Travel information departure date/duration grid

Abstract

A method and system for presenting travel information in a way that facilitates identifying travel plans that satisfy objectives is provided. A travel information system collects travel information for the travel items on various observation dates including the current date and presents the travel information to a user in a way that facilitates travel planning and travel shopping. The travel information system stores the travel information in an observation store. To provide travel information that satisfies a search criterion, the travel information system retrieves the travel information that satisfies the search criterion either from flight information of the observation store or from current flight information provided in real time from a source of travel information. The flight information system provides the travel information in various formats to facilitate travel planning. These formats include a fare history graph, an interval grid, a route map, a future fare graph, and/or a departure date/duration grid.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer-readable memory embedded with computer-executable instructions for generating a presentation of airline fare information, the instructions comprising instructions that:
 receive a search request having a search criterion that includes a departure location and a return location;   for each of a plurality of combinations of a departure date and a return date, identifying a fare for an airline flight that satisfies the search criterion for that combination of departure date and return date, the fare being identified from flight information collected before the search request was received;   generating a display page from the identified fares that illustrates fares of the airline flights that match the search criterion at various combinations of a departure date and a return date;   sending the generated display page for presentation to a user; and   in response to receiving an indication of a selection of combination of a departure date and a return date by the user, sending for presentation to the user flight information about a trip represented by the selected departure date and return date along with a link to allow the user to search for current flight information about the trip.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 21  wherein the display page presents the identified fares in a grid indicating departure dates and return dates. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 21  wherein the grid is a departure date/duration grid. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 21  wherein return dates are indicated by trip duration. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 21  wherein the display page indicates ranges of identified fares using colors. 
     
     
         26 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 21  wherein the display page indicates ranges of identified fares by varying intensity level of a color. 
     
     
         27 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 21  wherein the display page includes a list of airline flights that satisfy the search criterion. 
     
     
         28 . A computer-readable memory embedded with computer-executable instructions for controlling a computing device to present airline fare information, by a method comprising:
 receiving from a user a search request having a search criterion that indicates a departure location and a return location;   sending from the computing device to a travel information system the search request;   receiving by the computing device from the travel information system a display page illustrating fares of the airline flights that match the search criterion at various combinations of a departure date and a return date, the fares having been identified from flight information collected before the search request was sent to the travel information system;   presenting the received display page to the user; and   in response to receiving an indication of a selection of combination of a departure date and a return date by the user, presenting to the user flight information about the trip represented by the selected combination along with a link to allow the user to search for current flight information about the trip.   
     
     
         29 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 28  wherein the display page presents the identified fares in a grid indicating departure dates and return dates. 
     
     
         30 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 29  wherein return dates are indicated by trip duration. 
     
     
         31 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 29  wherein the display page includes a departure date/duration grid. 
     
     
         32 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 28  wherein the display page indicates ranges of identified fares using colors. 
     
     
         33 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 28  wherein the display page indicates ranges of identified fares by varying intensity level of a color. 
     
     
         34 . The computer-readable memory of  claim 28  wherein the display page includes a list of airline flights that satisfy the search criterion. 
     
     
         35 . A computing system having a processor and memory for generating a presentation of airline fare information, comprising:
 an observation store storing airline flight information collected from at least one source of travel information;   a component that receives a search request having a search criterion that includes a departure location and a return location;   a component that, for each of a plurality of combinations of a departure date and a return date, identifies from the observation store a fare for an airline flight that satisfies the search criterion for that combination of departure date and return date;   a component that generates a display page from the identified fares that illustrates fares of the airline flights that match the search criterion at various combinations of a departure date and a return date;   a component that sends the generated display page for presentation to a user; and   a component that receives an indication of a selection of combination of a departure date and a return date by the user and sends for presentation to the user flight information about a trip represented by the selected departure date and return date along with a link to allow the user to search for current flight information about the trip.   
     
     
         36 . The computing system of  claim 35  wherein the display page presents the identified fares in a grid indicating departure dates and return dates. 
     
     
         37 . The computing system of  claim 36  wherein return dates are indicated by trip duration. 
     
     
         38 . The computing system of  claim 37  wherein the grid is a departure date/duration grid. 
     
     
         39 . The computing system of  claim 38  wherein cells of the departure date/duration grid indicate lowest fares. 
     
     
         40 . The computing system of  claim 39  wherein the display page indicates ranges of fares using colors.