domain project / travel

Travel & Booking

Test strategies for flight/hotel search, availability engines, booking flows, pricing engines, and loyalty programmes.

Flight & hotel searchReal-time availabilityBooking & paymentItinerary managementDynamic pricingLoyalty & rewards

Domain Overview

Travel & booking platforms are time-sensitive and price-volatile — availability and pricing can change between search and payment. Testing must cover real-time inventory, complex multi-leg itineraries, third-party GDS integrations, and regulated passenger data handling.

Typical stack: React / Angular frontend, fare aggregator APIs (Amadeus, Sabre), payment gateway, PNR record system, email/SMS notification service.

Key Test Areas

Area	What to test	Risk
Search	Origin/destination combos, date ranges, no-results state, invalid airport codes	Zero results or wrong results shown
Availability	Seats/rooms in real time, seat-map rendering, sold-out handling	Oversell, customer frustration
Pricing	Base fare + taxes + fees = total displayed, currency formatting	Price mismatch, regulatory breach
Booking	Passenger details form, seat selection, ancillary add-ons, payment	Booking failure, wrong seat assigned
Itinerary	View, modify dates, cancel, refund calculation	Customer stranded, wrong refund
Loyalty	Points earn on booking, redemption at checkout, balance display	Points lost, programme distrust

Test Pyramid for Travel & Booking

Unit (60%):   Fare calculation, tax rules, points earn formula, date validation
Integration (30%): Search API, availability feed, GDS booking call, loyalty ledger
E2E (10%):    Search → select → passenger details → seat → payment → confirmation

Critical E2E tests (must pass before every deploy):

Round-trip flight search returns results and shows correct total price
Complete booking flow with passenger details and card payment
Cancel booking, verify refund amount matches policy
Loyalty points credited after booking completion
Date picker rejects past departure dates

Common Failure Scenarios

1. Price changes between search and checkout → customer sees different total
   Test: mock search API, then change mock price before checkout, assert price-lock warning shown

2. Seat availability race condition → two users select same seat
   Test: concurrent seat selection API calls, assert only one succeeds

3. Baggage fee not included in total shown → customer surprise at checkout
   Test: add checked bag, verify total = base + taxes + baggage fee

4. Date picker allows past dates → booking fails server-side
   Test: keyboard-navigate calendar to yesterday, assert date is disabled or error shown

5. Multi-city booking drops third leg → incomplete itinerary confirmed
   Test: add three legs, submit, verify confirmation email lists all three segments

Playwright Patterns for Travel & Booking

// Mock flight search API and verify price display
test('search results display correct price from API', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.route('**/api/flights/search', route => {
    route.fulfill({
      status: 200,
      contentType: 'application/json',
      body: JSON.stringify({
        results: [{ id: 'FL123', total: 284.50, currency: 'USD', breakdown: { base: 240, taxes: 44.50 } }]
      })
    });
  });
  await page.goto('/flights');
  await page.getByLabel('From').fill('LHR');
  await page.getByLabel('To').fill('JFK');
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Search' }).click();
  await expect(page.getByTestId('flight-total')).toHaveText('$284.50');
});

// Calendar date picker keyboard navigation
test('date picker supports keyboard navigation', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/flights');
  await page.getByLabel('Departure date').click();
  // Navigate forward one month with ArrowRight, select with Enter
  await page.keyboard.press('ArrowRight');
  await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
  await expect(page.getByLabel('Departure date')).not.toHaveValue('');
});