Systems, methods, and computer program products for searching and displaying low cost product availability information for a given departure-return date combination or range of departure-return date combinations

• US 20050273373A1
• Filed: 05/20/2005
• Published: 12/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sabre Incorporated (Sabre Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sabre Incorporated (Sabre Corp.)
• Inventors: Guenther, Dirk, Walker, Alan, Zhang, Yanjun
• Application Number:
  US11/133,688
• Publication Number:
  US 20050273373A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Abstract

The present invention generates a grid of low-priced fare combinations for either a selected departure and return date or a range of departure and return dates. The present invention uses various techniques to reduce processing and delay in generating the grids. The present invention first converts flight itineraries for the selected departure and return dates or the range of dates into the fare domain. The invention discards fare combinations that are not valid for the given travel request. The valid fare combinations are processed to determine which has the lowest fare price. The fare combinations are processed one at a time starting with the cheapest fare combination to determine which of the possible flight itineraries may be covered by the fare combination. The invention may use additional prunning steps to validate the fare combinations prior to application to individual flight itineraries. As each fare combination is matched to a flight itinerary, the grid is populated with this fare combination.

Claims

1. A system for generating a grid of fare combinations for a travel request comprising:

an interface for receiving a travel request from a user;

one or more product sources providing travel products; and

a processor in communication with said interface and product sources, wherein said processor is configured to;

retrieve flight itineraries associated with the travel request;

convert the flight itineraries into a fare domain to create fair combinations;

compare at least one first fare restriction associated with each fare combination to the travel request;

discard fare combinations that do not comply with the travel request to create a subset of fare combinations;

rank the subset of fare combinations based on one or more selected criteria; and

process each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the travel request are covered by the fare combination.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the selected criteria is price and said processor ranks the subset of fares based on price.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein said processor determines a list of lowest priced fare combinations and creates a queue listing the fare combinations from lowest in price to highest in price, and wherein said processor processes each fare combination in the queue starting with the lowest priced fare in the queue until all flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination are covered by at least one fare combination.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the selected criteria is number of stops and said processor ranks the subset of fares based on the number of stops associated with each fare.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein said processor determines a list of fare combinations and creates a queue listing the fare combinations based on the one or more selected criteria, and wherein said processor processes each fare combination in the queue starting with the first fare combination in the queue until all flight itineraries for the travel request are covered by at least one fare combination.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the travel request includes a selected departure-return date combination, wherein said processor compares fare restrictions associated with each fare combination to at least the dates of the selected departure-return date combination, and discards fare combinations that do not comply with at least the dates of the selected departure-return date combination to create a subset of fare combinations.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein said processor after ranking the fares:

compares at least one second fare restriction associated with each fare combination to the travel request; and

discards fare combinations that do not comply with the travel request.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more first fare restrictions are fare level restrictions associated with the fare.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one second fare restriction is a flight level restriction associated with the fare.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein each fare template represents a pattern of fare components with respective airlines that meets the user'"'"'s travel request, said processor for each fare template, creates a count of the number of flight itineraries that correspond to the given fare template.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein said processor decrements a counter associated with a fare template, when a flight itinerary corresponding to the fare template is matched with a fare combination.

12. A system according to claim 10, wherein said processor for each fare combination determines the fare template corresponding to the fare combination and determines the value of the counter associated with the corresponding fare template, wherein if the counter value is zero, said processor discards the fare combination without further processing.

13. A system according to claim 1, wherein the travel request is for a selected departure-return date combination, wherein said processor processes each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the selected departure-return data combination are covered by the fare combination.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein said processor displays in a grid fare prices representing different flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination.

15. A system according to claim 1, wherein the travel request is for a range of selected departure-return date combinations, wherein said processor processes each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combinations are covered by the fare combination.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein said processor displays in a grid fare prices representing different flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination.

17. A method for generating a grid of fare combinations for a travel request comprising:

retrieving flight itineraries associated with the travel request;

converting the flight itineraries into a fare domain to create fair combinations;

comparing at least one first fare restriction associated with each fare combination to the travel request;

discarding fare combinations that do not comply with the travel request to create a subset of fare combinations;

ranking the subset of fare combinations based on one or more selected criteria; and

processing each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the travel request are covered by the fare combination,

wherein at least one of said retrieving, converting, comparing, discarding, ranking and processing steps is performed by a processing element.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the selected criteria is price and said ranking step comprises ranking the subset of fares based on price.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein said ranking step determines a list of lowest priced fare combinations and creates a queue listing the fare combinations from lowest in price to highest in price, and wherein said processing step processes each fare combination in the queue starting with the lowest priced fare in the queue until all flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination are covered by at least one fare combination.

20. A method according to claim 17, wherein the selected criteria is number of stops and said ranking step comprises ranking the subset of fares based on the number of stops associated with each fare.

21. A method according to claim 17, wherein said ranking step determines a list of fare combinations and creates a queue listing the fare combinations based on the one or more selected criteria, and wherein said processing step processes each fare combination in the queue starting with the first fare combination in the queue until all flight itineraries for the travel request are covered by at least one fare combination.

22. A method according to claim 17, wherein the travel request includes a selected departure-return date combination, wherein said comparing step compares fare restrictions associated with each fare combination to at least the dates of the selected departure-return date combination, and said discarding step discards fare combinations that do not comply with at least the dates of the selected departure-return date combination to create a subset of fare combinations.

23. A method according to claim 17 further comprising after said ranking step and before said processing step, the steps of:

comparing at least one second fare restriction associated with each fare combination to the travel request; and

discarding fare combinations that do not comply with the travel request.

24. A method according to claim 17, wherein the one or more first fare restrictions are fare level restrictions associated with the fare.

25. A method according to claim 23, wherein the at least one second fare restriction is a flight level restriction associated with the fare.

26. A method according to claim 17, wherein each fare template represents a pattern of fare components with respective airlines that meets the user'"'"'s travel request, said method further comprising for each fare template, creating a count of the number of flight itineraries that correspond to the given fare template.

27. A method according to claim 26 further comprising decrementing a counter associated with a fare template, when a flight itinerary corresponding to the fare template is matched with a fare combination.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein said processing step for each fare combination determines the fare template corresponding to the fare combination and determines the value of the counter associated with the corresponding fare template, wherein if the counter value is zero, said processing step discards the fare combination without further processing.

29. A method according to claim 17, wherein the travel request is for a selected departure-return date combination, wherein said processing step processes each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the selected departure-return data combination are covered by the fare combination.

30. A method according to claim 28 further comprising displaying in a grid fare prices representing different flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination.

31. A method according to claim 17, wherein the travel request is for a range of selected departure-return date combinations, wherein said processing step processes each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combinations are covered by the fare combination.

32. A method according to claim 31 further comprising displaying in a grid fare prices representing different flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination.

33. A computer program product for generating a grid of fare combinations for a travel request, said computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

first computer instruction means for retrieving flight itineraries associated with the travel request;

second computer instruction means for converting the flight itineraries into a fare domain to create fair combinations;

third computer instruction means for comparing at least one first fare restriction associated with each fare combination to the travel request;

fourth computer instruction means for discarding fare combinations that do not comply with the travel request to create a subset of fare combinations;

fifth computer instruction means for ranking the subset of fare combinations based on one or more selected criteria; and

sixth computer instruction means for processing each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the travel request are covered by the fare combination.

34. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein the selected criteria is price and said fifth computer instruction means ranks the subset of fares based on price.

35. A computer program procut according to claim 34, wherein said fifth computer instruction means determines a list of lowest priced fare combinations and creates a queue listing the fare combinations from lowest in price to highest in price, and wherein said sixth computer instruction means processes each fare combination in the queue starting with the lowest priced fare in the queue until all flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination are covered by at least one fare combination.

36. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein the selected criteria is number of stops and said fifth computer instruction means ranks the subset of fares based on the number of stops associated with each fare.

37. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein said fifth computer instruction means determines a list of fare combinations and creates a queue listing the fare combinations based on the one or more selected criteria, and wherein said sixth computer instruction means processes each fare combination in the queue starting with the first fare combination in the queue until all flight itineraries for the travel request are covered by at least one fare combination.

38. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein the travel request includes a selected departure-return date combination, wherein said third computer instruction mean compares fare restrictions associated with each fare combination to at least the dates of the selected departure-return date combination, and said sixth computer instruction means discards fare combinations that do not comply with at least the dates of the selected departure-return date combination to create a subset of fare combinations.

39. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein said first instruction means further:

compares at least one second fare restriction associated with each fare combination to the travel request; and

discardes fare combinations that do not comply with the travel request.

40. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein the one or more first fare restrictions are fare level restrictions associated with the fare.

41. A computer program product according to claim 40, wherein the at least one second fare restriction is a flight level restriction associated with the fare.

42. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein each fare template represents a pattern of fare components with respective airlines that meets the user'"'"'s travel request, said computer program product further comprising for each fare template, instruction means for creating a count of the number of flight itineraries that correspond to the given fare template.

43. A computer program code according to claim 42 further comprising computer instruction means for decrementing a counter associated with a fare template, when a flight itinerary corresponding to the fare template is matched with a fare combination.

44. A computer program code according to claim 42, wherein said sixth computer instruction means for each fare combination determines the fare template corresponding to the fare combination and determines the value of the counter associated with the corresponding fare template, wherein if the counter value is zero, said suxth computer instruction means discards the fare combination without further processing.

45. A computer program prodcut according to claim 33, wherein the travel request is for a selected departure-return date combination, wherein said sixth computer instruction means processes each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the selected departure-return data combination are covered by the fare combination.

46. A computer program product according to claim 45 further comprising instruction means for displaying in a grid fare prices representing different flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination.

47. A computer program product according to claim 33, wherein the travel request is for a range of selected departure-return date combinations, wherein said sixth computer instruction means processes each fare combination one at a time to determine which flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combinations are covered by the fare combination.

48. A computer program product according to claim 47 further comprising instruction means for displaying in a grid fare prices representing different flight itineraries for the selected departure-return date combination.