A first step on the path to automated flight reservations

A common benefit for airline employees is greatly reduced fares on company commercial flights. Employees and their eligible dependents may “list on” (book) a flight at the reduced fare, however they may board only if non-revenue seats are available when the flight departs. Listed passengers frequently call reservation agents as the departure date approaches to determine the load on the airplane to predict the chance of obtaining a seat. This paper describes an automated prototype interactive voice system that has been designed to improve the efficiency of agent pools by executing routine airline employee flight listings and flight load inquiries. The system may be integrated with human agent pools so that callers can be transferred when having difficulty with the automated call flow. This system is a first step in automating revenue-bearing flight reservations