Tool for analyzing corporate airline bids
First Claim
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1. An airline travel supplier evaluation system for analyzing airline flight information in relation to one or more predefined city pairs for a given airline customer, comprising:
- a source of airline schedule data for each predefined city pair;
a memory space for storing the airline schedule data and the predefined city pairs;
an airline fair marketshare module that accesses the airline schedule data and the predefined city pairs, the airline fair market share module being operable to calculate an incremental travel time for each flight record serving a given city pair in relation to the fastest flight serving the given city pair and to determine airline fair marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs, where the airline fair marketshare data for a given airline is based in part on the incremental travel time associated with the given airline; and
a scenario marketshare module that receives non-schedule based factors, and determines scenario marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs, where the scenario marketshare data is derived from the airline'"'"'s fair marketshare data and the non-schedule based factors.
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Abstract
A airline travel supplier evaluation tool is provided which will allow companies to efficiently evaluate the value of preferred airline supplier scenarios and improve their negotiating position vis-a-vis their airline suppliers. The user of the software tool may choose which, if any, preferred supplier set is best given the user'"'"'s preferences for such criteria including but not limited to saving money and/or saving travel time.
70 Citations
46 Claims
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1. An airline travel supplier evaluation system for analyzing airline flight information in relation to one or more predefined city pairs for a given airline customer, comprising:
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a source of airline schedule data for each predefined city pair;
a memory space for storing the airline schedule data and the predefined city pairs;
an airline fair marketshare module that accesses the airline schedule data and the predefined city pairs, the airline fair market share module being operable to calculate an incremental travel time for each flight record serving a given city pair in relation to the fastest flight serving the given city pair and to determine airline fair marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs, where the airline fair marketshare data for a given airline is based in part on the incremental travel time associated with the given airline; and
a scenario marketshare module that receives non-schedule based factors, and determines scenario marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs, where the scenario marketshare data is derived from the airline'"'"'s fair marketshare data and the non-schedule based factors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An airline travel supplier evaluation system for analyzing airline flight information in relation to one or more predefined city pairs for a given airline customer, comprising:
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a source of airline schedule data for each predefined city pair;
a source of projected airline travel data over a predefined time period for the given airline customer;
a source of airline fair marketshare information for a plurality of airlines, the airline fair marketshare information including airline fair marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs;
a memory space for storing the airline schedule data, the projected airline travel data, and the airline fair marketshare information;
a scenario marketshare module that accesses the airline fair marketshare information and receives non-schedule based factors, the scenario marketshare module further operable to determine scenario marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs, where the scenario marketshare data is derived from the fair marketshare data and the non-schedule based factors; and
a time-based cost module that accesses the projected airline travel data and the flight schedule data, and determines expected travel time for the given airline customer based on the scenario marketshare data, the time-based cost module further operable to receive a value for a traveler'"'"'s time and determine expected travel time cost data based on the traveler'"'"'s time value data and the expected travel time for the given airline customer. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An airline travel supplier evaluation system for analyzing airline flight information in relation to one or more predefined city pairs for a given airline customer, comprising:
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a source of airline schedule data for each predefined city pair;
a source of airline purchase data;
a source of projected airline travel data over a predefined time period for the given airline customer;
a memory space for storing the airline schedule data, airline purchase data, the projected airline travel data;
an airline fair marketshare module that accesses the airline schedule data and the predefined city pairs, and determines airline fair marketshare data for each airline in relation to each city pair of the predefined city pairs;
an expense-based cost module that accesses the projected airline travel data, the airline purchase data and the airline fair market share data; and
determines expected travel expense data for the given airline customer based on the airline fair marketshare data from the airline fair marketshare module; and
a time-based cost module that accesses the projected airline travel data and the airline schedule data, and determines expected travel time for the given airline customer based on the airline fair marketshare data, the time-based cost module further operable to receive a value for a traveler'"'"'s time and determine expected travel time cost data based on the traveler'"'"'s time value data and the expected travel time for the given airline customer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer-implemented method for determining a fair market share for a given airline in relation to a given city pair, comprising:
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providing airline schedule data for each flight serving the given city pair;
a plurality of airlines, the airline schedule data including aircraft type data;
determining an incremental travel time for each flight serving the city pair using the flight schedule data; and
determining a fair market share for the given airline, the fair market share based on the frequency of flights serving the given city for the given airline, the aircraft type for each flight associated with the given airline, and the incremental travel time of each flight associated with the given airline. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer-implemented method for determining a fair market share for a given airline in relation to a given city pair, comprising:
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providing airline schedule data for a plurality of airlines, the airline flight information including a set of flights which correspond to the given city pair and each flight having an elapsed travel time;
identifying a baseline flight, the baseline flight having the shortest elapsed travel time from amongst the set of flights;
computing an incremental travel time for each flight in the set of flights, where the incremental travel time is the difference between the elapsed travel time of a flight and the elapsed travel time for the baseline flight; and
determining a fair market share for a given airline from the plurality of airlines, where the fair market share is based in part on the incremental travel time of each flight associated with the given airline. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A computer-implemented method for determining a scenario market share for a given city pair for a given airline selected from a plurality of airlines, comprising:
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providing a fair market share for the given airline in relation to the given city pair, such that the fair market share is based on schedule-based factors associated with the flights serving the given city pair;
determining a travel policy factor for a given airline customer, the travel policy factor being indicative of the given airline customer'"'"'s ability to shift travelers towards or away from any given airline; and
deriving the scenario market share for the given airline in relation to the given city pair from the fair market share for the given airline in part based on the travel policy factor. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. A computer-implemented method for determining a scenario market share for a given airline selected from a plurality of airlines, comprising:
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providing a fair market share for the given airline in relation to a given city pair, such that the fair market share is based on schedule-based factors associated with the flights serving the given city pair;
determining a sales level factor for one or more of the plurality of airlines, the sales level factor being indicative of an airline'"'"'s ability to shift the travelers of an airline customer to the airline; and
deriving the scenario market share for the given airline from the fair market share for the given airline in part based on the sales level factor associated with the given airline. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
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38. A computer-implemented method for analyzing airline travel cost information in relation to one or more predefined city pairs for a given airline customer, comprising:
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providing airline schedule data for a plurality of airlines, providing projected airline travel data over a predefined time period in relation each of the predefined city pairs for the given airline customer;
providing airline fair marketshare data for each airline in relation to each of the predefined city pairs;
determining expected travel time in relation to each airline serving the one or more predefined city pairs, where the expected travel time is computed from the projected airline travel data, the airline schedule data and the airline fair marketshare data;
identifying a value for a traveler'"'"'s time; and
determining expected travel time cost data in relation to each airline serving the one or more city pairs, where the expected travel time cost data is computed by multiplying the value of a traveler'"'"'s time by the expected travel time.
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39. A method for defining an airline pricing agreement between an airline customer and a given airline, comprising:
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identifying one or more city pairs which are used by travelers of the airline customer, the city pairs being serviced by the given airline;
determining a fair market share for the given airline in relation to at least one of the city pairs; and
using the fair market share as a basis for a pricing agreement between the airline customer and the given airline. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method for defining an airline pricing agreement between an airline customer and a given airline, comprising:
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identifying one or more city pairs which are used by travelers of the airline customer, the city pairs being serviced by the given airline;
determining a fair market share for the given airline in relation to at least one of the city pairs, such that the fair market share is based on schedule-based factors associated with the flights serving the city pair;
determining a scenario market share for the given airline in relation to the at least one city pair, such that the scenario market share is based on non-schedule-based factors; and
using at least one of the fair market share or the scenario market share as a basis for a pricing agreement between the airline customer and the given airline. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46)
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Specification