System and method for caching and utilizing flight availability data

A method of caching and utilizing airline flight availability data for specific subscribers, the method comprising the steps of:

• d) receiving flight availability data from an airline server;
• e) storing flight availability data in a cache database;
• f) querying the cache database for flight availability data as specified in an availability request;
• and
• g) sending flight availability data to a subscriber.

A computer program operable to cache and retrieve flight availability data for specific subscribers, the program comprising:

• a cache database operable to temporarily store flight availability data only for subscribers and airlines that have been configured to use the cache database;
• an airline cache control operable to specify specific ones of a plurality of subscribers that may use the flight availability data stored in the cache database for each airline and configure a day range, a shelf-life, and a minimum seat count for the flight availability data stored in the cache database for each airline;
• a subscriber cache control operable to configure each subscriber to use the cache database and group the subscribers into families, wherein the families can be configured as either access-type or update-type;
• a cache query utility operable to add flight availability data to the cache database, query the cache database, return flight availability data from the cache database stored specifically for use by each subscriber, and delete flight availability data from the cache database after the shelf-life has expired;
• a data display utility operable to display flight availability data stored in the cache database;
• a success rate utility operable to track statistics associated with use of the flight availability data stored in the cache database;
• and
• a dual mode processing utility operable to allow a technician to access flight availability data from either the cache database or a real-time response.