Comnet runs direct Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections to all tour operator participants (see Hardware and Network Specifications). There is no "third party" switch involved. Content from the tour operators is uploaded into the Comnet database. The vast majority of inventory searches occur on this "cache" of product. This process is mandated directly by the tour operators themselves so as to minimize any access strain on the tour operator system that multiple, simultaneous searches would incur. Although the number of records in the cache database fluctuates according to season, we often have over 1 million records in the database and we consistently see over 1 million searches per month.

When a search has been completed and a result set produced, the system routes to the tour operator in order to verify that the pricing is correct and that the seat is still available. This process is essential to avoid selling product at the wrong price or that is not available.

Tour operators will sometimes change the pricing of product during the day. This is particularly true for charter flights. Since Comnet refreshes the database content overnight, these changes will not show up in the cache. Unfortunately the tour operators do not have the resource to allow us to refresh the data multiple times during the day. To do so would severely impact the daily performance of the tour operator computer. However, any time a price check reveals an inaccurate record, the system will update the cache to present the correct information the next time there is a request for that product. We also work with some tour operators to allow us to update the near term flights more than once per day. We are currently working on other methods to improve the consistency of the product, but 100% accuracy, 100% of the time is just not possible. Despite this Comnet is proud to achieve 98%+ accuracy.