System and method for real-time revenue management

A method of determining respective minimum fares at which to offer respective seats associated with respective ones of a plurality of air travel itineraries, each respective seat belonging to a first fare class of seats associated with one of the air travel itineraries, the plurality of air travel itineraries comprising:

• a first air travel itinerary from a first destination to a second destination, the first air travel itinerary having:
• a first fare for each seat that belongs to the first fare class of seats associated with the first air travel itinerary;
• and
• a first leg from the first destination to the second destination, the first leg having a first remaining capacity of seats and an initial first bid price;
• a second air travel itinerary from the first destination to the third destination, the second air travel itinerary having:
• a second fare for each seat that belongs to the first fare class of seats associated with the second air travel itinerary;
• the first leg from the first destination to the second destination;
• and
• a second leg from the second destination to the third destination, the second leg having a second remaining capacity of seats and an initial second bid price;
• a third air travel itinerary from the first destination to a fourth destination, the third air travel itinerary having:
• a third fare for each seat that belongs to the first fare class of seats associated with the third air travel itinerary;
• the first leg from the first destination to the second destination;
• and
• a third leg from the second destination to the fourth destination, the third leg having a third remaining capacity of seats and an initial third bid price;
• and
• a fourth air travel itinerary from the second destination to the third destination, the fourth air travel itinerary having:
• a fourth fare for each seat that belongs to the first fare class of seats associated with the fourth air travel itinerary;
• and
• the second leg from the second destination to the third destination;
• the method comprising:
• providing a node, the node comprising:
• a computer processor;
• a storage device;
• and
• a plurality of instructions stored in the storage device and executable by the computer processor;
• detecting an airline flight booking, the airline flight booking being associated with the fourth air travel itinerary and thus the airline flight booking resulting in a change to the second remaining capacity of the second leg;
• and
• executing the plurality of instructions with the computer processor so that the following steps are executed:
• pro-rating the third fare of the third air travel itinerary to determine a pro-rated third fare associated with the first leg;
• optimizing respective numbers of seats expected to be allocated to the respective first fare classes associated with the first, second, third and fourth air travel itineraries, comprising:
• (a) altering the initial first bid price and the initial second bid price to thereby alter the respective numbers of seats expected to be allocated to the respective first fare classes associated with the first, second, third and fourth air travel itineraries;
• (b) during altering the initial first bid price and the initial second bid price, preventing a number of seats to be made available on the first leg, as a result of altering the respective numbers of seats expected to be allocated to the respective first fare classes associated with the first, second, third and fourth air travel itineraries, from being greater than the first remaining capacity of seats on the first leg;
• (c) during altering the initial first bid price and the initial second bid price, preventing a number of seats to be made available on the second leg, as a result of altering the respective numbers of seats expected to be allocated to the respective first fare classes associated with the first, second, third and fourth air travel itineraries, from being greater than the changed second remaining capacity of seats on the second leg;
• and
• (d) repeating (a), (b) and (c) until a maximum revenue is obtained.