Patent ID: 8244549
Filing Date: 2012-08-14
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a management computer system that coordinates flight schedules and aircraft capacity on one or more fractionally owned aircraft, said method comprising: providing electronic information regarding one or more fractional owned aircraft to be managed by the management computer system to the management computer system, said electronic information regarding one or more fractional owned aircraft including aircraft identification information, providing electronic information to the management computer system regarding a plurality of owners of each of said one or more fractional owned aircraft, said plurality of owners having shared access and control over each of said one or more fractional owned aircraft, and said electronic information regarding a plurality of owners including owner identification information and authorization information allowing the owner to reserve the fractional owned aircraft for a potential flight: providing electronic information to the management computer system regarding one or more members of a managed group upon registration of said one or more members with the managed group, each of said members of said managed group being a potential passenger on a future flight using the fractional aircraft to be reserved in the future by said one or more owners, said information including personal information regarding the member, address information, location information, said management computer system coordinating flight and aircraft capacity of the fractionally owned aircraft and notifying selected members of a managed group about available aircraft capacity on one or more fractional owned aircraft reserved by one of said owners, wherein said selected members of the managed group includes only a certain subset of all the owners and members that have registered with the management computer system; receiving an electronic booking request by the management computer system from one or more owners of said one or more of the fractional owned aircraft, said management computer system processing the booking request from one or more of said owners to reserve one of the fractionally owned aircraft for a specified flight; comparing performed by the management computer system of the potential passenger criteria information against the information regarding members provided to the management computer system to determine which members of the managed group best fit the potential passenger criteria provided to the management computer system, said comparison resulting into said select subset of members of the managed group that are closely correlated to the potential passenger criteria, said select subset of members being notified about available capacity on the flight booked by said owner of the fractional owned aircraft; transmitting an electronic communication from the management computer system to said selected subset of members in the managed group based on the results of the comparison, said communication offering the selected member available aircraft capacity on the flight booked by the owner without transmitting communications to every member of the managed group; receiving an electronic response by the management computer system from one or more of said selected members indicating that member's desire to occupy said available capacity specified in the electronic notification relating to said flight booked by the owner; and coordinating the departure of the fractional owned aircraft reserved by the owner with the owner and one or more selected members of the managed group that affirmatively responded to the notification message transmitted by the management computer system.