waitlisted or requested segment. WK marks an earlier confirmed segment that was replaced. When you see these, check the new times against your connections, hotel check-in and any visa dates. A small change can break a tight connection.

If a flight was cancelled before your visa decision, our guide on checking the PNR after a cancellation explains what to do.

What Does an Example Itinerary Line Tell You?

Take "QR 557 Y 10NOV DOHBKK HK1 0215 1235". QR is the airline, 557 the flight, Y the booking class, 10NOV the date, DOH to BKK the route, HK1 one seat confirmed, then departure and arrival times. If it read "HL1", the passenger would be waitlisted. If it read "TK1", the times changed and should be rechecked.

How Are the Status Codes Grouped?

Travelport’s table of Galileo air status codes is long, but the codes fall into a few families. Knowing the family tells you most of what you need, even for a code you have never seen.

Older records may still show HS, HA or HW. Travelport notes that after the fourth quarter of 2006 these can still be received, but HK, PN and HL respectively are used for outbound messages.

Which Codes Matter for a Visa Reservation?

For a visa file or an onward-travel check, the question is simple: does the airline show a held seat for this passenger on these dates? Read the code families with that question in mind.

A held seat is still not an issued ticket. A DummyFlights reservation costs $15 per person, carries a PNR valid for 48-72 hours and includes free date changes within the same day of booking, so time it for the day you submit. For what an exit record is for, see our onward ticket guide.

What Do Three Status Readings Look Like?

A booking that shows HK on every segment

Both flights are held. The traveller confirms the names and dates on the airline’s manage-booking page, then submits the visa file the same day.

A booking that changed from HK to TK

The outbound flight moved by two hours. The seat is still held, but the times on the visa form no longer match, so the traveller updates the itinerary page in the file.

A return segment showing HL

The return is only waitlisted. The traveller does not present it as a confirmed exit and books a different held flight instead.

How Should You Read a Code You Do Not Recognise?

1. Look at the first letter: H codes are usually “have” (held, listed, requested) codes; X codes are cancel codes; U codes are unable codes; T codes flag timing changes.

2. Find it in Travelport’s table, or your agency’s equivalent for its system.

3. Look the booking up on the airline’s own site with the reference and surname.

4. Trust the airline’s site over any PDF or screenshot.

What Is the Quick Checklist?

How Do Amadeus, Travelport and Sabre Compare?

The two-letter codes are shared across the industry, but each reservation system documents them in its own way and adds codes of its own. The table compares what the official documentation of each system says for the codes travellers meet most.

Two points stand out. First, the same letters can mean slightly different things: PK is a confirmed passive segment in Amadeus but a discounted-passenger code in Travelport’s Universal API. Second, passive codes differ by system: Amadeus uses GK and PK, while Galileo lists AK, GK and BK. Sabre’s quick reference shows a change of segment status entered as, for example, .1HK; its code list sits in Sabre’s own Format Finder.

What Do Advice Codes Turn Into?

Amadeus separates advice codes, which an airline sends to report a change or a reply, from the status codes the segment settles into once the agent accepts them. Its Service Hub table maps each advice code to its resulting status.

Amadeus says the ERK entry accepts all advice codes in a record at once, and that inactive advice codes (NO, UN, HX and UC) move automatically to the record’s history. A segment you saw as UC yesterday may simply have disappeared from today’s display for that reason.

What Does a Real Schedule-Change Display Look Like?

Amadeus’s own help page uses this sample record to show a schedule change. Segment 2 has the TK code; the others are HK.

1.JONES/JANE MRS
2  6X6251 C 15MAY 6 MADJFK TK1  1330 1510
3  7X 971 F 18MAY 2 JFKLAX HK1  0730 1040
4  7X 006 F 21MAY 5 LAXJFK HK1  0840 1705
5  6X6250 C 21MAY 5 JFKMAD HK1  1830 0625+1

Amadeus shows that entering 2/HK accepts the change and line 2 then reads HK1. For a traveller, the lesson is simple: TK means the seat is still yours, but the times have moved, and any visa form or itinerary using the old times should be updated.

How Do You Tell a Ticket Number From a Booking Reference?

A status code tells you about the seat. Whether you have paid for it shows in the ticket number. Airlines describe it on their own sites: American Airlines says the ticket number is a unique 13-digit number whose first three digits are the airline code, always 001 for American. Iberia says the e-ticket number is a 13-digit code whose first three numbers identify the issuing airline, 075 for Iberia. ANA says tickets it issues have a 13-digit number starting with 205.

A visa reservation normally has a booking reference and HK segments but no ticket number. That is what it is. A DummyFlights reservation costs $15 per person, carries a PNR valid for 48-72 hours and includes free date changes within the same day of booking. Read our guide to checking whether a ticket is real for the full verification steps.

What Do Four More Worked Examples Show?

HK1 on every line, no ticket number

A confirmed reservation. It shows held seats on the dates in the file. It is not a ticket and cannot be used to board.

HK2 on one line, HK1 on another

The first flight is held for two passengers, the second for only one. One traveller is missing from the second flight, a mismatch a visa officer or airline would spot.

UN1 on the return

In Amadeus’s and Travelport’s terms, the flight does not operate or no flight exists. The return needs rebooking before the itinerary is used.

GK1 lines in an itinerary from an agency

Passive segments: recorded in that system rather than sold through it. Look the booking up on the airline’s own site to see whether the airline holds the seat.

Which Less Common Codes Appear in Travelport’s Universal API?

Travelport’s Universal API list is longer than the classic Galileo table and includes codes tied to check-in, ancillaries and schedule changes. These can appear on agency itineraries generated from Travelport systems.

NS deserves attention. If a segment shows NS, the airline recorded you as not flying it. Ask the airline what that means for the rest of your itinerary before you travel on later segments.

Do Special Service Requests Use the Same Codes?

Yes. Requests such as a special meal or wheelchair assistance are sent to the airline as special service requests (SSRs) and come back with status codes too. Amadeus lists the SSR status codes an airline may return as KK, KL, TK, TL, TN, US, UU, UN, UC, HX or NO, and warns agents to acknowledge them before ending the transaction.

An SSR status says nothing about whether your seat is confirmed. A UC on a meal request does not affect the flight. Read the segment lines for the seat and the SSR lines for the services.

How Should You Use Status Codes When a Visa Officer Checks?

1. Before submitting, open the booking on the airline’s site and check the segments are confirmed.

2. Make sure the passenger names match the passport and the number of seats matches the number of travellers.

3. If a TK or SC appears, update the dates or times on your forms before you submit.

4. Remember the airline site may show only the booking, not codes; a confirmed flight on the site is what matters.

5. Do not present a waitlisted, unable or cancelled segment as your exit flight.

Consular officers and airlines check the live booking, not your PDF. A clean record with confirmed segments and matching dates is the goal, whatever system produced it.

Which Sources Does This Page Use?

• Galileo Air Status Codes, Travelport.

• Your airline’s manage-booking page for live status.

• Amadeus Service Hub: How to understand Status, Action and Advice Codes

• Amadeus Service Hub: How to change the segment status code (Cryptic)

• Travelport Universal API: Air Status Codes

• Sabre Quick Reference (change segment status format)

• American Airlines: Reservations and tickets FAQs

• Iberia: electronic ticket

• ANA: Tickets/EMDs

Read the Code, Then Check the Airline

PNR status codes tell you the state of each flight segment: confirmed, pending, waitlisted, changed or cancelled. They do not tell you whether a ticket is issued. Use the decoder for a quick reading, then confirm on the airline’s own site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Friendly reminder: Reservation-system codes can vary between systems and airlines. A status code describes a booking segment; it does not guarantee boarding, a visa or entry. Confirm any status with the airline that holds the booking.