System for Executing Travel Related Transactions

An airline ticket buying method, operable on a central server computer that is coupled to a global computer network, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving at the central server computer from a remote computer an indication of a set of parameters entered by a user, including:
• a desired destination, a desired travel date and a desired payment amount to be paid for an airline ticket for travel to the destination on the desired travel date;
• (b) receiving, by the central server from the remote computer, user account information to an account at a financial institution and an authorization to transfer a payment amount from the user account;
• (c) storing the set of parameters and the account information in a computer-readable memory accessible by the central server;
• (d) periodically accessing, by the central server, at least one remote global computer network site presented on behalf of a travel organization that sells airline tickets to determine when the ticket to the destination on the desired travel date is being offered by the travel organization for no more than the desired payment amount;
• (e) when the ticket to the destination on the desired travel date is being offered by the travel organization for no more than the desired payment amount, then automatically purchasing the ticket from the travel organization by transmitting to the travel organization from the central server, via the global computer network, an electronic payment for the ticket, thereby executing a binding transaction;
• (f) transferring the user account information and authorization from the central server to the financial institution and requesting an electronic funds transfer to a selected entity in an amount corresponding to the desired payment amount;
• and
• (g) upon purchasing the ticket, transmitting an electronic notification of the purchase from the central server to the remote computer via the global computer network.

A central server, in data communication with at least one remote computer, at least one travel organization remote site and at least one financial institution via a global computer network, the central server comprising:

• (a) a processor;
• (b) a tangible computer-readable memory in data communication with the processor;
• (c) a program, stored on the computer-readable memory and configured to instruct the processor to execute a set of instructions, including:
• (i) receive, from the remote computer via the global computer network, a set of parameters corresponding to a travel-related object, including a user identification, a payment amount and user account information about an account at a financial institution, the user account information including an account number and an authorization to transfer the payment amount from the user account to a selected entity when at least a selected subset of the parameters are matched, the selected subset of parameters including a desired maximum price for the travel-related object;
• (ii) store the set of parameters in the computer-readable memory;
• (iii) access the travel organization remote site periodically and enter into the remote site information from the set of parameters relating to the travel-related object;
• (iv) receive from the remote site an indication of a price currently being charged for the travel-related object matching the selected subset of the parameters;
• (v) when the price is not greater than the desired maximum price then transmit to the remote site a request to purchase the travel-related object and a payment for the travel-related object;
• (vi) transmit an electronic funds transfer request to the financial institution in an amount of the desired maximum price, thereby causing the financial institution to transfer the amount to the selected entity;
• and
• (vii) transmit an electronic notification of the purchase to the remote computer.