The value of <xmlRequest>, above, is not valid XML, so Xpath will not work:
<PACKING_REQUEST_LIST _Version="x.x" _PSV="y.y" _PSN="orange" _BookingType="Internet"><USER _Username="XXXXX" _Password="*******" /><EMT_PAC XOSIdentifier="x.xx" _ID="NONE"></EMT_PAC></PACKAGE_REQUEST_LIST>
There is no ending element for PACKING_REQUEST_LIST.
<PACKING_REQUEST_LIST _Version="x.x" _PSV="y.y" _PSN="orange" _BookingType="Internet">
<USER _Username="XXXXX" _Password="*******" />
<EMT_PAC XOSIdentifier="x.xx" _ID="NONE"/>
</PACKAGE_REQUEST_LIST>
1. Read your entire Soap payload into a Parse Text as Response utility step. Assign the value of the Soap document to fl_payload.
A. Create an XML Xpath Filter that uses fl_payload and Xpaths the xmlRequest element. Assign the Filter a name such as fl_xmlToParse. Also, notice that DevTest decoded the > and < as part of this step.
B. Create an XML Xpath Filter that uses fl_xmlToParse and try to Xpath the attribute _bookingtype. Assign the Filter a property name of fl_bookingType.
Run the filter and you will notice that the the fl_bookingType is empty.
4. Copy Paste the Parse Text as Response from Step 1.
A. Modify the body text and change the starting XML element to <PACKAGE_REQUEST_LIST.
B. Test the Parse
C. Rerun the Filters and examine the result.
Attached is a sample test case with two steps that do the above. The First step will not locate the _bookingtype attribute, but the second step does. Rather than adding code to decode, see if the approach in the Test Case step can be modified to do what you want it to do.