TRAVEL FARE DETERMINATION AND DISPLAY IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

• US 20110010205A1
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Richards, Daniel A.
• Application Number:
  US12/831,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20110010205A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Abstract

A travel planning, travel fare determination and travel fare display in social networks is disclosed. A contact information retriever retrieves information associated with one or more contacts in a user'"'"'s social network, and determines locations of the contacts using the retrieved information. The contact information retriever provides the contacts'"'"' locations to a booking engine. The booking engine determines travel fares from the user'"'"'s location to contacts'"'"' locations and provides the travel fares to a user interface generator. The user interface generator generates a user interface that displays the contacts'"'"' profiles together with travel fares to their respective locations. The user may then use the user interface to proceed with booking travel to a contact'"'"'s location.

Claims

1. A computer-based method for travel planning, comprising:

obtaining, by a computer for travel planning, a plurality of contacts associated with a social network of a user;

determining, by the computer, locations associated with a first subset of the plurality of contacts, wherein the plurality of contacts comprises a first contact;

determining, by the computer, travel fares to the locations from a user location associated with the user, wherein the travel fares comprise a first travel fare;

displaying, by the computer, the travel fares with contact profiles; and

providing, by the computer and to the user, a first booking option associated with the first travel fare and the first contact, wherein in response to the user selecting the booking option, the user is provided with a plurality of purchasing options for purchasing travel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the user location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the user location based upon at least one of user profile information associated with the social network, input received from the user, and location information received from a user device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the location being unavailable for the first contact, prompting the user for the location for the first contact.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the social network comprises a plurality of social networks.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the travel fares.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to at least one of a timeframe expiring and receiving a user request, updating the travel fares.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the each of contact profile in the contact profiles comprises a picture, a name and a location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a first purchase option in the plurality of options is associated with the first travel fare.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a second contact profile from the contact profiles, wherein the displaying comprises featuring that second contact profile in a separate section of an interface.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selecting comprises at least one of randomly selecting, selecting based upon a second travel fare associated with a second contact and selecting based upon a proximity of second location associated with the second contact.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, a rewards account for at least one of the user, each of the plurality of contacts and the first contact.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining that the first travel fare can be purchased with user rewards points associated with a user rewards account.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of purchasing options comprises a rewards points purchasing option.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising converting the first travel fare to a rewards points amount and displaying the rewards points amount.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a second subset of the plurality of contacts, wherein each contact in the plurality of contacts is associated with a rewards account.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a second travel fare from a first location associated with a first contact to the user location and providing an option to send the first contact the second travel fare.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining that the second travel fare may be purchased using a rewards account associated with the first contact.

19. A system comprising:

a network interface associated with a memory and a computer for travel planning;

the computer configured to execute a computer program;

the computer program, when executed by the computer, is configured to perform operations comprising;

obtaining a plurality of contacts associated with a social network of a user;

determining locations associated with a first subset of the plurality of contacts, wherein the plurality of contacts comprises a first contact;

determining travel fares to the locations from a user location associated with the user, wherein the travel fares comprise a first travel fare;

displaying the travel fares with contact profiles; and

providing, to the user, a first booking option associated with the first travel fare and the first contact, wherein in response to the user selecting the booking option, the user is provided with a plurality of purchasing options for purchasing travel.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer for travel planning, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, a plurality of contacts associated with a social network of a user;

determining, by the computer, locations associated with a first subset of the plurality of contacts, wherein the plurality of contacts comprises a first contact;

determining, by the computer, travel fares to the locations from a user location associated with the user, wherein the travel fares comprise a first travel fare;

displaying, by the computer, the travel fares with contact profiles; and

providing, by the computer and to the user, a first booking option associated with the first travel fare and the first contact, wherein in response to the user selecting the booking option, the user is provided with a plurality of purchasing options for purchasing travel.