Merchandising platform for airline industries
Discounted ticket prices for flight itineraries are obtained by purchasing merchandises offered by the airlines or by the airline partners. For example, duty free merchandises, souvenirs or specialty items are purchased together with the flight tickets to lower the prices of the flight itineraries.
1. A method comprising:
searching databases of airlines to identify a plurality of flight itineraries, wherein the search uses Global Distribution System (GDS) protocols for airlines configured to participate in GDS network;
obtaining monetary prices of the identified plurality of flight itineraries;
obtaining, from databases of airlines offering the identified plurality of flight itineraries, characteristics, discounts, or bonuses of the identified flight itineraries, wherein the obtaining the characteristics, discounts, or bonuses uses New Distribution Capability (NDC) data transmission standards, Application Program Interface (API) protocols, or websites;
converting the characteristics, discounts or bonuses to monetary values;
obtaining values of the identified flight itineraries based on the monetary prices and the monetary values of the identified flight itineraries; and
ranking the identified flight itineraries based on the values of the identified flight itineraries.
2. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the characteristics of the identified flight itineraries comprise seat information, entertainment programs, food menu, and safety record.
3. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the discounts or bonuses comprise promotional offerings of the airlines.
4. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the conversion of the characteristics, discounts or bonuses is based on a look-up table.
5. A method as in claim 1 , wherein different characteristics, discounts or bonuses of the characteristics, discounts or bonuses are converted to different monetary values based on a profile of a user requesting the flight itineraries.
6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the characteristics of the flight itineraries comprise seat information comprising at least one of seat size, seat width, seat pitch, seat position, or whether or not there is a power port at seat.
7. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the characteristics of the flight itineraries comprise at least one of: Wi-Fi availability, airport lounge access, early check in, luggage information, additional luggage, upgradable services, or frequent flyer program availability.
8. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, discounts or bonuses are selected based on a profile of a user requesting the flight itineraries.
9. A method as in claim 8 , wherein the profile is obtained based on actions of the user during previous flight booking.
10. A method as in claim 8 , wherein
the profile comprises ranking of preferences of the user, and
the preference ranking is used to convert different characteristics, discounts, or bonuses to different monetary values.
11. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the values of the identified flight itineraries are also monetary values.
12. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the identified flight itineraries are ranked in order of decreasing values of the flight itineraries.
13. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the identified flight itineraries are ranked based on the values of the flight itineraries for similar monetary prices of the identified flight itineraries.
14. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the discounts or bonuses comprise at least one of: free Wi-Fi, free early check in, free additional luggage, free airport lounge access, or bonus frequent flyer points.
15. A method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
negotiating the discounts and bonuses with the airlines.
16. A method comprising:
searching databases of airlines to identify flight itineraries, wherein the search uses Global Distribution System (GDS) protocols for airlines configured to participate in GDS network;
obtaining monetary prices of the identified flight itineraries;
obtaining, from databases of airlines offering the flight itineraries, characteristics of the identified flight itineraries, wherein the obtaining uses New Distribution Capability (NDC) data transmission standards, Application Program Interface (API) protocols, or websites;
converting the characteristics to monetary values;
obtaining values of the identified flight itineraries based on the monetary prices; and
ranking the identified flight itineraries based on the values of the identified flight itineraries for similar monetary prices.
17. A method comprising:
searching databases of airlines to identify flight itineraries, wherein the search uses Global Distribution System (GDS) protocols for airlines configured to participate in GDS network;
obtaining monetary prices of the identified flight itineraries;
obtaining, from databases of airlines offering the identified flight itineraries, available discounts or bonuses of the identified flight itineraries, wherein the obtaining process uses New Distribution Capability (NDC) data transmission standards, Application Program Interface (API) protocols, or websites;
converting the discounts and bonuses to monetary values;
obtaining values of the identified flight itineraries based on the monetary prices; and
ranking the identified flight itineraries based on the values of the identified flight itineraries for similar monetary prices.
18. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the values of the identified flight itineraries are calculated based on a difference between the monetary prices and the monetary values of the identified flight itineraries.