System, Method and Apparatus For Detecting Absent Airline Itineraries

• US 20160335566A1
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2015
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Howe, Justin Xavier
• Granted Patent: US 10,255,561 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/34 using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/425 using two different networks, one for transaction and one for security confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A system, method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to detect absent airline itineraries.

Claims

1. A real-time method of detecting absent travel itineraries, the method comprising:

receiving, via a network interface, transaction data from a merchant bank, the transaction data including a primary account number associated with a cardholder and one or more of a merchant category code, a merchant name, and/or a merchant identifier;

receiving, via the network interface, registered travel information from one or more third party platform;

determining, using a processor, that a transaction of the received transaction data is a travel transaction based on at least the merchant category code, the merchant name, and/or the merchant identifier;

comparing, using the processor, the transaction information of the travel transaction to the received registered travel information to identify whether any registered travel record is missing; and

notifying the cardholder via the network interface if any registered travel record is missing for the travel transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein notifying the cardholder comprises:

determining, using the processor, cardholder contact information based on the primary account number; and

transmitting an alert to the cardholder via the network interface based on the contact information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the alert comprises one or more of sending an email, sending a text message, and placing a telephone call.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

verifying that the merchant category code, merchant name, and/or merchant identifier corresponds to an airline or travel agent; and

checking that a transaction amount is above a predefined threshold value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the registered travel information is received after the transaction data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notifying comprises:

notifying an issuer that no corresponding travel transaction information has been received from a third party; and

instructing the issuer to notify the cardholder.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein notifying the issuer comprises transmitting an electronic message to the issuer via the network interface.

8. A system of detecting absent travel itineraries, the system comprising:

a network interface that receives transaction data from a merchant bank and travel information from one or more of a Global Distribution System database and a Billing Service Provider database, the transaction data including a primary account number associated with a cardholder and one or more of a merchant category code, a merchant name, and/or a merchant identifier;

a determining unit configured to determine that a transaction of the received transaction data is a travel transaction based on at least the merchant category code, the merchant name, and/or the merchant identifier;

a comparison unit configured to compare the transaction information of the travel transaction to the received travel information to determine if any registered travel record is missing; and

a notification unit configured to notify the cardholder if any registered travel record is missing for the travel transaction.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the notification unit is configured to determine cardholder contact information based on at least the Primary Account Number, and transmits the alert to the cardholder based on the contact information.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the notification unit is configured to transmit the alert via one or more of e-mail, text message, and telephone call.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining unit is configured to verify that the merchant category code, the merchant name, and/or the merchant identifier corresponds to one of an airline or a travel agent, and check that a transaction amount exceeds a predefined threshold.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the network interface is configured to receive the travel information after the transaction data.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the notification unit is configured to transmit an electronic notice to an issuer and the issuer transmits the alert to the user.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with data and instructions that, when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to:

receive, via a network interface, transaction data from a merchant bank, the transaction data including a primary account number associated with a cardholder and one or more of a merchant category code, a merchant name, and/or a merchant identifier;

receive, via the network interface, registered travel information from one or more of a Global Distribution System database and a Billing Service Provider database;

determine, using a processor of the computing device, that a transaction of the received transaction data is a travel transaction based on at least the merchant category code, the merchant name, and/or the merchant identifier;

compare, using the processor, the transaction information of the travel transaction to the received registered travel information to determine if any registered travel record is missing; and

notify the cardholder if any registered travel record is missing for the travel transaction, via the network interface.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein notifying the cardholder comprises:

determining cardholder contact information based on the primary account number; and

transmitting an alert to the cardholder based on the contact information.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein transmitting the alert comprises one or more of sending an email, sending a text message, and placing a telephone call.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the determining comprises:

verifying that the merchant category code, merchant name and/or merchant identifier of the transaction data corresponds to an airline or travel agent; and

checking that a transaction amount of the transaction data exceeds a predefined threshold.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein notifying the cardholder comprises:

notifying an issuer that no travel transaction information has been received from a third party; and

instructing the issuer to notify the cardholder.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein notifying the issuer comprises transmitting an electronic message to the issuer via the network interface

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the registered travel information is received after the transaction data.