Fee allocator system and method

• US 7,395,231 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2001
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Bloom, Corbett, Rozenwaser, Bill, Cooke, Corinna, Scarpaci, Frank, Berkley, John, Steury, Lisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sheikh, Asfand M
• Application Number:
  US09/904,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20020007327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,545 Days
• Field of Search: 705/34
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A system is provided for automatically billing a designated account for fees associated with the costs of tickets and other similar services. Passenger Record Number data and similar data is provided through a Computerized Reservation System and an accounting system to a Fee Allocator program which automatically interprets the data, determines appropriate fees based on the data and a user profile, and bills the fees to an appropriate account based on the user profile. Billing data provided to the account also facilitates the process of reconciling the fees to the travel ticket costs. Enhanced descriptive billing statements can be created simplifying the process of reconciling fees to the travel ticket costs.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for facilitating an automatic allocation of an agency fee and a travel cost that are associated with a travel-related transaction comprising the steps of:

receiving a Passenger Name Record from a travel reservation system, wherein said Passenger Name Record includes information related to said agency fee and said travel cost related to said travel-related transaction;

obtaining a user profile comprising allocation information, wherein said allocation information defines an allocation of said travel cost to a first billing account and said agency fee to a second billing account;

charging said first billing account, according to said user profile, for said travel cost, wherein said travel cost represents charges associated with said travel-related transaction;

determining said agency fee based upon said Passenger Name Record, wherein said agency fee represents an extra charge related to said travel-related transaction in addition to said travel cost;

charging said agency fee to said second billing account according to said user profile; and

providing an enhanced descriptive billing statement, wherein said enhanced descriptive billing statement;

(i) recites said travel cost related to said travel-related transaction;

(ii) separately recites said agency fee; and

(iii) recites indicia indicating that said agency fee and said travel cost are related to each other.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said travel reservation system is a Computer Reservation System.

3. A digital storage medium having instructions stored thereon configured to execute the method of claim 1.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a portion of said Passenger Name Record to a management information system for providing periodic enhanced descriptive billing statements.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step further comprises determining said agency fee based on said user profile.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting said Passenger Name Record in a Passenger Name Record format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing at least one of:

said agency fee and said travel cost when said travel-related transaction is in accordance with predefined rules.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a service fee based on said allocation and charging said service fee to at least one of:

said first billing account, said second billing account, and a third billing account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining step further comprises selecting said user profile from a plurality of user profiles based on an identity of a consumer of said travel-related transaction.

10. A computer implemented method for facilitating an automatic allocation of an agency fee and a travel cost that are associated with a travel-related transaction comprising the steps of:

receiving a Passenger Name Record from a travel reservation system, wherein said Passenger Name Record includes information related to said agency fee and said travel cost related to said travel-related transaction;

obtaining a user profile comprising allocation information, wherein said allocation information defines an allocation of said travel cost to a first billing account and said agency fee to a second billing account;

determining said agency fee based upon said Passenger Name Record, wherein said agency fee represents an extra charge related to said travel-related transaction in addition to said travel cost; and

,

charging said agency fee and said travel cost to a said first billing account and said second billing account according to said user profile.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said agency fee and said travel cost is charged to a plurality of billing accounts associated with said user profile.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing said second billing account with fee reconciling information.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said determining step further comprises determining said agency fee based on said user profile.

14. A computer implemented method for facilitating automatic allocation of fees for use by a travel agency, wherein said travel agency assists a traveler in making travel-related purchases from a merchant entity, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a Passenger Name Record from an accounting system, said accounting system configured to receive said Passenger Name Record from a Computer Reservation System;

receiving a user profile comprising allocation information, wherein said allocation information defines an agency fee and a travel cost with a corresponding first billing account and a second billing account;

comparing said Passenger Name Record to information in said user profile to determine an agency fee to be charged for said assistance by said travel agency; and

charging said agency fee and said travel cost to a said first billing account and said second billing account according to said user profile.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising facilitating enhancement of a billing statement with reconciliation information relating to said agency fee and said travel cost.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a credit entity with said fee reconciliation information.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising charging said agency fee to a different account than an account used to charge said travel cost of said travel-related purchase.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing data to a management information system for providing a facilitating entity with periodic reports; and

providing a subset of said Passenger Name Record to said management information system.

19. A digital storage medium having instructions stored thereon configured to execute the method of claim 15.