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DETECTIVE STORY

Testing Problem Parts

by George Martin

Start ı A Good Deal ı The Mystery Unfolds ı Postmortem ı Sources and PDF

Donıt you just love a good mystery? Well, Iıve got a mystery for you, and I warn you that it remains unsolved. So, if you donıt like unanswered questions, stop reading now.

First as a side note, I must say that I donıt get it. I must be missing something. At the moment I am planning a vacation and looking into airfares. Because this trip is for pleasure and not business, I can be somewhat flexible. Iım used to going to a travel agent to ask about flight schedules and ticket prices, but I thought I would try some of the online travel services instead.

Well, Iıd like to go to San Francisco for $25. I didnıt get that fare on Priceline, a web site that allows you to input a price to see if any airline will make that deal. So, next I tried Expedia, where you designate when you want to travel and they give you a price. After you book the flights, Expedia gives you the departure times. Priceline has a software patent on their approach so Expedia canıt infringe on that patent. I sure hope Expedia has a patent on their approach as well. Although that site gave me a reasonable price on a flight, Iım not about to buy a ticket with an unknown departure time. Itıs not much fun landing at JFK at 1 a.m.

My next stop was Travelocity. I put in the dates and they gave me a list of flights and their prices. I liked what I saw, so I bought the tickets. But, on a flight from Hartford, Connecticut to Salt Lake City, Utah I paid about $60 more using this approach. Does any of this make sense? But then again, I might just be old-fashioned. What are the values of these patents? Arenıt computers great?

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