KR20150055542A - Low cost travel ticketing - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for managing low cost carrier travel inventory items. A booking request for a travel record is received by a reservation system. Responsive to a confirmation that the booking request corresponds to a travel inventory item of a low cost carrier, a light ticketing document number is generated for the travel inventory item based at least in part on the low cost carrier and a type of the travel inventory item. A transaction request including form of payment information and contact information is communicated to a low cost carrier inventory system for the travel inventory item. Responsive to a transaction response received from the low cost carrier inventory system indicating successful booking and successful payment for the travel inventory item, the travel record is updated to include a confirmed booking for the travel inventory item including the light ticketing document number.

Description

Low Cost Travel Ticket Issued {LOW COST TRAVEL TICKETING}

The present invention relates generally to computer and computer software, and more particularly to a method, system, and computer program product for managing low cost travel ticketing.

Computer technology is increasingly used to manage and support travel reservations and associated data in the travel industry. In particular, a third party reservation agent, such as a travel agent and / or customer (e.g. traveler), often uses a computer-based device to interface with a reservation system, for example a Global Distribution System (GDS) To book a service related to travel preparation and / or travel for a customer. When booking a travel-related service using a reservation terminal communicating with such a reservation system, the travel agency employee and / or customer may initiate a reservation session between the reservation terminal and the reservation system, (E.g., a travel inventory item) corresponding to one or more travel lists (e.g., flights, hotels, rail transportation, meal reservations, etc.). After booking the items in the travel list, the reservation system can manage the ticket issuance information for the items in the reserved travel list.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There is a continuing need in the art for improved computer-based travel reservation systems and methods and computer program products for booking travel-related services when more and more managing and supporting travel reservations using computer technology.

Embodiments of the present invention generally include methods, systems, and computer program products for managing items of travel lists of low cost carriers. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a booking request associated with a passenger name record (PNR) may be received in the reservation system. In response to determining that the booking request corresponds to an item of the low cost airline's travel list, a light ticketing document number associated with an item of the travel list is associated with an identity of the low cost airline And is based at least in part on the type associated with the item in the travel list. A transaction request for an item of the travel list can be sent to the list system of the low cost airline, wherein the transaction request includes a form of payment information and contact information. In response to receipt of a transaction response from the listing system of the low cost airline indicating a successful booking and successful payment of the item of the travel list, the passenger name record is added to the item of the travel list containing the simple ticket issuing document number Updated to include a confirmed booking for an approved payment code and an approval code corresponding to the form of payment information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with a general description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, .
1 is a block diagram of one or more reservation systems, a list system, and a travel reservation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram of the reservation system of Figure 1;
3 is a flow chart illustrating an operational sequence that may be performed by at least one processor of the reservation system of FIG.
4 is a flow chart illustrating an operational sequence that may be performed by at least one processor of the reservation system of FIG.
5 is a flow chart illustrating an operational sequence that may be performed by at least one processor of the reservation system of FIG.
Figure 6 is an exemplary routine in the form of a sequence diagram that can be performed by the reservation system of Figure 1, at least one travel reservation device, and at least one low cost airline listing system.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary PNR that may be processed by the reservation system of FIG. 2 during the reservation session to book items of at least one low cost travel list.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary PNR of FIG. 7 updated by the reservation system of FIG. 2 after bookmarking items of at least one low cost travel list.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary PNR that may be processed by the reservation system of FIG. 2 during a reservation session to reissue an item of at least one low cost travel list.
Figure 10 is an exemplary routine in the form of a sequence diagram that can be performed by the reservation system of Figure 1, at least one travel reservation device, and at least one low cost airline listing system.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary PNR that may be processed by the reservation system of FIG. 2 during a reservation session if a link down or a time out occurs while booking an item of a low cost travel list.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, method and computer program product for managing and ticketing items in a travel list provided by a low cost airline. Referring to Figure 1, this Figure provides a block diagram illustrating one or more devices and / or systems in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Generally, a low cost airline is a travel provider (e.g., an airline) that provides less service and / or less convenience with a discount or budget fare (e.g., Southwest Airline, (EasyJet), Frontier Airline (Frontier Airline), etc.). Based at least in part on the low cost nature of these travel providers, such listing systems associated with such low cost airlines may limit transactions to book items in travel lists to support low cost business models used by low cost airlines. For example, an item of a travel list provided by a low cost airline (i.e., an item of a low cost travel list) may be booked in a transaction requiring a successful payment to complete the reservation. Documents are not issued on low cost airlines, and contracts between passengers and low cost airlines can be emailed to passengers. In general, this bookkeeping process is different from the standard bookkeeping process used by standard travel merchants to interface with reservation systems.

As shown in FIG. 1, the reservation system 102 may be implemented as one or more servers. The reservation system 102 may be connected to a communication network 103 wherein the communication network 103 may be connected to the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a cellular voice / data network, And / or other types of communication networks. The travel reservation device 104 is connected to the communication network 103 so that a reservation agent (e.g., a travel agent, traveler, or other travel booking service) initiates a reservation session with the reservation system 102, And may transfer other relevant data to the reservation system 102. The travel reservation device 104 may be a personal computing device, a tablet computer, a thin client terminal, a smartphone, and / or other computing device.

One or more listings for one or more traveler merchant systems 106 and one or more servers for one or more low cost airline listing systems 108 are connected to communication network 103. The reservation system 102 may initiate an inventory session with a low cost airline listing system 108 that alerts each listing system 106 and / or items of travel listings via the communications network 103. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the reservation agent may interface with the reservation system 102 using the trip reservation device 104 in a reservation session and provide data for a booking request. The reservation system then interfaces with each list merchant's respective listing system 106 and / or the low cost airline listing system 108 and provides items of the travel list required in the booking request in the listing session. Further, although the reservation system 102, the list system 106 and / or the low cost airline listing system 108 are described herein as separate entities, the present invention is not so limited. In some embodiments, the various hardware, software components, and / or operational sequences described for reservation system 102, list system 106, and / or low cost airline listing system 108 may be combined with reservation system 102, 106 and / or the low cost airline listing system 108. [ Further, as may be appreciated, in some embodiments, the reservation system 102, the list system 106, and / or the low cost airline listing system 108 may be components of the GDS.

As described, the low cost airline listing system 108 may interface with the reservation system 102 in a limited reservation session relative to the listing system 106 corresponding to a standard travel provider (i.e., a non-low cost airline) The limited reservation session generally corresponds to a limited number of transaction types supported by the low cost airline listing system 108. [ For example, when interfacing with the reservation system 102, the low cost airline listing system 108 may determine one or more of the transaction requests (e.g., commit requests) sent to the low cost airline listing system 108 term. These conditions may include, for example, a commit operation that may be used to create a reservation in the low cost airline listing system 108 (i.e., to book items in one or more low cost travel lists) And / or a recommit operation that may be used to update an existing reservation in the low cost airline listing system 108, which may be used to check for a new airline.

Similarly, the outcome of the reservation session in the low cost airline listing system 108 (i.e., the bookings of the items of the low cost airline's travel list) is generally different from the outcome of the booking session in the standard listing system 106 . For example, a low cost airline typically provides a "ticketless journey ", in which case the items in the booked low cost travel list are not assigned an IATA (International Air Transport Association) ticket number, ) And is sent to the traveler's e-mail address. Further, the low cost airline listing system 108 may only send a record locator to the requesting system, where the record identifier is associated with a reservation stored in the low cost airline listing system 108 for items of one or more reserved low cost travel listings Correspond to records. Further, the types of transactions that the low cost airline listing system can handle are limited, in part, by the low cost airline's low cost model. For example, the low cost airline listing system 108 may include one or more conditions in response to a transaction request. These conditions may include, for example, a successful reply indicating that the reservation has been created / updated in the low cost airline listing system 108 and a payment authorization has been received, the requested reservation has been received by the low cost airline listing system 108 ) And / or a pending reply indicating that the low cost airline listing system 108 has not yet received a payment approval status and that the reservation has not yet been completed.

Due to the difference between the reservation session in the standard list system 106 and the reservation session in the low cost airline listing system 108, in some conventional systems, this conventional reservation system has a standard list system 106 and a low cost airline list May not be able to interface with the system 108. Thus, when bookmarking an item of a low cost travel list, the booking agent may separate items of the travel list among the low cost airlines (i.e., items of the low cost travel list) through a dedicated interface, for example an interface provided by a dedicated Internet website, Quot; to " The separately bookmarking of these low cost travel list items may be accomplished using a reservation system in which items of the unlisted travel list are interfaced with the reservation system 102 by a travel agent using the travel reservation device 104, Canceling, re-booking, and the like, and may cause additional difficulties in managing the reservation. Further, it may not be possible to book an item of the low cost travel list in the conventional reservation system, so that reservation and sales related items of the low cost travel list bookmarked by the reservation agent are collected, analyzed, can not be available in conventional reservation systems for payment reconciliation (e.g., credit card reconciliation).

However, the reservation system 102 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention may interface with the standard list system 106 and the low cost airline listing system 108 and may be configured to reserve items in the travel list and / or items in the low cost travel list Lt; / RTI > Further, these embodiments of the invention may be configured to manage items of the booked travel list and / or items of the low-cost travel list. Therefore, the difference between managing and booking items in the standard travel list and booking and managing items in the low cost travel list is accomplished through a travel reservation device 104 that interfaces with the reservation system 102 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention Using the reservation agent can look transparent. Furthermore, the reservation system 102 according to an embodiment of the present invention collects and reports reservation and sales-related information on items of the low-cost travel list reserved by the reservation agent, in addition to the items of the reserved standard travel list . Thus, embodiments of the present invention provide a reservation system that includes an integrated interface that reserves and manages items of standard travel lists and items of low cost travel lists.

Referring now to FIG. 2, this drawing shows a block diagram illustrating components of one or more servers of reservation system 102. The reservation system 102 includes at least one processor 160 having at least one hardware-based microprocessor and a memory 162 coupled to the at least one processor 160. [ The memory 162 may include a random access memory (RAM) device including a main storage of the reservation system 102 and any auxiliary level memory, e.g., cache memory, non-volatile or backup memory (e.g., Programmable or flash memory), read-only memory, and the like. Further, the memory 162 may be any memory storage located physically somewhere in the reservation system 102, for example, any cache memory in the microprocessor, and any storage capacity used as virtual memory, for example, May be considered to include storage capacity stored on the device or other computer connected to the reservation system 102. [

To interface with a user or an operator, the reservation system 102 may include a user interface 164 including one or more user input / output devices, e.g., a keyboard, pointing device, display, printer, Otherwise, the input may be transferred to another computer or terminal (e.g., list system 106, low cost airline listing system 108, and / or travel reservation device 104) via network interface 168 connected to communication network 103 )). ≪ / RTI > The reservation system 102 may communicate with one or more mass storage devices, which may be, for example, an internal hard disk storage device, an external hard disk storage device, an external database, a storage area network device,

The reservation system 102 generally operates under the control of the operating system 170 and includes a reservation module 172, a ticket issuing module 174, a low cost airline interface module 176 and a simple ticket issuing module 178 Components, programs, objects, modules, engines, data structures, and the like, including, but not limited to, In general, the reservation module 172 may be configured to generate a reserved travel booking based on the received booking data. The reservation module 172 may receive the booking data from the travel booking device 104 and the booking module 172 may interface with the list system 106 and / or the low cost airline listing system 108, 106) / low cost airline listing system 108. In addition, The ticket issuing module 174 may be configured to issue a travel ticket for a generally booked travel booking. The low cost air interface module 176 is generally configured to format transaction requests and transaction responses between the reservation system 102 and the low cost airline listing system. The simple ticket issuing module 178 is generally configured to perform ticket issuance and reservation management for items of the low cost travel list. Further, in a distributed or client-server computing environment where multiple applications, components, programs, objects, modules, etc. can be assigned to multiple computers over a network, for example, May be executed on one or more processors in another computer connected to reservation system 102 via bus 103. For example, some of the functions described herein as included in the travel and reservation system 102 may be implemented in one or more servers.

The memory 162 may store one or more data structures, typically including, for example, a travel record database 180. [ The travel record database 180 may store the collected data in the travel record 182 to book a transaction and in this case the collected data may be comprised of passenger, reservation agent, reservation session and / or other such parameters have. In general, the collected data of the travel record 182 may include one or more bookings for a travel item and / or items of a low cost travel list for a particular passenger / customer. For example, the travel record 182 may include a bookmark for one or more flights to a passenger. In some embodiments, the travel record 182 may include a passenger name record (PNR) associated with one or more passengers.

Figure 3 provides a flowchart 300 illustrating an operational sequence that may be performed by the reservation system 102 of Figure 2 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The reservation system 102 may receive a booking request associated with the passenger name record (PNR) (block 302). In general, a booking request may indicate a geographical and temporal constraint on items of one or more travel lists and items of each travel list. For example, a bookkeeper request may be a flight (a list of items in a travel list) between a departure location and a destination (geographical constraint) where a passenger associated with the PNR departs on a specific date and returns on a specific date (time constraint) (Type of item in the travel list) in the destination (geographical constraint) to the destination (time constraint). Further, one or more items of the travel list of the booking request may correspond to items of at least one travel list of the low cost airline (i.e., items of the low cost travel list).

The reservation system 102 may analyze the booking request to determine whether the booking request corresponds to an item of the low cost airline's travel list (block 304). According to an embodiment of the present invention, if the booking request does not correspond to any low cost airline ("No" branch at block 304), then the reservation system 102 may determine that one or more standards (ie airline that is not a low cost airline) List system 106 and may process the booking request in a standard reservation session (block 306). If the booking request includes a request for an item of one or more low cost travel lists ("Yes" branch at block 304), the reservation system generates a simple ticket issuance document number for each passenger for the item in the item group of each low cost travel list (Block 308).

As described above, generally, ticket issuing information (e.g., unique ticket issuance number) may not be transferred from the low cost airline listing system 108 to the reservation system 102 when the item of the low cost travel list is being booked . By contrast, items in standard bookings are generally issued by IATA. Without ticket issuance information corresponding to the items in the bookmarked low cost travel list, it may not be possible to access the items of the low cost travel list that are bookmarked in the conventional reservation system and managing the associated sales and reservation information. Thus, embodiments of the present invention provide a simple, convenient, and cost-effective way to track and / or manage items of a low cost travel list that are reserved in a manner similar to the tracking and management of items in a bookkeeping standard travel list. A ticket issue document number can be generated. The simple ticket issuing document number generated for an item in the booked low cost travel list may be in a format similar to the ticket issuing number provided by IATA for the item in the bookkeeping standard travel list. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the simple ticket issuing document number may be generated based at least in part on the type associated with the item of the low cost travel list (e.g., flight, accommodation reservation, service, etc.). Further, the simple ticket issuing document number may be generated based at least in part on a low cost airline providing items of the low cost travel list. For example, in some embodiments of the invention, at least a portion of the generated simple ticket issuing document number is based at least in part on a low cost airline providing a low cost flight.

The reservation system sends a performance request for the item of each low cost travel list to the associated low cost airline listing system (block 310). According to an embodiment of the present invention, the performance request may include a form of payment information and contact information for the traveler. As described above, the types of transactions that can be supported by the low cost airline listing system 108 are generally less than those supported by the standard listing system 106. [ In particular, the low cost airline listing system 108 may determine availability and require payment of items in the low cost travel list at the same time as the bookings. Thus, in some embodiments of the present invention, the reservation system 102 may communicate the form of payment information and contact information in an execution request. Payment information and contact information may be requested concurrently with bookings during a reservation session between the reservation system 102 and the travel reservation device 104 so that the reservation agent can provide such requirements via the interface displayed in the travel reservation device 104 Able to know.

After communication for one or more enforcement requests is made, the reservation system 102 may receive a enforcement response from the low cost airline listing system to which the enforcement request was sent (block 312). A performance response received from the low cost airline listing system may indicate whether the items in the low cost travel list have been successfully archived, in which case successful bookings on the items in the low cost travel list will generally result in the items in the low cost travel list being successfully booked And to the successful payment of items on the low cost travel list. The reservation system 102 may update the travel record associated with the traveler, for example the PNR, to include a confirmed booking for items in the low-cost travel list, where the confirmed booking is a quick, Ticket issuing document number (block 314). Further, if an item of any standard travel list can be bookable during a reservation session (i.e., from block 306), the travel record may be updated accordingly.

As described above, in response to the transaction request of the reservation system 102, the transaction response from the low cost airline listing system 108 may include one of three answers: a successful answer, a failed answer, or a pending answer. Accordingly, the reservation system 102 may update the travel record (i. E., Block 314 of FIG. 3) based at least in part on the answer of the transaction response. Further, the reservation system 102 may include a back office record corresponding to the completed transaction for the item of the low cost travel list including the simple ticket issuing document number, a back office record corresponding to the item of the low cost travel list (Step 316), a form of payment / authorization information, and / or information associated with items of the billed low cost travel list. Back office records can typically be sent to back-office systems used to track sales and accounting information. For example, the back office system that can handle such back office records is the Amadeus Interface Record Back Office provided by Amadeus IT Holding SA, a Spanish company. Other similar back office systems may be used.

Further, the reservation system 102 may generate information associated with the items of the online sale record, the form of payment / approval information, and / or the list of the low cost travel list that includes the simple ticket issuing document number (block 318). Based on the generated online sales records, the travel agent can track the bookings of the items in the low cost travel list. In addition, the travel agent can use the online sales reporting interface to provide a discounted, low-cost, on-line sales record of online sales records including, for example, employee coupons, audit coupons and / or credit card charge forms. One or more documents corresponding to the items in the list may be generated. Such documents may be required in more than one country so that embodiments of the present invention can seamlessly integrate reservations for items of low cost travel lists by generating any required documents.

4 shows a flowchart 320 illustrating an operational sequence performed by a reservation system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention to process a transaction response. As shown, the reservation system 102 receives a transaction response (e.g., a performance response, a response to a request to acquire a holding status, a response to a recommit request, etc.) (block 322). Based on the answer's answer (e.g., 'successful answer', 'failure answer', or pending answer ') (block 324), the reservation system may update the travel record and / or the PNR. If the transaction response includes a successful answer (the 'successful answer' branch at block 324), the reservation system may store the record identifier indicated by the transaction response in the travel record (block 326) The bookkeeping status of one or more segments of the item may be updated to the agreed state in the travel record (block 328). Further, one or more simple ticket issuing document numbers may be included in the travel record (block 330), and the back office reporting records and / or data may be included in the items of the bookmarked low cost travel list, the simple ticket issuing document number and / (Block 332). ≪ / RTI > Further, a billing record containing a simple ticket issuing document number and a form of payment / approval information may be generated (block 333) to process the financial transaction associated with the item of the low cost travel list that has been booked.

If the transaction response includes a failure response (block 324, the 'failure answer' branch), the reservation system 102 may send an error to the travel reservation device 104 associated with the transaction request (block 334). Thus, in this scenario, the reservation system 102 may not update the travel record. If the transaction response includes a pending answer ("pending answer" branch at block 324), the reservation system 102 may update the travel record with the tracking number corresponding to the transaction request (block 336). In some embodiments, the tracking number may correspond to a simple ticket issuing document number. Further, the tracking number can be used to check the status of the transaction at a later time, and if a timeout or link down occurs, the reservation system 102 can query the low cost airline listing system regarding the status of the transaction request. Further, the reservation system 102 may lock the travel record (block 338) to prevent another transaction from being carried on this travel record until the transaction request associated with the tracking number is resolved. (E. G., Receiving a transaction response for a transaction request) may be used by the reservation system 102, the travel reservation device 104 and / or the low cost < RTI ID = 0.0 > The airline listing system 108 may improve interfacing. For example, locking a travel record (e.g., a PNR) may be implemented by the reservation system 102 such that the reservation agent 102 and / or the reservation agent attempting to manipulate the reservation session perform an unwanted action Address can be solved. As another example, locking the travel record can be implemented to provide a mechanism to resolve the system outage of the low cost airline listing system 108. [ In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, locking a travel record restricts the booking system 102 to sending only a request to obtain a booking status for a travel record to the low cost airline listing system 108 to initiate another transaction for the travel record I will be able to resolve this transaction before. Furthermore, restricting the action by communicating only the booking state acquisition request can be used to confirm that the travel record (e.g., PNR) has not changed since the execution request.

5 provides a flow chart illustrating an operational sequence that may be performed by reservation system 102 to generate a simplified ticket issuing document number in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the reservation system 102 may process the items of the low cost travel list requested in the received booking request (block 352). The reservation system 102 may determine at least a portion of the simple ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the type associated with the item of the low cost travel list (block 354). For example, a portion of the generated simple ticket issuing document number may be generated based on the items of the low cost travel list, such as flight, service, or the like. Furthermore, the reservation system 102 may generate at least a portion of the simple ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the identity of the low cost airline (block 356). For example, a portion of the generated simple ticket issuing document number may be generated based on the low cost airline providing the flight. The reservation system 102 may generate at least a portion of the simple ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the current stock allocation for the type of item in the low cost travel list for the low cost airline (block 358) . For example, a reservation system can sequentially number flights of certain low cost airlines. Based at least in part on the current stock allocation for the type of item in the low cost travel list, the identity of the low cost airline and the type of item in the travel list for the low cost airline, the reservation system 102 generates a simple ticket issuing document number ( Block 360).

As an example, the simple ticket issuing document number may include ten digits, where the two digits correspond to the type associated with the item in the low cost travel list, and the two digits correspond to the low cost airline (i.e., the low cost airline Identity), and the six digits may correspond to sequentially assigned numbers (e.g., values '000001' to '999999') based on stock quotes. Generally, a number that is assigned based on stock quotes can be reset when the item in the low cost travel list is booked after the last value in the range. In this example, the last value of the range may be '999999', and items of the next type of low cost travel list of the same type for the same low cost airline may have sequential numbered portions corresponding to '000001'. Continuing with the example, two digit values of '24' may be assigned to low cost flights and two digit values of '82' are assigned to services associated with low cost flights (i.e., low cost services such as baggage fees) . In general, the two digit codes '24' and '82' should be understood as standard airline style codes. The first low cost airline may be assigned two digit values of '01' and the second low cost airline may be assigned two digit values of '02'. In the context of this example, the simple ticket issuing document number generated for the first bookkeeping low cost flight for the first low cost airline may have a value of '2401000001', in which case the leading two digits '24' , Where the two digits indicate that the low cost airline is the first low cost airline and the last six digits correspond to the flights currently assigned to the first low cost airline. If the second low cost flight is booked to the first airline, the generated simple ticket issuing document number may be '2401000002'. Similarly, if the simple ticket issuing document number generated for the low-cost flight that is stored in the second low-cost airline is '2402999999', then the simple ticket issuing document number generated for the low-cost flight that was subsequently buffered for the second low- ≪ / RTI > Further, if the low cost airline is a billing and settlement plan (BSP) user, the ticket issuing document number generated by the IATA is assigned to the item in the bookkeeping travel list to be duplicated with the simple ticket issuing document number generated for the low cost airline Can be avoided.

As described above, the sequentially numbered portions are reset back to a limited range of start values. Further, by dedicating a portion of the simple ticket issuing document number to sequentially numbering the items of the bookmarked low-cost travel list, the reservation system 102 can determine that a simplified ticket issuing document number is duplicated during a given time range (In this case, this time range depends on the number of items of the same type of low cost travel list that are booked for a particular low cost airline). In general, using a predefined format for a simple ticket issuing document number can provide sales and reservation tracking to the reservation agent and the back office / account system. In some embodiments, an indicator may be used in the back office / account system to identify the simple ticket issuing document number and thus the transaction associated with the low cost airline. Thus, according to these embodiments, an adjustment between the transaction communicated to the billing and settlement plan (BSP) provider from the travel agent may be improved by providing a back office / account system record in the item of the low cost travel list that is bookmarked . Further, payment adjustments between the BSP provider and the travel agent may be improved due to the back office / account system records in the lower cost travel list items that are buffered, based on the back office / account system records corresponding to items in the low cost travel list.

6 illustrates an example routine that may be performed by a reservation system 102, a travel reservation device 104, and a low cost airline travel list system in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention to store items of a low cost travel list in a bookkeeper transaction 450). A booking request may be sent from the travel booking device 104 to the reservation system 102 (block 452). As discussed above, the booking request may indicate a particular PNR for an item of one or more travel lists that wish to be bookmarked. In this example, the bookkeing request may include items of at least one low cost travel list for which booking is requested in the PNR. In response to receiving the booking request, the booking system 102 (which executes the simple ticket issuing module 178 with the at least one processor) analyzes the booking request and determines whether the booking request includes an item of the low cost travel list And reservation system 102 may check the booking request to determine whether it has provided the information required by the low cost airline (i.e., LCC: low cost airline) associated with the item of the low cost travel list (block 454 ). As described above, the low cost airline listing system 108 may require contact information and payment information to be provided concurrently with the booking request, which is generally different from the standard list system bookkeeping procedure. Thus, the reservation system 102 may perform a performance check to determine whether a booking request includes the requested information. If the booking request does not include the requested information, the reservation system 102 may send a request to the trip reservation device 104 to request the requested information.

The reservation system 102 may analyze the stock quotes for the low cost airlines associated with items of the low cost travel list to be bookmarked and generate a simple ticket issuing document number corresponding to the items of the low cost travel list (block 456). The reservation system 102 (which executes the low cost air interface module 176) determines the correct interface platform for the low cost airline listing system 108 associated with the items of the low cost travel list (block 458). In general, different low cost travel list systems can be configured with different interface platforms, and embodiments of the present invention perform platform checks before communicating with a specific low cost airline listing system 108, The format of the transaction request to be transmitted and the format of the anticipated transaction response to be received from the particular low cost airline listing system 108. [ For example, the reservation system 102 executing the low cost air interface module 176 may be configured to perform a transaction based at least in part on the structure (e.g., XML structure, HTML structure, etc.) of the interface platform associated with the particular low cost airline listing system The request can be formatted. Similarly, a transaction response received from a particular low cost airline listing system 108 may be processed based at least in part on an associated interface platform.

Based at least in part on the interface platform and the bookkeeption request of the low cost airline listing system 108, the reservation system may send a fulfillment request to the low cost airline listing system 108 associated with the item of the list of low cost airlines to be buffered (block 460 ). In this example, the reservation system 102 receives a performance response to the performance request from the low cost airline listing system (block 462). As described above, the performance response may be processed according to the interface platform of the low cost airline listing system 108 (block 464). The performance response may indicate whether the item in the low cost travel list has been successfully archived. Then, in the listing session of the low cost airlines, successful bookings indicate that payment in accordance with the payment information included in the performance request was successful. The reservation system 102 may update the travel record associated with the PNR (block 466) and the reservation system 102 may generate one or more sales and / or reporting records associated with the booking transaction and the reservation agent (block 468). In general, these sales and / or reporting records may be referred to as interface records and / or back office records, in which case the interface record may contain data corresponding to travel reservations that have been booked by the reservation agent. This interface record may be sent to an account system (which may also be referred to as a back office system) that tracks sales and reservation information for the reservation agent. Furthermore, the reservation system may generate an indicator in the interface record / back office record (e.g., an 'L' indicator that can be associated with the simple ticket issuing document number) Can be distinguished. The reservation system 102 may send a booking response for the booking request to the travel booking device 104 (block 470). Furthermore, the reservation system 102 may update the sales report based at least in part on the items of the bookmarked low cost travel list and one or more documents may be printed (block 472).

Referring now to FIG. 7, this figure illustrates that the exemplary PNR 500 may be associated with a bookkeeper request to book an item of a low cost travel list before it is booked in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, to provide. In this example, the PNR 500 includes two passenger names 502 associated with a booking request, data 504 corresponding to a chargeable fee, data 506 for a flight segment corresponding to an item of a low cost travel list to be buffered, Contact information 508 for the travel customer / passenger, data 510 corresponding to the auxiliary service, and a form 512 of payment information. In this example, the requested segment 506 is sent from Nice (NCE) to London, UK on December 15, to London Gatwick Airport (LGW), and on December 20 Correspond to flights.

It is noted that, in some conventional systems, the reservation agent may interface with the low cost airline listing system 108 via a dedicated interface and may be able to book the items of the low cost travel list requested in the exemplary PNR 500. However, the reservation system 102 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention may interface with the low cost airline listing system 108 and store the items of the low cost travel list and may be used to interface with the reservation system 102 using the travel booking device 104 It can be seen transparent to reservation agents. According to these embodiments, the booking agent can perform a standard ticket issuance transaction with the reservation system 102 in a reservation session of the travel reservation device, and the reservation system 102 dynamically interfaces with the low cost airline listing system 108 You can book items from low cost travel lists.

Further, in some conventional systems, when the items in the low cost travel list (typically via a dedicated interface, e.g. a website) are being booked, the PNR can be updated to update the booking status for items in the low cost travel list . However, the ticket issuance information and / or any back office reporting information may not be available for items of the bookmarked low cost travel list. In contrast, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the reservation system 102 updates the PNR to include the simple ticket issuing document number, updates the bookkeeping status, and when the item of the low cost travel list is successfully booked, And / or back office reporting information and records, wherein the sales and back office reporting records may include an indicator identifying a record associated with an item of the low cost travel list.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary PNR 500 of FIG. 6 after successfully booking and issuing a ticket by a reservation system 102 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The booking state for each segment 506 and each auxiliary service 510 has been updated from the requested / requested state (i.e., 'HN' in FIG. 6) to the confirmed state (ie, 'HK' . As shown, the ticket issuing information 514 is added to the PNR 500 (i.e., one for each passenger name 502) for each of the items in the booked low cost travel list, Items have been added. In particular, a simple ticket issuing document number was generated for the requested flight and service corresponding to the item of the low cost travel list. In particular, for each flight, a simple ticket issuance document number ('888-240-1000137' and '888-2401000138') is included in the ticket issuance information 514 of the PNR 500, The ticket issue document numbers ('888-8201000023', '888-8201000024', and '888-8201000025') are included in the ticket issuance information 514 of the PNR 500. As illustrated in this example, each simple ticket issuing document number includes a portion based at least in part on the low cost airline / travel trader associated with the item in the low cost travel list (i.e., '888'). Each simple ticket issuance document number for each flight includes a portion based at least in part on the type of item in the low cost travel list (i.e., '240'). Similarly, each ancillary service includes a portion ('820') based at least in part on the type of item in the low cost travel list. Further, as illustrated, each Simplified Ticket issuing document number is based on a portion at least partially based on the current stock quota of the low cost airline providing the item of the booked low cost travel list (i.e., the portion overflowed for each flight '000137 'And' 000138 'for each subservice and' 000023 ',' 000024 and '000025' for each subservice). Furthermore, the form of payment information 512 has been updated to include an authorization code indicating that payment for the bookkeep was successfully made.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the reservation system 102 may interface with the low cost airline listing system 108 and provide a reissue of reservations for travel records. As described above, the low cost airline listing system 108 may not be able to transfer reservation documents (e.g., airline contracts) to the reservation system 102 upon successful booking. During a reissue transaction, the reservation system 102 may retrieve a PNR image corresponding to the time of performing (or previous re-execution), and the reservation system 102 may compare the PNR image with the current image of the PNR, Added, canceled, modified, changed, unchanged), and these changes can be sent to the low cost airline listing system 108. [ Based on the changes received by the low cost airline listing system, the low cost airline listing system can update the corresponding reserved records stored therein. The reservation system 102 may provide an envelope number corresponding to the different transactions processed between the reservation system 102 and the low cost airline listing system 108 to track the transactions and identify the PNR image appropriate for the time of execution Can be stored. In accordance with these embodiments, the reservation system may be configured to provide a number of tickets, for example, a corresponding envelope number, a simple ticket issuing document number, a transaction type (e.g., Pending status, confirmed status, timeout, etc.) in the transaction database.

Figure 9 provides an exemplary PNR 550 for reissue transactions for items of a low cost travel list in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the PNR 550 includes a passenger name 552, commission information 554, flight segment information 556, penalty fee information 558 associated with the change, contact information 560, Ticket issuance information 562 for the service, ticket issuance information 564 for the document requested for exchange, and a form 566 of payment information for the current and previously used payment form. In general, the reservation system 102 may issue a contract document by providing a standard ticket issuing entry to the travel booking device 104. [ In contrast, in conventional systems, this function was not available for reissuing items in low cost travel lists using standard ticket issuing entries.

Referring now to FIG. 10, this drawing illustrates a method for updating a low cost travel list that may be modified by the booking system 102, the travel reservation device 104, and the low cost airline travel list system, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, RTI ID = 0.0 > 600 < / RTI > A booking request may be sent from the travel booking device 104 to the reservation system 102 (block 602). The reservation system 102 (which executes the simple ticket issuing module 178 with at least one processor) performs a low cost airline performance check (block 604) and, in this example, assuming all the request information is provided, (102) generates a simple ticket issuing document number corresponding to the item of the low cost travel list (block 606). The reservation system 102 (which executes the low cost air interface module 176 with at least one processor) determines an interface platform for the low cost airline listing system 108 associated with the items of the low cost travel list (block 608) The system 102 sends a performance request for items of the low cost travel list to the low cost airline listing system 108 (block 610).

In this example, a problem occurs that a performance response is not received at the reservation system 102 (i. E., Connection timeout or downlink) (block 612). The reservation system 102 detects the problem based on a time limit or other connection metric (blocks 614-616). In response to detecting this timeout, the reservation system 102 sends an error message to the trip reservation device 104 (block 618) and the reservation system 102 sends a travel record (e. G., A PNR And locks the travel record (block 620). In some embodiments, locking the travel record includes inserting a tracking number into the FN element.

Figure 11 provides an exemplary PNR (650) updated after a timeout or link down as described above. In this example, the PNR 650 includes passenger information 652, commission information 654, segments corresponding to items 656 in the low cost travel list, contact information 658, auxiliary service information 660, A tracking number 662 associated with the item in the travel list, and payment information 664 form. As shown, the status of segment 656 and auxiliary service information 660 is in the requested state ('HN') because a response has not been received from the low cost airline listing system 108. Further, the tracking number 662 may be used to recover (i.e., check the bookkeeping status) at a later time. In contrast, in some conventional systems, an error may be output in response to a problem so that recovery may not be possible.

In general, routines implemented to implement embodiments of the present invention, whether implemented as an operating system or a specific application, component, program, object, module or operational sequence and / or part of, or even a subset, Computer program code "or simply" program code ". The program code typically includes one or more instructions resident in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and the instructions, when read and executed by one or more processors in the computer, cause the computer to perform various aspects of the invention Perform the steps necessary to implement the step or element to implement. Furthermore, although the present invention has been described in the context of fully functional computer and computer systems, those skilled in the art will recognize that many embodiments of the present invention may be distributed in various forms of program products, It will be appreciated that the invention is equally applicable regardless of the particular type of computer readable medium used to carry out the invention.

Program codes embodied in any of the applications, modules, operating sequences and / or components described herein may be distributed individually or collectively to a number of different types of program products. In particular, the program code may be distributed using a computer-readable medium and a communication medium, which may include a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium, which is essentially non-volatile, includes volatile and nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, nonvolatile, And removable and non-removable tangible media. The computer readable storage medium may be any of a variety of storage devices including but not limited to RAM, ROM, erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM), or any other optical storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information readable by a computer have. The communication medium may embody computer readable instructions, data structures, or other program modules. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may include wired media, e.g., wired networks or direct-wired connections, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Any combination of the above may also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

Computer program instructions that may be stored on a computer-readable medium, such as a computer, a processor, or other type of programmable data processing apparatus or other device capable of functioning in a particular manner may be stored on a computer readable medium, Or < / RTI > instructions that implement the function / action specified in the blocks.

The computer program instructions may be loaded into a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device so that the computer program instructions may be loaded into the computer system, other processing device, or other device through a series of operations, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > function / action < / RTI >

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting in any way to the embodiments of the invention. As used herein, the terms "one" and "above" are intended to include the plural forms unless otherwise stated explicitly. The term " comprising "and / or" comprising "when used herein should be interpreted as referring to the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / , Steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups are not intended to be < / RTI > Furthermore, the terms "comprising", "having", "having", "having", "consisting", or variations thereof, when used in either the detailed description or the claims, And is intended to be inclusive in a like manner.

In summary, the reservation system described herein can be identified by the following aspects:

1. As a reservation system,

At least one processor; And

And program code configured to be executed by the at least one processor, wherein the program code causes the at least one processor to:

Receiving a booking request associated with a passenger name record from a travel reservation device in the reservation system;

In response to determining that the booking request corresponds to an item of a travel list of a low cost airline, a simple ticket associated with the item of the travel list based at least in part on the identity of the low cost airline and the type associated with the item of the travel list Generating an issuance document number;

Sending a transaction request for an item of the travel list to a listing system for the low cost airline, the transaction request comprising a form of payment information and contact information; And

In response to receipt of a transaction response indicating successful booking and successful payment of an item of the travel list from the listing system for the low-cost airline, confirming that the item of the travel list containing the simple ticket issuing document number And to update the passenger name record to include the booking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the program code causes the processor to:

Updating the passenger name record to indicate that the transaction has been initiated but not completed, in response to not receiving the transaction response from the listing system for the low cost airline in the reservation system, updating the passenger name record to include the simple ticket issuing document number To update the passenger name record and to lock the passenger name record so that only a booking status acquisition request corresponding to an item of the travel list can be transmitted to the list system of the low cost airline for the passenger name record The reservation system further comprising:

3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the program code causes the processor to:

Generating an interface record for a reservation agent associated with the booking request that includes the simple ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the confirmed booking; and

And transmit the interface record to an account system associated with the reservation agent.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the program code is executed at the time of executing the simple ticket associated with the item of the travel list based at least in part on the type associated with the low cost airline and the item of the travel list Further configured to generate an issuance document number,

Selecting the first subset number of the simple ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the identity of the low cost airline when the program code is executed; And to select a second subset number of the simple ticket issuing document number based on the second subscription number.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the program code causes the processor to:

Determining an interface platform associated with the listing system of the low cost air prior prior to sending the transaction request; and determining, based at least in part on the interface platform and the booking request associated with the listing system of the low- ≪ / RTI > further comprising the step of:

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the program code causes the processor to:

And to send to the travel booking device a confirm indicating the confirmed bookkeeping and the successful payment in response to updating the passenger name record associated with the booking request.

7. The reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said simple ticket issuing document number is stored in a ticket number element associated with said agreed bookkeeping.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the program code causes the processor to:

A change between a previous image of the passenger name record and the previous image of the passenger name record corresponding to that of the item of the travel list before the item of the travel list was buffered before sending the reissue request to the list system of the low cost airline corresponding to the item of the travel list Determining an operation, and

And to send a transaction request for reissue corresponding to an item of the travel list that includes the determined change.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the program code causes the processor to:

Identify a previous image of the passenger name record that corresponds to being stored in an item of the travel list based at least in part on an envelope number associated with the received transaction response. .

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the transaction response is a first transaction response and the program code causes the processor to:

In response to receiving a second transaction response from the listing system for the low cost airline indicating that booking to an item in the travel list was unsuccessful, sending an error message to the travel booking device The reservation system comprising:

While the present invention has been illustrated and described in considerable detail, it is not intended that the applicant intend to limit or limit the appended claims to such detail in any way. Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. The present invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details shown and described, representative apparatus and methods, and illustrative examples. Therefore, the details of the present invention may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the general inventive concept of the present applicant.

Claims (14)

A method of managing an item of a low cost airline's travel list,
Receiving a booking request associated with a passenger name record from a travel reservation device in a reservation system;
In response to determining that the booking request corresponds to an item of a low cost airline's travel list, via at least one processor of the reservation system, at least partially, to the type of the low cost airline and the type associated with the item of the travel list Generating a simple ticket issuing document number associated with an item of the travel list based on the simple ticket issuing document number;
Sending a transaction request for an item of the travel list to a listing system for the low cost airline, the transaction request including a form of payment information and contact information; And
In response to receiving from the listing system for the low cost airline a transaction response indicative of successful booking and successful payment of the item of the travel list, via the at least one processor, Updating the passenger name record to include a confirmed booking for an item in the travel list. The method according to claim 1,
In response to not receiving a transaction response from the listing system for the low cost airline in the reservation system:
Updating the passenger name record through the at least one processor to indicate that the transaction has been initiated but not completed;
Updating the passenger name record to include the simple ticket issuing document number; And
Further comprising locking the passenger name record so that only a bookkeeping status acquisition request corresponding to an item of the travel list can be transmitted to the list system of the low cost airline for the passenger name record How to. The method according to claim 1,
Generating an interface record for a reservation agent associated with the booking request including the simplified ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the agreed bookkeeping; And
Further comprising transmitting the interface record to an accounting system associated with the reservation agent. The method according to claim 1,
Generating, via at least one processor of the reservation system, a simple ticket issuing document number associated with an item of the travel list based at least in part on the identity of the low cost airline and the type associated with the item of the travel list,
Selecting a first subset number of the simple ticket issuing document number based, at least in part, on the identity of the low cost airline; And
Selecting a second subset number of the simple ticket issuing document number based at least in part on the type associated with the item in the travel list. The method according to claim 1,
Prior to sending the transaction request, determining an interface platform associated with the listing system of the low cost carrier; And
Further comprising: generating the transaction request based at least in part on the interface platform and the bookkeing request associated with the listing system of the low cost carrier. The method according to claim 1,
Responsive to updating the passenger name record associated with the booking request, sending a confirm to the travel booking device indicating the confirmed bookkeeping and the successful payment. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the simple ticket issuing document number is stored in a ticket number element associated with the verified bookkeeping. The method according to claim 1,
A change between the previous image of the passenger name record corresponding to the item of the travel list and the passenger name record corresponding to the item of the travel list, before transferring the reissue request to the list system of the low cost airline corresponding to the item of the travel list ; And
Further comprising transmitting a reissue transaction request corresponding to an item of the travel list that includes the determined change. 9. The method of claim 8,
Further comprising identifying a previous image of the passenger name record corresponding at least partially based on an envelope number associated with the received transaction response, corresponding to the item of the travel list being bookmarked. The method according to claim 1,
The transaction response is a first transaction response,
In response to receiving a second transaction response from the listing system for the low cost airline indicating that booking of items in the travel list is unsuccessful, sending an error message to the travel booking device Lt; / RTI > As a reservation system,
At least one processor; And
And program code configured to be executed by the at least one processor,
Wherein the program code causes the at least one processor to,
Receiving a booking request associated with a passenger name record from a travel reservation device in the reservation system;
In response to determining that the booking request corresponds to an item of a travel list of a low cost airline, a simple ticket associated with the item of the travel list based at least in part on the identity of the low cost airline and the type associated with the item of the travel list Generating an issuance document number;
Sending a transaction request for an item of the travel list to a listing system for the low cost airline, the transaction request comprising a form of payment information and contact information; And
In response to receipt of a transaction response from the listing system for the low cost airline indicating a successful payment for the item in the travel list and a successful booking, And updating the passenger name record to include the booking. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the program code causes the processor to:
Updating the passenger name record to indicate that the transaction has been initiated but not completed, in response to not receiving a transaction response from the listing system for the low cost airline in the reservation system, updating the passenger name record to include the simple ticket issuing document number Further comprising the step of updating the passenger name record and locking the passenger name record such that only a request to obtain a booking status corresponding to an item in the travel list is sent to the list system of the low cost airline for the passenger name record The reservation system comprising: 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the program code is further configured to cause the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 3 to 10 upon execution. A computer readable storage medium storing program code,
The program code, when executed, causes at least one processor to:
Receiving a booking request associated with a passenger name record from a travel reservation device in a reservation system;
In response to determining that the booking request corresponds to an item of a travel list of a low cost airline, a simple ticket associated with the item of the travel list based at least in part on the identity of the low cost airline and the type associated with the item of the travel list Generating an issuance document number;
Sending a transaction request for an item of the travel list to a listing system for the low cost airline, the transaction request comprising a form of payment information and contact information; And
In response to receipt of a transaction response indicating successful booking and successful payment of an item of the travel list from the listing system for the low-cost airline, confirming that the item of the travel list containing the simple ticket issuing document number And updating the passenger name record to include the booking.

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