Trip planner optimizing travel itinerary selection conforming to individualized travel policies

• US 5,021,953 A
• Filed: 03/12/1990
• Issued: 06/04/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: Travelmation Corporation
• Inventors: Webber, David W., Kangas, Sandra E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleming, Michael R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hayes, Gail O.
• Application Number:
  US07/492,260
• Time in Patent Office: 449 Days
• Field of Search: 364/401, 364/407-408
• US Class Current: 705/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/12 Use of codes for handling textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation

Abstract

A travel planner system automatically constructs itineraries with available seats for a traveler'"'"'s trip request which conform to pre-stored reasonableness standards which includes a satisfactory check on whether a connecting flight distance exceeds that of a possible direct flight by a preset distance or ratio. The system finds the fares in a process which includes constructing sum-of-segments fares for each such itinerary which are valid under all the applicable airline tariffs and rules, finds itinerary-with-fare combinations acceptable in terms of cost and convenience to the traveler in accordance with an individualized travel policy of the traveller, and displays at least some of the itineraries by departure or arrival time.

Claims

1. A travel planner system for automatically constructing itineraries with available seats for a traveler'"'"'s trip request which conform to pre-stored reasonableness standards which include a satisfactory check on whether a connecting flight distance exceeds that of a possible direct flight by a preset distance or ratio, finding the fares, including constructing sum-of-segments fares, for each such itinerary which are valid under all the applicable airline tariffs and rules, finding itinerary-with-fare combinations acceptable in terms of cost and convenience to the traveler in accordance with an individualized travel policy of the traveller, and displaying at least some of the itineraries by departure or arrival time, said system comprising:

A. means for storing in machine-readable form;

1. a tariff file means containing for a selected territory;

a. the applicable individual direct flight schedules;

b. the applicable airport minimum connecting times;

c. the fares for the respective booking classes;

d. the routings specifying if a particular fare can be used for a particular itinerary; and

e. footnotes specifying when a particular fare is in effect;

2. a traveler file means comprising;

a. a travel policy records each specifying;

(1) a set of reasonableness standards, including travel constraints pertaining to itineraries which are to be considered unreasonable regardless of cost;

(2) a set of trip parameter trade-offs between cost and convenience; and

(3) a set of parameters pertaining to elimination of itinerary-with-fare combinations which are more expensive and/or less convenient by a specified factor compared with the itinerary that provides an optimized combination of low cost and of convenience; and

b. traveler records each identifying;

(1) a respective traveler; and

(2) a policy record applicable to said traveler; and

3. A travel planar system as in claim 1 in which said processor further includes means responsive to the selection of a displayed itinerary to use the communication device in a process comprising building a passenger name record (PNR) in the airline booking system booking the selected itinerary to ticket issuance.

2. a rules file means for storing all limitations and combinations of limitations in published airline rules relevant to the traveler, in machine-readable form, applicable to the fares to ensure that a particular fare is valid for a particular itinerary;

B. an entry device for entering travel parameters identifying a trip request, and a display device for displaying itinerary-with-fare combinations;

C. a communication device for connection to an airline booking system providing information on seat availability on specified flights per booking class;

D. a processor coupled to said entry and communication devices and comprising means responsive to said trip request to interrogate said tariff file and said rules file and said traveler file and to automatically communicate as needed with the airline booking system through said communication device, said processor further comprising means for;

1. using the tariff file to find candidate flights and construct direct and connecting itineraries for said trip which conform to said reasonableness standards;

2. using the communications device to find seat availability on said candidate flights and eliminating those candidate flights which have no available seats and any connecting itineraries using those flights;

3. using the tariff file and the rules file to find fares, including constructing sum-of-segments fares, for each remaining itinerary which are both valid and conform to the trip request;

4. using the traveler file for said traveler to find the itinerary-with-fare combination which gives an optimized combination of low fare and of convenience;

5. using the traveler file to eliminate itinerary-with-fare combinations which do not comply with the traveler record and the applicable policy record for reasons of cost and/or convenience relative to said optimized itinerary-with-fare combination, to thereby leave one or more itinerary-with-fare combinations which are valid and conform to said traveler file; and

6. displaying at least some of the remaining itinerary-with-fare combinations arranged by departure or arrival.