Within this article, you’ll learn about all of the parameters to make a static search mean. You can enter many pieces of information to narrow down your search to make sure you’re seeing the most relevant rates to make your quotation.
Let’s have a look at the search parameters which are available by clicking on the Air tab.
1. The initial search bar
The above image you will see when you first click on the Air tab. Here you can enter:
Origin (From) and Destination (To) - you can add more than one origin or destination if you want to see rates from different airports.
Added profit - this will be shown in your account’s default currency, but you can change this by selecting the Currency from the selectors to the left hand side. You can choose to have the profit applied per KG, %, or a lump sum Total to the shipment. You will only be able to select Total if you select the Indicate weights or the Add Pieces options when making a rate search.
Important: total profit entered in this box is calculated by a per KG rate.
Date of departure - Indicates the date closest to your desired departure date.
Service - depending on what you’re shipping, you can select the product or Service from this dropdown.
2. Adding more parameters to your search
You can narrow down your search even more by adding more parameters.
Airline: if you wish to see specific rates from an airline, you can enter the name or the prefix and select it from the dropdown.
Customer: if you’ve previously added Customer Profiles (Clients, Global Customers, Profiles) you can select these from the drop-down.
Screened/Unscreened: specify whether your shipment needs to go through a screening procedure.
Sort: choose how you want to sort your results. These can be based on a variety of factors such as rate, departure and arrival dates, and alphabetical order based on the airline.
Currency: choose the currency you’d like to have your search results in. You will see how when you change the currency, it will show you the exchange rate based on current exchange rates taken directly from Open Exchange. If you wish to alter or add your own exchange rate you can also do this.
Surcharges: for any custom surcharges you’ve added to your account, you can select them from this dropdown. Find out how to view surcharges in this article.
Filter: Add filters to your search, such as whether you want to see Direct flights, Widebody aircraft only, or whether you want to see Contract or Promo rates.
Branch: if you have added a branch, you can choose to filter by branch type too.
3. Adding weight breaks and pieces
Finally, you can choose to add weight breaks, indicate weights and add pieces to your quote.
Weight Breaks Breakdown
If you wish to add profits to your quote for specific weight breaks, click on the Breakdown tab. Use this section if you just want a general rate search and do not have the specific weights and dimensions.
Select your profits for each weight break, as well as selecting specific weight breaks you want to see in the search results. Choose whether this profit should be shown per KG or per % from the dropdown.
If you want to have the profits on the weight breaks in a different currency, click on the Currency dropdown.
Once you’ve entered your profits on the weight breaks, click on the Rates button to make a search, or continue reading if you want to find out how to Indicate weights.
There are two ways you can enter the weights and dimensions of your shipment. The first is by clicking on the Indicate weights tab when making a quote.
Indicate weights
Important: do not mix Breakdown, Indicate Weights or Add Pieces. You should always only select one way of searching.
Here you can enter the Gross weight (KG) and Volume (cbms) in the corresponding boxes. The Volumetric Weight will automatically calculate depending on the Volume entered and vice versa.
Enter the number of Pieces and, if you’re shipping Dangerous Goods, enter the amount of UNs in the # Different UNs box.
If you require insurance for your shipment, enter the Cargo Value in the box. This is only relevant if you have insurance as an additional service to sell under your local charges.
Finally, for the Indicate Weights section, you’ll need to specify what you want the total price to calculate.
The options selected from this dropdown will show what is included in the total column in the search results (located under the total section in the quote search results).
Include all - Never use because that will include various different fees.
Freight + Fuel + Risk - this is the most common selection because freight forwarders usually have their own fees. You will therefore have the rates from the airline but may choose to charge a different price to your client.
Freight + Fuel + Risk + Handling/Screening - Same as above, but including handling and screening fees too.
Include mandatory - This is when you want to choose to pass on the same amount you are being charged by the airline to your customer.
The surcharges in quotes will reflect what option you have chosen in the Total Calculate dropdown.
Adding separate pieces
Another way you can calculate totals is by using the Add Pieces section. This section is defaulted to KG/CM (metric) for everywhere in the world except for the US which is defaulted to LBs/INs (imperial).
You can put the pieces, weights and dims for your shipment here. If you need to add different rows, you can click on the plus symbol and it will add one for you. Remove rows by clicking on the red rubbish can.
Depending on the measurements you enter in this section, the Gross Weight, Volumetric Weight and Volume will be automatically calculated.
Click on Rates once you have entered your cargo information. On the quote search results page, you should be able to see the Total buy rate depending on the entered information. You can now go through and choose the most suitable rates for your quotation.