Patent Publication Number: US-2003225600-A1

Title: Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for re-accommodating passengers following a travel disruption

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
     [0001] This application is related to and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/324,098, filed on Sep. 24, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     
       FIELD OF INVENTION  
       [0002] This invention relates to managing passenger accommodations in a transportation network, and more particularly, to methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for re-accommodating passengers following a disruption in travel services.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] Optimization (i.e., the efficient utilization) of assets used in the physical transport of persons and commodities, presents an ongoing challenge to organizations involved in transportation services. Strategic and operational planning for transportation services are highly complex problems. Computer-based decision support systems are typically utilized to help deal with this complexity. These systems facilitate the planning of schedules, routes, aircraft and crew rotations, yield management, and passenger flow. These support systems are also vital within the hotel industry, car rental, cruise, and other travel related businesses that furnish services to a large and growing number of customers.  
       [0004] One of the realities of transportation services, such as airline services, is that operational flight delays or cancellations are quite common. These irregularities may apply to a single flight or a network of flights on any given day depending upon the nature of the cause of the disruption. A mechanical difficulty may disrupt a single flight, while weather or other factors may disrupt many flights. These flight irregularities may sometimes force passengers to alter their immediate transportation plans and force airlines to revise their schedule of operational flights for the current day. These revised operational schedules may cause problems for a particular airline because the airline was not prepared for the change in the immediate day&#39;s passenger flow created by the mishap. Further, a schedule disruption can have an adverse effect on the reservations of ancillary travel services, such as, but not limited to, car rentals, hotel reservations, and tour services. Very little research work has been published on the problems of assessing the impact of operational schedule changes on passenger flow. Some related work has been done on passenger flow from the perspective of revenue management. This work, however, dealt mainly with balancing the rewards with filling seats that would otherwise be empty with low-fare passengers that an airline would otherwise not have carried against the risks of displacing higher-fare passengers that would otherwise have been carried. Also, this work does not reflect disruptions in the current day&#39;s activities.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] Accordingly, there is a present need for a system and a method that is capable of assessing the impact of an operational schedule disruption on passenger flow and re-accommodating displaced passengers according to the passengers&#39; value to a travel service provider and/or a travel selling agent external to the travel provider. Such an invention is needed for both single or multiple flight disruptions.  
       [0006] Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain principles related to the present invention may determine the impact of schedule changes and operational disruptions on passenger flow and how affected passengers may be re-accommodated with respect to their value established by airlines, ancillary services, and/or commodities, such as hotel and car reservations.  
       [0007] In one configuration consistent with certain principles related to the present invention, passenger groups may be created based on respective locations and destinations of passengers affected by a transportation irregularity, such as a current day flight cancellation. A set of alternative paths though an airline network and ancillary related commodities are generated for each group of passengers. The airline network may include operational schedule changes in transportation options as well as possible schedule changes in ancillary travel related commodities. The affected passengers may then be re-accommodated according to passenger revenue and profile ranking value rules established and maintained by travel providers and/or travel related agents.  
       [0008] Additionally, methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain principles related to the present invention generate alternative paths through the network for each passenger group based on an optimization-based model. The impact of schedule changes and travel options for affect passengers are determined through the optimization-based model based on, among other things, ancillary commodities and relative passenger value.  
       [0009] Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with features of the present invention. The aspects of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0010] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several aspects of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the  
     [0011]FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system environment, consistent with features and principles of the present invention;  
     [0012]FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary process that may be performed by methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with features and principles of the present invention; and  
     [0013]FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary re-accommodation process that may be performed by methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with features and principles of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     Overview  
     [0014] Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain principles related to the present invention performs a passenger flow model re-accommodation process that re-accommodates passengers affected by a change in a travel itinerary. This process assesses an origin-destination and ancillary commodity impact of an operational schedule change with respect to a travel service provider (e.g., airline, travel agent service, tour service, etc.) and a determined business value of the passenger. An operational schedule change, as used herein, is associated with a change in an itinerary based on an operation disruption that occurs within a close proximity of time (e.g., 24 hours) of a scheduled travel event, such as a scheduled departure or arrival time of one or more airline flights. An operational disruption, as used herein, is associated with an event that causes a travel service to be altered (e.g., cancelled, delayed, etc.). For example, an operational disruption may be associated with mechanical problems and weather and/or disaster conditions that may affect one or more travel services. Accordingly, the passenger flow model re-accommodation process determines how to move a disrupted passenger from a passenger&#39;s origin or an en route location to their intended destination using one or more alternate travel services. A disrupted passenger, as used herein, is associated with an individual that has a booked, scheduled, or reserved opportunity to receive a travel service, such as a booked seat on an airline, train, tour bus, etc.  
     [0015] In one aspect of the invention, a disrupted passenger may be re-accommodated based on an overall value of the passenger&#39;s aggregate business compared to other passengers on a same disrupted travel service (e.g., flight). The process maximizes long-term recovered passenger revenue through optimal reassignments of available seats to disrupted passengers as well as additional measures of individual passenger re-accommodation in the aftermath of an operational disruption, including ancillary travel services such as hotel, car rental, etc. The process also maximizes the number of passengers who are accommodated on an original carrier and thus minimizes the provider cost of moving passengers to a different airline or an ancillary travel provider.  
     [0016] Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary aspects of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.  
     [0017] The above-noted features and other aspects and principles of the present invention may be implemented in various environments. Such environments and related applications may be specially constructed for performing the various processes and operations of the invention or they may include a general purpose computer or computing platform selectively activated or reconfigured by program code to provide the necessary functionality. The processes disclosed herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus, and may be implemented by a suitable combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, various general purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordance with teachings of the invention, or it may be more convenient to construct a specialized apparatus or system to perform the required methods and techniques.  
     [0018] The present invention also relates to computer readable media that include program instruction or program code for performing various computer implemented operations based on the methods and processes of the invention. The program instructions may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the invention, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of program instructions include for example machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing a high level code that can be executed by the computer using an interpreter.  
     Computer Environment  
     [0019]FIG. 1 is a diagram of a partially expanded view of an exemplary computer environment  100  in which certain features and aspects consistent with the present invention may be implemented. As shown, computer environment  100  may comprise re-accommodation computer  102  (“computer  102 ”), operations database  118 , and passenger database  120 . Computer  102  may include a mainframe, server, client, personal computer, workstation, laptop, personal digital assistant or any other similar computer system known in the art. Computer  102  may comprise central processing unit (CPU)  104 , input device  106 , secondary storage device  108 , memory  110 , monitor  115 , I/O controller  114 , and notification service  140 .  
     [0020] CPU  104  may be any type of processor (or processors) known in the art. CPU  104  may be configured to executed instructions and perform processes consistent with certain principles related to the present invention. Although FIG. 1 shows only one CPU  104  included with computer  102 , one skilled in the art would realize that a number of different architectures may be implemented by methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain features related to the present invention. For example, CPU  104  may be replaced, or supplemented, by a plurality of processors that perform multi-tasking operations.  
     [0021] Input device  106  may be any known computing component that allows computer  102  to receive information, for example, from a user, such as a keyboard, mouse, pointing device, external network connection, and any other similar components known in the art. Secondary storage device  108  and memory  110  may be any known type of storage device that stores data. Secondary storage device  108  and memory  110  may include, but are not limited to, magnetic, semiconductor, and/or optical type storage devices. Secondary storage device  108  and memory  110  may also be storage devices that allows CPU  104  quick access to data, such as a cache memory. In one configuration consistent with selected features related to the present invention, memory  110  and secondary storage device  108  may store data and/or program instructions to implement methods consistent with certain features related to the present invention.  
     [0022] Memory  110  may further comprise re-accommodation driver  111 , configuration file  112 , rules engine  113 , and passenger flow model software  116 . One skilled in the art would realize that these components of memory  110  may be located external to memory  110  and/or computer  102 , and perform processes consistent with certain features related to the present invention when executed by a processor, for example, CPU  104 .  
     [0023] Re-accommodation driver  111  may be a set of instructions that, when executed by CPU  104 , perform a process that manages and performs re-accommodation functions consistent with the present invention. Configuration file  112  may be a data structure (e.g., file) that includes disrupted travel information, such as cancelled flight data. Configuration file  112  may be updated by computer  102  each time a disruption (e.g., operational disruption) occurs to a travel service, for instance when a flight is cancelled. Computer  102  may be configured to receive indications of one or more operational disruptions from an external entity that maintains the current status of travel services provided by one or more travel service providers and update configuration file  112  accordingly.  
     [0024] Rules engine  113  may be a set of instructions, that when executed by a processor (e.g., CPU  104 ) perform a process that determines values associated passengers based on one or more travel rules. In one aspect of the rules may be defined by a travel service provider, agency, and any other entity associated with the travel industry, such as a hotel and tour service entity. The rules may be based on passenger profile information and possibly maintained in a passenger history, behavior, and/or profile database. For example, rules engine  113  may associate a data code reflecting a type of travel status of a passenger, such as a frequent flyer status. Table  1  shows an exemplary listing of various values associated with a code called frequentFlyerStatus that indicates the participation of a passenger on a particular carrier in a travel network.  
               TABLE 1                          frequentFlyerStatus Codes                     1   Passenger has no flyer information.       2   Passenger has a history but no substantial participation           defined as threshold A.       3   “Bronze Status”- the passenger has a history that is           substantial or more than an incidental threshold A and can           be defined as threshold B       4   “Silver Status”- the passenger has a history that is more           than another threshold B and can be defined as threshold C       5   “Gold Status”- the passenger has a history that is more than           another threshold C and can be defined as threshold D.                  
 
     [0025] Different types of codes may also be used by rules engine  113 . For example, Table 2 shows a listing of exemplary values associated with a code called classOfService that may represent a particular cabin in which airline passengers previously paid with regard to a disrupted flight.  
               TABLE 2                       classOfService Codes                                                F   First Class           Y   Coach Cabin                      
 
     [0026] Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain features related to the present invention may also employ rules that rank certain types of passengers. Rules engine  113  may be used by passenger flow model software  116  when performing the re-accommodation process consistent with certain features related to the present invention. Table 3 shows an exemplary listing of how passengers may be ranked based on their profile.  
               TABLE 3                          Passenger Prioritization                     Rank   Passenger Profile                             1   Physically challenged unaccompanied           minor       2   Physically challenged adult or           accompanied minor       3   Unaccompanied minor       4   Political VIP (Senator, congressman or           congresswoman, etc.)       5   Very elderly passengers       6   Top Premium Tier Frequent Flier       7   First Class Fare Passengers       8   Second Premium Tier Frequent Flier       9   Third Premium Tier Frequent Flier       10   Full Economy Fare Passengers       11   Passengers connecting to tours or cruises       12   International Passengers       13   Groups of 3 or more at discounted fares       14   Progressively lower discounted fare           amounts                  
 
     [0027] Passenger flow model flow model software  116  may perform a passenger flow model re-accommodation process consistent with certain features related to the present invention and may be implemented, for example, using the commercially available AMPL and/or C++ programming languages. One skilled in the art would realize that any number of different programming languages may be implemented without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.  
     [0028] Monitor  115  may be any know display device that allows computer  102  to present information. I/O controller  114  may be a bus controller, network communications device, or similar device for controlling communications to and from computer  102 . Notification service  140  may be a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, performs a service that provides re-accommodation information associated with certain features consistent with the present information. Notification service  140  may generate and provide notification information (e.g., message) to one or more external entities, such as a disrupted passenger, one or more travel providers, travel agent services, and any other entity that is associated with the travel industry to provide notifications of re-accommodations. In one aspect of the invention, notification service  140  may provide a notification comprising text, email, and/or voice enabled messages containing information on an operation disruption (e.g., cancellation) and a re-accommodation. The messages may be formatted for delivery over an selected medium and sent to a receiving entity after re-accommodation is determined. For instance, an exemplary message be as follows:  
     [0029] Hello! This is the Sabre automated reaccommodation agent. Your flight from &lt;origin&gt; to &lt;destination&gt; has been rebooked. You have been automatically rebooked on the following flight(s):  
     [0030] &lt;carrier&gt; flight &lt;number&gt; from &lt;origin&gt; to &lt;destination&gt; on MM/DD/YYYY departing at hh:mm arriving at hh:mm Please call (888) 555-1212 for more information.  
     [0031] Although FIG. 1 shows notification service  140  within computer  102 , one skilled in the art would realize that the service may be located remotely from computer  102  and executed by remote processing devices and/or systems.  
     [0032] Operations database  118  may include one or more storage devices that store flight data used by system  100  for implementing a Passenger Flow Model (PFM). In one aspect consistent with certain principles related to the present invention, operations database  118  may be a database that stores flight data associated with an airline flight tracking system, such as Sabre AirOps. The flight data may include, for example, the following data: unique flight identification, departure station (e.g., airport), arrival station, scheduled departure time, revised departure time, scheduled arrival time, revised arrival time, authorization limit (virtual aircraft capacity), operational status (equal to one if flown, zero otherwise), minimum passenger connect time, and a matrix of allowable co-terminal airports in the network. Minimum passenger connect time is an industry standard minimum required transfer time at a given airport. For example, a minimum passenger connect time might be set for 40 minutes because it may not be realistic to assume that every passenger can make it to a connecting flight in less than 40 minutes. Operations database  118  may be implemented, for example, using a relational database architecture.  
     [0033] Passenger database  120  may be one or more storage devices that store passenger information used for implementing a PFM re-accommodation process in accordance with the present invention. In one configuration, passenger database  120  may be an intermediate passenger database associated with a computer reservation system (CRS) such as those known or referred to under the following trade names and service marks: SABRE, AMADEUS, WORLDSPAN, SYSTEM ONE, APOLLO, GEMINI, GALILEO, AXESS, INFINI, and SHARES.  
     [0034] Alternatively, the passenger information may be obtained from the departure control system, which is the computer system used at the gate before check-in. The passenger information may, for example, include the following data: unique origin-destination-fare ODF, average fare for a given PNR (passenger name record), number of booked passengers for a given PNR, and flight itinerary for a given PNR. Generally, a flight itinerary includes the origin and destination, along with other information, such as dates, times, class of service, etc. Passenger database  120  may be implemented, for example, using a relational database architecture. Furthermore, other additional passenger information may be obtained from external sources, such as passenger travel history, behavior and profile databases (not shown).  
     [0035] In one configuration consistent with certain principles related to the present invention, passenger history, behavior, and profile databases (not shown) may be used to establish an overall ranking of a disrupted passenger. These databases may be maintained by individual travel service providers (i.e., carriers), and thus, may vary based on the business practices of each individual carrier. These database may include passenger information that may not be located in passenger database  120  (at least originally). The additional passenger information may include, but is not limited to, a number of flights a passenger has purchased on a particular carrier over a period of time (i.e., frequent flier information), the personal profile status of the passenger, and the average cost of the passenger&#39;s travel history. One skilled in the art would realize that other types of passenger information may be maintained in these and other databases, and the present invention is not limited to the above examples.  
     [0036]FIG. 2 illustrates an flowchart of an exemplary process performed by computer environment  100  following a disruption in a travel service. Although the method in FIG. 2 is described with respect to an exemplary disrupted airline flight, one skilled in the art would appreciate that the method may be applied to other types of travel services. Following an airline flight disruption (e.g., operational disruption), an airline entity, travel agent, or other travel based entities, may determine to re-accommodate disrupted passengers. Accordingly, re-accommodation driver  111  may load disrupted flight specification information from configuration file  112 , which is updated automatically to reflect the change in travel services based on the disruption (Step  205 ). Re-accommodation driver  111  may retrieve flight schedule information from operations database  118  (Step  210 ). Also, re-accommodation driver  111  may retrieve from operations database  118  seat availability information associated with each flight included in the flight schedule information (Step  215 ). Further, re-accommodation driver  111  may retrieve a Passenger Name Record (PNR) list associated with the disrupted flight from a PNR data structure that may be located in operations database  118  or another storage device. (Step  220 ). For example, the PNR data structure may be located in a database remote from operations database  118 .  
     [0037] Once the flight, seat, and PNR information is collected, re-accommodation driver  111  may determine a PNR value for a disrupted passenger (Step  225 ). In one aspect of the invention, re-accommodation driver  111  may determine a PNR value for the disrupted passenger by invoking instructions included in rules engine  113  that, when executed by a processor, determine a PNR value based on one or more rules associated with the disrupted flight and/or passenger. For example, the PNR value may be based, in part, from an actual fare amount the disrupted passenger previously paid for the disrupted flight. Fare amounts, however, are not always easily obtainable from PNR information because they may be located in multiple locations and formats in a PNR. Moreover, fare amounts may not even be found in a PNR. Accordingly, in some instances it may be difficult to assess the exact amount of a given segment of an itinerary associated with the disrupted flight because it might be a prorated value of a larger itinerary. Furthermore, reservations received, ticketed, and/or processed from an external source may not contain any fare information. Therefore, rules engine  113  may provide a set of instructions, that when executed by a processor, determines an equitable fare amount for each booking class affected by the disrupted flight in order to determine a PNR value for each disrupted passenger.  
     [0038] In one configuration consistent with certain features related to the present invention, rules engine  113  and/or re-accommodation driver  111  determines the PNR value based on a pre-processed calculation that assigns average cents per mile to fares associated with a given booking class within various flight ranges, such as 0-500, 500-1000, 1000-1500, etc. (fares tend to be lower in cents per mile as length of flight increases). Accordingly, rules engine  113  may accumulate all the fares within a given booking class for a given airline, divide those fares by a segment mileage, then average the cents per mile within a given mileage range. The cents per mile average for each booking class is multiplied by the distance of the disrupted segment to assign a totalFarePaid value for determination of passenger value (PNR value) on the disrupted segment.  
     [0039] In one configuration consistent with certain features related to the present invention, the totalFarePaid may be considered as the passenger value of a disrupted passenger (PNR value) unless the totalFarePaid value can be increased by a frequent flyer status and/or a class of service code. For example,  
     [0040] if ( frequentFlyerStatus==4 &amp;&amp; classOfService==“F”) then  
     [0041] PassengerValue=160000+totalFarePaid;  
     [0042] end  
     [0043] One skilled in the art would realize that similar rules may be used for different frequentFlyerStatus and classOfService groupings.  
     [0044] Returning to FIG. 2, once a PNR value has been determined, re-accommodation driver  111  may create one or more passenger flow model (PFM) input files for use by the PFM process performed by PFM software  116  consistent with certain features of the present invention. A PFM input file may include the flight schedule and PNR data previously collected by computer  102  in steps  215  and  220 . PFM software  116 , when executed by a processor, may access the PFM input files to allow the PFM process to determine alternative itineraries for the disrupted flight (Step  230 ). The PFM process may determine alternative itineraries in a manner similar to the PFM process described in U.S. application Ser. No.: 09/635,213, filed Aug. 9, 2000, entitled, “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE IMPACT OF SCHEDULE CHANGES ON PASSENGER FLOW,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. For example, consider an exemplary scenario where a weather condition affects the travel schedule of a plurality of airline flights departing from an origination airport. The weather condition may cause airlines to cancel 20 out of 40 flights that were to depart from the origination airport. Based on the canceled flights, PFM process may determine alternative itineraries from the remaining 20 available flights departing from the airport.  
     [0045] After passenger flow model software  116  determines one or more alternative itineraries, they may be placed in an output file (not shown). Re-accommodation driver  111  may access the output file to perform a re-accommodation process that attempts to rebook a disrupted passenger on an alternate itinerary (Step  235 ).  
     [0046]FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an exemplary re-accommodation process that may be performed by re-accommodation driver  111 . Initially, the PNR list obtained in Step  220  may be sorted in a particular order (e.g., descending order) based on PNR value (Step  310 ). Once sorted, the re-accommodation process identifies a PNR in the list, (initially this may be the first PNR) and determines whether all the PNRs in the list have been processed (Step  320 ). If so, the process ends (Step  320 ; YES). However, if not all of the PNRs in the list have been processed, the process continues (Step  320 ; NO). Next, the process attempts to rebook the alternative itinerary with the same fare class as the identified PNR (e.g., coach class) (Steps  330 - 350 ). Each alternative itinerary is analyzed, possibly in descending value order, with the identified PNR (Step  330 ) until either a successful booking is obtained (Step  350 ; YES) or no available itineraries were located (Steps  350 ; NO, and  330 ; YES). If a rebooking was successful, the process continues at Step  390 .  
     [0047] On the other hand, if rebooking was unsuccessful and there are no more alternative itineraries to process (Steps  350 ; NO and  330 ; YES), the process determines whether the identified PNR includes a first class fare class (Step  355 ). If not, the process ends. However, if the PNR has first class status (Step  355 ; YES), the process attempts to rebook the alternative itinerary in a lower fare class as that of the identified PNR (Steps  360 - 380 ). Each alternative itinerary is analyzed, possibly in descending value order, with the identified PNR (Step  360 ), until either a successful booking obtained (Step  380 ; YES) or no available itineraries was located (Steps  380 ; NO, and  360 ; YES). If no rebooking was obtained, the process ends. However, if a rebooking was successful, the process continues at Step  390 . It should be noted that one skilled in the art would realize that other fare classes may be identified and adjusted. For example, the process may attempt to rebook PNRs that are associated with a business class to a lower fare class.  
     [0048] At Step  390 , re-accommodation process  111  may use notification service  140  to provide an automated and immediate (e.g., near real-time) indication of the successful rebooking to the source or beneficiary of the rebooking request, such as the airline, travel agent, and even the disrupted passenger (Step  390 ). In one aspect of the invention, the disrupted passenger notification media is pre-determined by the passenger based upon certain preferences, such as wireline or wireless telephone, internet, personal digital assistant, and pager notifications. Following notification, the re-accommodation process shown in FIG. 2 may repeat for each PNR in the PNR list until all disrupted passengers are processed for rebooking (Steps B, and  320 ).  
     [0049] As described, methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with features of the present invention allow a disrupted passenger to be rebooked on alternative itineraries when a travel disruption occurs. The features and principles consistent with the present invention may be implemented with non-airline travel suppliers, such as hotels, and car rental businesses. For example, when computer  102  determines rebooking information, the non-airline travel suppliers may also be notified of the changes to a disrupted passenger&#39;s itinerary. This may allow these suppliers to adjust their schedules and itineraries to compensate for the disruption. Thus, an itinerary associated with a packaged tour that may include a disrupted airline flight segment, hotel segment, and a cruise segment, may be adjusted by each of the suppliers based on rebooking notifications provided by computer  102 . Therefore, methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain principles related to the present invention provide a customer service that can be extended to a publish and subscribe system (i.e., computer  102 ) to any travel supplier who participates within a multi-supplier network. For example, if multiple services such as air, car rental, hotel, tour, etc. are booked within the individual travel supplier&#39;s computer database, but a record of a total trip for a passenger is stored and/or managed within a central database, then, any disruption can initiate re-accommodation of not just the disrupted service, but also ancillary services within the customer&#39;s entire trip that are affected by the disruption.  
     [0050] Also, the rules used by rules engine  113  and the re-accommodation process consistent with features of the present invention are not limited to airlines and may be associated with travel agents, and other travel-based entities. For example, a travel agent may establish rules and ranking criteria associated with their customers such that when a customer&#39;s itinerary has been disrupted, the re-accommodation of the customer is based on the “value” of the customer compared to other customers. Furthermore, methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain features related to the present invention may allow the re-accommodation process to be performed without some or all of the rules maintained by the rules engine  113 . Thus, in one configuration consistent with certain features of the present invention may allow one or more rules to be modified, activated, or de-activated to control how the re-accommodation process determines the value of disrupted passengers. For example, a travel service provider that implements methods and systems consistent with the present invention may dynamically de-activate one or more rules (e.g., frequent flier based rule, a fare paid rule, etc.) prior, during, or following an operational disruption.  
     [0051] Variations of the methods and systems consistent with features of the present invention previously described may be implemented without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, aspects consistent with certain features related to the present invention may allow a disrupted passenger to be re-accommodated to an alternative itinerary that provides a travel service different from an original travel service booked by the passenger. For example, the re-accommodation process may provide a disrupted passenger that originally had a seat on an airline flight from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C., with an alternative itinerary that includes travel from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C. on a train or bus service. Alternatively, re-accommodation process may re-accommodate the disrupted passenger with a combination of alternative travel services, such as bus service for one leg of the trip, train service on another leg, and an alternative flight on a final leg. Also, the re-accommodation process may determine alternative source and/or destination locations that are within a predetermined distance from an original source and/or destination location included in a disrupted itinerary.  
     [0052] Additionally, the re-accommodation process may determine alternative itineraries that include departure and/or arrival times of a travel service within a determined period of time of a departure and/or arrival time associated with a travel service included in the disrupted itinerary. For example the re-accommodation process may re-accommodate a disrupted passenger based on a comparison with other disrupted passengers associated with an alternative itinerary. For instance, consider two passengers, P 1  and P 2 , that are originally booked on a flight that departs from a source location at 6:00 AM. Further consider that following a disruption of the booked flight, re-accommodation process determines that there are two flights, each with one available seat, that depart from the same source location at varying times, such as leaving at 6:30 AM and 8:30 AM. Based on a passenger value associated with P 1  and P 2 , re-accommodation process may rebook the disrupted passengers on a respective alternative itinerary. Thus, if P 1  has a higher passenger value than P 2 , re-accommodation process may rebook P 1  on the 6:30 AM departing flight because it has a departing time closer to departure time of the disrupted flight. Accordingly, passenger P 2  will be rebooked on the remaining 8:30 AM flight.  
     [0053] Further, methods, systems, and articles of manufacture, consistent with features of the present invention may be implemented using various components, network models, etc. and are not limited to the examples described above. Also, any number of programming languages may be utilized without departing from the scope of the present invention.  
     [0054] Additionally, although aspects of the present invention are described as being associated with data stored in memory and other storage mediums, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these aspects can also be stored on or read from other types of computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or CD-ROM; a carrier wave from the Internet; or other forms of RAM or ROM. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to the above described aspects of the invention, but instead is defined by the appended claims in light of their full scope of equivalents.