Pre- and post-ticketed travel reservation information management system

• US 6,023,679 A
• Filed: 12/19/1996
• Issued: 02/08/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.
• Original Assignee: Amadeus Global Travel Distribution S.A.
• Inventors: Frawley, Christopher David, Acebo, Alicia Gonzalez
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US08/769,580
• Time in Patent Office: 1,146 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/6, 340/825.28, 340/825.29, 283/53, 283/55, 283/56, 379/93.12
• US Class Current: 705/5
• 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

Methods and system for effecting the instantaneous data transmission to a locally operated computer system upon an occurrence in the computer reservation system (CRS). Specifically, a method for automatically generating pre-ticketed travel information is disclosed, in which booked reservation information and traveler information in a is automatically transmitted to a locally operated computer system as soon as the booking of the reservation is complete. When the reservation information included more that one travel transaction, such as an air transaction, a hotel transaction and a rental car transaction, the traveler and reservation information is stored in a manner to track common information between different travel transactions, such as sale information, rather than track individual travel transactions. Also, a method of automatically updating an existing customer profile in a locally operated computer system upon the detection of the update of the corresponding customer profile in a (CRS) is discussed.

Claims

1. A method of automatically generating pre-ticketed booked travel reservation information for at least one traveler, comprising the steps of:

entering a first locally operated computer system selected from among a plurality of associated locally operated computer systems;

acquiring traveler identification information for each traveler;

accessing a computer reservation system from the first locally operated computer system;

creating a passenger name record in the computer reservation system for each traveler;

inserting the traveler identification information into the passenger name record;

generating, in the computer reservation system, at least one potential travel itinerary for each traveler;

selecting at least one travel itinerary for booking;

booking a reservation in the computer reservation system for each selected travel itinerary;

placing information regarding the booked travel itinerary reservation in the passenger name records;

automatically transferring the information in the passenger name record to the first locally operated computer system substantially immediately after the reservation is booked;

causing the computer reservation system to determine at least a second locally operated computer system, selected from among the plurality of associated locally operated computer systems, that also requires the information in the passenger name record and then automatically transferring the information in the passenger name record to the second locally operated computer system;

notifying at least the first and second locally operated computer systems when at least a portion of the information in the passenger name record is subsequently modified; and

updating the information in the passenger name record within the first and second locally operated computer systems when at least a portion of the information in the passenger name record is subsequently modified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said traveler identification information is accessed from an existing customer profile associated with each traveler in a database in the first locally operated computer system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said traveler identification information is accessed from an existing customer profile corresponding to each traveler in the computer reservation system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said traveler identification information is accessed from each traveler and entered into the first locally operated computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising the step of displaying the booked travel itinerary reservation information on the first locally operated computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising the step of printing at least one report including the booked travel itinerary reservation information from the first locally operated computer system.

7. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising the step of:

downloading the passenger name record information that was transferred to the first locally operated computer system to a database in the first locally operated computer for subsequent processing.

8. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising the steps of:

processing the booked travel itinerary reservation information with existing post-ticketed data stored in the first locally operated computer system; and

generating at least one report including both booked travel itinerary reservation information and the existing post-ticketed data.

9. A method of automatically generating pre-ticketed booked travel reservation information for at least one traveler, comprising the steps of:

entering a first locally operated computer system selected from among a plurality of associated locally operated computer systems;

acquiring traveler identification information for each traveler;

accessing a computer reservation system from the first locally operated computer system;

creating a passenger name record in the computer reservation system for each traveler;

inserting the traveler identification information into the passenger name record;

generating, in the computer reservation system, at least one potential travel itinerary, including at least one travel transaction, for each traveler;

selecting at least one travel itinerary for booking;

booking a reservation in the computer reservation system for each selected travel itinerary;

placing information regarding the booked travel itinerary reservation in the passenger name record;

creating an information management record in the computer reservation system, based on the contents of the passenger name record, automatically and substantially immediately after the reservation is booked;

automatically transferring the information management record to the first locally operated computer system substantially immediately after the information management record is created;

causing the computer reservation system to determine at least a second locally operated computer system, selected from among the plurality of associated locally operated computer systems, that also requires the information in the passenger name record and then automatically transferring the information management record to the second locally operated computer system;

notifying at least the first and second locally operated computer systems when at least a portion of the information in the passenger name record is subsequently modified; and

providing an updated information management record to the first and second locally operated computer systems when at least a portion of the information in the passenger name record is subsequently modified.

10. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the step of:

parsing the passenger name record to identify information to be placed in the information management record and transferred to the first locally operated computer system.

11. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the step of:

formatting the information in the information management record into a format compatible with the first locally operated computer using the computer reservation system prior to transferring the information management record to the first locally operated computer system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the formatting step for at least two travel transactions included in the booked travel itinerary reservation information, comprises the steps of

identifying characteristics common to all travel transactions,

storing the identified common characteristics in a common table,

identifying characteristics in each travel transaction that are not common to the other travel transactions,

storing the uncommon characteristics in a detail table corresponding to each travel transaction, and

linking all detail tables to the common table by a linking field.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the common table represents sales information that is common to all travel transactions.

14. The method of claim 12, additionally comprising the steps of:

accessing the information stored in the tables, and

displaying the accessed information on the first locally operated computer system.

15. The method of claim 12, additionally comprising the steps of:

accessing the information stored in the tables, and

printing at least one report including the reservation information from the first locally operated computer system.

16. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the step of:

displaying the information stored in the first locally operated computer system.

17. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the step of:

printing at least one report including the information stored in the first locally operated computer system.

18. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising the steps of:

accessing an existing customer profile corresponding to each traveler stored in the first locally operated computer system;

updating the customer profile with any new traveler identification information;

transferring the updated customer profile to the computer reservation system when requesting the access to the computer reservation system;

accessing an existing customer profile corresponding to each traveler stored in the computer reservation system;

updating each computer reservation system customer profile with the new traveler identification information;

further selecting other locally operated computer systems that have an existing customer profile corresponding to each traveler that requires updating;

preparing an electronic message indicating that the computer reservation system customer profile was updated;

transmitting the electronic message to the selected locally operated computer systems;

receiving the electronic message at the selected locally operated computer systems;

accessing the computer reservation system updated customer profile information; and

updating the corresponding customer profile in the selected locally operated computer systems.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the computer reservation system updated customer profile information is accessed from the computer reservation system.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the computer reservation system updated customer profile information is accessed from the electronic message.