CN1998014A - Devices, systems, and methods for providing remaining seat availability information in a booking class - Google Patents

Abstract

A computer device is provided for determining remaining seats in a booking class having a maximum number of seats, which communicates with a user's computer device over a network to receive a user query, associated with travel parameters and including an amount of persons and at least two connect points, and obtains a schedule corresponding thereto. The schedule includes a cabin class with booking classes ranked by a criteria between a highest and a lowest booking class, the lowest booking class being a subset of the highest booking class. The computer device selects a least-cost-fare booking class from the ranked booking classes, which has an actual number of available seats at least equal to the amount of persons requesting seats and an applicable fare meeting the travel parameters, and provides an indicia thereof to the user, in direct response to the query. Associated systems and methods are also provided.

Description

Apparatus, system and method for providing information on availability of remaining seats in a booking class

technical field

The present invention relates generally to determining airline seat availability information, and more particularly, to an apparatus, system and method for providing remaining seat availability information in a booking class of seats.

Background technique

An important issue regarding the sale of most products is the availability of the product at the point of sale. That is, when a consumer purchases a particular good, one motivation for the consumer to transact at that time (or defer the purchase until a later time) may be the availability, or lack thereof. For example, some commodities may have complex pricing structures, availability determination procedures, inventory management procedures, prescribed sales controls, and so on. These complex structures and procedures require sophisticated computer software to properly handle merchandise handling and inventory management. Therefore, it is quite difficult, if not impossible, for consumers to determine actual availability when purchasing an item.

For example, an airline ticket may include several classes of travel, such as first class, business class, and economy class, where each such class of travel may also include a respective distinct booking class, each booking class associated with one or more Valence associations, which are treated differently, eg Y, B, and M booking classes in economy class. And each fare associated with each booking level may have different sales controls, restrictions, advance purchase requirements, etc. Different airlines may also use different inventory control methods to calculate ticket availability, such as subtype nesting, subpart nesting, static virtual nesting, dynamic virtual nesting , serial nesting, etc., and use different inventory adjustment methods to control inventory management, such as net availability, net availability with capping, and threshold availability. This complexity increases the difficulty for passengers to determine the availability of seats or to determine how many seats remain in the cabin class and/or booking class when purchasing for a travel schedule or itinerary.

Specifically, when a consumer purchases an airline ticket online for a desired schedule or route, he uses a computer terminal to connect to and communicate with an online travel agency through a computer network such as the Internet. Typically the consumer is asked to enter basic information about a desired travel schedule, such as origin, destination, departure date and time and return date and time, and the number of persons or passengers requesting a seat. In response to this input, the travel agency generates or otherwise retrieves one or more carrier schedules between the two locations using the travel parameters and origin and destination connection points from the customer's query. Then on the consumer's computer terminal, the suitable timetable is displayed on the summary page (summary display) to present to the consumer, and the suitable timetable includes the flight such as the departure and arrival time, the seat on the flight or the price of the ticket information. That is, the consumer may be presented with a list of available flights, each with a corresponding price. In this case, when the consumer then selects a specific flight or schedule, and proceeds to request more information on a specific flight or schedule being offered, or actually proceeds to purchase an airline ticket, then only then can the The customer provides some indication of seat availability. In other cases, the customer may be presented with a list of available flights and at this point must select a particular flight to be provided with corresponding price information. In still other cases, the customer may be provided with a list of prices, where each price corresponds to available travel dates and specific flights on each date.

In either case, however, the information provided to the customer in response to the customer's query may not be provided or specific regarding seat availability for a particular cabin class. Such information provided to consumers about seat availability may also be difficult for uninformed consumers to understand. For example, when a consumer selects a particular flight or schedule, he or she may be provided with a seat map for a particular flight class, showing available seats to allow the consumer to select one or more seats within that class of travel or to change seat assignments, where a ticket with a specific price is proposed for that class of travel. In other cases, after the consumer selects a particular flight, the consumer may be provided with information such as "Y7 B7 H7 K7M7 Q7" which indicates available seats for a cabin class or within a range of booking classes flight name. This terminology may be confusing to uninformed consumers who are not familiar with the language used by such airlines.

If the consumer decides not to submit the purchase of an air ticket for that flight, schedule, or itinerary at this time, but returns to the place of travel to purchase the ticket at a later date, the consumer may find that although the ticket for that particular flight schedule is still available Seats, but prices may vary considerably as seats may no longer be available in the same booking class as the ticket price initially quoted, or subsequent inquiries may no longer satisfy the criteria associated with the previously proposed price certain restrictions or limitations. In some cases, the price for the same schedule may have increased significantly, and the customer may decide not to purchase the ticket at all, or decide to inquire about other schedules or flights. The end result may be a lost sale, which may have been made earlier if the customer had been notified of the availability of the particular seat originally quoted at the time of the initial inquiry. Accordingly, there is a need for a more direct and understandable way to inform consumers of the availability of a particular seat or ticket being offered to allow the consumer to make an informed decision on whether to purchase a seat at the time of offer. or multiple tickets.

Contents of the invention

The above and other needs are met by the present invention which, in one embodiment, provides a method of determining the remaining number of available seats in at least one booking class, wherein the method is performed over a computer network. Each booking level includes a maximum number of available seats and a number of fares associated with it. A query is first received from a user via the computer network, wherein the query is associated with travel parameters and includes the number of persons requesting a seat and at least two connection points to be traversed. Then at least one schedule between the at least two connection points is obtained. Each schedule includes at least one travel segment, each travel segment having at least one cabin class associated therewith. Each cabin level includes at least one booking level, and the booking levels in each corresponding cabin level are sorted according to the booking level criteria, so that the booking level includes the highest booking level and the lowest booking level, compared to all Each booking level lower than the highest booking level is a subset of the highest booking level. Each booking level may also be associated with a plurality of fares, each having a price, where the appropriate fare is determined by various factors including, for example, availability, restrictions, and date of purchase. A lowest-cost-fare (least-cost-fare) booking level is then selected from said sorted booking levels, wherein said lowest-cost-fare booking level has an actual number of seats available that is at least equal to The number of persons for a seat is requested, and an eligible fare is selected from the plurality of fares satisfying the travel parameters associated with the query. Responding directly to said query, an indication of said number of available seats in said lowest-price-fare booking class is provided to said user via said computer network.

Another advantageous aspect of the present invention includes a system for performing the associated method of determining the remaining number of available seats in at least one booking class as described herein. Such a system may be implemented in computer hardware, software, or a combination of computer software and hardware, with one or more executable and/or processing portions for implementing related methods according to other embodiments of the invention. In a representative embodiment, the travel system is at least partially enabled and built on an intermediate computer or computer device capable of performing the described related methods, said intermediate computer or computer device being part of a large computer network such as the Internet. Such intermediate computers or computer devices may include, for example, desktop personal computers, laptop personal computers, servers, routers, mainframe computers, or similar devices or combinations of devices known to those skilled in the art capable of performing the functions described above. Once the travel system is established on the intermediate computer or computer equipment, the travel system reaches the consumer (herein also referred to as "user" or "customer") through the user's computer equipment (which also includes a part of the travel system). ”), wherein said user's computer equipment is separate from said intermediate computer or computer equipment, but is capable of communicating with said computer network, thus communicating with said intermediate computer or computer equipment via, for example, a network communication line.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus capable of providing an indication to a user of the number of seats available in the lowest-price-fare booking class in direct response to a query from the user regarding a particular travel itinerary , systems, and methods. That is, in response to the user's query regarding specific travel parameters, embodiments of the present invention directly provide the user with one or more corresponding travel schedules satisfying the travel parameters, in direct response to the query, each Schedules have prices or fees associated with them. Advantageously, said direct response also includes an indication of how many seats or tickets are still available at the quoted price at the time of said response. The user is then able to make an objective purchasing decision based on the actual availability, or lack thereof, of airline tickets corresponding to the quoted price. When the user is provided with the current seat availability at the quoted price, the user is able to determine the possibility of obtaining the seat at the quoted price at a later time, and thereby make better judgments about the time of purchase. Embodiments of the present invention are thus able to win sales for travel providers that might otherwise be lost due to higher price quotes quoted for travel tickets at a later time, due in part to delays on the part of the user, while the present Embodiments of the invention also provide savings and value to users (buyers) and travel providers. Accordingly, an apparatus, system, and method for determining the remaining number of available seats in at least one booking class, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, provides the significant advantages detailed herein.

Description of drawings

Having generally described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, in which:

1 is a schematic diagram of a system for determining the remaining number of seats available in at least one booking level according to one embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram of data from which the remaining number of seats available in at least one booking level can be determined according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

3 is a schematic diagram of a system for providing a direct response to a user's query including the remaining number of seats available in at least one booking class at a quoted price in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like symbols refer to like parts throughout the specification.

1 is a schematic diagram of a system operating on a computer network for determining the remaining number of seats available in at least one booking level according to one embodiment of the invention, and FIG. Embodiments A system implementing a method of determining a remaining number of seats available in at least one booking level. The travel system 120 is launched, developed, and managed on an intermediary computer or other computer device 110 that is part of a larger computer network 100 such as the Internet. Such an intermediate computer or computer device 110, referred to herein for convenience and simplicity as "intermediate computer 110" may include, for example, a desktop personal computer, a laptop personal computer, a server, a router, a mainframe computer, or a Similar devices or combinations of functions and methods understood by those skilled in the art.

Once the system 120 is set up on the intermediary computer 110, the system 120 can be accessed by the customer through the customer's computer 130, referred to herein as "the customer 130" for convenience and simplicity, which can be accessed through the customer's computer 130. For example, network communication line 150 communicates with computer network 100 and with intermediate computer 110 . It should be noted that although a simple schematic diagram of a single computer device in communication with a computer network is shown here, it should be understood that the concept is representative of communications through Internet sites such as the World Wide Web, and may include many different computers and associated devices, where The concept of communicating over the Internet is well known to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that the intermediary computer 110 is typically remote from, separate from, and independent of the consumer 130 . However, in some cases, the embodiments of the system and corresponding methods described herein performed by the intermediary computer 110 may be hosted by the customer's computer 130, in which case the customer's computer 130 may also serve as a intermediate computer 110 consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention.

Consumer 130 accesses intermediary computer 110 via network communication line 150 in order to exploit the resources provided by travel system 120 , for example, to look up travel schedules or routes between each price-associated origin and destination. Generally associated with the travel system 120 on the intermediary computer 110 is an optional customer registration module 160, an optional rules management module 170, a scheduler module 180, an availability module 190, a pricing module 200, and a purchasing module 210 . In some cases, consumer 130 may be required to register with consumer registration module 160 over network communication line 150 to be able to access and use travel system 120 and/or perform transactions through purchasing module 210 . In other cases, the consumer 130 may not be required to register with the consumer registration module 160 until immediately prior to performing a transaction through the purchase module 210 . In still other cases, consumer registration module 160 may be an optional component of system 120 where system 120 does not require consumers to register in order to access services provided by system 120 . Accordingly, the customer registration module 160 is shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1 to indicate the optionality of the customer registration module 160 . It should be noted that customer's computer 130 may generally include any computer device or terminal configured to communicate with intermediate computer 110, where in some cases a single computer device or terminal may include one or more computer components. For example, a single computer device may include a customer's computer 130 and an intermediary computer 110, where an entity such as a travel agent or broker purchases a travel ticket as the customer and executes the travel system 120, e.g., on the intermediary computer 110, to Resell tickets.

Travel system 120 is typically implemented in computer software, although in some cases travel system 120 may also be implemented in a combination of software and hardware. Information collected by optional consumer registration module 160, optional rules management module 170, and/or purchasing module 210 is typically stored in one or more databases, for example, in a storage device (not shown), wherein The storage device is contained within or otherwise associated with the intermediate computer 110 . Thus, the system 120 can provide data mining opportunities to be realized by those skilled in the art. Also, optional customer registration module 160, optional rules management module 170, scheduler module 180, availability module 190, pricing module 200, and purchasing module 210 are typically implemented in computer software, although in some In some cases, these components can also be realized by a combination of software and hardware. For example, the scheduler module 180 may include or be arranged to communicate with routers, servers, switches, etc., to appropriately allow access thereto for listing schedules by travel carriers and/or by travel agents or other intermediaries. Agency search and select timetables. Additionally, scheduler module 180 may include, for example, a display, driver, or other means for displaying text, graphics, audio, etc., to identify entities interacting with or associated with scheduler module 180 via system 120 other information. Typically, these components or modules act together to form the system 120, implemented as computer software or a combination of software and hardware, which includes one or more components capable of determining the remaining number of seats available in at least one booking class in accordance with the present invention. The processing portion of an embodiment of the method. Accordingly, embodiments of such methods according to the present invention may be implemented by one or more corresponding processing portions of an associated system or computer device, wherein each processing portion may comprise software portions, or both software and hardware portions. part, which can perform one or more specific functions. An associated computer software program product may also be provided, where such computer software program product may include one or more executable portions executable by suitable computer equipment to implement any or all of the method. Accordingly, the operation of the travel system 120 and its associated components can be explained in more detail from the description of the associated method corresponding to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of data from which the remaining number of seats available in at least one booking level may be determined, using the system shown in FIG. 1 , according to one embodiment of the present invention. As detailed herein, the methods described may suggest including the representative example of the air travel industry, where a consumer 130 is, for example, a person seeking an airline ticket for travel between an origin and a destination, the flight ticket being issued at A specific date and time, for a specific number of travelers, an intermediary computer 110 representing, for example, an online travel agency such as Travelocity.com, which is capable of receiving the customer's parameters and, in response, providing the customer 130 with various options for completing the trip. choose. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the air travel industry, but may include and may be applied to various industries, for example, rail travel, sea travel or other water travel, or lodging, where the particular industry is providing a price to the consumer Carry out the cabin class/booking class system when quoting. Accordingly, the examples shown herein are not intended to include or limit applications of embodiments of the invention, but are presented to illustrate possible applications consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention.

A customer or user 130 researching a travel schedule or itinerary first connects with an online travel agency 120 via an intermediate computer 110 via a network communication link 150 . When connected to the travel system 120, the user 130 is prompted to provide one or more travel parameters (also referred to herein as "query"), wherein the travel parameters may include, for example, travel origin, travel destination, departure and/or return Date and time, and the number of travelers requesting a seat. In some cases, the response provided by the user 130 is received by the optional rules management module 170 through a user interface (not shown), wherein the user interface may be integrated with the optional rules management module 170, or with the optional The rules management module 170 is separate, as known to those skilled in the art. The optional rules management module 170 may include appropriate rules or other functionality for determining one or more search or restriction parameters from a query provided by the user 130 . For example, the number or persons requesting a seat may be viewed as a traveling companion who prefers a pair of adjacent seats. In other cases, the required date (advance booking) may include restrictive parameters or be associated with certain non-applicable dates compared to the travel date. The maximum number of connections can also include search parameters. The examples presented herein in terms of rules managed by the optional rules management module 170 are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting in any way with respect to the capabilities of the optional rules management module 170 . Those skilled in the art should also know that, in some cases, the rule management module 170 may not be included in the system 120, instead, the functions of the rule management module 170 may be included in one or more of the system 120 described herein. among other components. For example, functions related to evaluating and/or performing searches and/or limiting parameters may be performed by scheduler module 180 , availability module 190 , and/or pricing module 200 as appropriate. Accordingly, the rules management module 170 is shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1 to represent the optional nature of the rules management module 170 .

In an embodiment of the travel system 120 in which the customer registration module 160 is used, the customer registration module 160 may ask the customer or user 130 to provide, for example, the traveler's contact or other personal information, and payment (credit card) information. However, in some cases, registration or login through the consumer registration module 160 may only be required immediately prior to completing the transaction through the purchase module 210 . In other cases, the customer registration module 160 may not be provided, and any functionality associated therewith with respect to any customer registration requirements may be handled by, for example, a suitably configured purchasing module 210 . Those skilled in the art will therefore appreciate that any registration requirements and/or transaction functionality may be implemented in many different forms consistent with the objectives of the system 120 and the spirit and scope of the present invention.

After determining the appropriate search and/or restriction parameters, the optional rules management module 170 and/or scheduler module 180 proceed to process the parameters to conduct the appropriate search. The scheduler module 180 may include appropriate rules or other functionality for determining one or more airports or "junctions" on the route requested by the user 130, where it may be based, for example, on airfare prices or schedules, or travel schedules that include the junctions. The trading parameter of time determines the connection point. In addition, scheduler module 180 may include appropriate rules or other functionality for determining one or more schedules between origin and destination connection points, such as other transactions of a particular carrier serving a particular connection point Parameters can also influence the determined schedule.

In determining one or more suitable schedules that meet the user's criteria, optional rules management module 170 and/or scheduler module 180 may also communicate with availability module 190 to schedule flights or travel segments Determine seat availability. That is, after the availability module 190 is provided with a selected one or more schedules or other parameters, appropriate rules or other functions are applied for determining the availability of seats, where it may be under, for example, cabin or fare class criteria Check seat availability. Class standards may restrict seat availability to certain classes of travel, such as first class seats, business class seats, or economy class seats. In performing the seat availability determination, the availability module 190 may implement a direct connection availability procedure to communicate in real time with the travel carrier identified by each schedule or travel segment therein to determine the seat directly from the carrier availability. In other cases, the availability module 190 may perform a cached availability procedure in which a cache of periodically-updated travel carrier seat availability information is queried to determine a seat for each schedule or travel segment therein availability. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other systems and methods can provide the necessary seat availability information.

One way of representing seat availability uses, for example, a nested hierarchy for representing one or more booking levels within a cabin class. For example, continuing the previous example, "Y7 B7 H7 K7M7 Q7" can represent various booking levels in the economy class class, where "Y" can represent a full-price economy class ticket (the highest booking level) for a specific flight, and " K" may denote a booking class with a lower fare (lower booking class), which is a subset of the "Y" class, where fares for the "K" booking class may have restrictions, advance purchase requirements , and/or limited or no refund requirements, etc. (fare restrictions or requirements). The numbers following the letters usually indicate the number of seats available in each booking class, the significance of which is discussed further here. Fares associated with the "M" and "Q" booking classes may have additional restrictions on the "K" class, where "M" may be a subset of "K" and "Q" (the most restricted Booking level) is a subset of "M". That is, for a particular flight, the total number of seats available in economy class is, for example, 100 seats, which can be sold at full fare (full price), with little or no restriction ("Y"). However, of these 100 seats, 20 seats may be designated as available with certain restrictions ("K"), and 10 seats in those "K" classes may have different selection criteria and thus may Cheaper or lower priced (ie, "M" grade). However, there can be several different schemes for managing such tiers, in general, more restricted booking classes are associated with cheaper fares with respect to price than less restricted booking classes. In some cases, a series from less restricted higher priced booking levels to more restricted lower priced booking levels may be listed with respect to price or restriction, but the series will generally include the highest booking level and The lowest booking level. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that although the discussion here is of the booking level in the economy class, the same principles can also be used for other cabin classes such as first class or business class, where each such cabin class can be Include one or more booking levels independently.

For example, in a continuously nested inventory scenario, if a ticket at level "K" is sold, each other lower level booking level "M" and "Q" is reduced by 1 due to the There will be one less ticket in the class that will be sold. Also, the upper booking level "B" is also decreased by 1, and since level "B" has a higher level "Y", the level of "Y" will also be decreased by 1. This is because a ticket has already been sold and it can no longer be sold at a higher booking level. In a side-by-side nesting scenario, the sale of an "M" class ticket will reduce the "M" class ticket by 1, and the "Y" class ticket by 1. However, the remaining booking classes in the Economy class will not be affected as these booking classes are a separate direct subset of the "Y" class. If a bidding scheme is implemented, only one booking level (ie, "Y" level) is used, where the acceptable price to ask for each ticket is based on the remaining tickets in inventory. For example, at the beginning of providing a timetable or route, the acceptable price per ticket is set at a lower amount. As each ticket is sold, the acceptable price per ticket increases until the acceptable price per ticket reaches the maximum value supported by the market.

Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that due to the complexities of managing seat inventory, as discussed, raw data associated with seat availability may not be easily understood by uninformed consumers. Also, the numbers representing the number of seats available in each booking class may often be an artificial maximum specified by a particular airline or other travel provider to prevent disclosure to competitors or other interested parties. Freedom to disclose ticket class. For example, although 20 seats may be available in each booking level from "B" to "Q", the default maximum value may be "4", "7", or "9". Thus, the number of seats available in a particular booking class may drop below the artificial maximum number of seats only if the actual number of remaining seats in that booking class is below the artificial maximum. Availability module 190 may thus select seats based on, for example, the lowest-price-fare booking class in an appropriate cabin class that has an actual number of seats available that is at least equal to the number of seats available at the user's initial The number of people requesting a seat in the query, and the appropriate class of travel with available fares that meet the travel parameters proposed by the user. However, in some cases, the availability module 190 may also be configured to select available seats only from booking levels of a particular cabin class that have, for example, from the user's initial Query to obtain the appropriate restrictions or travel parameters to achieve restrictions or other fare standards. That is, the availability module 190 may be configured to select only from eligible booking levels for which the user 130 implements available restrictions or fare standards. In this case, under the criteria that the actual number of seats available is at least equal to the number of persons requesting seats in the user's original query, the booking class selected from the qualifying booking classes is Is designated as the lowest-price-fare booking class.

The availability module 190 may determine or select the lowest-price-fare booking class in a particular cabin class in different ways. For example, the availability module 190 may first determine the actual number of seats available for the lowest booking level in the hierarchy of booking levels for the cabin class and then compare the actual number of seats available in the lowest booking level with Compare the number of people requesting a seat. If the actual number of seats available is insufficient, then availability module 190 continues to determine the actual number of seats available for each successively higher booking level until each successively higher booking level The actual number of seats available in one of the classes is at least equal to the number of people requesting seats. The corresponding higher booking level is thus designated as the first available booking level. Also, if the first available booking level includes an appropriate fare that satisfies the travel parameters, then the first available booking level is designated as the lowest-price-fare booking level. Otherwise, if the first available booking level does not include an appropriate fare that meets the travel parameters, the availability module 190 determines whether the next successively higher booking level includes an appropriate fare that meets the travel parameters. Thereafter, if none of the ordered booking levels include an appropriate fare that satisfies the travel parameters, the availability module 190 designates the highest booking level as the lowest-price-fare booking level.

In other cases, the availability module 190 may first determine the actual number of seats available for the highest booking level in the hierarchy of booking levels for a particular cabin class, and then assign the seats available in the highest booking level to The actual number of seats is compared with the number of people requesting seats. If the actual number of seats available is sufficient, the availability module 190 determines the actual number of seats available for each successively lower booking level until the number of seats available in one of the successively lower booking levels. The actual number of seats obtained is less than the number of people requesting seats. Thus the booking level directly preceding the lower booking level that does not have a sufficient number of seats (the next higher booking level in the hierarchy) is designated as the lowest price booking level. However, if the actual number of seats available in any one of the booking levels for that cabin class is not less than the number of persons requesting seats, the lowest booking level is designated as the first available booking level. If the first available booking level includes an appropriate fare that satisfies the travel parameters, then the first available booking level is designated as the lowest-price-fare booking level. If the first available booking level does not include an appropriate fare that meets the travel parameters, the availability module 190 determines whether the next successively higher booking level includes an appropriate fare that meets the travel parameters. If the actual number of seats available in any one booking class is not less than the number of people requesting seats, then the availability module 190 thereafter assigns the lowest booking class as the lowest-price-fare booking class, or if the ordered booking class If none of the ticket classes include an appropriate fare that satisfies the travel parameters, the highest booking class is designated as the lowest-price-fare booking class. Although a description of the functionality of the availability module 190 is given here, regardless of the continuous nested inventory process, those skilled in the art will know that for other inventory schemes, such as side-by-side nested schemes, the available seats and minimum - Price - The fare booking level designation scheme may be varied as appropriate, and the examples presented here are not intended to be limiting in this manner.

Once the availability module 190 determines seat availability for each schedule or travel segment therein determined by the scheduler module 180, the pricing module 200 applies appropriate rules or other functions for determining the price of the available seats , and the pricing module 200 can rank the prices of the available seats according to, for example, price and/or restrictions. That is, the pricing module 200 may take into account the booking class with specified available seats as well as other parameters such as restrictions or other fare criteria when providing a price for a particular schedule or travel segment. In this manner, once editing is complete, there is a direct response to the user 130, presenting a summary of flights or schedules that meet the travel criteria submitted by the user 130, which can be based on, for example, price, travel time, number of stays, etc. , or the carrier arranges the timetable. Such a summary may be provided to the user 130 as a marker, for example, an image of a web page or a text message on the user's computer 130 . The summary table may include, for example, one or more schedules, each schedule including, for example, the carrier, departure and arrival times, flight duration, and location code (lowest-price-fare booking level) and the Flight information for the corresponding price of the flight.

However, sorting by price often lacks other information, such as the number of seats available at that price, which does not allow the user 130 to make an informed decision at the time of the query and subsequently study the summary tables or labels provided by the system 120 . In some cases, the user 130 may proceed to select a particular flight and take further steps to request more information on the schedule or price of a particular offer, or actually proceed to purchase an airline ticket through the purchase module 210 . In this case, although user 130 may have to search or navigate through the online travel provider's web site and/or may be required to have knowledge of the availability schemes implemented by various carriers, user 130 may be provided with some An indication of seat availability. For example, when user 130 selects a particular flight or schedule, user 130 may be provided with a seat map for a particular cabin class and/or booking class, indicating available seats, thereby allowing user 130 to select that cabin class and/or one or more seats in a booking class, or a change in seat assignment, in which travel schedules and prices are quoted for that particular cabin class and/or booking class. That is, a map of all economy class segments may be represented with an indication of occupied and unoccupied seats based on previous purchases or reservations. However, this representation does not provide the user 130 with much indication, if any, of the number of seats available at the quoted price (in a particular booking class). In other cases, upon selection of a particular flight, the user 130 may be provided with information such as "Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 Q7" which indicates the carrier designation for which seats are available in the cabin class. This terminology is confusing to uninformed consumers who are not familiar with the terminology used by carriers, and thus does not provide the user 130 with much, if any, information about what is available at quoted prices. An indication of the number of seats. In either case, the correlation of seat availability and quoted price is provided indirectly to user 130, and obtaining such information is generally inconvenient or cumbersome. In other cases, the user 130 cannot even proceed to request more information and thus cannot receive any indication of seat availability at the quoted price.

Likewise, a particularly advantageous embodiment of the present invention provides the user 130 with the remaining seat availability in a particular booking class for the quoted price in direct response to the user's initial query. That is, in the systems and methods described herein, the summary of flight schedules presented to the user 130 represents a direct response to the user 130 in response to travel parameters provided by the user 130 . More particularly, an indicia is a direct response to the user 130, such as on a web page or in a text message stating or describing a flight summary that meets the user's 130 proposed travel criteria. Thus, when such a summary of schedules/prices is presented directly to the user 130, embodiments of the present invention include an analysis of the number of seats remaining in each schedule's lowest-price-fare booking level versus the quoted price. markers of interrelationships.

As shown in Figure 2, such markings may be determined by the lowest-price-fare booking level for each timetable. For example, for a single traveler, assuming a continuous nested structure and all constraints are satisfied by that traveler, row 1 (AA 301) represents the lowest booking level in the economy class class with at least one available seat, as "N" level. However, since all classes from "Y" to "N" each represent 7 available seats, in fact class "N" has at least an artificial maximum number of seats available. In this case, the notation provided directly to the user 130 in the summary table for the flight may indicate "at least 7 seats available at this price" or, in some cases, not provided to the user 130. 130 provides any indicia, thus indicating to the user 130 that the availability of seats for that particular cabin class and booking class on the selected flight is relatively good, and therefore may not require an immediate purchase to be purchased at a later date at that price Buy a seat. On the other hand, row 5 (AA 305) indicates that there are no seats available in class "N", when in fact three seats are available in class "V". Likewise, if the "V" booking class includes an appropriate fare that satisfies the user's 130 travel parameters, the price quoted for that flight schedule will be the lowest-price-fare booking class "V" in the economy class. "One of the three seats. Furthermore, since the higher class "L" represents six seats available, and the higher classes "M" through "Y" represent seven seats each (an artificial maximum), the total An indicia in the table provided directly to the user 130 may say, for example, "Three seats are available at this price". If only one seat is available at the "V" booking level, the indicia provided directly to the user 130 may state, for example, "one seat available at this price" or "last seat available at this price". In this case, the user 130 should be alerted that the purchase of an airline ticket corresponding to the quoted price in the summary table requires close attention in order to reserve the purchase at that price, since there is only one seat remaining at the quoted price, and at the Any subsequently purchased seats in that cabin class for that flight may have a much higher price (eg, in an "L" booking class). 3 illustrates an example of a direct response to a query by user 130, wherein, for example, the schedule and price of Northwest Airlines flight 7749/8138 quoted to user 130 specifically represents a price of $265 per person, where The price quoted has four seats remaining, while the schedule and prices for Northwest Airlines flight 329/8925 specifically indicate a price of $265 per person, with no indication of how many seats remain at that quoted price.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus, system, and method capable of providing a user with an indication of the number of seats available in the lowest-price-fare booking class in direct response to a request from the user regarding a particular Inquiries about travel plans. That is, in response to a user query regarding particular travel parameters, embodiments of the present invention provide the user with one or more corresponding travel schedules, each schedule having a price or fee associated therewith, to directly respond to the query. Advantageously, the direct response also includes an indication of how many remaining seats or tickets are available in that particular booking class at the time of the response and at the price quoted. The user is then able to make an objective purchasing decision based on the actual availability or lack of air tickets corresponding to the quoted price. When the user is provided with immediate seat availability for the quoted price, the user can assess the likelihood of seat availability at a later time, thereby better deciding the time of purchase. Embodiments of the present invention are thus able to obtain a sale to the travel provider that it might otherwise lose due to the higher price quoted for the travel ticket at a later date due to delays on the part of the user while the present Embodiments of the invention also provide savings and value to users and travel providers.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to those skilled in the art which pertain to taking advantage of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. For example, in addition to an indication of how many remaining seats or tickets are available in that particular booking level at the quoted price at response time, in some cases the customer 130 may also be provided with an indication of the attributes of the remaining seats. That is, for each remaining seat at the quoted price, the customer 130 may be provided with information about, for example, whether the seat is near the aisle, in the middle, or by the window, and whether the seat is in the row of the exit, near the bulkhead, And/or information about seats that include increased legroom. However, this example is not intended to be limiting with respect to seat attributes, which may also be provided to user 130 in addition to seat availability at quoted prices.

In another example, the principles discussed here with respect to providing remaining seat availability at quoted prices can also be extended to package tickets or bulk tickets, where for individual flight schedules , the availability of seats or tickets at the quoted price for such packages or bulk purchases is alternative to, or in addition to, the availability of seats at the quoted price. That is, the remaining seat availability at quoted prices is described here only in terms of airline flights in the presented example. In some cases, however, the consumer 130 may choose to request information about a package that may include, for example, a flight and hotel or flight, hotel, and rental car. In other cases, such package options may not be required and presented to consumers 130 to demonstrate such options to consumers 130 planning travel. For example, in response to a customer's query, the customer 130 may be presented with a flight schedule at a quoted price with a specific number of available seats at that price (i.e., flight 1234 may have a $100 ticket at that price three seats remaining), and then presents package options to the consumer 130 as a choice (i.e., the package offered may include airfare on flight 1234 for $250, one night at Hotel X, and two tickets remaining at that price this package). For example, such an environment is shown in Figure 3, where Northwest Airlines flight 329/8925 specifically represents a price of $265 per person for the flight only, but an optional representation of the flight per person plus four nights of hotel accommodation 444 is also proposed Dollar. With the cabin class/booking class structure described above, such packages or bulk ticketing may have limited availability. In addition, a package or bulk-ticketed flight portion may have seats in a booking class that may not need to qualify for a booking class in an individual flight ticket. That is, package tickets or bulk ticket purchases may require a specific booking level that is not necessarily the same as the booking level for the same flight or schedule selected for the consumer 130, where the consumer 130 is only looking for flight tickets. For example, an individual flight schedule may designate a ticket as class "Q", while a package offer may designate a flight ticket as class "M". Also package tickets or bulk ticket purchases may include separate restrictions or fare requirements that must be evaluated against parameters provided by the customer 130 to determine customer eligibility. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the same or similar methods described herein as being used for individual airline tickets can also be used for package tickets offered by travel providers.

In another example, the principles discussed here regarding the availability of remaining seats at a quoted price can also be extended to situations where multiple travelers in a group can be offered on a split-group basis Seat availability at quoted prices. That is, in multiple travelers in a single group querying schedules and tickets, multiple travelers can be split between cabin classes (i.e., First Class and Economy Class), or bookings for specific cabin classes Classes (i.e. between booking classes "M" and "Q" in the economy class) are split. Segmentation on the group may be done based on customer parameters, where the customer 130 decides how to split the group, or may be based on, for example, seat availability (i.e., for a group of four travelers, there may only be two seats in the lower price class "Q", while seven seats are available in the higher price class "M") or traveler category (i.e., the group can include two adults, a child, and a family of elderly, where, for Certain schedules, class "Q" have two adult category tickets remaining at an adult price, but no child category tickets remaining or any additional adult category tickets that can be reassigned to senior category tickets remaining, whereas class "M" has two tickets remaining in the child category at the corresponding child fare, and four tickets remaining in the adult category at the corresponding child fare) the split is assigned by the system 120. In such a case, each segment or category within a particular group may be processed independently by the system 120 to determine seat availability at the corresponding quoted price. For example, in the case of a family group, the system 120 may search for an elderly parameter and return a price for an offer in level "Q" with an indication that two seats are available at that price, while independently searching for a child parameter (but at the same time ground) and returns the price of an offer in level "M" with an indication that two seats are available at that price. Also, the adult category is searched individually and simultaneously and returns the price of an offer in level "M" with an indication that four seats are available at that offer price. Optionally, tickets may be quoted in the adult category in the "Q" class and in the senior category in the "M" class. System 120 may also include functionality to determine, for example, which circumstances will provide the final lowest price to the family group. That is, two adults in class "Q" and seniors in class "M" may offer a lower final minimum price than seniors in class "Q" and two adults in class "M" . Thus, family groups and travel classes can be split across several booking levels, but also across several cabin classes, if desired or required. Therefore, those skilled in the art should also know that other circumstances regarding split group situations may thus be represented according to embodiments of the present invention.

Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are used herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not of limitation.

Claims (27)

1, a kind of intermediate computations machine equipment, it is configured to realize to be used for to determine the system at the volume residual at least one available seat of ticket booking rank, each ticket booking rank has maximum quantity and a plurality of admission fee that is associated with it at available seat, described intermediate computations machine equipment is configured to and computer network communication, thereby can communicate by letter with the computer equipment that separates that is suitable for by the user uses, described intermediate computations machine equipment comprises:

Be used for receiving the processing section of inquiry from the user, described inquiry be associated with travel parameters and comprise the requirement seat number and will be by at least two tie points of process, receive described inquiry by described computer network from the computer equipment of described separation;

Be used to obtain the processing section of at least one timetable between described at least two tie points, each timetable has at least one travel segment, each travel segment has at least one class that is associated with it, wherein each class comprises at least one ticket booking rank, according to the described ticket booking rank in each corresponding class of ticket booking rank standard sorted, thereby described ticket booking rank comprises the highest ticket booking rank and minimum ticket booking rank, and described minimum ticket booking rank is the highest described other subclass of ticket booking level;

Be used for selecting minimum-price-other processing section of admission fee ticket booking level from the ticket booking rank of described ordering, described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank is the ticket booking rank of ordering, it has available seat actual quantity and equals the number at requirement seat at least and have suitable admission fee in the described a plurality of admission fees that satisfy the described travel parameters that is associated with described inquiry; And

Be used for directly responding described inquiry to described user provide described minimum-can obtain the processing section of mark of the quantity at seat described in price-admission fee ticket booking rank, described mark is offered the computer equipment of described separation by described computer network.

2, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein, if described minimum-actual quantity that can obtain the seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank equals the described maximal value that obtains the seat, the then described processing section that is used for providing mark further be configured to described user provide the described at least maximal value that obtains the seat can described minimum-mark that price-admission fee ticket booking rank obtains.

3, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein, if described minimum-actual quantity that can obtain the seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank is less than the described maximal value that obtains the seat, the then described processing section that is used for providing mark further be configured to described user provide the described actual quantity that obtains the seat can described minimum-mark that price-admission fee ticket booking rank obtains.

4, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein said be used for determining described minimum-price-other processing section of admission fee ticket booking level further is configured to:

For described minimum ticket booking rank is determined the described actual quantity that obtains the seat;

The described actual quantity that obtains the seat in the described minimum ticket booking rank is compared with the described number at seat that requires;

If the described actual quantity at seat that obtains in the described minimum class of ticket is less than the described number that requires the seat, then determine the described actual quantity that obtains the seat for each higher ticket booking rank in succession, the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in one of described higher ticket booking rank in succession equals the described number that requires the seat at least, thereby described in succession one of higher ticket booking rank is the first available ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the described first available ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, determine then whether the described higher ticket booking rank of following in succession comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters; And

If the ticket booking rank of described ordering does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the highest described ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

5, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein said be used for determining described minimum-price-other processing section of admission fee ticket booking level further is configured to:

For the highest described ticket booking rank is determined the described actual quantity that obtains the seat;

The described actual quantity that obtains the seat in the highest described ticket booking rank is compared with the described number at seat that requires;

If the described actual quantity at seat that obtains in the highest described ticket booking rank is greater than the described number that requires the seat, then determine the described actual quantity that obtains the seat for each lower ticket booking rank in succession, the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in one of described lower ticket booking rank in succession is less than the described number that requires the seat, thereby directly the ticket booking rank before one of described lower ticket booking rank in succession is the first available ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the described first available ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, determine then whether the described higher ticket booking rank of following in succession comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters;

If the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in any described ticket booking rank all is not less than the described number that requires the seat, then specifying described minimum ticket booking rank is minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank; And

If the ticket booking rank of described ordering does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the highest described ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

6, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 1, the described processing section that wherein is used for obtaining at least one timetable further be configured to from can with described at least one timetable of at least one acquisition in the timetable source of the real-time timetable source of described intermediate computer devices communicating and buffer memory.

7, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 1, wherein each ticket booking rank is associated with limitation standard, and described system further comprises and is configured to following processing section:

Determine the limiting parameter that at least one shows thus from described inquiry;

Described at least one limiting parameter is compared with being used for each other described limitation standard of ticket booking level, thereby determine the limitation standard that at least one satisfies; And

Determine at least one qualified ticket booking rank corresponding to described at least one limitation standard that satisfies.

8, intermediate computations machine equipment as claimed in claim 7, wherein said be used for selecting described minimum-price-other described processing section of admission fee ticket booking level further be configured to from the qualified ticket booking rank of described ordering select described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

9, a kind of system of volume residual of the obtained seat that is used for determining at least one ticket booking rank, wherein each ticket booking rank has the available seat and a plurality of admission fees related with it of maximum quantity, and described system comprises:

Be suitable for first computer equipment that used by the user, it is configured to and can communicates with computer network; And

Second computer equipment, it is configured to communicate with described computer network, thereby can communicate by letter with described first computer equipment, and described second computer equipment comprises:

Be used for receiving from the user processing section of inquiry, described inquiry is associated with travel parameters and comprises that the number at requirement seat and at least two will be by the tie points of process, and described second computing machine is established by described computer network and connect from described first computer equipment

Receive described inquiry;

Be used to obtain the processing section of at least one timetable between described at least two tie points, each timetable has at least one travel segment, each travel segment has at least one class that is associated with it, wherein each class comprises at least one ticket booking rank, ticket booking rank in each corresponding class is sorted according to ticket booking rank standard, thereby comprise the highest ticket booking rank and minimum ticket booking rank, described minimum ticket booking rank is the highest described other subclass of ticket booking level;

Be used for selecting minimum-price-other processing section of admission fee ticket booking level from the ticket booking rank of described ordering, described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank is that the actual quantity with available seat equals the described ticket booking rank that requires the number at seat and have the suitable admission fee in the described a plurality of admission fees that satisfy the described travel parameters that is associated with described inquiry at least; And

Be used for directly responding described inquiry to described user provide described minimum-can obtain the processing section of mark of the quantity at seat described in price-admission fee ticket booking rank, by described computer network described mark is offered described first computer equipment from described second computer equipment.

10, system as claimed in claim 9, wherein, if described minimum-actual quantity that can obtain the seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank equals the described maximum quantity that obtains the seat, then be used for providing the described processing section of mark further be configured to described user provide the described at least maximum quantity that obtains the seat can described minimum-mark that price-admission fee ticket booking rank obtains.

11, system as claimed in claim 9, wherein, if described minimum-actual quantity that can obtain the seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank is less than the described maximum quantity that obtains the seat, then be used for providing the described processing section of mark further be configured to described user provide the described actual quantity that obtains the seat can described minimum-mark that price-admission fee ticket booking rank obtains.

12, system as claimed in claim 9, wherein be used for determining described minimum-price-other described processing section of admission fee ticket booking level further is configured to:

For described minimum ticket booking rank is determined the described actual quantity that obtains the seat;

The described actual quantity that obtains the seat in the described minimum ticket booking rank is compared with the described number at seat that requires;

If the described actual quantity at seat that obtains in the described minimum class of ticket is less than the described number that requires the seat, then determine the described actual quantity that obtains the seat for each higher ticket booking rank in succession, the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in one of described higher ticket booking rank in succession equals the described number that requires the seat at least, thereby described in succession one of higher ticket booking rank is the first available ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the described first available ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, determine then whether the described higher ticket booking rank of following in succession comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters; And

If the ticket booking rank of described ordering does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the highest described ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

13, system as claimed in claim 9, wherein be used for determining described minimum-price-other described processing section of admission fee ticket booking level further is configured to:

For the highest described ticket booking rank is determined the described actual quantity that obtains the seat;

The described actual quantity that obtains the seat in the highest described ticket booking rank is compared with the described number at seat that requires; And

If the described actual quantity at seat that obtains in the highest described ticket booking rank is greater than the described number that requires the seat, then determine the described actual quantity that obtains the seat for each lower ticket booking rank in succession, the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in one of described lower ticket booking rank in succession is less than the described number that requires the seat, thereby directly the ticket booking rank before one of described lower ticket booking rank that continues mutually is the first available ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the described first available ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, determine then whether the described higher ticket booking rank of following in succession comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters;

If the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in any described ticket booking rank all is not less than the described number that requires the seat, then specifying described minimum ticket booking rank is minimum-price-fare basis rank; And

If the ticket booking rank of described ordering does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the highest described ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

14, system as claimed in claim 9, the described processing section that wherein is used for obtaining at least one timetable further is configured to from described at least one timetable of at least one acquisition in the timetable source of the real-time timetable source that can communicate by letter with described second computer equipment and buffer memory.

15, system as claimed in claim 9, wherein each ticket booking rank is associated with limitation standard, and described system further comprises and is configured to following processing section:

Determine the limiting parameter that at least one shows thus from described inquiry;

Described at least one limiting parameter is compared with being used for each other described limitation standard of ticket booking level, thereby determine the limitation standard that at least one satisfies; And

Determine at least one qualified ticket booking rank corresponding to described at least one limitation standard that satisfies.

16, system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said be used for selecting described minimum-price-other described processing section of admission fee ticket booking level further be configured to from the qualified ticket booking rank of described ordering select described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

17, a kind of method of determining the volume residual at available seat at least one ticket booking rank, each ticket booking rank has maximum quantity and a plurality of admission fee that is associated with it at available seat, described method is performed by computer network, and described method comprises:

Receive inquiry by described computer network from the user, described inquiry be associated with travel parameters and comprise the requirement seat number and will be by at least two tie points of process;

Obtain at least one timetable between described at least two tie points, each timetable has at least one travel segment, each travel segment has at least one class that is associated with it, wherein each class comprises at least one ticket booking rank, according to the described ticket booking rank in each corresponding class of ticket booking rank standard sorted, thereby described ticket booking rank comprises highest ticket booking rank and lowermost level ticket booking rank, and described lowermost level ticket booking rank is described highest other subclass of ticket booking level;

From the ticket booking rank of described ordering, select minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank, described minimum-actual quantity that price-admission fee ticket booking rank has an available seat equals the number at requirement seat at least and has the ticket booking rank of the suitable admission fee in the described a plurality of admission fees that satisfy the described travel parameters that is associated with described inquiry; And

By described computer network, directly respond described inquiry to described user provide described minimum-can obtain the mark of the quantity at seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

18, method as claimed in claim 17, if wherein described minimum-actual quantity that can obtain the seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank equals the described maximum quantity that obtains the seat, then described provide mark further comprise to described user provide the described at least maximum quantity that obtains the seat can described minimum-mark that obtains in price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

19, method as claimed in claim 17, if wherein described minimum-actual quantity that can obtain the seat described in the price-admission fee ticket booking rank is less than the described maximum quantity that obtains the seat, then described provide mark further comprise to described user provide the described at least actual quantity that obtains the seat can described minimum-mark that obtains in price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

20, method as claimed in claim 17, wherein determine described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank further comprises:

For described minimum ticket booking rank is determined the described actual quantity that obtains the seat;

The described actual quantity that obtains the seat in the described minimum ticket booking rank is compared with the described number at seat that requires;

If the described actual quantity at seat that obtains in the described minimum class of ticket is less than the described number that requires the seat, then determine the described actual quantity that obtains the seat for each higher ticket booking rank in succession, the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in one of described higher ticket booking rank in succession equals the described number that requires the seat at least, thereby described in succession one of higher ticket booking rank is the first available ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the described first available ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, determine then whether the described higher ticket booking rank of following in succession comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters; And

If the ticket booking rank of described ordering does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the highest described ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

21, method as claimed in claim 17, wherein determine described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank further comprises:

For the highest described ticket booking rank is determined the described actual quantity that obtains the seat;

The described actual quantity that obtains the seat in the highest described ticket booking rank is compared with the described number at seat that requires;

If the described actual quantity at seat that obtains in the highest described ticket booking rank is greater than the described number that requires the seat, then determine the described actual quantity that obtains the seat for each lower ticket booking rank in succession, the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in one of described lower ticket booking rank in succession is less than the described number that requires the seat, thereby directly the ticket booking rank before one of described lower ticket booking rank in succession is the first available ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the described first available ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank;

If the described first available ticket booking rank does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, determine then whether the described higher ticket booking rank of following in succession comprises the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters;

If the described actual quantity that obtains the seat in any described ticket booking rank all is not less than the described number that requires the seat, then specifying described minimum ticket booking rank is minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank; And

If the ticket booking rank of described ordering does not comprise the described suitable admission fee that satisfies described travel parameters, then specify the highest described ticket booking rank be described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

22, method as claimed in claim 17 wherein obtains at least one timetable and further comprises described at least one timetable of at least one acquisition from the timetable source of real-time timetable source and buffer memory.

23, method as claimed in claim 17, wherein each ticket booking rank is associated with limitation standard, and described method further comprises:

Determine the limiting parameter that at least one shows thus from described inquiry;

Described at least one limiting parameter is compared with being used for each other described limitation standard of ticket booking level, thereby determine the limitation standard that at least one satisfies; And

Determine at least one qualified ticket booking rank corresponding to described at least one limitation standard that satisfies.

24, method as claimed in claim 23, wherein select described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank further comprise from the qualified ticket booking rank of described ordering, select described minimum-price-admission fee ticket booking rank.

25, method as claimed in claim 17, wherein receive inquiry further be included in can communicate by letter with first computer equipment and be configured to select described minimum-second computer equipment of price-admission fee air ticket level, receive inquiry by described first computer equipment from the user.

26, method as claimed in claim 17 wherein obtains at least one carrier's timetable and further is included in second computer equipment, obtains at least one carrier's timetable from carrier's timetable source that can communicate with it.

27, method as claimed in claim 17, wherein provide mark further comprise by first computer equipment that is suitable for being used to the user provide described minimum-can obtain the mark of amount of seats in price-admission fee air ticket level.

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