Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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REALTIME ONLINE TRAVEL INFORMATION AND
RESERVATIONS SYSTEMS AND SERVICE
Field of the lnvention
The present invention is a real-time online travel information and
reservations system and
service accessible through the Internet. It is designed to access, query,
match and sort
information from net fare (wholesale fare), customer reservation system, and
tour operator
system databases via an Internet interface.
Background of the Invention
The travel business is dependent on a relatively small number of Computer
Reservation
Systems (CRS) in order to gain access to databases that maintain air travel
schedule and seat
availability information, and to enable reservations. For example, one of
these CRS's is "Sabre",
which is part of the Sabre Group, a sister company of American Airlines.
Sabre, along with the
other CRS companies, provides a significant portion of the travel trade with
the ability to look up
and book the scheduled and net fares of the majority of the large scheduled
air carriers in the
world. The travel agency has access to typically one CRS via direct line
connections and logins
with an individualized city code. The travel agency enters into a contract
with its chosen CRS for
access to their system, and in general the agency get rebates from the CRS for
hitting certain pre-
agreed reservation volumes, and gets penalized for doing too many enquiries on
the CRS without
generating a reservation. Every time a reservation is made on the CRS, a
Passenger Number
Record (PNR) is generated. The airlines are billed a booking fee by the CRS
for each airport to
airport leg (segment) of a reserved flight. Individual airlines also have
their own Airline
Reservation Systems (ARS), e.g. British Airways' system is known as BABS. The
CRS also
provides to the user direct connections to the airline reservation systems.
There are two ways for a traveler to book a flight:
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1. through the airline either in person, over the phone, or over the Internet;
or
2. through a travel agent either in person, over the phone, or over the
Internet.
The vast rnaj ority of bookings are still done through travel agents.
In the prior art, a traveler can contact a travel agent or airline, as well as
conduct an
Internet search. The travel agent will confirm the travel dates,
departure/destination cities, and
number of travelers. The travel agent may access hard copy price lists, a CRS
(and ARSs), and
other databases, or a wholesaler agency (consolidator) directly to find a list
of air carriers that are
applicable. The travel agent will then interact with the airline directly or
through the wholesale
travel agency, or through the CRS and other database systems to determine
availability of flights,
subject to the attendant restrictions for each air carrier and flight option.
In the prior art, a wholesale or retail travel agent would have to separately
and
sequentially access the several database systems, e.g. net fare databases for
wholesale fares, tour
operator systems for charter flights, a CRS and ARS's for scheduled and
current seat sale fares,
in order to completely answer a traveler's questions about all available
lowest fares, routing,
conditions, seat availability, etc.
When the traveler has agreed on a flight option, the travel agent will proceed
to book the
flight. At that point, payment can be applied and the flight reservation file
or PNR can be
completed. For a knowledgeable travel agent, this whole process of searching
for and booking a
reservation can take an average of 5 minutes but can easily exceed 20 minutes
to do a thorough
search in a tight availability market.
If the traveler conducts an Internet search for flights, they may log in to an
Internet travel
site such as Microsoft's Expedia. Expedia links to the same CRS (and ARSs) as
a travel agent
may use. This is essentially a do-it-yourself form of the travel agency
process and begins by
completing a login profile. One learns by trial and error to work one's way
through the screens to
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search for available flights and conduct a reservation. Significant time can
be spent and one is
not certain if the cheapest available fare has been booked. If too many
inquiries are made
through Expedia without making a booking, one may have their login profile
removed. If one
books through Expedia and wants to change the flight, one typically then has
to deal with the
airline directly.
U.S. Patent 5,021,953 discloses a travel planner system which automatically
constructs
itineraries with available seats for a traveler's trip request which conform
to pre-stored
reasonableness standards which includes a satisfactory check on whether a
connecting flight
distance exceeds that of a possible direct flight by a preset distance or
ratio.
U.S. Patent 5,864,822 discloses a computer system and a method for permitting
a
consumer to more effectively make use of a variety of available benefits from
a plurality of
goods and service providers, wherein the benefits are offered specifically to
those consumers
having an association with one or more enabling organizations.
U.S. Patent 5,897,620 discloses a method and apparatus for the sale of
unspecified-time
airline tickets representing a purchased seat on a flight to be selected later
by the airlines for a
traveler specified itinerary.
U.S. Patent 5,832,451 discloses a method for managing travel service
information which
generates a business entity profile and individual profile for customers.
U.S. Patent 5,839,114 discloses a database which stores data relating to each
computer
reservation system utilized by a travel agency and contains one or more
informational portfolios
that can be used to determine the computer reservation system preferences of
various parties,
such as, for example, an individual traveler, a business entity employing the
traveler and the
travel agency.
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U.S. Patent 5,331,546 discloses a travel planner system which automatically
constructs
itineraries with available seats for a traveler's trip request which conform
to pre-stored
reasonableness standards which include a satisfactory check on whether a
connecting flight
distance exceeds that of a possible direct flight by a preset distance or
ratio.
U.S. Patent 5,832,454 discloses a client side GUI reservation program which
accesses a
CRS session with basic availability and booking functionality using the
default CRS responses.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention is a real-time online travel information and
reservations system
and service accessible through the Internet. It is designed to access, query,
match and sort
information from net fare (wholesale fare), customer reservations system, and
tour operator
system databases via an Internet interface.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented
method of
making travel arrangements over the Internet via a standard browser. This
comprises
receiving from a user information concerning a travel request, the information
including at
least dates of travel, destination/departure cities, and number of travelers
(the travel input).
Based on the travel input, the system of the present invention displays a
table of flight
options sorted typically by price or any other pre defined criteria. The
flight options are
compiled first from a search on a private net fare database or contract
management system.
The results from this initial search then drives a further search within a
CRS/ARS with pre-
defined knowledge on the exact flight options that are to be evaluated for
price and
availability i.e. the net fares that are applicable from the first search.
A further search is then conducted within the CRS/ARS for scheduled airline
(non net
fare) options and availability, including any available seat sales. For some
deployments, an
additional search will be conducted within a tour operator system as well for
charter flights.
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All available flight options from these searches are then compiled and listed
for the user and
published within the user's Internet browser, denoting the net fare, scheduled
fare, and if
applicable, charter fare flight options.
It is a further object of the invention to verify seat availability based on
the dates of
travel and said destination. It is a further object of the invention to allow
the user to confirm
their travel selection. Another object of the invention is to allow the user
to apply payment to
book a ticket.
It is an object of the present invention to use the system and service for Air
Travel,
Trains, Cars and other forms of transportation, Hotels, Cruises and Insurance.
The present
invention is developed for interactive travel booking websites for access by
both professional
travel agents as well as websites designed specifically for the general
public.
It is an object of the present invention to automate and expedite the booking
of
reservations by wholesale (consolidator) travel agents and their retail and
business travel
agent customers, and directly by their consumer customers. It is an object of
the present
invention to offer the traveler a system that shows the best fares from the
selection of data
sources for which seats are available, plus all details and restrictions.
It is an object of the present invention to allow many travel options to be
evaluated
simultaneously, such as evaluating several flights simultaneously. The
timesavings from this
approach is significant. The system of the present invention can analyze many
different
routings and fare options applicable from the private net fare search within
the CRS
simultaneously, without increasing the wait time for the user. For example, a
typical task,
such as searching for various net fare and scheduled flight availability,
could take a
professional travel agent 5-20 minutes. This same task could be accomplished
by the present
invention in 30-45 seconds.
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It is an object of the pre;;ent invention to enable the user to book travel
itineraries with
the appropriate class selectio a, via. points, feeder airline, interline
carriers, gateways,
stopovers, etc. It is a further objet of the system to take into account when
booking certain
conditions, such as travel blackout periods.
It is a further object of the invention to monitor flight requests from the
users and map
this against completed bookings, in order to generate useful productivity
information for the
management of the travel agency.
_ Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is an example of an opening travel input screen.
FIG. 2 is an example of travel input criteria inputted.
FIG. 3 is an example of an availability screen from the travel search.
FIGS. 4A and 4B, when joined at match line A-A, is an example of a selected
flight's rules
screen.
FIGS. 5A and SB, when joined at match line A-A, is an example of a selected
flight's
segments screen.
FIGS. 6A and 6B, when joined at match line A-A, is an example of a selected
flight's
booking screen.
FIGS. 7A and 7B, when joined at match line A-A, show a first screen
illustrating an example
of a confirmation screen.
FIGS. 7C and 7D, when joined at match line A-A, show a second screen
illustrating an
example of a confirmation screen.
FIG. 8 is an example of a net fare contract management system.
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Description of Preferred Embodiments
The following are a list of features available with the present invention for
airline
reservations. Each of these features can be applied to any type of
reservations system, such as
for transportation or lodging where a reservation is required.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the system allows a user a high
speed
entry screen to capture travel dates, destination, the number of passengers
and categories
(child, senior, etc.), airline preference, requested stopover and different
return city (open jaw)
request. In a preferred embodiment, the system also provides a calendar GUI to
assist in
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determining the travel dates. In a preferred embodiment, the destination can
be searched by
key letters to retrieve either the city or city airport code.
The system of the present invention allows a user to find the best net fare
and
scheduled prices for the dates and itinerary selected (travel input). The
system of the present
invention takes the travel input and firstly searches on a private net fare
database to
determine applicable flight options. The private net fare database manages the
myriad of net
fare contracts that the applicable wholesaler to the user of the system has
negotiated with its
various airline suppliers. Once the applicable net fares that match the travel
input are
determined, the system then queries the CRS system live to determine if there
are seats
available for these pre-defined applicable flight options, after evaluating
whether all of the
net fare restrictions and conditions are met. In a preferred embodiment, the
system also
searches for applicable scheduled (non net fare) flight options by querying
the CRS with the
travel input as its search criteria.
In a preferred embodiment, all available flight options are displayed in order
sorted
by price. In a preferred embodiment, if there are seats available, a "select"
button is
displayed at the end of the pricing line which opens a window to view the
flight details.
In an embodiment of the present invention, once the flight details are
displayed, the
user can select both an out bound and a return flight. In a preferred
embodiment, the system
provides a window to collect passenger name data and then displays the PNR
confirmation
record from the issuing CRS and airline once a booking is made. In the booking
process the
transaction is actually done with the host airline ARS.
In a further embodiment, the user can apply payment at the time of booking or
at a
later date prior to the ticketing deadline. In a preferred embodiment the
payment module
accepts either checks or credit cards and allows delivery options for ticket
delivery.
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Additionally, this module also provides the user with the ability to purchase
various types of
tmp insurance.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the Passenger Number Record, PNR,
is
finished using an automated process. This finishing process which includes
adding several
fields of information to the reservation is required for the completion of the
booking process
and to support the downstream ticketing and accounting functions. In a
preferred
embodiment the PNR is finished with no errors and the system queues it to the
correct
location in approximately 10-40 seconds.
In a preferred embodiment, the system of the present invention allows an
administrative user to search for and access any PNR's booked within their
agency, branch or
by individual, depending on preference. The PNR can be accessed by date,
travelers name,
issuing agent, destination, locator number or any other method known in the
industry.
Payment onto an existing PNR can also be applied from this screen.
In one embodiment, the system of the present invention generates real time
data
concerning all aspects of the users' interaction with the system. For example
"look to book"
ratio's by agent, branch office, destination, etc. which display the percent
of sales made
compared to the overall search activity.
In a preferred embodiment, the system of the present invention interfaces to a
variety
of net fares systems. The invention uses a state of the art contract
management system to
manage net fares. In a preferred embodiment, the contract management system
provides a
flexible interface between the wholesaler client and the system. For example,
a wholesaler's
user can add new contracts with creative use of feeder and interline carriers,
manage block
inventory, or add complex discount and commission schemes in real time. After
the contract
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is updated, the next user request on the system uses the new information if
applicable to the
travel input.
In a preferred embodiment, the :system of the present invention allows a
selected
group of users to monitor in near real time, the activity on their site. For
example, it displays
what users are active, what city pair searches have been conducted, what
percentage of
business has been closed (by agent, company or destination), what PNR's have
been issued
and what payment records have been applied.
In a preferred embodiment, the system of the present invention provides user
data
base functionality to store both client and corporate information.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention will operate an Internet
based travel
and hospitality booking system, which will comprise the following services:
I. Allow the user to login over the World Wide Web (the "web") to the system,
setting up a user profile which can determine which features will be activated
during a session.
II. Accept input detailing requested city pairs, travel dates, airlines, open
jaw city,
stopover city, number of passengers and return or one way.
III. Using the above travel input, execute a search for the appropriate fares
from a
net fare database.
IV. The available net fares are displayed in a sorted order (based upon lowest
price).
Each line of the net fares list has been evaluated for availability and for a
potentially lower published price. Available published fare flights are
displayed
(if desired by the client), and are highlighted in the sorted order of the
queue. If
availability is found, a button at the end of a particular flight option is
displayed
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which, when activated, displays a screen of outbound and return flights
appropriate to the flight option.
V. The user may select the outbound and return flights and then activate the
book
button, which automatically books the selected itinerary and then prompts the
user for passenger name input.
VI. The system of the present invention will transact availability and booking
with
the appropriate Pseudo City and CRS applicable to the client travel agency.
VII. The travel agency file is read and automatically loaded into a PNR
record.
VIII. The user can designate an e-mail address or fax number different from
the file,
to which the itinerary will be sent.
IX. The PNR file will be sent through for ticketing within the agency
environment.
This will be accomplished by inputting specified lines within a specified
format
into the PNR and issuing the appropriate agency commands.
X. The system will have automated ticketing as a function.
XI. The appropriate CRS commands will also be issued to drive the Subscriber
back
office functions.
XII. Business Reporting - this screen allows search based retrieval of PNR's
by user,
time, destination, booking agent or agency, PNR number and date issued, as
well as certain scanned reports that may be defined by the client.
In a preferred embodiment, the GUI (General User Interface) is a web based
client
that runs on a 4.X or S.X version of either the Netscape or Microsoft Internet
Explorer
browser. In a preferred embodiment, the GUI is extremely lightweight by
putting as much of
the processing back on the server. The GUI can consist of HTML and Java
script. The GUI
should be kept light because many of the travel agent PC's are recycled Sabre
or Apollo sets
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and as such are minimally configured. In a further embodiment, the system
manages the user
sessions through gateways as opposed to allowing the users to initiate their
own sessions to
the CRS's which would be problematic for security.
In a preferred embodiment, an Informix Database is used. The database stores
data,
including contract data, client records, booking records, and user profiles.
The database also
stores the processes, for example, the GUI does not talk directly to the
backend API's
(Application Programming Interface), but rather writes to a particular table
within the
database that is read by the API. This allows the process to be asynchronous.
In a preferred
embodiment, all processes are asynchronous. The database provides the
coordination of those
processes. The Informix Database allows safe and robust replication of the
database between
multiple servers.
In a preferred embodiment, the API Library uses C and C++ code, and
communicates
to a variety of systems, both Mainframes and Unix servers, and emulates a
user's interaction
with that system. Layered on top of this functionality is a work manager which
essentially
coordinates the efforts of the various individual user processes.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the above components can connect and
execute
with multiple components in different locations. For example, a user can
connect with the
GUI at more than one server location, the GUI can connect with several
different databases
in the event of failure at one of the servers, and the API's can execute on
remote machines in
the event of mainframe connection failure at a particular site.
Figures 1-7 illustrate an example of a system according to the present
invention for
searching and booking an airline flight. The system may have a password for
travel agent or
traveler protection. As shown in Figure 1 a travel agent, after logging into
the system, views
an opening screen. The opening screen has fields for Departure, Destination,
date and time,
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airline, number of passengers, one way or roundtrip, and a toggle for
stopovers and open jaw
city.
A travel agent then inputs the travel criteria as illustrated in Figure 2.
Once the
information is entered, the system of the present invention searches and sorts
available flights
based on the inputted travel criteria, as illustrated in Figure 3. The flights
are displayed by
departure, destination, fare, approximate tax, total, airline, via gateway,
and availability. The
system lists specific rules for each selected flight as shown in Figure 4.
Once a flight is
chosen, the program lists specific flight information for the selected flight
as shown in Figure
5. The program then gives the travel agent the option to book the flight. At
this time the
travel agent can also book the flight to confirm the reservation. If the
ticketing is done
through a third party travel agent, credit is given to the agent booking the
flight at this time.
Once the flight is booked, the travel agent can then pay for the flight.
Figure 6 illustrates the
initiation of a booking. The travel agent will receive a confirmation number
and specific
contract details as shown in Figure 7. Figure 8 illustrates a separate
contract management
system that allows an agent or wholesaler to maintain their specific net fare
airline contracts
and their attendant restrictions and conditions.
Any reservation system can be used with the present invention. Although the
present
invention has been described in relation to particular preferred embodiments
thereof, many
variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those
skilled in the art. It
is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the
specific disclosure
herein, but only by the appended claims.
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