What is AQS and how does it work?
-
Automated Quote Suppression (AQS) is a tool that uses DV data to determine whether travellers are landing on inaccurate quotes.
-
If AQS picks up an inaccurate landing, AQS will automatically generate a suppression rule for that specific itinerary, but the suppression rule will not be activated yet.
-
The suppression rule will only be activated if another user happens to search the exact same itinerary within the next 30 minutes.
-
Once and if the suppression rule is activated, the suppression will last for a duration between 30 mins to 6 hours (duration determined by the partner’s PA performance overtime) before suppression is lifted.
-
This is to:
-
Ensure travellers do not land on the same inaccurate quote
-
Allow time for prices to refresh
-
What does AQS consider as inaccurate?
AQS will only consider quotes as inaccurate following our price accuracy threshold of -4% to +1% or -25 EUR to +7 EUR. AQS will only suppress quotes with inaccuracies beyond this threshold.
Why is Skyscanner applying AQS on partners?
AQS aims to guarantee that travellers get the best experience by preventing instances of encountering inaccurate prices upon landing. Suppressing inaccurate quotes for a duration between 30 mins to 6 hours also provides an opportunity for prices to update, which could be necessary to account for factors like caching.
In any case, if inaccurate quotes were not suppressed and travellers were to end up landing on an inaccurate quote, the likelihood of booking is minimal since the prices are not what travellers were expecting. By minimising the occurrences of travellers encountering inaccurate quotes, partners' PQS scores are safeguarded as well. There's a higher possibility that travellers will rate negatively if they encounter price inaccuracies.