What is claimed is:
1. A travel related interface to a computer system that includes a data parsing element and a data server responsive to the data parsing element, the travel related interface comprising:
a client computing device having a display interface, a reporting interface, and an event notification interface; and
a client facing module responsive to the data server, the client facing module providing a modular interface to communicate with the client computing device.
2. The travel related interface of claim 1, further comprising a user interface filter, the client device responsive to the user interface filter.
3. The travel related interface of claim 2, wherein the client device is responsive to view parameters.
4. The travel related interface of claim 1, wherein the display interface capability is an interface to a display device and wherein the client computing device communicates data to be displayed by the display device over the display interface.
5. The travel related interface of claim 1, wherein the reporting interface is coupled to an external printing device to provide a printed report that provides passenger status information for a set of tracked passengers.
6. The travel related interface of claim 1, wherein the event notification interface is coupled to a distributed communication system to provide notification of a passenger travel disruption event.
7. The travel related interface of claim 6, wherein the event notification interface is one of an electronic mail interface, a cell phone interface, and a pager interface.
8. The travel related interface of claim 1, wherein the computing device has an interface selected from the group of an HTML interface, a WAP interface, an ActiveX Windows computer interface, a JAVA interface, and an XML interface.
9. A method of communicating a travel disruption event, the method comprising:
determining flight reservation data associated with reservations of a set of airline passengers;
determining flight status data for at least one airplane associated with the reservations of the set of airline passengers;
determining a passenger status for each passenger in the set of airline passengers based on the flight reservation data and based on the flight status data;
communicating the passenger status for each passenger in the set of airline passengers to a computing device; and
displaying the passenger status to a user of the computing device.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the passenger status is based on a detected disruption condition associated with the flight of the airplane and wherein a client facing module is used to communicate the disruption condition and an alternate travel plan via a user interface of the computing device.
11. The computer system of claim 9, rebooking an alternate flight using the computing device after detecting the disruption condition.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the disruption condition is determined by comparing real-time airline data at various disruption points against scheduled times for the associated disruption points.
13. A method of displaying passport verification information, the method comprising:
displaying a first field that identifies a particular airline passenger;
displaying a second field that identifies a unique passport identifier associated with a passport authorized by a nation;
displaying a third field that includes a status associated with the first field and the second field; and
displaying verification of passenger entrance requirements (visa, immunisation) for country of passage andor country of destination.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the status indicates a mismatch condition where the authorized passport identifier does not match a passport presented by the passenger.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the status indicates a mismatch condition where a name on a presented passport does not match the name identified by the first field.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein the status indicates an expired passport.
17. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing an automatic notification of a passport conflict event via an alert email.
18. The method of claim 13, further comprising checking a passenger entrance requirement of a country.
19. A world map display on a computer, the world map display comprising:
a plurality of identified hot zones, the hot zones indicating a geographic region having a high security risk;
a plurality of traveling passengers identified on different portions of the word map, at least one of the plurality of passengers identified as within one of the identified hot zones; and
security advisory information associated with selected geographic regions.
20. The world map display of claim 19, wherein at least one of the selected geographic regions is within a hot zone and wherein a representative icon that identifies each passenger within a hot zone is highlighted.
21. The world map display of claim 19, further comprising a drill down display option, the drill down display option operable to provide specific itinerary and security information associated with a selected passenger.
22. A method of communicating passenger status information, the method comprising:
determining flight reservation data associated with reservations of a set of airline passengers;
determining flight status data for at least one airplane associated with the reservations of the set of airline passengers;
determining a passenger status for each passenger in the set of airline passengers based on the flight reservation data and based on the flight status data;
communicating the passenger status for each passenger in the set of airline passengers to a computing device; and
displaying the passenger status to a user of the computing device by identifying each passenger in the set of airline passengers and the passenger status for each passenger on a map display.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the map display is a map display of the United States and includes weather information.
24. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing a visual display for affected passengers in the event of a detected travel disruption event.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising providing an alternate travel plan in response to the detected travel disruption event.
26. The method of claim 25, further comprising displaying private aircraft and charter flight availability.
27. The method of claim 25, further comprising providing a display of available flight booking information.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A portable hand-held multi-function device comprising processing circuitry, program storage, and data memory; wherein
a plurality of transaction applications and a user profile comprising user preferences are stored in the data memory; and
the processing circuitry is programmed via instructions in the program storage to automatically select, by referencing a default preference from the user preferences, a first transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment for a first purchase from a first merchant in a first transaction and a second transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment for a second purchase from a second merchant in a second transaction.
2. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is programmed to automatically select the first transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the first transaction based on the first purchase, and to automatically select the second transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the second transaction based on the second purchase.
3. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is programmed to automatically select the first transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the first transaction based on the first merchant, and to automatically select the second transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the second transaction based on the second merchant.
4. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, further comprising storing, based on the first transaction, first rewards to a first reward account stored in the data memory and associated with the first transaction application.
5. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 4, further comprising storing, based on the second transaction, second rewards to a second reward account stored in the data memory and associated with the second transaction application.
6. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transaction applications comprises a credit card application.
7. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transaction applications comprises a debit card application.
8. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transaction applications comprises a loyalty card application.
9. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 6, wherein selection of the credit card application for the first transaction enables payment to be made for the first transaction with rewards previously stored in the reward account associated with the credit card application.
10. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 7, wherein selection of the debit card application for the first transaction enables payment to be made for the first transaction with rewards previously stored in the reward account associated with the debit card application.
11. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 8, wherein selection of the loyalty card application for the first transaction enables payment to be made for the first transaction with rewards previously stored in the reward account associated with the loyalty card application.
12. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1 comprising a smart card.
13. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1 comprising a peripheral device.
14. The portable hand-held multi-function device of claim 1, wherein the default preference is modifiable when the device is used with a point of sale terminal for either of the first transaction or the second transaction.
15. A method of using a portable hand-held multi-function device comprising
storing a plurality of transaction applications and a user profile comprising user preferences in a data memory of the portable hand-held multi-function device;
the portable hand-held multi-function device automatically selecting, by referencing a default preference from the user preferences, a first transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment for a first purchase from a first merchant in a first transaction and
a second transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment for a second purchase from a second merchant in a second transaction.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the portable hand-held multi-function device automatically selects the first transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the first transaction based on the first purchase, and automatically selects the second transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the second transaction based on the second purchase.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the portable hand-held multi-function device automatically selects the first transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the first transaction based on the first merchant, and automatically selects the second transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications for making payment in the second transaction based on the second merchant.
18. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing, based on the first transaction, first rewards to a first reward account stored in the data memory and associated with the first transaction application.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising storing, based on the second transaction, second rewards to a second reward account stored in the data memory and associated with the second transaction application.
20. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of transaction applications comprises a credit card application.
21. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of transaction applications comprises a debit card application.
22. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of transaction applications comprises a loyalty card application.
23. The method of claim 20, wherein selection of the credit card application for the first transaction enables payment to be made for the first transaction with rewards previously stored in the reward account associated with the credit card application.
24. The method of claim 21, wherein selection of the debit card application for the first transaction enables payment to be made for the first transaction with rewards previously stored in the reward account associated with the debit card application.
25. The method of claim 22, wherein selection of the loyalty card application for the first transaction enables payment to be made for the first transaction with rewards previously stored in the reward account associated with the loyalty card application.
26. The method of claim 15 wherein the portable hand-held multi-function device comprises a smart card.
27. The method of claim 15 wherein the portable hand-held multi-function device comprises a peripheral device.
28. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of modifying the default preference when the device is used with a point of sale terminal for either of the first transaction or the second transaction.