Patent ID: 8566151
Filing Date: 2013-10-22
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method executed in a computer-based network comprising: receiving, by one or more computer systems, rules encoded in fare by rule data structures defined by a third-party non-airline carrier, said fare by rule data structures including rules for at least one frequent travel award redemption program, with the rules comprising fare rules that govern whether fares can be used with flights to provide travel itineraries and frequent travel award redemption program rules that govern redemption of award credits, the frequent travel award redemption program rules including fields to indicate a first fare amount expressed as award credit and a second fare amount expressed as currency; receiving a travel planning query that includes both a departure location and a request associated with redemption of award credits; determining, by the one or more computer systems, using the rules encoded in the fare by rule data structures, a plurality of travel itineraries in response to the travel planning query, said plurality of travel itineraries comprising flights meeting both the requirements of availability for an award redemption and the departure location; determining by one or more computer systems, using the rules encoded in the fare by rule data structures, a set of pricing solutions for the flights in the set of travel itineraries wherein the cost of each flight is determined using the fare rules and frequent travel award redemption program rules and values associated with the first fare amount field and the second fare amount fields, with the cost comprising a first component expressed as an award credit and a second component expressed in a currency; and extracting, using one or more computer systems, a subset of the set of pricing solutions; and providing instructions by the one or more computer systems to present the plurality of travel itineraries and the subset of the set of pricing solutions with the cost of one or more flights in the subset of solutions.