Argumentation In The Resolution Of Passenger Problems using Mobile Devices

Abstract

In an airline company, the planning and subsequent monitorization of flights is a complex problem because it involves the consideration of multiple and costly resources and their dependencies. Unexpected events force a change in the previously envisaged plans, making it necessary to exist some entity responsible for the resolution of possible problems that occasional irregularities might provoke. The Operational Control Center (OCC) is the entity that manages the operations of an airline company in the moments that precede the realization of flights, having as the primary objective to solve eventual problems minimizing as much as possible their impact in cost or delays. Three major consequences of this irregularities are the delays and cancellation of flights and the loss of transfers from passengers in transit to other destinations. The resolution of a irregularity has normally three major dimensions: the plane resources, the passengers and the crew. If one of the affected dimensions is the passenger, currently it is informed by the company of an alternative route as being a consumed fact, and if eventually he disagrees with the given solution he must head for the irregularities desk or call the company in order to fix it in some other way. This dissertation proposes a system where is possible an active participation of the passenger in the resolution of the problem through a mobile device, thereby trying to increase both the satisfaction and the commodity of the customer, minimizing the inherently existing drawbacks, by obtaining a custom solution. The human passenger (hereinafter referred to simply as passenger) will exchange messages with a software agent (hereinafter passenger agent) through a negotiation protocol based on argu- ments such that the resulting solution is according to its preferences. Through the use of Argumen- tation and based on the information the passenger agent has relatively whether to the passenger or to the environment that surrounds it, is allowed, in addition to justify more verbally and clearly the choice of the current proposal, find the closest possible solution to the needs and criteria of each affected passenger with minimal cost to the airline. The passenger agent should be able to understand the passenger (human) arguments and formulate new arguments to rebut the received ones, thus presenting counter-proposals. Allied to these features, the possible use of the mobile phone and the commodities that come along with it (traveling costs, length, time ..) makes it possible to carry out this process remotely without the need to move to irregularities desk.