Abstract:
A seat reservation process, the process including the steps of: accepting reservation requests for available seats for an event; offering to customers an option to book a seat having one or more empty seats adjacent thereto on payment of a premium or agreeing to pay a premium or other consideration; terminating the reservation of requests for seats at a predetermined time; determining, after the step of terminating the reservation of requests for seats, if there are empty seats for the event; and if there are empty seats available for the event, allocating seats having empty seats adjacent thereto to those customers who have paid or have agreed to pay said premium or other consideration.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a Continuation of and claims priority to U.S. Ser. No. 10/490,843 filed Mar. 25, 2004, which is a U.S. National Phase of PCT/AU02/01319 filed Sep. 26, 2002 which claimed priority to Australian Patent Application PR8018/01 filed Sep. 28, 2001 in the name of C. Douglas, all herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Some aspect of seat allocation at events, such as aircraft flights, bus trips, boat trips, theatre performances or sporting events are currently managed in an ad hoc fashion, and a traveller or attendee, as the case may be, can experience significant discomfort if they are seated next to a physically large or disruptive neighbour in the adjacent seat. This situation is exacerbated if a number of such people are seated in close proximity to the traveller or attendee. Consequently, the physical and social characteristics of one&#39;s seating neighbours, and in particular the presence or absence of such neighbours, can make the difference between an enjoyable experience or a profoundly uncomfortable one.  
         [0003]     Consequently, patrons prefer to be seated with at least one empty seat next to them so that they have more room and are not so crowded or otherwise disturbed.  
         [0004]     It is desired, therefore, to provide a seat reservation process and system that alleviate one or more of the above difficulties, or at least provide a useful alternative to existing seat reservation processes and systems.  
         [0005]     According to the present invention there is provided a seat reservation process, the process including the steps of: accepting reservation requests for available seats for an event; offering to customers an option to book a seat having an empty seat adjacent thereto on payment of a premium or agreeing to pay a premium or other consideration; terminating the reservation of requests for seats at a predetermined time; determining, after said step of terminating the reservation of requests for seats, if there are empty seats for the event; and if there are empty seats available for the event, allocating seats having empty seats adjacent thereto to those customers who have paid or have agreed to pay said premium or other consideration.  
         [0006]     Normally, the step of terminating the reservation of requests for seats occurs prior to the commencement of the event, but this need not always be the case.  
         [0007]     The process may include the steps of making a conditional allocation of an empty seat and confirming allocation of empty seats after said step of terminating the reservation of requests for seats.  
         [0008]     In the case where the seat reservation process is in relation to aircraft flights, the process may include the steps of analysing available seats and the pattern of seat sales just prior to closure of the flight and making conditional allocation of empty seats based upon said analysis.  
         [0009]     The process may include the steps of determining if there are sufficient empty seats available for those customers requesting them and confirming allocation of empty seats according to a predetermined priority or randomly.  
         [0010]     The present invention also provides, in an airline seat reservation process, an empty seat allocation process which includes the steps of: allocating a first seat to a passenger for a flight; and allocating a second seat to the passenger adjacent to the first seat if the passenger provides or agrees to provide consideration for the allocation of said second seat.  
         [0011]     The event may be an aircraft flight, bus journey, ferry ride or other form of transport where passengers are assigned fixed seating. The event may also be a theatre performance, sporting event or other form of entertainment where patrons are assigned fixed seating.  
         [0012]     The present invention also provides a seat reservation system having components for executing the steps of any one of the above processes.  
         [0013]     The present invention also provides program code for executing the steps of any one of the above processes.  
         [0014]     The present invention also provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code for executing the steps of any one of the above processes.  
         [0015]     The present invention also provides a seat reservation system, including a seat reservation module for generating reservation data for reserving a seat for an event and one or more empty seats adjacent thereto on payment of a premium or agreeing to pay a premium or other consideration, and an empty seat allocator for allocating empty seats on the basis of said reservation data.  
         [0016]     The invention will now be further described as it can be implemented to an airline seat reservation system. It is to be understood, however, that the principles of the invention can also be applied in other areas, as indicated above. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     Preferred embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a reservation system.  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a seat reservation process executed by the system.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of an empty seat allocation process executed by the system.  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view of a boarding pass suitable for passenger travel.  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a boarding pass suitable for allocation of an empty seat.  
         [0023]      FIG. 6  is a schematic view of a boarding pass suitable for a passenger seat and an allocated empty seat. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0024]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a seat reservation system includes seat reservation modules  102  to  112 , comprising a terminal interface  102 , a seat reservation module  104 , an empty seat reservation database  106 , a flight status monitor  108 , an empty seat allocator  110 , an unsuccessful reservation processor  112 , a timer  116 , a seat reservation database  116 , an empty seat reservation database  118 , a standby customer database  119 , and a printer  120 .  
         [0025]     The seat reservation system can be connected to one or more reservation terminals  122  via a communications network  124 , such as a dedicated communications line or a public network, such as the Internet. The reservation system executes a seat reservation process and an empty seat allocation process, as described below, that allow passengers to book or reserve a seat on an airplane and to provisionally reserve an empty seat adjacent to the booked seat in exchange for a premium on the normal ticket price.  
         [0026]     Various forms of airline seat reservation systems are well known and documented.  
         [0027]     Examples include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,921, U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,534 and the various publications referred to in those specifications. The process and system of the invention can be implemented by inclusion of additional steps in those systems in order to provide for selective allocation of empty seats. In the described embodiment, the seat reservation system is a standard computer system such as a high-end server manufactured by IBMTM, and the seat reservation process and the empty seat allocation process executed by the system are implemented as the seat reservation modules  102  to  112  of the reservation system, being software modules stored on non-volatile storage associated with the server.  
         [0028]     However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that at least parts of the seat reservation and allocation processes can alternatively be implemented by dedicated hardware components, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).  
         [0029]     The reservation system  100  can be accessed by a travel agent or a customer via the network  124 , by using the terminal  122 . When the customer or travel agent decides to book a seat, the customer is presented with the option of paying a premium to reserve one or more empty seats adjacent to the booked seat. The premium can be a fixed sum, such as $100, or a percentage of the fare or sector price. Typically, passengers are prepared to pay up to about 20% or 30% more than a standard fare in order to have an empty seat allocated to them. Normally, the premium on the standard fare is paid at the time when payment is made for the seat reservation. Alternatively, the premium can be paid after the normal ticket fare has been paid, at check in or prior to closing of the flight. Payment can be effected by cash, account or credit card in the usual way. Alternatively, some airlines can allow frequent flyer points to be exchanged for an empty seat allocation. It will be apparent that other forms of customer loyalty bonus arrangements could be employed in consideration for allocation of empty seats.  
         [0030]     The reservation system executes a seat reservation process, as shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0031]     The seat reservation process begins at step  202  when a seat reservation request is received by the seat reservation module  104  via the terminal interface  102 . At step  204 , the seat reservation module  104  determines whether the request includes a request for a provisional reservation of one or more empty seats adjacent to the reserved seat. If not, then the seat reservation module  104  makes a seat reservation for a single seat in the standard manner, by creating a seat reservation record in the seat reservation database  116 . Otherwise, the empty seat reservation module  106  stores a provisional reservation record in the empty seat reservation database  118  at step  208 . The provisional reservation record includes the flight details, the details of the customer making the reservation, and the number of empty adjacent seats requested. This constitutes a provisional reservation of one or more empty seats to the passenger, and a request for the reserved seat and the provisionally reserved empty seat or seats is then sent to the seat reservation module  104  for processing. The request for one or more empty seats can be treated as one or more dummy passengers to be seated next to the reserved seat. This requires relatively minor modification of a standard seat reservation module. Alternatively, the empty seat allocation request can be implemented as a flag or other indicator which is associated with the reserved seat.  
         [0032]     Customers can continue to reserve seats and request empty seats until either the flight is full, or the flight closes. In either case, further prospective passengers are added to the standby customer database  119 , which can alternatively be the empty seat reservation database  118 . At periodic intervals, as initiated by the timer  114 , the seat reservation system executes an empty seat allocation process, as shown in  FIG. 3 . This process is executed at periodic intervals in response to the timer  114 , and begins at step  302  when the flight status monitor  108  determines whether the flight should be closed. This is usually determined on the basis of the current time and the scheduled flight time, and the flight is closed when the time remaining prior to the scheduled flight time is less than a predetermined period. When this occurs, the flight is closed at step  304  by setting a flag in the seat reservation database  116 . At step  306 , the empty seat allocator  110  checks the seat reservation database  116  and the empty seat reservation database  118  to determine whether the number of empty seats as indicated by the seat reservation database  116  is equal to or greater than the number of empty seat reservations for the flight in the empty seat reservation database  118 . This can be determined by adding together the number of unreserved seats and the number of seats with either dummy passengers, or with flags set, depending upon how reserved empty seats are indicated in the seat reservation database  116 . If there are sufficient empty seats to meet the provisional reservations, then at step  308  the empty seat allocator  110  allocates empty seats to satisfy all of the empty seat reservation requests in the empty seat reservation database  118 . This is achieved by updating the seat reservation database  116  to provide confirmed reservations for the empty seat or seats adjacent to the seat originally reserved by the passenger, as described above.  
         [0033]     These empty seats are associated with the customer details, and the dummy passengers or flags are removed.  
         [0034]     If, on the other hand, there are not enough empty seats to satisfy all of the empty seat requests in the empty seat reservation database  118 , then at step  310  the empty seat allocator  110  allocates all of the available empty seats to at least some of the passengers on the empty seat reservation database  118 . The allocation of empty seats is carried out according to a predetermined priority. It will be apparent that the empty seats can be allocated in various ways. For example, the allocation can be according to the time in which requests for empty seats were created in the empty seat reservation database  118 , or by membership of airline loyalty systems. Alternatively, the empty seats can be allocated randomly.  
         [0035]     At step  312 , the unsuccessful reservation processor  112  processes the unsuccessful provisional empty seat reservations in the empty seat reservation database  118  to compensate those customers who requested a provisional reservation, but were not allocated a seat because insufficient empty seats were available. Customers can be compensated in a variety of ways. One way would be for the passenger to forfeit the premium. Another way would be to receive a credit for use on a future flight or to receive an award of frequent flyer points. Alternatively, the airline may refund the premium.  
         [0036]     After confirmation of the allocation of empty seats, the seat reservation system  6  is preferably arranged to issue empty seat boarding passes to those passengers who have been successful in obtaining allocation of an empty seat. In accordance with the invention, it is preferred to provide the passenger who has obtained an allocated empty seat some form of evidence that the empty seat has been allocated to him. The main purpose for this would be some form of evidence available to the passenger having the empty seat that the empty seat has in fact been allocated to him or her. Otherwise, other passengers may try to take the benefit of the empty seat. One way of providing tangible evidence of the allocation of the empty seat would be to issue a separate boarding pass in respect of the empty seat.  
         [0037]     Alternatively, a single boarding pass could be issued which is in respect of two adjacent seats.  
         [0038]      FIG. 4  shows a normal boarding pass  402  in which the allocated seat number is printed in seat number fields  404  and  406 .  FIG. 5  shows a second boarding pass  500  that is issued to the passenger for the allocated empty seat. The fact that the seat was an empty seat allocation is indicated by printing the words EMPTY SEAT after the passenger&#39;s name in the name fields  502  and  504 . In the illustrated arrangement, seat  8 C has been allocated to the passenger as the adjacent empty seat.  
         [0039]      FIG. 6  illustrates an alternative arrangement in which a single boarding pass  600  is issued to the passenger in respect of his or her seat and empty seat. In this case the seat number fields are printed in such a way as to indicate that two seats have been allocated.  
         [0040]     In the illustrated arrangement, this is achieved by printing the letter “s” after the word “seat” and by printing seat numbers “8D+8C” in the seat number fields  602  and  604 , as illustrated.  
         [0041]     In an alternative embodiment, after provisional reservation details are stored in the empty seat reservation database  118 , the empty seat allocator  110  generates a provisional allocation of an empty seat to the customer on the basis of the remaining empty seats in the seat reservation database  116  and the past history of late seat sales just prior to closure of the flight. That is, a provisional empty seat reservation is only generated if there are more empty seats available than the total of those remaining unreserved, those provisionally reserved, and the number expected to be reserved between the current time and the time the flight will close. A request for the seat reservation and the provisional empty seat reservation is then passed to the seat reservation module  104  for processing as described above. This provides a more certain indication to customers of the availability of one or more empty seats, and allows appropriate boarding passes to be issued well prior to closure of the flight. However, the empty seat reservations remain provisional until confirmed allocation is made after the flight closes.  
         [0042]     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the process and system of the invention provides a useful option for passengers and an opportunity for airlines to generate revenue from empty seats. The option of paying a premium for an allocated empty seat could be of particular advantage to certain classes of passengers, including business travellers, couples, claustrophobics, those travelling with infants, those who are obese or who have other disabilities.  
         [0043]     The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that that prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia.  
         [0044]     Many modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.