Table of Contents
Executive Summary
4
Introduction
5
Background
5
What is Flight Reservation System?
6
Relevance of Flight Reservation Systems
6
Research Methods and Evaluation Criteria
8
Results
10
Conclusion and Recommendations
11
Conclusion
11
Recommendations
12
References
13
APPENDIX
14
FLIGTH RESERVATION SYSTEM
14
Executive Summary
Reservations, be it in a hotel or any other place is crucial and should be treated cautiously. This is so since the one booking needs to be given accurate information on the availability of what they want, since it is prone to affect much of their decisions. Many companies and enterprises have constantly failed in this aspect, often frustrating their clients by altering their plans, courtesy of the poor booking systems of the concerned companies.
People need to travel there physically to make bookings, or make calls which are, however, not so much reliable. It is this problem, together with accompanying challenges the department in charge of reservations faces that provoked the plan for an online and automated reservation system. This, they hope will first serve in eliminating the need for many personnel in the office, who the technology adopted will replace.
Having studied about flight reservation system importance, the information I acquired prompted me to design a system that can be used at any given reservation agency for the aim of booking of the seats beforehand or reserving seats for passengers online. The system is easy to use by the users which imply that its user friendly. It aims at bringing all the services offered by different airways and firms all over the whole world together through an internet connection. The main beneficiaries of this system are the concerned airlines and the passengers (Seneff, 2002).
The crucial objective of this system is to enhance the reservation process and assist is improving the services hence facilitates customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it also aims at meeting the needs which should be achieved by the reservation agencies for the complete satisfaction of their consumers. Many models exist that could one can utilize in coming up with such a system, but after reconsidering many factors, the waterfall model was put into consideration and later application.
Long before deregulation took effect flight companies used to own their own flight reservation systems, which is no longer the case from the recent past. Independent companies today own these systems and host flight companies as their main subscribers. With the advancement in technology, however, individuals are developing their own systems using the mobile technology which used to offer these services. Some of the benefits drawn from the flight reservation systems include: inventory management that deals with the available seats and their subsequent classes, possible destinations and their pricing, departure and arrival times and fare quotes and tickets related issues. Such systems, in addition to the already mentioned, basic benefits also do support real-time communication between customers and staff and also enhances a faster decision making process both to the client and the company (Tuttle, 1999).
Introduction
Background
Automation of flight reservations is an ignored need. Flight services have, therefore, suffered many delays and losses as they have continually been offered manually, key of the challenges that have faced this service is the double booking issue since the manual system has not been efficient in elimination of double bookings (Tuttle, 1999).
However, some flight reservation systems are already in existence and application, a show that this area can be exploited in making the flight reservations related companies in service delivery and performance. Mercury Flight Reservation System is an example of the existing flight reservation systems and it utilizes the galaxy technology in ensuring its efficiency. It is a mobile based system, whose main objective, is to provide on-line access to the flight reservation databases, and gives them the flexibility and control over prices and dialogue control.
What is Flight Reservation System?
A flight reservation system, sometimes called an airline reservation system, is a segment of a much broader service offered by the companies that deal with flights. The passenger service systems service, to which flight reservation forms part is a dialogue and communication oriented service that ensures real time reach of the reservations officers by the clients, manages inventory and keeps the customers updated on aspects they may be questioning. It does this by making a direct contact with the customers possible, either through the internet and on the web pages or using mobile phone applications.
Flight reservation is a crucial step towards realizing efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. This is true since it eliminates most challenges associated with booking in the airline companies. Issues like double booking or delayed flights may sound minute but in the real sense have much to do with the well being of the company as they dictate the amount of confidence that clients can accord a company, especially as regards reliability (Tuttle, 1999).
Today, flight reservation systems, have all to do with computers, hence a common reference to such systems as computer reservation systems. However, as opposed to a flight reservation system that can be personalized and manipulated to suit their needs a computer reservation system integrates many airlines in a single system connected with the global system that facilitates distribution (Seneff, 2002).
Relevance of Flight Reservation Systems
A flight reservation system, and especially one that is available, can offer a company so much into realizing its goal and objectives, and act as a highway, through which growth and expansion could be realized without investing much in terms of money and time. Most benefits have to do with gaining the customers’ confidence and winning their loyalty to the concerned airline company (Goheen, 2004).
To the consumers, flight reservation systems offer cost effectiveness as the crucial advantage, among others. To begin with such a system saves the customers on time and money needed to travel to the booking offices was it to be done manually. Online bookings are also said to be offered at subsidized prices as opposed to bookings made manually. Not much is said to explain this, but a possibility of the reduced expenses, which accompanies the online systems prompts the company into reducing the prices but still make substantial profits.
Flight reservations also are fanatical supporters and boosters of transparency during the whole booking process. Such a system eliminates issues of corrupting to get assigned to a certain seat already booked, frustrating the other clients. Elimination of deliberate delays made on flights for selfish benefits of the concerned parties is effected since the customers are aware of the timings, and can reach the top management to air their complaints without much ado. Transparency in terms of pricing is maintained, especially to the international or one-time and first-timers who may not be well informed of price ranges between certain stations (Dreith, 1993).
Flexibility is another benefit drawn from the adoption and application of flight reservation systems. This applies both to customers, and the company to be involved. In terms of the service providers, flexibility of changing the departure timings and the prices is achieved since this can be communicated easily to the concerned clients. Such decisions once taken will not affect or inconvenience customers, unless the fault is on their part for failure to access information that was readily available. As regards the customers, flexibility is beneficial in terms of the possible changes made available to them. For instance, courtesy of the full control over the system given to the customers, they can easily switch between flights or even cancel their flights on time and efficiently. The system is not rigid to the first choices and selections made by customers (Dreith, 1993).
Convenience also comes with the adoption of the flight reservation systems. This is experienced in terms of the 24-hour working system aspect, where clients can make reservations at any time of the day or night, as long as the system is in place. Such systems also inform clients at the point when a certain flight is full, and no more reservations can be made; this helps them to look for alternatives instead of having left with many hopes that may frustrate them later on. Convenience to the company is also achieved, since the staff need not stay in the offices till late hours attending to the long queues of people waiting to make reservations that may even not be urgent (Foster, 1995).
Lastly, control given to customers over the system saves the company many efforts required to maintain a substantial customer relationship management and collection of customer feedback since this can be seen from the user utilization of the system and the feedback provided. This also makes the customers to be responsible for the decisions they take, as regards flight reservations, eliminating the anciently experienced cases of untrustworthiness issues between the company and the clients.
Research Methods and Evaluation Criteria
Research was carried out to tell on the pros and cons of adopting the flight reservation system to the concerned companies. This also served as an evaluation test on how the system could be best implemented and designed to make it more efficient and accurate in service delivery (Tuttle, 1999).
After much consideration as concerns the usability issues related to the users and the service providers, the system was segmented into three fundamental modules, to provide the crucial services as regards flight reservation: enquiry, reservation and cancellation. The system gives processed facts and figures of all the available flights, their arrival and departure time, the seat available to customers. The second module provides every fact about the requisition made by the customer and finally the cancellation where the system cancels the seat after valid facts and figures concerning the customer are input into the system, processing done and the output delivered (Goheen, 2004).
Once the codes assigned to different flights is input by a customer, all details concerning that particular flight are retrieved from the system, and made available for the client before he/she can proceed into the next step. This is a step by step process with a user guide offered by the system to save clients from making mistakes that may not be reversed. The different classes of flights, their departure times and pricing, are then availed for the customer to make a choice the system can only accept one choice of a class at a time to avoid double bookings, unless the customer is ready to pay for the two flights, which is almost unacceptable (Goheen, 2004).
Completeness is achieved in this system, since it offers all round services and information, even on other, different airlines hence a one stop point where the client gets all the information he/she requires to facilitate decision making. One, therefore, needs not to visit many other systems to make comparisons as regards the pricing and timing before deciding on the means they consider effective. This is achieved since making the reservations online is the crucial objective of this system, and afterwards it will be set into utilizing the cloud technology. Once this becomes a reality, then all airlines will have a common platform from where customers can make their reservations, enhancing quality service delivery since all companies will be fighting to attract more customers that their competitors.
The research questions that acted as a guide to this study include; what are the challenges faced by the management in their effort to implement this flight reservation system, how will efficiency and effectiveness of operation be improved within the airports, using the flight reservation system, and a question on the cost benefit analysis of the system, after making crucial considerations on the cost effectiveness issues. In making this a reality, a feasibility study was carried out (Foster, 1995).
The crucial objective of the feasibility study is to decide or determine whether implementing the system will be financially and technically feasible for the airline firms. It includes the assessment or examination of the problem and the collection of the facts and figures that will act as the input to the system, also the processing done on the input data and finally the facts and figures to be produced by the system as output.
Results
Research revealed that some resources were mandatory as they were the crucial determinants of the success of the system. A combination of both the hardware and the software components will be required both during the design and building and later for implementation and use.
These resources can be categorized into three: hardware, software and firmware. The hardware components needed is the devices needed to build and use the system and they include at least five PC computers with the following system specifications; a 1.6 gigahertz processor, 128 MB RAM, a mouse, a printer and a 40 GB hard drive. Then there are the system resources that include WIN98, WIN2000, WIN XP, VISUAL BASIC and SQL (DATABASES) software set ups to be installed in the PCs mentioned. Lastly, the firmware includes the personnel, who probably are IT experts or any other person competent in the applications indicated above and with the required skills to develop a system (Dreith, 1993).
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion
From an analysis done on the research report and the results presented above, I conclusively say that system to be adopted has more benefits, as opposed to the current system in place and its more operational intensive and not capital intensive. The amount that could be spent in purchasing the mentioned requirements and paying the personnel could be seen as a lot but will only be spent once. This is in comparison with the continuous spending on acquiring the manual resources that cannot be re-used and paying the many staff officers employed (Barlow, 1997).
Cost effectiveness has, therefore, been achieved by such a system and consequently the pricing rates to various destinations will be required to reduce as not much could be invested in facilitating system maintenance. By its ability to make available information on other, different airlines, this flight reservations system has authority to command adoption and use in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in a bias free manner as a marketing strategy to rise above and defeat one’s competitors. If made internet based, and hence online, the system has potential of improving and taking the reservations service to another level of competitiveness.
Recommendations
Based on the research results and thereafter conclusions made as indicated above, all airline companies are advised to adopt at least a flight booking system to enhance service delivery and efficient operation with their customers (Foster, 1995).
As regards the system, it is recommended that apart from enquiry, reservation and cancellation, and despite these three being the crucial focus of the system, other services should be included and integrated into the system. Such include issues to do with conversation and feedback between customers and the service providers.
It is further recommended, that the system developers should put in place specific and precise plans, towards the implementation and testing processes before the system is fully putting into use. Plans for integration of other services into the system should also be made to cater for budgetary allocations and adjustment of the financial feasibility statistics. All the same, it is guaranteed that this system will be successful in the airlines to which it will be adopted, if only it is used maximally and effectively (Barlow, 1997).
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Barlow, J.F. (1997). Airline flight reservation for optimizing revenues. New Jersey.
Dreith, R. (1993). Computer reservations system (4th ed.). Salt Lake City, Utah: Education Systems.
Foster, D. L. (1995). Reservations and ticketing with SABRE (2nd ed.). New York: Glencoe.
Goheen, J.R.(2004). Electronic ticketing and reservation system and method. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Seneff, S. (2002) Response planning and generation in the flight reservation system. Prentice Hall.
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Tuttle, J.R. (1999). System and method for locating individuals and equipment, airline reservation system and communication system. Pearsons Prentice Hall.
APPENDIX
FLIGTH RESERVATION SYSTEM
The above figure shows the relative effort distribution among various stages of a basic or typical product.
