Airline ticket payment and reservation system and methods

A method for facilitating a payment from a consumer for travel tickets sold by a travel company, the method comprising:

• receiving at a host computer system from a money transfer location a transaction request that includes a confirmation identifier and a payment amount generated by a travel reservation system that relates to a travel arrangement made with the travel company, wherein the host computer system is operated by a payment service provider separate from the travel company, and wherein the host computer system includes a set of identifiers forming a database of customer travel arrangement, and wherein the payment amount was made while the consumer was at a payment service provider location;
• transmitting the confirmation identifier to the travel reservation system from the host computer system for validation;
• receiving a confirmation from the travel reservation system that includes an expected payment amount;
• comparing at the host computer system the expected payment with the payment amount;
• and
• transmitting a validation to a money transfer location if the expected payment is the same as the payment amount.

A method facilitating a payment from a consumer for travel tickets sold by a travel company, the method comprising:

• receiving a reservation request for a travel arrangement offered by a travel company;
• storing a reservation in a travel reservation system that includes a confirmation identifier and a ticket price;
• receiving a confirmation identifier from a host computer system along with a request to validate the confirmation identifier, wherein the host computer system is operated by a payment service provider separate from the travel company, and wherein the host computer system includes a set of identifiers forming a database of customer travel arrangements;
• and
• transmitting from the reservation system to the host computer system an expected payment that is associated with the received confirmation identifier, wherein the expected payment is to be paid at a payment service provider location operated by the payment service provider, wherein the expected payment is to be made while a consumer is physically present at the payment service provider location.

A point of sale system for accepting payments from a consumer for a travel ticket from a travel company, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• an input device;
• a communication device;
• and
• a storage medium, wherein the storage medium includes instructions executable by the processor to:
• receive a transaction request input from the input device that includes a transaction identifier that identifies a travel arrangement made with the travel company and a payment amount;
• transmit the payment amount and the transaction identifier to a host computer system for validation using the communication device, wherein the host computer system is operated by a payment service provider separate from the travel company, and wherein the host computer system includes a set of identifiers forming a database of customer travel arrangements;
• receive a validation from the host computer system indicating that the transaction requested has been validated using the communication device;
• receive an indication of payment from the consumer using the input devices, wherein the payment amount is made by a consumer while physically present at the point-of-sale device;
• and
• electronically transmit a message of the payment to a host computer system using the communication device so that at least a portion of the payment may be transmitted to the travel company.

A host computer system for facilitating payments from a consumer to a travel company for a travel ticket issued from a travel company, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• an input device;
• an output device;
• and
• a storage medium, wherein the storage medium includes instructions executable by the processor to:
• receive from a money transfer location using the input device a transaction request that includes a confirmation identifier and a payment amount generated by a travel reservation system that relates to a travel arrangement made with the travel company;
• transmit the confirmation identifier using the output device to the travel reservation system for validation;
• receive a confirmation from the travel reservation system that includes an expected payment amount, wherein the expected payment amount is made at a payment service provider location separate from the travel company while the consumer is physically present at the payment service provider location;
• compare the expected payment with the payment amount;
• and
• transmit a validation to a money transfer location if the expected payment is the same as the payment amount.