Travel agent frequently asked questions

The person who will administer the company’s account should go to the Travel Industry Portal at
https://agency.reservia.viarail.ca/agency/loginagency.aspx?l=EN

You can also access the Travel Industry Portal just by clicking the "Travel Agent" link above the booking engine.

As a pre-requisite for registering your agency to use VIA's online booking engine, your agency must have an IATA / ARC / TIDS / TSI number and be qualified with Travel Industry Exchange Settlement Solutions (TIESS).

Then click Register Now in the Travel Agent Registration box and complete the registration form.

You need to accept the agreement and click save to complete the registration.

You will now be logged in as the administrator and can create agent profiles from which to book VIA online by clicking the "Add Agent" button. You can create as many profiles as your situation requires. Once you have completed administering your company’s account, you must logout because the administrator account can only be used for creating or editing agent profiles- it cannot be used to book.

Your starting point will always be the Travel Industry Portal found by clicking the Travel Agent Login link on our home page (in English or French), www.viarail.ca. Once on the portal, you will login to your agent profile using the information provided by your company’s administrator.

Once you login to your agent profile, this is what you'll see- a user-friendly fill-in-the-blanks process.

After clicking "Search"

After clicking "Select and Continue"

After clicking "Book Now" you will be taken to your agent contact information screen as the agent name will appear on the e-mail confirmation. If everything is correct, click "Continue"- if you wish to make any changes, you may do so prior to clicking "Continue".

After clicking "Continue" Fill in the passengers names

After clicking "Continue"

After clicking "Continue"

After clicking "Book and Pay"

and 3 seconds later,

Please ensure that you provide this confirmation to your client by clicking the "Email this confirmation to your client" link which will give you a choice of sending in either English or French (see screenshot below). If your client doesn't have an e-mail address, simply click on “View print version”, print it and fax it to the client. The client will then either swipe the bar code of this confirmation at a kiosk or give it to the agent at the ticket counter to obtain his/her ticket at the departure station. If you want to make a second reservation, you can click the "New Search" link and you will be back on the first page again.

You can now shop for fares during the booking process by clicking on the "Shop for fares" button on the "Review your client's itinerary and fare" page (see screenshot below).

Once you click on the "Shop for fares" button a smaller window will open showing the screen below.

Select a different class of service or fare from the dropdown menu then click on the "Get new fare" button to see what the fare would be.

If you wish to book with the new fare, click on the "Book new fare" button then the small window will close and you will be ready to continue the booking with the new fare.

Once you login to your agent profile, this is what you'll see- a user-friendly fill-in-the-blanks process.

After clicking on the "Multi-city" option, you'll see the following screen

After clicking on the "Search" button at the bottom of the screen, if there is no train service offered on one or more of the segments you have requested, the system will refresh the same screen with red text advising you accordingly. It will also provide you with the next date that the service requested is offered, for your convenience.

Once you have made any necessary date changes, click on the "Search" button at the bottom of the screen to select the train and class on your first segment.

After clicking "Select and Continue", you will make your choice for the next segment

If you are booking travel in a sleeping car accommodation on one of our trains, for your convenience and to ensure the best fare for the trip requested, the system displays only the same type of accommodation, or Economy class fares, for subsequent trips on the same train.
Note: if the type of accommodation you selected is showing as "Sold Out", you can either select different travel dates or contact us by e-mail at service@viarail.ca for options.
After clicking "Select and Continue" on your final segment, you will see the review of the itinerary and fare

After clicking the "Book Now" button at the bottom of the screen you will be taken to your agent contact information

After clicking "Continue", fill in the passenger's name(s)

After clicking the "Continue" button, you will see the final review prior to the completion of the booking.

After accepting the fare rules, click "Book and Pay" to finalize the process

Please ensure that you provide this confirmation to your client by clicking the "Email this confirmation to your client" link which will give you a choice of sending in either English or French, with or without the fare (the default). If your client doesn't have an e-mail address, simply click on “View print version”, print it and fax it to the client. The client will then either swipe the bar code of this confirmation at a kiosk or give it to the agent at the ticket counter to obtain his/her ticket at the departure station. If you want to make another booking, you can click the "New Search" link and you will be back on the first page again.

You cannot currently make changes to a booking online in real-time but VIA is making every effort to provide this functionality within the next year. In the meantime, you will need to rebook then cancel the original reservation online by clicking View/Cancel bookings from within your agent profile or in extraordinary circumstances, by e-mailing service@viarail.ca for other options.
Here's a screen by screen walkthrough of a cancellation. Start searching for bookings by family name (you can also search by confirmation number) then click the "Search" button.

Then click on the "Cancel" link beside the confirmation number to be cancelled to see the screen below

This screen shows any service charges or non-refundable amounts that would be applicable to the cancellation/refund. VIA has implemented a 24-hour grace period to permit cancellations without any VIA service charges (prior to train departure, of course)- even if the booking was otherwise non-refundable. Please note that VIA has no control over, nor will accept liability for, any exchange rate fluctuations or currency exchange fees that may be assessed by credit card companies. It is important to note that the cancellation is only processed after the "Cancel this Trip" button is clicked, displaying the screen below.

You cannot currently book this type of accommodation online, so you must contact service@viarail.ca who will book the desired itineraries for you (subject to availability).

Please ensure to provide your WEB account number in the Subject line so that they can provide the public fare and your private net rate.

You will then create an e-voucher to make commissionable payment for the booking. The e-voucher number must be communicated to service@viarail.ca at least 48 hours prior to the ticket deadline provided to protect the booking against any fare change or cancellation.

Yes.

Overoccupied sleepers (i.e. 3 people in a double bedroom), group bookings (10 or more passengers), and/or passengers with special needs cannot be booked online so you must contact service@viarail.ca who will book the desired itineraries for you (subject to availability).

Please ensure to provide your WEB account number in the Subject line so that they can provide the public fare and your private net rate. You will then create an e-voucher to make commissionable payment for the booking.

The e-voucher number must be communicated to service@viarail.ca at least 48 hours prior to the ticket deadline provided to protect the booking against any fare change or cancellation.

It is very easy to create - you just click on the "Click here" link immediately below the description of the VIA e-voucher on the left side of the screen you see when you first login to your agent profile.

Once you click the e-voucher link you will see something like

After clicking "Continue" you will see a recap of what you typed on the first page. If everything looks right, click “Continue”. If there is an error, click back then fix it.

After clicking "Continue" you will be taken to your agent contact information screen as the agent name will appear on the e-voucher. If everything is correct, click "Continue". If you wish to make any changes, you may do so prior to clicking "Continue".

After clicking "Continue" you will be on the payment screen

After clicking "Purchase now" you will see the e-voucher on your screen; it will also be automatically e-mailed to the address shown on your agent contact information screen.

Please ensure that you provide this confirmation to your client by clicking the "Email this confirmation to your client" link which will offer you a choice of sending it in either English or French. If your client doesn't have an e-mail address, simply click the "View Print Version" button to print it or fax it to the client. The client will then exchange the e-voucher at the ticket counter to obtain his/her ticket at the departure station. Please advise service@viarail.ca of the e-voucher number at least 24 hours prior to the ticket deadline provided (to allow for time zones and office hours) to guarantee the fare and protect the reservation against cancellation. If you wish to create a second e-voucher, you can click the "Start New Search" link and you will see the link to create the e-voucher on your left as before.

Once you are logged into your agent profile, you click on the "View/Cancel Booking" link near the upper left corner of the screen then search by either the confirmation number or client's last name.

You will then click on the confirmation number (NQV394 in this case) to display the screen that appeared when the original booking was made.

At this point you simply click the "E-mail this confirmation to your client" link to send the confirmation.

On the next srceen, you select either English or French, enter the client's e-mail address and click Send.

If everything went well, you should see a confirmation message.

Once logged into your agent profile, you need to click on the "Agent Profile" link at the upper left corner of the screen, displaying something similar to the screen below.

You then click the "View Client's e-voucher" link in the Client's Purchases section to display the screen below where you can either search by confirmation number or client's last name.

At this point, you simply click on the FTR number (e-voucher confirmation number) link that you wish to resend.

Click on the "E-mail this confirmation to your client" link to resend the confirmation without fare, in either English or French.

We are here to help, you can reach us at:

Customer Support

Customer Support Desk (7 days a week) service@viarail.ca.

VIA Bookings Office Toll free (within North America) 1 888 842-0744.
 

Technical Support :

Agency Support Desk (Monday to Friday) agency_support@viarail.ca,

or

Toll-Free (within North America) 1 800 361-8010.