Patent ID: 8543432

Claim:
A computing system comprising: an availability system that receives an availability query for seat availability for a first flight of a first carrier and that produces, by operation of a computer, a potential availability response for the first flight; an availability predictor that produces in response to receipt of the availability query, by operation of a computer, a prediction as to whether a seat is available for booking in connection with a booking code of a second, different flight of a second carrier that is a competitive flight to the first flight; decision logic that compares, by operation of a computer, the prediction as to whether a seat is available for booking in connection with a booking code for the second, different flight and the potential availability response for the first flight, and based on the comparison, producing an actual seat availability answer as to whether a seat is available for booking in connection with the booking code from the availability system; and wherein the computing system returns the actual seat availability answer as to whether a seat is available for booking in connection with the booking code in response to the availability query.