Airline Ticket Swap Workflow With Automated Seller Response

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Solution Overview

Problem

Unused airline flight tickets result in empty seats, reducing airline efficiency and profitability due to unutilized capacity, with purchasers often unable to transfer or be reimbursed for their tickets.

Innovation Solution

An automated flight ticket swap system that allows sellers to offer their unused tickets for swap through a management server, enabling near-real-time management and updates without human intervention, facilitating swaps between sellers and buyers via Query Messages and Automatic Responses.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Speed

If automated response system is implemented, then response speed is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresponse speedVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables automated responses from seller devices without requiring human intervention. The device automatically receives query messages, processes them, and sends responses based on stored swap offer details, making the system self-serving and eliminating manual operational steps.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

Swap offer details are pre-stored in the seller device's local repository before any query occurs. This preliminary storage of information allows the automated system to respond immediately to queries without needing to fetch or generate data in real-time, thus maintaining speed while managing complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If manual confirmation interface is provided, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata accuracyVSAvoidoperational convenience

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements partial automation where only critical confirmation steps require manual user action. The automated response handles most processing, but a final confirmation button requires user input to ensure accuracy of permanent record updates, balancing automation with necessary human oversight.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The web page acts as an intermediary interface between the automated system and the user. It displays both permanent and local swap offer details, allowing users to review and confirm changes before they are permanently recorded, thus ensuring accuracy while maintaining ease of use through a simple confirmation mechanism.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS20260050843A1Airline flight ticket management system and swap-ticket method therefor

Publication Date: 2026.02.19 SWAP TICKET LLC

AI summary

A flight ticket management server (Server) includes flight ticket records (Records) each associated with a seat on an airline flight. Each Record includes permanent flight ticket swap offer details from a seller of a previously purchased and unused flight ticket. The Server sends Query Messages to seller's computer devices. Each computer device sends an Automatic Response, without human intervention and independent of a user of the computer device, indicating any seller requested changes to local flight ticket swap offer details stored in a local repository in the computer device. The Server generates a web page. The web page displays a) permanent flight ticket swap offer details from the Record, and b) local flight ticket swap offer details from the local repository, and a button that when selected via a browser in the computer device confirms seller's manual selection of a) or b) for current permanent flight ticket swap offer details.