System and method for airline purchasing program management

• US 7,856,359 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2002
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2001
• 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: Winterton, Andrew, Mogler, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): CAMPBELL, SHANNON S
• Application Number:
  US10/188,768
• Publication Number:
  US 20030110062A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,094 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/80, 705/1.1
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors

Abstract

A method and system for air carrier contract management and optimization is disclosed. In particular, a system is described that facilitates travel contract optimization by generating contract terms and conditions desirable for optimizing client expenditure. Once the contract terms and conditions are determined, a yield management system facilitates compliance with contract terms and conditions by generating and providing selling instructions to booking systems to facilitate compliance with contract terms by travelers. Booking activity is provided back to yield management system to update contract compliance system and to revise selling instructions accordingly.

Claims

1. A contract management method implemented by a travel procurement system having a yield management system and a processor, comprising:

storing contract data and contract compliance data in said yield management system;

querying, via said processor, for contract data from said yield management system, wherein said contract data includes at least one of a discount amount based on a yield agreement and a monthly travel spend quota, and wherein said contract compliance data comprises a comparison of said contract data and a fulfilled booking request;

generating first selling instructions in accordance with said contract data and said contract compliance data, wherein said first selling instructions include a designation of a first travel provider based on priority status of said first travel provider and at least one of an aggressive potential and a non-aggressive potential, wherein said non-aggressive potential comprises a listing of comparable travel services and said aggressive potential comprises non-comparable travel services and a weighting factor;

acquiring, via said processor, said first selling instructions from said yield management system based on said contract data;

communicating, via said network, said first selling instructions to a booking system via said yield management system;

receiving said fulfilled booking request, via said network, from a booking system, wherein said fulfilled booking request conforms to said first selling instructions and designates a reservations provider for said fulfilled booking request based on said first selling instruction;

updating, via said processor, said contract compliance data of said yield management system with said booking request to produce updated contract compliance data, wherein said booking request includes said first travel provider corresponding to said yield agreement;

retrieving, via said processor, said updated contract compliance data from said yield management system;

comparing, via said processor, said updated contract compliance data to said contract data to identify compliance with said contract data, wherein identifying includes identification of a first monthly travel spend quota associated with said first travel provider;

transmitting, via said network, said comparison to said yield management system;

transforming, via said yield management system, said first selling instructions into second selling instructions based upon said comparison wherein said second selling instructions are configured to fulfill a second monthly travel spend quota with a second travel provider;

storing said second selling instructions in said yield management system;

communicating, using said network and said yield management system, said second selling instructions to said booking system; and

verifying, by said yield management system, that said second selling instructions are fulfilled without modification so that said second monthly travel spend quota is at least partially achieved.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said reservations are airline travel reservations.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, via said processor, said contract data to be used in said acquiring step.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said contract data are derived from terms and conditions of contracts between corporations and airlines and include a name of airline, target percentage, destination city and origination city.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said booking system facilitates reservations automatically in accordance with said second selling instructions.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said booking activity comprises a number of seats reserved on a particular airline between a particular city pair.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving airline information from said first travel provider via said network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said booking system facilitates online reservations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said booking system facilitates automated telephone reservation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said booking system facilitates in-person airline reservations.

11. An article of manufacture including a computer readable medium having non-transitory instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause said computing device to perform operations comprising:

storing contract data and contract compliance data in said yield management system;

querying for contract data from said yield management system, wherein said contract data includes at least one of a discount amount based on a yield agreement and a monthly travel spend quota, and wherein said contract compliance data comprises a comparison of said contract data and a fulfilled booking request;

generating first selling instructions in accordance with said contract data and said contract compliance data, wherein said first selling instructions include a designation of a first travel provider based on priority status of said first travel provider and at least one of an aggressive potential and a non-aggressive potential, wherein said non-aggressive potential comprises a listing of comparable travel services and said aggressive potential comprises non-comparable travel services and a weighting factor;

acquiring said first selling instructions from said yield management system based on said contract data;

communicating said first selling instructions to a booking system via said yield management system;

receiving said fulfilled booking request, via said network, from said a booking system, wherein said fulfilled booking request conforms to said first selling instructions and designates a reservations provider for said fulfilled booking request based on said first selling instruction;

updating said contract compliance data of said yield management system with said booking request to produce updated contract compliance data, wherein said booking request includes said first travel provider corresponding to said yield agreement;

retrieving said updated contract compliance data from said yield management system;

comparing said updated contract compliance data to said contract data to identify compliance with said contract data, wherein identifying includes identification of a first monthly travel spend quota associated with said first travel provider;

transmitting said comparison to said yield management system;

transforming, via said yield management system, said first selling instructions into second selling instructions based upon said comparison wherein said second selling instructions are configured to fulfill a second monthly travel spend quota with a second travel provider;

storing said second selling instructions in said yield management system;

communicating, using said network and said yield management system, said second selling instructions to said booking system; and

verifying, by said yield management system, that said second selling instructions are fulfilled without modification so that said second monthly travel spend quota is at least partially achieved.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said reservations are airline travel reservations.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 11, the operations further comprising determining said contract data to be used in said acquiring step.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said contract data are derived from terms and conditions of contracts between corporations and airlines and include a name of airline, target percentage, destination city and origination city.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said booking system facilitates reservations automatically in accordance with said second selling instructions.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein said booking activity comprises a number of seats reserved on a particular airline between a particular city pair.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, the operations further comprising receiving airline information from said first travel provider via said network.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said booking system facilitates online reservations.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said booking system facilitates automated telephone reservation.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said booking system facilitates in-person airline reservations.