How to Read an Air Waybill: A Field-by-Field Guide

The air waybill is the contract of carriage between the shipper and the airline, the receipt for the goods, and the document that follows the freight from the acceptance warehouse to the consignee. It is also a dense form with dozens of numbered boxes, most of which the average importer never needs to look at. This guide walks through the standard IATA layout box by box, explains what each field actually means in day-to-day operations, and ends with the handful of fields that matter when you want to track a shipment.

The layout at a glance

The IATA air waybill uses a fixed layout so that any airline, handler or customs officer can find the same information in the same place. The top half holds the parties and routing; the middle holds the charges declaration, handling information and rate lines; the bottom holds the charge summary, other charges and signatures.

The AWB number

The number appears in the top-left and top-right corners, and usually again at the bottom. It has two parts:

• Airline prefix (3 digits): identifies the issuing carrier. For example, 020 is Lufthansa Cargo, 235 is Turkish Cargo and 157 is Qatar Airways Cargo. The full list is on our airline prefixes page.
• Serial number (8 digits): the last of which is a check digit. A number such as 235-94456121 reads as prefix 235, serial 9445612, check digit 1. The check digit guide explains the arithmetic.

Shipper and consignee

The shipper's name and address box sits top-left, with a separate small box for the shipper's account number (used by some carriers for credit accounts, often left blank). Below it is the consignee box, with its own account number field. On a consolidated shipment the shipper on the airline's waybill is usually the origin forwarder and the consignee is the destination forwarder or agent, not the actual buyer and seller. That distinction is covered in Master AWB vs House AWB.

Issuing carrier's agent

This block names the agent who prepared the waybill on behalf of the airline, usually a freight forwarder. It contains:

• Agent's name and city.
• Agent's IATA code: a numeric code assigned to IATA cargo agents, which airlines use for commission and settlement purposes.
• Account No.: the agent's account with the carrier, if one is used.

If a shipment gets stuck, this is the party to call first: airlines normally deal with the agent, not the end customer.

Departure, routing and destination

The Airport of Departure box holds the origin airport, sometimes with the requested routing. Underneath is a row of "To" and "By" boxes:

• To / By first carrier: the first transfer or destination airport and the first carrier. A shipment from BEG to DOH via IST might show "To IST, By First Carrier Turkish Cargo".
• To / By (second and third pairs): further transfer points and carriers, if any.

The Airport of Destination box holds the final airport, and the Requested Flight/Date boxes may show a booked flight. Treat these as the plan at the time of issue. Airlines re-route and re-book freight regularly, and the live tracking events, not the printed routing, tell you what actually happened.

Accounting information, currency and charge codes

The Accounting Information box is free text for payment and billing notes. Next to it:

• Currency: the ISO currency code in which charges are stated, such as EUR or USD.
• CHGS Code: a short code describing the payment method for charges, used mainly in airline billing.
• WT/VAL (weight charge and valuation charge) with PPD and COLL columns: an "X" or similar mark shows whether the freight charge is prepaid at origin or collected at destination.
• Other with PPD and COLL columns: the same choice for other charges.

Prepaid versus collect usually follows the agreed Incoterm: EXW and FCA sales are often freight collect, CPT and CIP sales usually prepaid.

Declared values and insurance

• Declared Value for Carriage: a value declared to the airline to raise its liability above the standard limit. Most shippers enter NVD (no value declared), accepting the default liability and avoiding a valuation charge.
• Declared Value for Customs: the value for customs purposes, or NCV (no commercial value) where appropriate. In practice many shipments show "AS PER INV", pointing to the commercial invoice.
• Amount of Insurance: used only when insurance is bought through the carrier. It is commonly blank or "NIL", because cargo insurance is usually arranged separately.

Handling information

This free-text box carries notify parties, attached documents ("COMMERCIAL INVOICE ATTACHED"), temperature instructions or dangerous goods references. It is also where the SCI (Special Customs Information) field appears on the current layout, which some customs administrations use for specific codes. Special handling codes, such as PER for perishables or AVI for live animals, are often printed here or near it. If a shipment is held at a hub, this box often hints at why.

The rate description lines

Each rate line describes a group of pieces and how they were charged:

The numbers above are illustrative. Common rate class codes include M (minimum charge), N (normal rate, typically under 45 kg), Q (quantity rate for higher weight breaks) and C (specific commodity rate). Others exist for class rates and ULD-based pricing, and their use varies by carrier.

Notice that the chargeable weight in the example is 640 kg even though the scale weight is only 212 kg. Four pieces of 120 × 80 × 100 cm add up to 3.84 m³, and at the common 1:6000 volumetric factor (6,000 cm³ per kg) that works out to 640 kg. Light, bulky freight is charged on volume. Our chargeable weight calculator and chargeable weight guide show how to check it.

Charge summary and other charges

The bottom-left block summarises charges in two columns, Prepaid and Collect: weight charge, valuation charge, tax, total other charges due agent, total other charges due carrier, and the grand total.

The Other Charges box lists individual surcharges with a code and an indicator of who they are due to: the agent (often suffixed A) or the carrier (often suffixed C). Common examples include:

• AWC: air waybill fee.
• MYC: fuel surcharge, used by many carriers.
• SCC: security surcharge, used by many carriers.

These are common examples, not a complete or binding list. Codes and amounts depend on the carrier and the agent, so query anything you do not recognise with whoever invoiced you.

Signatures: shipper and carrier

The Shipper's Certification box confirms that the details on the face are correct and, where relevant, that dangerous goods are properly described. It is signed by the shipper or its agent. The Carrier Execution box records the date and place of issue and the signature of the carrier or its agent.

Originals, copies and the e-AWB

A paper set has three originals: one for the issuing carrier, one for the consignee (travelling with the goods) and one for the shipper as a receipt, plus copies for the delivery receipt, airports and agents. Increasingly, none of it is printed. Under the electronic air waybill (e-AWB), the contract is concluded electronically, governed by the IATA Multilateral e-AWB Agreement, with the waybill data exchanged as electronic messages. The legal basis for paperless carriage is the Montreal Convention (MC99). The fields described above still exist; they just live in a data message rather than on a form.

Where to find what you need for tracking

1. The AWB number, top corners. Copy all 11 digits, including any leading zero in the prefix.
2. The issuing carrier, identified by the prefix. It tells you which airline's system holds the status.
3. Origin and destination airports, to make sense of status messages that refer to station codes.
4. Pieces and gross weight, to spot partial shipments in tracking events.
5. The issuing agent, the contact to call if tracking shows a problem.

If the number on your paperwork does not look like a 3+8 format, it may be a house waybill from a forwarder, which airline systems will not recognise.

Tracking your waybill on AWBTracking.net

Once you have the 11-digit number, enter it on our free lookup page to see the latest events from the issuing airline. If an event mentions an airport code, compare it with the routing on your waybill to see where the shipment is in its journey.