KR20160089877A - Revenue-optimized opaque bookings - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a program product, and a method for completing a delay of a travel schedule for an opaque reservation up to a point after an opaque reservation, so that a travel schedule for opaque reservation can be reviewed before the travel schedule is terminated. A review of a scheduled travel itinerary may be performed using a total optimization managed across multiple opaque reservations attempting to create a travel itinerary that optimizes revenue for one or more travel providers.

Description

Opaque reservation optimized for revenue {REVENUE-OPTIMIZED OPAQUE BOOKINGS}

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to computer and computer software, and more particularly to the use of computer and computer software to process opaque bookings in the travel industry.

A computer reservation system is used to store and retrieve information in the travel industry and to perform transactions related to air travel, train travel, hotels, car rentals, and other travel related activities. In particular, a third party reservation agency, such as a travel agency, and / or customers (e.g., travelers) may use a booking system such as Global Distribution System (GDS) to book travel arrangements and / Often, computer-based devices are used to interface.

It has been found in the travel industry that adding some uncertainty to travel-related transactions can benefit both travelers and travel providers. For example, the hotel industry sells certain hotel offers in a manner that does not expose all of the details of the offer before finalizing the reservation. Some of these types of offers are commonly referred to as opaque booking in the travel industry.

In the case of an opaque reservation, the traveler can, for example, select specific dates and approximate locations for hotel accommodation and be presented with one or more suggestions, The price for the type of hotel to be staying and any general details (for example, from a low-priced hotel to a luxury hotel). The name and exact location of the hotel will be revealed to the traveler only after the traveler has selected and paid for the offer.

Opaque reservation is a benefit to the traveler, because such a reservation is generally cheaper to compensate for the opacity of the reservation. Such a booking is also beneficial to the travel provider because the booking often allows the travel providers to select travel products for these opaque reservations in a manner that attempts to optimize their revenue. For example, hotel providers may choose hotel rooms with the highest availability than hotel rooms with lower availability, to reduce the risk that hotel rooms will not be used.

However, the opacity of conventional opacity reservations generally ends when the opacity reservations are completed (i.e., when the purchase of opaque reservations is completed). However, the travel provider typically needs to establish a specific itinerary (e.g., to define one or more travel items such as a particular hotel, flight, etc.) to fulfill the opaque reservation when the reservation is completed. However, such an opaque reservation can be made a few days, weeks or even months before the trip, and when the opaque reservation is completed and when the departure (i.e., when any tour product associated with the opaque reservation is used) Can happen. Accordingly, the tour product selected as the optimal travel product when the opaque reservation is completed may still be no longer the optimal travel product at the time of departure.

Thus, there remains a need in the art for a method of optimizing revenue in connection with opacity reservations.

The present invention provides a device, program product and method for postponing the completion of a travel schedule for an opaque reservation to a point in time after the opaque reservation is completed so that the travel schedule for the opaque reservation can be re-evaluated before finishing the travel schedule Thereby solving these and other problems associated with the prior art. A re-evaluation of opaque reservation itineraries may be performed using global optimization that operates across a number of opaque reservations to attempt to create trip schedules that optimize revenues for one or more travel providers.

Thus, according to one aspect of the present invention, a travel schedule for an opaque reservation can be created. In response to receiving the first opacity reservation for the at least one traveler, an initial itinerary for the first opacity reservation is generated, wherein the initial itinerary includes a trip between the start position and the destination position, wherein the first It does not initially inform at least one traveler of at least a portion of the travel schedule details for the first opaque reservation after the opaque reservation is completed. After generating the initial itinerary for the first opacity reservation and before forwarding the travel schedule details not informed prior to the departure of at least one traveler to the at least one traveler, the global optimization of the first opacity reservation and at least the second opacity reservation Is performed to optimize the revenue over at least the first and second opacity reservations, wherein performing the global optimization is performed on a first opacity reservation to generate a modified travel itinerary that increases revenue relative to the initial itinerary This includes modifying the initial itinerary for. After performing the global optimization, the unspecified travel schedule details associated with the modified itinerary are communicated to at least one traveler prior to the departure of at least one traveler.

These and other advantages and features which characterize the invention are set forth in the appended claims that form a further part of this specification. However, for a better understanding of the present invention and the advantages and objects achieved through the use of the invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and the accompanying written description, in which illustrative embodiments of the invention are described.

1 is a block diagram of one or more reservation systems, inventory systems, travel provider systems, and travel reservation devices, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram of the inventory system of Figure 1;
3 is a block diagram of an exemplary schema for a global architecture suitable for managing revenue-optimized opacity reservations, in accordance with the present invention.
Figures 4 and 5 are block diagrams of exemplary data models suitable for use in the architecture of Figure 3;
Figure 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a series of operations that may be performed when managing profit-optimized opacity reservations, in accordance with the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a series of actions that may be performed for the flight selection process, in accordance with the present invention.
8 is a flow chart illustrating a series of operations that may be performed for an opaque reservation optimization process, in accordance with the present invention.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention postpone finishing the travel schedule for the opaque reservation to some point after the opaque reservation is completed so that the travel schedule for the opaque reservation can be re-evaluated before finishing the travel itinerary. A re-evaluation of the opaque reserved travel itineraries may be performed using global optimization that operates across multiple opaque reservations to attempt to create trip schedules that optimize revenues for one or more travel providers.

In this regard, the opaque reservation is a reservation for a travel itinerary that includes one or more trips that do not notify the traveler at least some of the details of the itinerary until after the reservation is complete (i.e., until the purchase of the reservation is complete). For purposes of this disclosure, opacity reservations can be thought of as being in various states. For example, when the purchase of the opaque reservation is completed, the opaque reservation can be considered completed. In addition, whenever the rest of the itinerary details are provided to the traveler, the opaque reservation can be considered to be finalized because the travel provider (s) associated with the itinerary is at that point specified in the itinerary This is because of the obligation to provide travel goods. In addition, in the illustrated embodiments, a non-transparent reservation that has been completed but has not yet been completed may be considered unfinished. When in an unfinished state, at least a portion of the details of the itinerary associated with the opaque reservation have not yet been disclosed and may be changed from the perspective of any travel provider associated with the itinerary. As a result, the travel provider is allowed to change one or more travel products associated with the itinerary prior to finalization (e.g., if other tour products are determined to be more appropriate for the travel provider in terms of revenue or resource allocation) .

The itinerary may include one or more travel segments (e.g., between one or more of the starting position, the destination position, and / or one or more intermediate positions) between two or more positions, as discussed herein . Additional trips such as hotels, car rentals, shuttles, attractions, as well as travel through many types of vehicles (e.g., air, rail, road, ≪ / RTI > travel goods or services of the < / RTI >

The details of the itinerary that may not initially be known may therefore vary in different applications. (E.g., airline, hotel operator, train operator, cruise operator, rental car company, etc.), certain travel goods (e.g., (Eg, one or more travel items on the itinerary are used by the traveler) without first giving details such as a specific flight, hotel, train, cruise, rental car, etc. .

Embodiments described hereinafter will focus on the application of the airline center, for example, where the opaque reservation is associated with a travel itinerary in which travel segments are represented by flights. Thereby, it is possible for an airline, for example, one or more departure locations or airports, one or more destination locations or airports, one or more departure dates and / or times, one or more return dates and / / / An opaque reservation may be made by specifying one or more durations, and various degrees of uncertainty or opacity may be applied so as not to initially inform the traveler at least a part of the resulting travel schedule details do. Thus, for example, an opaque reservation can be made for a trip between New York and Nice, France, which departs during the first week of September and returns two weeks after that, where the traveler is informed about the departure and return flights (For example, date, time, flight number, airport, etc.).

However, it should be appreciated that the principles of the present invention may be applied to packages (e.g., both air travel and other types of travel products) of multiple travel products as well as other travel products (e.g., hotels, rental cars, cruises, And other travel-related reservations. In addition, the principles of the present invention can also be applied in multi-provider scenarios (e.g., where flights or other travel products can be supplied by multiple travel providers). Thus, the invention is not limited to the specific airline-oriented applications disclosed herein.

In some embodiments according to the present invention, as will become more apparent below, in response to receiving an opaque reservation for at least one traveler, an initial itinerary for trips between the start position and the destination position is generated. The opaque reservation is completed, but not finalized, because it does not tell the traveler at least part of the itinerary details. After generating the initial itinerary for the opaque reservation and before forwarding the unannounced travel schedule details to the traveler prior to departure, a global optimization of the multiple opaque reservations is then performed to optimize the revenue over the opaque reservations. The global optimization may include, for example, modifying the initial itinerary for opaque reservations to create a revised itinerary that increases revenue relative to the initial itinerary. After performing global optimization and prior to departure, unspecified travel schedule details associated with the modified itinerary can then be passed on to the traveler prior to departure.

In some embodiments, modifying the itinerary may include modifying the destination location, changing one or more travel segments between the start location and the destination location, changing the departure location and the modified destination Changing one or more travel segments between locations, modifying the departure date, or modifying the return date. In some embodiments, global optimization may be performed in response to unavailability of the destination location, either as a regular maintenance batch job or during reservation of an opaque product.

In some embodiments, for each of a plurality of dates, departure location and destination location combinations, an opaque merchandise inventory may be maintained that includes a set of matching itineraries, associated costs and availability. Creating an initial itinerary can also include selecting a destination location and date for the initial itinerary based on the associated cost and availability for at least a subset of the date, start location, and destination location combinations.

In some embodiments, the opaque product inventory may be updated in response to a new opacity reservation or periodic batch job. In some embodiments, the travel inventory item is canceled, the travel inventory item expected load factor meets the threshold, or the travel inventory item is not one of the ones that has no capacity for additional opacity reservations Global optimization may be performed in response to the above.

In some embodiments, maintaining an opaque product inventory may include, for each of a plurality of dates, departure location and destination location combinations, an expected load for each of a plurality of travel inventory items included in a set of corresponding travel itineraries Opaque capacity, or bid price displacement cost of the product. Creating an initial itinerary may include selecting an opacity capacity for one or more trip inventory items included in a set of matching itineraries for a date, a start location, and a destination combination that matches the selected destination location and date for the initial itinerary , The expected load factor, or the bid price substitution expense, based on one or more of a set of matching travel schedules for the date, start location, and destination combination that match the selected destination location and date for the initial itinerary It may further include selecting a schedule.

In some embodiments, performing the global optimization may include re-selecting the destination location and date, or a set of matching trips to date, departure location, and destination combination that match the selected destination location and date for the initial itinerary And reselecting a corresponding itinerary among the schedules.

In some embodiments, performing the global optimization may reduce the cost of changing the opacity reservation from a first cheaper date, a departure location and a destination location combination to a second more expensive date, a departure location and a destination location combination, And comparing the first cheaper date, departure location, and destination location combination for the opacity reservation with the benefit of re-opening.

In some embodiments, the associated costs for the itinerary may be based, at least in part, on the tax associated with one or more locations associated with the itinerary and on the expected load factor and replacement cost associated with the one or more trip inventory items associated with the itinerary have. In some embodiments, forwarding of unannounced travel schedule details associated with the modified travel itinerary to the traveler may be performed relative to the traveler's departure. In addition, in some embodiments, between when completing the opaque reservation to fine-tune the initial itinerary based on changes in availability and / or revenue data from when making the opaque reservation, and when relative to the traveler's departure A plurality of global optimizations can be performed.

Other variations and modifications will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Hardware and software environment

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates a data processing system including one or more devices and / or systems that may be used to implement various aspects of the present invention System 100 shown in FIG. The reservation system 102 may be implemented as one or more servers and may be coupled to the communications network 103 wherein the communications network 103 may be an Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) / Data network, one or more high speed bus connections, and / or other types of communication networks. (E.g., a travel agency, traveler, or other such travel booking service) may initiate a reservation session with reservation system 102 to forward reservation requests and / or other such relevant data to booking system 102 , The travel reservation device 104 may be connected to the communication network 103. [ The travel reservation device 104 may be a personal computing device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a thin client terminal, a smartphone, and / or other such computing devices.

One or more servers for one or more inventory systems 106 may also be coupled to the communications network 103, and so on for one or more travel provider systems 108. The reservation system 102 may initiate an inventory session with each inventory system 106 through which the travel inventory item should be reserved via the communication network 103. [ According to embodiments of the present invention, the booking agency may interface with the reservation system 102 using the travel reservation device 104 in a reservation session to provide data for the reservation request. The reservation system then interfaces with each inventory system 106 that provides the travel inventory items required for reservation requests in the inventory session. Moreover, although the reservation system 102, the inventory system 106, and / or the travel provider system 108 are described herein as separate entities, the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, sequences of various hardware, software components, and / or operations described in connection with the reservation system 102, the inventory system 106, and / or the travel provider system 108 are stored in a reservation system (S) 102, inventory system 106, and / or travel provider system 108. Moreover, as will be appreciated, in some embodiments, reservation system 102 and / or travel provider system 108 may be components of a Global Distribution System (GDS).

Referring now to FIG. 2, this drawing provides a block diagram illustrating the components of one or more servers of inventory system 102 that are associated with implementing the opaque reservation function described herein. The inventory system 106 includes at least one processor 160 that includes at least one hardware-based microprocessor and a memory 162 that is coupled to the at least one processor 160. [ The memory 162 may be any suitable level of memory (e.g., cache memory, non-volatile or backup memory (e.g., non-volatile memory), as well as random access memory (RAM) devices, including main storage of the inventory system 106, Programmable or flash memory), read only memory, etc.). In addition, the memory 162 may be any memory storage (e.g., any cache memory in the microprocessor) physically located elsewhere in the inventory system 106, as well as any storage capacity used as virtual memory Stored on a mass storage device coupled to the system 106 or on another computer).

To interface with a user or operator, the inventory system 106 may include a user interface 164 that includes one or more user input and output devices (e.g., a keyboard, pointing device, display, printer, etc.). Alternatively, the input may be transferred to another computer or terminal (e.g., reservation system 102, travel provider system 108, and / or travel reservation device 104) via network interface 168 coupled to communication network 103 )). ≪ / RTI > The inventory system 106 may also be capable of communicating with one or more mass storage devices, such as, for example, an internal hard disk storage device, an external hard disk storage device, an external database, a storage area network device, have.

The inventory system 106 typically operates under the control of the operating system 170 and includes an opacity reservation module 172 that includes, for example, opaque space inventory 174 and opacity reservation table 176, Including, but not limited to, a variety of computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, engines, data structures, and the like. In general, opacity reservation module 172 may be configured to manage opacity reservations for the lifetime of opaque reservations. The opaque seating inventory 176 tracks the current allocation of opaque reservations for travel goods, while the opaque reservation table tracks opaque reservations.

For example, in a distributed or client-server computing environment, a variety of additional applications, components, programs, objects, data, and the like may be stored on one or more processors in another computer coupled to the inventory system 106 via the communications network 103. [ Modules, etc. may also be executed, whereby the processing necessary to implement the functions of the computer program may be assigned to multiple computers over the network.

 In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of the present invention, whether implemented as part of an operating system or as a sequence of a particular application, component, program, object, module or instruction, or even a subset thereof, Will be referred to herein as "computer program code" or simply "program code ". The program code typically resides in various memory and storage devices within the computer at various times and can be read and executed by one or more processors in a computer to cause the computer to execute steps or elements that implement various aspects of the invention Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI > Moreover, although the present invention will be described in connection with fully functioning computers and computer systems, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various embodiments of the present invention may be deployed in various forms as program products, It will be appreciated that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer readable media used to actually perform it.

Such computer readable media can include computer readable storage media and communication media. The computer-readable storage medium is essentially non-volatile, volatile and non-volatile, implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, Removable media. The computer-readable storage medium may be embodied in a variety of forms, including RAM, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other solid state memory technology, digital versatile disk) or other optical storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed 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 such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above may also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The various program codes described hereinafter may be identified based on the application field in which the program code is implemented in a particular embodiment of the present invention. It should be borne in mind, however, that any specific program in the following description is for convenience only and, therefore, should not be construed as limited to use in any particular application where the invention is identified and / will be. In addition, it should be appreciated that the program functionality may be implemented in a variety of software layers (e. G., A < / RTI > It is to be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to any particular configuration and assignment of program functionality described herein, given various ways in which the various methods that can be assigned between operating systems, libraries, APIs, applications, applets, I will know.

It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the exemplary environments depicted in Figures 1 and 2 are not intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other alternative hardware and / or software environments may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Profit-optimized opaque reservation

Opaque reservations, in particular in the aviation industry, have traditionally been opaque only for the duration of a shopping transaction (i.e., all schedule details of opaque goods are disclosed at the time of booking completion). In a typical transaction, a traveler may select an opaque item (e.g., a beach trip) from a travel provider's website and present a set of possible destinations and dates. The traveler can fine-tune his or her choices by reducing the opacity of travel destinations and / or dates (e.g., by deselecting certain destinations and / or choosing price travel dates) The price of opaque goods increases. Once the traveler is satisfied with the choice, the traveler can go to the payment page, enter his details, and confirm the transaction. The travel provider may then select a flight in the background, for example, among those flights that match the traveler's choice, with the largest availability and hence the most unused capacity, Select flights that meet your requests. At that point, the travel provider can then publish details of the traveler's schedule (e.g., in a confirmation email). If the travel provider confirms the specific schedule presented to the traveler, then the opaque reservation is subsequently treated as a standard reservation.

However, by confirming a specific schedule at the completion of the opaque reservation it has been found that the results of the lane can be obtained, especially when the opaque reservation is completed considerably before the start of the trip. Even though the travel provider tries to anticipate future sales activities, the actual sales over that time frame may differ from the anticipated activity, resulting in travel products having different availability than expected when the opaque reservation is completed .

Embodiments according to the present invention, on the other hand, postpone the completion of the travel schedule for the opaque reservation to some point after the opaque reservation is completed, so that the travel schedule for the opaque reservation can be re-evaluated before finishing the travel schedule. In embodiments discussed below, it is possible to use a number of opaque reservations to attempt to create trip schedules that optimize the allocation of opaque reservations across various travel products based on, for example, availability and / A re-evaluation of the opaque reserved travel itineraries is performed using global optimization that operates on.

As will become more apparent below, in the illustrated embodiments, the opaque goods inventory is maintained to track opaque reservations and virtually allocate opaque reservations to the travel provider inventories, and when the global optimizations are performed, Global optimizations are performed on the opaque goods inventory at different points in time to reallocate opaque reservations in a manner that optimizes availability and / or revenue. When an opaque reservation arrives when the schedule details are disclosed to the traveler, the opaque reservation is converted to a standard reservation and removed from the opaque goods inventory.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the use of the opaque product inventory and the global optimizations performed thereon are such that the travel providers are better able to meet the airline business policies and to provide opaque reservations to optimize allocation of opaque reservations across the travel provider & Allow reservations to be reshuffled, allowing travel providers to sell more of these items and get the best return from them.

In the embodiments discussed below, the application of the invention in the aviation industry is being discussed, whereby the travel provider is an airline and the schedule (which may also be referred to as a travel solution) Include them as travel goods. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to this application, and that the adaptation of the principles applied herein to other travel products and / or travel providers will be sufficient within the capabilities of the ordinary artisan You will know.

Taking an exemplary embodiment of reserving flights using opaque reservations from now on, this illustrative embodiment attempts to optimize the revenues the airline earns through the sale of opaque goods. Opaque goods offer airlines three main axes to follow to optimize revenue and load factors through allocation of opaque reservations for airline's most interesting travel solutions.

Destination : The traveler chooses a set of destinations with different airport taxes and different costs.

Travel dates : Flexibility for the dates selected by the traveler.

Information Date: The date on which the traveler should be informed about the details of the schedule. Until this date, the opaque schedule can be reassigned to the new schedule to optimize the return obtained by the corresponding opaque reservation.

A schema presenting the global architecture 200 used in the illustrative embodiment is illustrated in FIG. In this architecture, the inventory system 202 is coupled to an e-commerce system 204, a reservation and ticketing system 206, and a fare quote system 208 . The e-commerce system 204 accesses the inventory system 202 to obtain opacity merchandise availability and pricing and accesses the reservation and ticketing system 204 to generate opacity reservations.

The reservation and ticketing system 206 includes a PNR (Passenger Name Record) module 210, an EMD (Electronic Miscellaneous Document) module 212, a ticket module 214, and a pricing module 216. In addition, the inventory system 202 includes a number of data structures (not shown) used for opaque reservations, including opaque reservation records 218, opaque goods 220, opaque seat inventory 222, As well as two modules for managing opacity reservations in the inventory system, a journey server 228 and a global optimizer 230. [

The PNR module 210 generates an opaque reservation record 218 in response to the electronic commerce system 204 and both the PNR module 210 and the EMD module 212 are associated with each other, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 218 < / RTI > The ticket module 214 processes the ticketing while the pricing module 216 also accesses the opaque commodity price 226 to obtain the price for the opaque item and the fare calculation system 208).

The opaque reservation record 218 may be maintained in the opaque seating inventory 222 which is used to store the verified but not yet finished opaque reservations and which retains all of the unfinished opaque reservations for the airline. Opaque goods 220 refers to definitions of goods offered by the airline and opaque goods prices 226 refers to prices set for different opaque goods, both of which may be, for example, (BZR) 232 (which may be managed via a dedicated user interface in the business rule framework). As will be discussed in greater detail below, a revenue management system (RMS) 234 may also be accessed to provide revenue data used to assign opaque reservations to specific schedules.

The opaque article 220 accesses the current flight date inventory 224 (which represents the overall inventory availability for the airline) to the travel server 228 and the airline to create the opaque seat inventory 222. In addition, global optimizer 230 sometimes performs global optimization to optimize travel solutions assigned to different opaque reservations that have not yet been finalized, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

Although a number of different data models may be used to represent the above-described data used in connection with the management of opaque reservations, FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate exemplary data models that may be used in the illustrated embodiment in combination. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, opacity reservation 232 may refer to, for example, opaque article 234, and may include a number of travelers 236, travelers name 238, Additional information such as contact information 240, point of sale 242, and reservation date 244 may be further included. The opaque product 234 again contains a list 250 of opaque product names 246, paid prices 248, maintained destinations (i.e., destinations that may be included in an unfinished or finished schedule or travel solution) , A list 252 of possible travel dates (i. E., Travel dates that may be included in the unfinished or finished schedule or travel solution), and the date of delivery (i.e., the date when the traveler will be notified of the finished schedule details) (254).

5 shows an exemplary data model for the opaque seating inventory. For each combination of origin and destination (O & D) and date 260, a list 262 of travel solutions for that particular O & D and date is maintained. In addition, each O & D and date combination may include a minimum total tax 264 (i.e., a minimum airport tax on all of the travel solutions 262), a maximum opacity capacity 266 (i.e., The minimum expected load factor 268 (i. E., A measure of the airline's traveler's transportation capacity utilization, the passenger's passenger kilometers for generally available seat kilometers available) and the minimum value is the minimum expected load factor of all trip solutions for a particular O & D and date), and the total number 270 of reservations for that O & D and date.

Each trip solution 262 refers to one or more flights 272 and also includes an estimated total tax 274 (i.e., the total airport tax for a given travel solution), Minimum opacity capacity 276, minimum expected load factor 278, total number of reservations 280, and bid price replacement cost 282 (to ensure that the user can ride in the sections) , Representing expected revenue).

Each flight 272 of the travel solution has an opacity capacity 284 used to determine opacity merchandise availability, 284 indicating availability for the flight (and thus determining the travel solution that is most interesting within O & D and date combinations A useful estimated load factor 286, a bid price (BP) replacement cost 288, and a link to the opacity reservation 290 assigned to the flight. In some embodiments, opaque reservation counters may be maintained at the flights, travel solutions and O & D levels, and may be moved to other O & D / date and / or travel solutions if the number of opaque reservations exceeds the opacity capacity A list of opacity reservations counted on the counter can be retrieved to see if there is any flexibility.

The expected load factor and bid price vectors may be provided by the revenue management system and the inventory system may calculate both the opacity capacity and the bid price replacement cost. The bid price replacement cost may be considered to be the bid price difference between the bid price of the (expected boarding) seat index and the bid price of (Seat expected + 1) seat index. In addition, in some embodiments, travel cost estimates (e.g., based on distance traveled and estimated cost per kilometer) may be maintained in each travel solution 262, and different available travels at the O & D / The minimum travel cost of the solutions is maintained. In some embodiments, the travel cost estimate may also include an airport tax.

3, in an exemplary embodiment, the electronic commerce system 204 may be used to retrieve available opaque products and their associated pricing structures through an interface with the inventory system 202. [ The traveler can select which airport he or she would like to originate from and then create and send an opaque product availability request to the inventory system 202 to retrieve the available opaque goods.

The inventory system 202 can then retrieve the list 220 of opaque goods defined for the departure airport as well as the associated pricing structure and return the information to the electronic commerce system. A pricing structure rather than a price may be provided so that the range of prices for opaque goods can be dynamically determined based on the options selected by the traveler. For example, if a traveler accepts more possible destinations, accepts more flexibility in terms of departure date and / or duration, and / or agrees to wait for longer periods before being notified of schedule details Price can be offered. As such, a pricing structure may be provided that defines one or more rules and / or expressions on which dynamic prices may be generated based on options defined by one or more travelers. In some embodiments, a set of possible destinations may be initially presented to the traveler, and the price may increase as the traveler excludes destinations from the initial set.

From the e-commerce system, the traveler will be able to select opaque goods and can choose between different options, such as the number of people traveling, a subset of available destinations, a departure date or range of departure dates, and / The date or time to be delivered to the inventory system, all of which may be considered when generating a corresponding price from the pricing structure provided by the inventory system. If the traveler has customized the opaque item, the traveler may request to purchase the opaque item, and at this point the opaque reservation request may be sent to the inventory system 206 to check the availability of the selected options and to confirm the price have. The opaque reservation confirmation can then be returned to the e-commerce system 204 and the e-commerce system 204 allows the traveler to proceed with the settlement. If the settlement is complete, the opaque reservation is completed and an opaque reservation notification containing the same information provided in the opaque reservation request may be sent to the inventory system 202. [ When an opaque reservation notification is received, an optimal current travel solution for the opaque reservation (i. E. Based on current situations in terms of availability and / or revenue concerns) can be determined. In one embodiment, for example, the most interesting destinations based on available O & D and date combinations with the lowest associated costs are selected and then the most interesting of the available O & D and date combinations A two-step flight selection process may be performed, in which a solution can be selected.

As will become more apparent below, a similar flight selection process can be reused during a global optimization batch operation that re-evaluates the currently selected travel solution for each unfinished opacity reservation. When the opaque reservation reaches the agreed date on which the traveler is informed of the schedule details, the currently selected travel solution can be selected as the last schedule, at which point the opaque reservation can be finalized and converted to a standard reservation. In some embodiments, the opaque reservation may hold an opaque reservation flag such that the opaque reservation can be distinguished from other standard reservations. It should also be noted that uncompleted opaque reservations may be used to ensure that opaque reservation allocation optimizations can be performed without affecting standard reservations and only when opaque reservations are converted to standard reservations, , It does not reduce the availability for standard reservations. In such embodiments, triggers for global optimization and timely control can reduce the risk of overbooking due to finishing opaque reservations.

As also noted above, the inventory system 202 may provide the airline with a user interface for defining and creating different opaque goods to be offered to travelers. Opaque products may include a global definition with different proposed options, a definition of the proposed flexibility for each of the options, and a pricing structure corresponding to the flexibility of the different proposed options. In some cases, an initial price may also be specified.

As such, in one embodiment, the airline may define one or more business rules and the opaque goods and associated options. Exemplary opaque articles may include the following:

Opaque product name

Origin Market

Destination Market

Date range of sale

Departure Date Range and Frequency

Basic departure date flexibility

Date of the basic notification that the traveler will be notified about the schedule details

Next, the airline can define the pricing structure of the proposed different options as well as the initial price of the opaque goods. For example, for destination opacity, the airline may define a list of possible non-suppressible destinations, as well as the minimum number of possible destinations remaining, as well as the suppression cost associated with each possible destination. can do. For departure date opacity, the airline will specify a minimum number of possible departure dates and pricing adjustments corresponding to an increase or decrease in associated flexibility (e.g., +/- X days for +/- N days / week) . For the date of notification opacity, the airline may adjust the price (e. G. +/- +/- N days / week for +/- X euros) corresponding to an increase or decrease in the default notification date (e. Can be defined. In this embodiment, the price specified by the airline may not be automatically compared with the estimated taxes and / or prices of possible travel solutions that may be allocated for the goods, thus ensuring that the prescribed price is sufficient Work can be part of the airline.

The airline may also define the opacity capacity as a percentage of the allowed flight / day capacity, for example, through business rules, for opaque reservations. In an exemplary embodiment, the opacity capacity (OC) at the flight / day level (block 284 of FIG. 5) may be determined as follows:

OC _LC = (LCC x% OBA) - SB

Where OG _LC is the opacity capacity at the leg / cabin level, LCC is the leg / cabin capacity, OBA is the opaque booking allowance, SB is the conventional rain / cabin capacity, The number of non-opaque (standard) reservations. Once the opacity capacity is determined at the leg / cabin level, the minimum opacity capacity (block 276 of FIG. 5) at the travel solution level can be determined as the minimum opacity capacity suggested for the different legs included in the travel solution. Then, to determine the opacity capacity (block 266 of FIG. 5) at the O & D / day level, the maximum opacity capacity of possible travel solutions may be used. In some embodiments, when the opacity capacity at the leg / cabin level changes for the travel solution, a notification may be sent to the O & D / date opaque inventory item associated with the leg / cabin to update accordingly.

With reference now to FIG. 6, the operation performed over the lifetime of the opacity reservation, with the interaction with the illustrated opacity channel 300, the opaque reservation table 302, the opaque seat inventory 304 and the reservation system 306 The flow chart of which will be described in more detail. The opacity channel 300 may be considered in this embodiment to be a commerce or other system, or more specifically, its opaque commodity component, by which a traveler or other user may purchase an opaque article or otherwise I confirm it. In addition, to simplify the discussion, the opaque reservation table 302 and the opaque seat inventory 304 are used to represent functionality in the inventory system that manages the data stored in each of these data structures, rather than the data structures themselves Are illustrated.

An opaque reservation (OB) request may be sent from the opaque channel 300 to the inventory system, as shown in step A1, resulting in an opaque reservation record in the opaque reservation table 302 (step A2 )). The opaque reservation is then added to the opaque seat inventory 304 (step A3) and at this point the current optimal travel solution TS for the opaque reservation is selected (step A4) It is notified that it has been completed (step A5). In addition, if an available travel solution for an opacity reservation can not be selected, as illustrated in block 308, in some embodiments, a global optimization operation may be performed to reallocate all unfinished opaque reservations It may also be desirable to trigger. In other embodiments, this situation may not occur due to a preliminary availability check, and thus if a travel solution for the selected opaque article can not be found, an opaque reservation may not be created and the sale may be denied.

Next, as illustrated in block 310, a global optimization batch operation may be performed in steps A6 and A7. The global optimization batch job may be performed periodically and / or may be performed temporarily (e.g., triggered based on a change in situation, such as a change in availability). In step A6 global optimization is triggered and in step A7 the opaque reservation distribution optimized for reassigning travel solutions for all of the unfinished opaque reservations in the opaque seating inventory 304 is returned .

Next, as illustrated in block 312, a finishing batch operation may be performed in steps A8 to A12. A finishing batch job may be executed periodically (e.g., daily) to finish unfinished opaque reservations with a notification date that matches the current date. At step A8 opaque reservations that match the current date are selected and at step A9 an optimized opacity reserved distribution is made to the opaque seat inventory 304 (e.g., based on similar operations performed during global optimization) . At step A10 the final travel solutions for the opaque reservations to be finalized are returned and at step A11 converting the opaque reservations to standard reservations by notifying the reservation system 306 (step A11) And informing the travelers associated with these reservations of their respective travel solutions / schedule details (step A12). The notification can be made using e. G. E. G., E-mail, regular mail, text messaging, or other means that will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Additional exemplary implementation details regarding the management of opaque reservations in the above-described exemplary embodiment are provided below.

Flight Selection Process

With respect to each opacity reservation and with reference to routine 320 of FIG. 7, flight selection generally includes destination, departure and return dates, and selection of flight numbers corresponding to particular flights. To select a destination, the departure airport of the opaque reservation, possible destinations and possible travel dates may be converted into possible O & D / date combinations (block 322). Then, for each O & D / date combination, the associated cost and availability may be retrieved (block 324). In some embodiments, if a particular O & D / date combination is not available, a request / trigger for global re-optimization may be generated.

The associated costs can correspond to the sum of the O & D / date combination airport tax and travel costs. In an exemplary embodiment, the travel cost may be a basic cost based on the generic estimated kilometrical cost and the distance of travel, or the manner in which other costs (e. G., Fuel surcharge) Can be fine-tuned based on similar, one or more rules.

Availability can be retrieved based on maintenance of opaque product inventory. Referring in detail and with reference to FIG. 5, each O & D and date combination may be updated periodically to ensure optimal allocation of travel solutions for opaque reservations. The update process may be triggered based on a periodic batch operation (e.g., daily, every three hours, etc.), based on opaque reservation activity, and / or based on interactive notifications from the flight / date inventory. Once triggered, details of the different flights / dates of a given O & D / date combination may be retrieved and the O & D / date adjusted accordingly to the determined new maximum opacity capacity (block 266), minimum expected load factor (block 268) ) And a minimum bid price replacement cost (block 282). These details can be used to determine the "most interesting" destination within an opaque product, among other things, at any given time.

7, once the associated cost and availability have been determined, a destination with the lowest total cost can be selected and the opaque reservation can be selected for the corresponding O & D / date combination (for both outbound and inbound) (Block 326). ≪ / RTI > The total cost of the destination can be expressed as the sum of the airport tax and the travel cost of the departure and arrival journey (linked by the distance from the destination selected by the traveler).

Opacity capacity, anticipated load factor, and / or bid price replacement costs of different flights / dates may be used to select the travel solution after the opaque reservations are assigned to the O & D / date combination (block 328). For example, in one embodiment, where possible, a travel solution with the highest opacity capacity may be selected. If several travel solutions share the same highest opacity capacity, a travel solution with the lowest expected load factor among the travel solutions with the highest opacity capacity can be selected. In addition, if there are still some travel solutions with the same highest opacity capacity and lowest expected load factor, the travel solution with the lowest bid price replacement cost can be selected.

Opaque Scheduling Global Optimization Process

A global optimization process may be used to optimize airline revenue based on the current situation. As discussed above, when the opacity reservation is initially completed, the current travel solution may be selected for the opaque reservation using the flight selection process. However, it is desirable to reevaluate this choice as a result of time, in order to ensure optimal profit for the airline globally, as well as standard booking activities for different flights, as well as other opaque booking activities.

It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments, global optimization may be performed on all pending opaque reservations. However, in other embodiments, for opaque reservations associated with, for example, one or more specific O & D / date combinations, the global optimization may be limited only to a subset of pending opaque reservations. Accordingly, a "global" optimization within the context of the present invention may refer to an optimization that evaluates travel solutions for multiple opaque reservations to optimize revenue and / or availability among multiple opaque reservations. In some embodiments, for example, the optimization process may be triggered from a given O & D / date combination (the details of the opaque product reserved by the traveler assigned to this O & D / date combination are retrieved) All O & D / date combinations corresponding to the union of the opaque goods reserved by the traveler for the O & D / date combination in process can be reassessed.

In the illustrated embodiment, an automatic trigger may be used to initiate the global optimization process (e.g., based on what level of notification has been reached). In one case, a global optimization may be triggered during an opaque inventory maintenance batch operation. For example, for one of the flight / date portions of the O & D / date combination, if the flight / date is canceled, the flight / date anticipated load factor reaches the threshold and / or the flight / date opacity seat capacity is less than or equal to 0 , A global optimization process may be triggered to re-evaluate pending opaque reservations. In addition, if there is no opacity capacity for different flights / dates of a given O & D / date combination, the opaque reservation optimization process may be triggered only for a given O & D / date combination (s). In addition, if the lowest cost O & D / date combination (s) of a given opaque product is not available during the flight selection process performed during maintenance batching, only the opaque reservation optimization process for a given O & .

In some embodiments, "local" optimization may be triggered if the flight portion of the travel solution that is itself part of the O & D / date combination is no longer available, ≪ / RTI > can be reassigned to other flight parts of the same O & D / date combination. In addition, in some embodiments, the cost of moving at least one traveler to a more expensive O & D / date combination may be compared to an O & D / date combination given in a different opaque article if there is no longer availability for a given O &Quot; global "optimization may be processed to determine the optimal allocation of different opaque reservations by comparing the potential benefits of re-opening the opacity reservations.

In other cases, a global optimization may be triggered during the opaque booking flow. For example, if the lowest cost destination for a new opacity reservation is not available, the notification may be sent to the affected O & D / date combinations to verify that the opaque reservations assigned to the combinations should be reallocated .

In general, the global optimization may re-evaluate the associated opacity reservations associated with the combination to determine the total travel cost of the different options available for each opacity reservation, for the triggered O & D / date combination. The re-evaluation can determine the cost of moving the opaque reservation to a more expensive destination, and compare the cost to the benefit of re-opening the O & D / date combination for other opaque goods, to optimize revenue among different opaque reservations. The global optimization can also determine if the O & D / date combination should be reopened for opaque goods and if yes, which opaque reservation should be reassigned to which destination.

As an example, consider a trigger received for a given O & D / date whose destination is Athena (ATH). OP1 also has two opaque goods (OPs) with OPN as the other possible destinations and OP2 with Barcelona (BCN) and Istanbul (IST) as other possible destinations OP1 and OP2 are present (each number after the airport code refers to the cost associated with the destination).

OP1: ATH: 5, NCE: 10, IST: 25

OP2: ATH: 5, BCN: 20, IST: 25

When OP1 and OP2 are reassessed and aggregated by opaque goods, for example, the cost of moving OP1 from ATH to NCE is 10-5 = 5, while the benefit of reopening ATH for OP2 is 20-5 = 15 < / RTI > Accordingly, moving some opaque reservations from the OP1 / ATH 5 to the OP1 / NCE 10 to release the seat for the OP2 / ATH 5 to reduce the cost associated with the next opaque reservation for OP2 A net profit of 15-5 = 10 can be realized.

Referring now to Figure 8, in an exemplary embodiment, each time an opaque reservation optimization process is triggered for a given O & D / date combination, the allocation of each of the opaque reservations affected by that combination is illustrated in routine 340 And can be reassessed in a For each of the affected opaque reservations, all of the possible destinations for each opacity reservation can be re-evaluated and the characteristics of each of the possible O & D / date combinations can be retained for the revenue maximization process (discussed below) (Block 342). Then, the cost of the potential lowest cost destination of each opacity reservation can be examined and compared to the cost of the considered O & D / date combinations (block 344). If the lowest-cost destinations are not available (the "no" path from block 346), for example, by executing routine 340 for each such O & D / date combination, the corresponding O & An opaque reservation optimization process may be triggered for each (block 348). Otherwise (the "Yes" path from block 346), the opaque reservations may proceed directly to the profit maximization process beginning at block 350. [

Specifically, if the potential total destination cost for each of the opaque reservations has been determined, then this potential total destination cost can be aggregated for each opaque product, and the maximum opaque product (OPMax) is determined as the opaque product with the lowest minimum potential total cost And the minimum opacity product (OPMin) may be determined as the opacity product with the lowest minimum potential total cost (Block 350).

Thereafter, two conditions may be examined to verify that opaque reservations need to be reallocated. First, if the total cost of the destination is lower than the cost of the current destination of the opaque reservation (block 352), the opaque reservation may be reassigned by performing the flight selection process described above for that opaque reservation (Step 354). Second, if OPMax (MPTC - CTC)> OPMin (MPTC - CTC) where MPTC is the minimum potential total cost and CTC is the current total cost (block 356) ), An opaque reservation with the minimum potential total cost of OPMin may be reallocated (block 358) by performing the flight selection process described above for that opaque reservation.

 The aforementioned conditions may be used to determine whether the airline will generate more revenue by accepting a new opaque reservation for OPMax than losing by reassigning OPMin's opaque reservation to its potential destination.

Next, OPMax and OPMin opaque reservations are filtered out (block 362) if any of the above conditions are met (the "Yes" path of block 360) The process is restarted by returning to block 350 control of the "no" path in block 360). If the conditions are not met, the minimum cost of reallocating the opaque reservation to its potential destination is higher than the benefit of re-opening the given O & D / date combination for opaque reservations with the highest cost. Accordingly, the allocation of different opaque reservations can be optimized to maximize the revenue generated by the airline among the different opaque goods.

Pass the finished travel solution to the traveler

In an exemplary embodiment, when the notification date of the opaque reservation is reached, the reservation may be re-evaluated to ensure that the reservation has been assigned to the most interesting destination, using the optimization process described above. Next, the traveler can be informed of the details of the trip (i.e. schedule details). A message may be sent to the reservation system to convert the opaque reservation to a standard reservation and, optionally, keeps the opaque reservation flag for reporting. Once the standard reservation is confirmed, a notification may be sent to the traveler to inform the traveler of the schedule details. Also, in some embodiments, the details of the opaque reservation may also be retained in the O & D / date combination data structures for calculation of opacity merchandise availability as well as for reporting, but the opaque reservation is no longer eligible to be reassigned.

It will be appreciated that the implementation of the above-described opaque reservation function within an existing travel data processing system is within the capabilities of the ordinary artisan having the benefit of this disclosure. In one exemplary embodiment, for example, if the reservation system is provided with relative details of an opaque article or reservation (e.g., a list of possible destinations, possible travel dates, date of notification, but not initially assigned flights) (PNR) format, which maintains the same format. Thereafter, the inventory system may notify the reservation system to add the assigned flights.

In the case of an e-commerce system, direct interaction with the inventory system may be implemented to search for available opaque goods, and rather than performing the entire pricing process, the tax portion of the price paid by the traveler (e.g., VAT, Airport tax), the modified interaction with the pricing system can be implemented.

In the case of an inventory system, in some embodiments, new information and new processes may be implemented in the flight / date inventory. First, determination of opacity capacity may be supported, e.g., using a dedicated opacity reservation counter.

Second, unfinished opaque reservations can be configured to not reduce standard availability. Nonetheless, if opaque product availability is still linked to standard reservation inventory, unfinished opaque reservations can be converted to standard reservations without overbooking the inventory.

Third, the finished opaque reservation may be flagged to affect only the remaining capacity, not the seat index (e.g., converted to a standard reservation). Still, by reducing capacity, availability is impacted, but the RMS logic enforced by the inventory system is unaffected (e.g., the current bid price may not change).

Other modifications will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

As such, embodiments in accordance with the present invention may be used, for example, as an amount of tax advantageous to destinations with lower taxes to increase margins for travel providers, and / It will be apparent that the revenue of the travel provider can be optimized with respect to opaque reservations based on criteria such as expected load factor and replacement cost to select a schedule for a given destination with cost. Furthermore, optimization can be performed globally between multiple opaque reservations, rather than being limited to a single opaque reservation. In addition, a certain selection may be performed after completion of the opaque reservation, thereby determining the optimal schedule from a time closer to when the schedule details are to be delivered to the traveler, Can be determined.

It will be appreciated that some of the features of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be used without corresponding use of other features. In addition, various additional modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention is subsequently determined in the appended claims.

Claims (22)

CLAIMS 1. A method for generating a travel schedule for an opaque booking,
Generating an initial itinerary for the first opacity reservation in response to receiving a first opacity reservation for at least one traveler, the initial itinerary comprising a trip between a departure location and a destination location, Wherein said at least one traveler does not initially notify at least a portion of the travel schedule details for said first opacity reservation after said first opacity reservation is completed;
After generating the initial itinerary for the first opacity reservation and before communicating the unspecified travel schedule details to the at least one traveler prior to departure of the at least one traveler, Performing a global optimization of opacity reservations to optimize at least revenues over said first and second opaque reservations to generate a modified travel schedule that increases revenue relative to said initial travel schedule Performing the global optimization including modifying the initial travel schedule for the first opacity reservation; And
Delivering to the at least one traveler prior to the departure of the at least one traveler, after performing the global optimization, unspecified travel schedule details associated with the modified travel itinerary
≪ / RTI > 2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the initial travel schedule comprises: modifying the destination location; modifying one or more travel zones between the starting location and the destination location; And modifying the departure date or correcting the departure date. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 24 > 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the global optimization is performed in response to unavailability of a destination location as a regular maintenance batch operation or during reservation of an opaque product. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining, for each of a plurality of dates, departure location and destination location combinations, an opaque product inventory comprising a set of corresponding itineraries, associated costs and availability Wherein the step of generating the initial itinerary includes selecting a destination location and date for the initial itinerary based on the associated cost and availability for at least a subset of the date, ≪ / RTI > 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising updating the opacity merchandise inventory in response to a new opacity reservation or periodic batch job. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the travel inventory item is canceled, the travel inventory item expected load factor satisfies a threshold, or the travel inventory item has a capacity for additional opaque reservations further comprising performing the global optimization in response to one or more of the following: 5. The method of claim 4, wherein maintaining the opaque goods inventory comprises: for each of the plurality of date, departure location and destination location combinations, a plurality of travel inventory items included in the set of corresponding travel itineraries Further comprising maintaining at least one of an expected load factor, an opaque capacity or a bid price displacement cost for the initial trip schedule, Anticipated load factor, or bid price replacement for one or more travel inventory items included in the set of matching travel itineraries for the date, start location and destination combination that match the selected destination location and date for Based on one or more of the cost, the selected destination location and day for the initial itinerary Consistent with the date, the starting location and the end of the match itinerary, travel schedule generation method further comprising the step of selecting a match from among itinerary to the destination for the combination. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein performing the global optimization further comprises: reselecting a destination location and date, or selecting a destination location and a destination combination that match the selected destination location and date for the initial travel schedule And reselecting a corresponding itinerary from among the set of identical itineraries. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and second opacity reservations are among a plurality of opacity reservations, and wherein performing the global optimization comprises: translating the first opacity reservation to a first lower- A cost of changing from a combination to a second more expensive date, a departure location and a destination location combination, re-establishing said first cheaper date, departure location and destination location combination for another opaque reservation of said plurality of opaque reservations To the benefits of doing so. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the associated costs for a travel itinerary are at least partially related to a tax associated with one or more locations associated with the travel itinerary and an expected load factor and replacement cost associated with one or more travel inventory items associated with the itinerary To create a travel schedule. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering unannounced travel schedule details associated with the modified travel itinerary to the at least one traveler is performed when relative to the departure of the at least one traveler. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: when completing the first opacity reservation to fine-tune the initial travel schedule based on changes in availability and / or revenue data from when making the first opacity reservation, Further comprising performing a plurality of global optimizations during a relative time relative to a traveler's departure. In the apparatus,
At least one processing unit; And
Program code
Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the program code, when executed by the at least one processing unit,
An initial travel schedule for the first opacity reservation, in response to receiving a first opacity reservation for at least one traveler, the initial travel schedule comprising a trip between a departure location and a destination location, Said at least one traveler not initially notifying at least a portion of the travel schedule details for said first opaque reservation after said completion;
After generating the initial itinerary for the first opacity reservation and before communicating the unspecified travel schedule details to the at least one traveler prior to departure of the at least one traveler, Performing global optimization of opacity reservations to optimize at least revenues over said first and second opaque reservations, and performing said global optimization comprises creating a modified travel itinerary that increases revenue relative to said initial itinerary schedule And modifying the initial travel schedule for the first opacity reservation to make the first opacity reservation;
After performing the global optimization, unspecified travel schedule details associated with the modified itinerary are communicated to the at least one traveler prior to departure of the at least one traveler
Lt; / RTI > 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the program code further comprises: modifying the destination location; changing one or more travel intervals between the starting location and the destination location; and one or more trips between the departure location and the modified destination location. And to modify the travel itinerary by modifying the departure date, modifying the departure date or correcting the return date. 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the global optimization is performed in response to unavailability of a destination location as a periodic maintenance batch job or during reservation of an opaque product. 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising maintaining, for each of a plurality of dates, departure location and destination location combinations, an opaque merchandise inventory comprising a set of matching itineraries, associated costs and availability, Generating a schedule comprises selecting a destination location and date for the initial itinerary based on the associated cost and availability for at least a subset of the date, start location and destination location combinations. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the program code is further configured to update the opaque product inventory in response to a new opacity reservation or periodic batch job. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the program code further comprises the steps of: canceling the travel inventory item; estimating that the travel inventory item expected load factor meets a threshold; or if the travel inventory item has no capacity for additional opaque reservations And perform the global optimization in response to the at least one. 17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program code further comprises, for each of the plurality of date, departure location and destination location combinations, for each of a plurality of travel inventory items included in the set of corresponding travel itineraries, And maintaining the opacity merchandise inventory by maintaining at least one of a parameter, an opacity capacity, or a bid price replacement cost,
Wherein the program code further comprises a step of determining, for the one or more travel inventory items included in the set of identical travel itineraries for the date, start location, and destination combination that match the selected destination location and date for the initial itinerary, Based on the at least one of the date, the opacity capacity, the anticipated load factor, or the bid price replacement cost, the set of matching trips for the date, start position and destination combination that match the selected destination location and date for the initial trip schedule And to generate the initial itinerary by selecting a matching itinerary from among the schedules. 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the program code further comprises: reselecting a destination location and date, or determining a set of the first set of destination, destination, and destination combinations for the combination of the date, Wherein the global optimizer is configured to perform the global optimization by reselecting a corresponding itinerary of the itinerary trip schedules. 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the program code is configured to deliver unannounced travel schedule details associated with the modified travel itinerary to the at least one traveler when relative to the departure of the at least one traveler,
Wherein the program code is further programmed for: when completing the first opacity reservation to fine-tune the initial travel schedule based on changes in availability and / or revenue data from when making the first opacity reservation, Wherein the plurality of global optimizations are configured to perform a plurality of global optimizations between relative times relative to a traveler's departure. In a program product,
Non-transitory computer readable media; And
Program code stored on the non-volatile computer readable medium
Lt; / RTI >
The program code, when executed by at least one processing unit,
An initial travel schedule for the first opacity reservation, in response to receiving a first opacity reservation for at least one traveler, the initial travel schedule comprising a trip between a departure location and a destination location, Said at least one traveler not initially notifying at least a portion of the travel schedule details for said first opaque reservation after said completion;
After generating the initial itinerary for the first opacity reservation and before communicating the unspecified travel schedule details to the at least one traveler prior to departure of the at least one traveler, Performing global optimization of opacity reservations to optimize at least revenues over said first and second opaque reservations, and performing said global optimization comprises creating a modified travel itinerary that increases revenue relative to said initial itinerary schedule And modifying the initial travel schedule for the first opacity reservation to make the first opacity reservation;
After performing the global optimization, unspecified travel schedule details associated with the modified itinerary are communicated to the at least one traveler prior to departure of the at least one traveler
Program product.

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