Tool for analyzing corporate airline bids

Abstract

A airline travel supplier evaluation tool is provided which will allow companies to efficiently evaluate the value of preferred airline supplier scenarios and improve their negotiating position vis-à-vis their airline suppliers. The user of the software tool may choose which, if any, preferred supplier set is best given the user's preferences for such criteria including but not limited to saving money and/or saving travel time.

1 .- 50 . (canceled)  
     
     
         51 . A computer program product for analyzing airline flight information for a given city pair, comprising: 
 a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein and including    a fair market share code segment that accesses airline schedule data for a given city pair from a plurality of airlines and calculates an incremental travel time for flight records serving the given city pair in relation to a baseline flight serving the given city pair,    the fair market share code segment determines a market share for the airlines serving the given city pair over a period of time and adjusts the market share for the airlines base in part on the incremental travel time associated with flight records serving the given city pair.    
     
     
         52 . The computer program product of  claim 51  wherein the fair market share code segment computes an elapsed time for each flight record serving a given city pair using the flight schedule data, identifies the baseline flight as the flight record having the shortest elapsed travel time from amongst the flight records serving the given city pair; and calculates the incremental travel time for the flight record serving the given city pair by subtracting the elapsed travel time of a given flight record from the elapsed travel time for the baseline flight record.  
     
     
         53 . The computer program product of  claim 51  further comprising a scenario market share code segment module that receives the adjusted market share from the fair market share code segment and computes a scenario market share by adjusting the market share using non-schedule based factors.  
     
     
         54 . The computer program product of  claim 53  the non-schedule based factors is at least one of a travel policy factor, the travel policy factor being indicative of the airline customer's ability to shift travelers towards or away from any given airline, a sales level factor, the sales level factor being indicative of an airline's ability to attract the travelers of the given airline customer to the airline, and a supplier status factor, where a supplier status indicative of an airline customer's preference to have its travelers use the airline.  
     
     
         55 . The computer program product of  claim 51  further comprises an expense-based cost code segment that accesses a source of projected airline travel data over a predefined time period for a given airline customer and determines expected travel expense data for a given city pair for the given airline customer based on the adjust mark share for a given city pair.  
     
     
         56 . The computer program product of  claim 55  wherein the expense-based cost code segment accesses a source of pricing data relating to an existing or prospective agreement between the given airline customer and at least one airline and determines the expected travel expense data based in part on the pricing data.  
     
     
         57 . The computer program product of  claim 51  wherein the fair market share code segment generates a report having the adjusted market shares for the given city pair.  
     
     
         58 . A computer program product for analyzing airline flight information for a given city pair, comprising: 
 a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein and including    a fair market share code segment that accesses airline schedule data for a given city pair from a plurality of airlines and calculates a market share for a given airline in relation to the given city pair over a period of time; and    a scenario market share code segment that accesses a travel policy factor for a given customer, the travel policy factor being indicative of the given customer's ability to shift travelers towards or away from any given airline, and adjusts the market share for the given airline based on the travel policy factor.    
     
     
         59 . The computer program product of  claim 58  wherein the fair market share code segment calculates an incremental travel time for flight records serving the given city pair in relation to a baseline flight serving the given city pair, determines the market share for the given airline serving the given city pair over a period of time and adjusts the market share for the given airline base in part on the incremental travel time associated with flight records serving the given city pair.  
     
     
         60 . The computer program product of  claim 58  further comprises an expense-based cost code segment that accesses a source of projected airline travel data over a predefined time period for a given airline customer and determines expected travel expense data for a given city pair for the given airline customer based on the adjust mark share for a given city pair.  
     
     
         61 . The computer program product of  claim 58  wherein the fair market share code segment generates a report having the adjusted market shares for the given city pair.  
     
     
         62 . The computer program product of  claim 61  wherein the expense-based cost code segment accesses a source of pricing data relating to an existing or prospective agreement between the given airline customer and at least one airline and determines the expected travel expense data based in part on the pricing data.  
     
     
         63 . A computer program product for analyzing airline flight information for a given city pair, comprising: 
 a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein and including    a fair market share code segment that accesses airline schedule data for a given city pair from a plurality of airlines and calculates a market share for a given airline in relation to the given city pair over a period of time; and    a scenario market share code segment that accesses a sales level factor fort a given airline, the sales level factor being indicative of an airline's ability to shift travelers of an airline customer to the airline, and adjusts the market share for the given airline based on the sales level factor.    
     
     
         64 . The computer program product of  claim 63  wherein the fair market share code segment calculates an incremental travel time for flight records serving the given city pair in relation to a baseline flight serving the given city pair, determines the market share for the given airline serving the given city pair over a period of time and adjusts the market share for the given airline base in part on the incremental travel time associated with flight records serving the given city pair.  
     
     
         65 . The computer program product of  claim 63  further comprises an expense-based cost code segment that accesses a source of projected airline travel data over a predefined time period for a given airline customer and determines expected travel expense data for a given city pair for the given airline customer based on the adjust mark share for a given city pair.  
     
     
         66 . The computer program product of  claim 65  wherein the expense-based cost code segment accesses a source of pricing data relating to an existing or prospective agreement between the given airline customer and at least one airline and determines the expected travel expense data based in part on the pricing data.  
     
     
         67 . A computer program product for analyzing airline flight information for a given city pair, comprising: 
 a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein and including    a fair market share code segment that accesses airline schedule data for a given city pair from a plurality of airlines and calculates a market share for a given airline in relation to the given city pair over a period of time; and    a scenario market share code segment that accesses a supplier status for a given airline, the supplier status being indicative of an airline customer's preference of having its travelers use the airline, and adjusts the market share for the given airline based on the supplier status.    
     
     
         68 . The computer program product of  claim 67  wherein the fair market share code segment calculates an incremental travel time for flight records serving the given city pair in relation to a baseline flight serving the given city pair, determines the market share for the given airline serving the given city pair over a period of time and adjusts the market share for the given airline base in part on the incremental travel time associated with flight records serving the given city pair.  
     
     
         69 . The computer program product of  claim 67  further comprises an expense-based cost code segment that accesses a source of projected airline travel data over a predefined time period for a given airline customer and determines expected travel expense data for a given city pair for the given airline customer based on the adjust mark share for a given city pair.  
     
     
         70 . The computer program product of  claim 69  wherein the expense-based cost code segment accesses a source of pricing data relating to an existing or prospective agreement between the given airline customer and at least one airline and determines the expected travel expense data based in part on the pricing data.