Ticket

Abstract: An unspecified-time airline ticket representing a purchased seat on a flight to be selected later, by the airlines, for a traveler-specified itinerary (e.g., NY to LA on March 3rd) is disclosed. Various methods and systems for matching an unspecified-time ticket with a flight by the system (100) are also disclosed. An exemplary method includes: making available on a reservation system (300) an unspecified-time ticket; examining with a scheduling system (160) a plurality of flights which would fulfill the terms of the unspecified-time ticket to determine which flight to select; and providing notification of the selected flight prior to departure. The disclosed embodiments provide travelers (105) with reduced airfare in return for flight-time flexibility and, in turn, permits airlines to fill seats that would have otherwise gone unbooked.

Abstract: A disclosed hand-held device provides a game service system having a wire-less communication interface, a display screen and a microprocessor which generates a number of game service interfaces on the display screen. The hand-held device may input ticket voucher information and communicate with a remote transaction server such that a ticket voucher may be validated. Additionally, the hand-held device may be used to provide a variety of gaming services using different game service interfaces provided on the device. These hand-held devices may be checked out by a game service representative in a secure manner such that the game service representative may roam a game playing area and provide various game services to game players in the game playing area using the hand-held device. These game services may include ticket validation, a prize validation, food services, accommodation services or a gaming operations services.

Abstract: A disclosed gaming machine is used to provide a method of registering a player to a loyalty program such as a player tracking program at the gaming machine. At the gaming machine, the player or a casino service representative may enter identification information such as a name, an address and biometric information using an input mechanism located on the gaming machine or on a hand-held wireless device. The loyalty program information may be combined with information such as serial number or a bar-code read from a loyalty program instrument in a loyalty program registration request message sent to a loyalty program server such as a player tracking server. The loyalty program instrument may include a magnetic striped card, a smart card, a printed ticket, a room key, a cell-phone or a portable computing device. When the registration request is confirmed by the loyalty program server, the player may begin a loyalty program session on a gaming machine and earn loyalty points.