If a flight was already approved and the employee then cleared the cart or returned to the selection step, a repeat approval is not required under certain conditions. The system recognizes the same offer by a stable key and automatically reuses the prior approval.
Validity window — 24 hours
Approval is valid for 24 hours from the moment the director approves (previously this was 1 hour). Within those 24 hours, re-adding the same flight does not require a new approval.
When the prior approval is reused
Repeat approval is NOT required if ALL four conditions are met at the same time:
- Same route — same departure and arrival airports.
- Same departure date and, if applicable, the same return date.
- Same cabin class — Economy / Business / First.
- No more than 24 hours have passed since the original approval.
When a new approval IS needed
Any change to the offer parameters is treated as a new offer and requires a new approval:
- Route changed — including a nearby airport (e.g. SVO instead of VKO).
- Departure or return date changed.
- Cabin class changed — e.g. Economy → Business.
- More than 24 hours have passed since approval.
How it works under the hood
The system builds a stable offer key (approvalKey) from the route, dates and cabin class. When the flight is re-added to the cart, the system compares the key against prior approvals — if there is a match and it is still inside the 24-hour window, the prior approval is reused automatically.
Frequently asked questions
I cleared the cart after approval — do I need to re-approve? If you add the exact same flight (same route, dates and cabin class) and less than 24 hours have passed since approval — no, the approval is reused automatically. If even one parameter differs or more than 24 hours have passed — a new approval is needed.
What if I pick a different cabin class on the same flight? That is treated as a new offer — a new approval is needed.
Does a nearby airport count as the same route? No. Each airport is a separate route. For example, Moscow SVO and Moscow VKO are different departure points — switching between them requires a new approval.
The approval used to be valid for only 1 hour — has that changed? Yes, the window has been extended to 24 hours.
If you have questions
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