Automated SMS Airline Reservation System: A Venture in Java Technology

Abstract

This project is undertaken to develop a system for serving client of airline ticketing offices. Currently, airline ticket reservations can be made through face-to-face transactions or through phone calls and other personal means of communication. This project attempts to add a new dimension to the reservation system within a workplace (that is, the local travel agency runs the home-based system) by Short Messaging Service (SMS).

The SMS system will be used to automate user reservations through the use of mobile phones. The objective of this project is to create a simple computed system that can create airline reservations by establishing communication between the client and the computer system. In short, the client communicates with the ticketing office’s computer system to make airline reservations with minimum human aid on the office’s side. Confirmation of flights will still take place through people-to-people communication.

This is fairly simple yet innovative system that the student has developed. There will not be a need for systems analysis and design of a complex information system. All the is needed for the ticketing office’s system is a personal desktop computer that can be connected to a digital mobile phone.

The new system will make it easier for clients to make airline reservations since automation is at work on the ticketing office’s system. The client sends an SMS (or “text”) message to the system to make an airline reservation as well as to make inquiries. This will also be beneficial for the students as a developer, challenging his creative abilities to create a system that may be simple, yet may require a complex solution when being developed in Java technology. Does the development require hard work, and the result? A simple yet functional system.

At this stage, the student was able to propose the system to a travel agency that goes by the name of CMG Travel and Tours. This institution has granted approval to the proposed system, and thus it can be implemented.

The system development process started with the analysis of the existing system and available resources. Since the project was feasible, the system was designed. After the design phase, the system was implemented with a prototype. This has been tested. The results were a working system that can be installed in the institution. During the development, the student did research on Java technology for all the components of the system. Only the core components have been implemented using this technology. The project has been evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in fulfilling the purpose of making it easier for clients to make airline reservations through the use of an automated system. It should be an asset to the institution and not a liability.

This system is based on a concept that can lead to further research in the area of SMS interfacing. SMS interfacing has been available through open-source software. It communicates with mobile devices such as mobile phones and GSN modems to be able to interface with desktop servers. These servers allow client access through the parsing of SMS messages sent by the client to the mobile device’s number, constructed with a prescribed structure that the server can understand.