Offline Airline Ticketing Authorization System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Airline transactions are often delayed or canceled when payment service providers experience outages, leading to lost sales and customer dissatisfaction due to latency and connectivity issues.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an offline transactions system that generates a temporary approval code during outages, allowing transactions to be processed and stored locally, and then retransmitted once the payment service provider is operational, ensuring continuous service and reduced latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the system waits for payment service provider authorization before processing transactions, then transaction accuracy is improved, but service continuity deteriorates during outages
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by generating temporary approval codes and storing transaction data locally before payment service provider authorization is confirmed. This allows the system to maintain service continuity during outages while ensuring transaction accuracy is restored once connectivity is reestablished.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary mechanism - a local offline database and temporary approval code system - that mediates between the payment service provider and the transaction processing system. This intermediary allows transactions to proceed locally during outages while maintaining the ability to reconcile with the payment provider later.
2Productivity
If the system processes transactions offline during outages, then service continuity is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments transaction processing into two distinct modes: online mode for normal operations and offline mode for outage conditions. This segmentation allows the system to implement complexity only when necessary (offline processing) while maintaining simplicity during normal operations, thereby improving service continuity without permanently increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service capabilities by automatically detecting outages, switching to offline processing mode, generating temporary approval codes, and queueing transactions for later reconciliation. This automated self-service approach handles the increased complexity without requiring additional manual intervention or complex configuration.
3Speed
If temporary approval codes are generated during outages, then transaction processing speed is improved, but data security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses temporary approval codes that are short-lived and single-use, designed to be invalidated once the transaction is reconciled with the payment service provider. These disposable codes minimize security risks because they cannot be reused or exploited after a single transaction, while still enabling fast offline processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the state parameter of approval codes from permanent to temporary during offline operations. By making approval codes time-limited and single-use, the system enables fast transaction processing while reducing security risks, as the temporary nature of these codes limits their potential for misuse.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system may reduce latency and improve connectivity by performing offline authorization of products and services related to airline reservations. A server device may receive a request for a product or service related to an airline reservation from a user including payment information for the user and may transmit the payment information to a payment service provider for authorization. In response to identifying an outage at the payment service provider, the server device generates a temporary approval code indicative of a successful payment to prevent latency during the outage at the payment service provider and stores transaction data including a representation of the payment information for the user in an offline database. The server device proceeds as if payment was successful and provides an order confirmation message to the user's client device indicating that the product or service has been reserved for the user.