Patent ID: 8589224

Claim:
A method executed in a computer system, the method comprising: receiving, by the computer system, encoded fare by rule data structures defined by a third party non-airline carrier; modifying, by the computer system, the received fare by rule data structures by modifying fields of the data structures to contain data regarding frequent flyer award redemption requirements; receiving, by the computer system, a travel planning query seeking flights available for use by a user as a frequent flyer award redemption, including at least an origin of travel and a destination of travel; retrieving, by the computer system, information regarding a plurality of flight segments satisfying the travel planning query with regard to at least the origin and destination; using, by the computer system, the modified fare by rule data structures to identify retrieved flight segments that will be honored as frequent flyer award redemptions; determining, by the computer system, a plurality of travel itineraries meeting requirements of the received travel planning query and that are made up of retrieved flight segments with which award fares can be used; and returning, by the computer system, information regarding the travel itineraries.