Patent ID: 8560356

Claim:
A computer implemented method of providing a seat availability prediction in response to a seat availability query, the method comprising: receiving a query for seat availability data, the query specifying characteristics of a specific flight; determining: by one or more computer systems: from the query, seat availability query factors comprising an airline, a booking code, and a number of days prior to a date of travel; accessing, by one or more computer systems, a data structure stored in memory, the data structure configured to store seat availability answers derived from past seat availability queries, and the data structure indexed at least according to the seat availability query factors; and retrieving, by one or more computer systems, from the data structure, using the seat availability query factors, a probability that a seat is available for the flight and booking code; comparing the retrieved probability that a seat is available to a predetermined threshold probability; determining that the retrieved probability that a seat is available satisfies the predetermined threshold probability; and providing a response to the query indicating that a seat is available for the flight and booking code.