Atomic VRM

I have a pretty good idea of the business trips I will take this year. Current best estimate (will certainly change) is

1. March - London
2. April - Brussels
3. June - Dulles
4. July - Oxford
5. September - Wellington
6. October - Tokyo
7. December - Santa Clara

By default I will fly Air Canada or United (or other Star Alliance partners) to ensure that I get the miles for Aeroplan and the perks associated with my status. But, for any one trip I would definitely consider another airline if the price were right - I'm loyal only up to a point.

I would even consider switching loyalty programs if it was worth my while. It wouldn't be for a single trip, it could be for a year's worth of travel.

A rough estimate of the cost for the above trips is $9-10K. Is this a big enough number for other airlines to want to proactively court my business by quoting me a number for the complete set? Is it large enough for them to throw in some status perks?

VRM should account for such dependencies between individual items - either an airline bids on the package or not at all.

Pseudo-XML might look like

<vrm:rfp>
 <pol:all>

  <vrm:item>
   <air:flight return="1" maxConnect="1">
    <air:from id="yow">YOW</air:from>
    <air:to id="lhr">LHR</air:to>
    <air:itin>
      <air:day start="#yow" end="#lhr">07-07-07</air:day>
      <air:day start="#lhr" end="#yow">14-07-07</air:day>
    </air:itin>
   </air:flight>
  </vrm:item>

  <vrm:item>
   <air:flight return="1" maxConnect="2">
    <air:from id="yow2">YOW</air:from>
    <air:to id="wel">WEL</air:to>
    <air:itin>
      <air:day start="#yow2" end="#wel">10-09-07</air:day>
      <air:day start="#wel" end="#yow2">24-09-07</air:day>
    </air:itin>
   </air:flight>
  </vrm:item>

 </pol:all>
</vrm:rfp>

I'd love to see the equivalent microformat.

Tags: vrm, aeroplan, business travel