Maintenance of virtual credit card pool for airline passenger vouchers

A method for operating a virtual credit card pool for travel vouchers, comprising:

• storing virtual credit cards of the virtual credit card pool in one or more databases;
• generating, via one or more servers, a voucher offer having a voucher value for a qualifying person;
• electronically transmitting, via the one or more servers, the voucher offer to the qualifying person;
• electronically receiving, via the one or more servers, a voucher offer acceptance for the voucher offer from the qualifying person;
• unlocking, via the one or more servers, one of the virtual credit cards stored in the pool for the qualifying person upon receipt of the voucher offer acceptance by:
• determining whether at least one of the virtual credit cards in the pool has a card value that equals the voucher value of the voucher offer;
• unlocking a first virtual credit card having the voucher value for the qualifying person in response to determining that at least one of the virtual credit cards in the pool has the card value that equals the voucher value;
• unlocking a second virtual credit card having a greater value than that of the voucher value in response to determining that none of the virtual credit cards in the pool has the card value that equals the voucher value, wherein the unlocking causes the one or more servers to provide information of the unlocked one of the virtual credit cards in furtherance of a credit card transaction;
• removing whichever of the first virtual credit card or the second virtual credit card that has been unlocked from the pool;
• and
• providing the information of the unlocked one of the virtual credit cards in furtherance of the credit card transaction;
• determining whether a current date-and-time for a target distribution of virtual credit cards within the virtual credit card pool corresponds with a predefined restocking time to restock the virtual credit card pool, wherein the predefined restocking time is selected to be within a regularly-occurring period of time during which an external server of a card distributer consistently issues virtual credit cards;
• and
• in response to determining that the current date-and-time for the target distribution corresponds with the predefined restocking time, for each of a plurality of card values:
• identifying a current number of virtual credit cards within the virtual credit card pool that have the card value;
• identifying a threshold number of virtual credit cards for the card value based on the target distribution;
• in response to determining that the current number of virtual credit cards is less than the threshold number of virtual credit cards, transmitting a request for a set of virtual credit cards having the card value to the external server of the card distributer;
• and
• adding the requested set of virtual credit cards having the card value to the virtual credit card pool upon receipt from the external server.

A computer readable medium including instructions, which, when executed, cause a machine to:

• generate a voucher offer having a voucher value for a qualifying person;
• electronically transmit the voucher offer to the qualifying person;
• electronically receive a voucher offer acceptance for the voucher offer from the qualifying person;
• unlock one of a plurality of virtual credit cards of a pool for the qualifying person upon receipt of the voucher offer acceptance, wherein the unlocking causes the machine to provide information of the unlocked one of the virtual credit cards in furtherance of a credit card transaction, and wherein, to unlock one of the plurality of virtual credit cards, the instructions are configured to cause the machine to:
• determine whether at least one of the plurality of virtual credit cards in the pool has a card value that equals the voucher value of the voucher offer;
• unlock a first virtual credit card having the voucher value for the qualifying person in response to determining that at least one of the plurality of virtual credit cards in the pool has the card value that equals the voucher value;
• unlock a second virtual credit card having a greater value than that of the voucher value in response to determining that none of the plurality of virtual credit cards in the pool has the card value that equals the voucher value;
• remove whichever of the first virtual credit card or the second virtual credit card that has been unlocked from the pool;
• and
• provide the information of the unlocked one of the virtual credit cards in furtherance of the credit card transaction;
• determine whether a current date-and-time for a target distribution of virtual credit cards within the virtual credit card pool corresponds with a predefined restocking time to restock the virtual credit card pool, wherein the predefined restocking time is selected to be within a regularly-occurring period of time during which an external server of a card distributer consistently issues virtual credit cards;
• and
• in response to determining that the current date-and-time for the target distribution corresponds with the predefined restocking time, for each of a plurality of card values:
• identify a current number of virtual credit cards within the virtual credit card pool that have the card value;
• identify a threshold number of virtual credit cards for the card value based on the target distribution;
• in response to determining that the current number of virtual credit cards is less than the threshold number of virtual credit cards, transmit a request for a set of virtual credit cards having the card value to the external server of the card distributer;
• and
• add the requested set of virtual credit cards having the card value to the virtual credit card pool upon receipt from the external server.