Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/02—Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method of allocating seats to customers usable by a computer reservation system.
• This process will find its application particularly in the field of air transport.
• the present invention makes it possible to meet these expectations and proposes, to do this, a method of allocating seats according to different parameters.
• a first advantage of this process is to take into account different priority levels of customers. It can therefore adapt to the presence of different classes of air service such as business class or even economy class.
• Another advantage of the invention is that it takes into account different selection criteria in order to better respond to the preferences expressed by customers. In this regard, different criteria can be selected and among which the passenger's proximity with third parties, the seats or the areas of the plane in which the passenger wishes to be placed, the membership of a multi-section flight (with connection ), mass distribution or even special comfort services such as the preservation of free seats around the passenger.
• the present invention implements various computer means including a database making it possible to use different criteria contributing to the determination of a plan for allocating seats to customers.
• the seat allocated to him is then considered to be unavailable. This is particularly the case when he has already checked in and has a boarding pass with a published seat number. In other cases, the seats are considered available.
• the inclusion attribute will depend on whether the reservation is confirmed by the customer or not. However, if a client has a seat whose reservation is confirmed (particularly a registration with a published seat number), we can carry out a procedure for finding a better possible seat by the allocation steps of the invention. In this context, the customer is guaranteed minimum satisfaction by the seat which is already published and a search for a better seat is carried out.
• IT means will be used in particular for the implementation.
• These means include data storage means and particularly a computer database as well as processing means in the form of a processor.
• This group of available seats is defined by subtracting all the seats on the aircraft from the seats considered to be unavailable, including those for which the reservation is confirmed. Other seats may also be considered unavailable for other reasons, in particular if they cannot be used during the flight.
• each customer is assigned a priority level in the database.
• the database also includes, for each client, data relating to investment criteria.
• 4- Multi-section flight criteria in some cases, connections are necessary between several sections of the same flight.
• a particular placement criterion on the plane can be considered, in particular to ensure the availability of a seat for a passenger within the framework of a connecting flight.
• this criterion is particularly usable for passengers with a high priority level.
• these may be additional services that should be met, such as the preservation of free seats around the passenger.
• the placement criteria may have different levels of importance and the calculation will therefore be weighted accordingly.
• some criteria may be absolutely mandatory, others of minor importance or others of moderate importance. We therefore assign to each criterion a particular weight.
• the process automatically includes any customer to whom a seat has been allocated but who does not meet their preferences and who has not been confirmed.
• Table 2 gives an example of determining the group of seats available for allocation. It illustrates various cases of unavailability of seats. In the end, out of 100 seats, only 33 seats fall into the group of seats available for allocation.
• the allocation server will allocate the 33 seats available to the 33 passengers who have the highest priority level. The other 7 will not have allocated seats and will be placed on the waiting list.
• the seat allocation process will favor the following placement criteria: wish expressed by the passenger (90%): the allocation process will take all the decisions necessary to satisfy the wishes of the passengers, most suitable seat (80%); the allocation process will allocate passengers the most suitable seats near the most suitable passengers, additional comfort criterion (courtesy seat) (60%): the allocation process will try to keep free seats next to passengers having the highest rank.
• the seat allocation process will favor the following placement criteria: aircraft area (80%): the allocation process will allocate seats mainly taking into account their category. For example, minors traveling alone will have seats in the same area of the plane (rear of the cabin). Passengers traveling regularly will be seated at the front of the cabin, adjacency criteria (70%): a large number of groups and families travel in Economy Class and need to be seated side by side.
• the method of allocating seats to customers calculates, for each passenger, a number of possible seats and classifies them. For example, the passenger
• DUPONT may be allocated 4 seats:

Landscapes

• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
• Operations Research (AREA)
• Economics (AREA)
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
• Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
• Marketing (AREA)
• Development Economics (AREA)
• Quality & Reliability (AREA)
• Strategic Management (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=30771999

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Families Citing this family (31)

Family Cites Families (14)

• 2003
  • 2003-06-13 NZ NZ537298A patent/NZ537298A/en unknown
  • 2003-06-13 CN CN038155516A patent/CN1666210A/zh active Pending
  • 2003-06-13 CA CA002488381A patent/CA2488381A1/fr not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-06-13 AU AU2003255702A patent/AU2003255702B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2003-06-13 WO PCT/FR2003/050011 patent/WO2004010349A2/fr active Application Filing
  • 2003-06-13 EP EP03765143A patent/EP1532564A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2003-06-13 US US10/520,115 patent/US20060229920A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-06-13 JP JP2004522275A patent/JP2005532641A/ja active Pending
• 2004
  • 2004-12-23 ZA ZA2004/10375A patent/ZA200410375B/en unknown

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