Question

(Airline Reservations System) A small airline has just purchased a computer for its new automated reservations system. You have becn asked to develop the new system. You are to write an application to assign seats on cach flight of the airline's only plane (capacity: 10 seats). Your application should display the following alternatives: Please type 1 for First Class and Please type 2 for Economy. If the user types \(1,\) your application should assign a scat in the firstclass section (seats \(1-5\) ). If the user types 2 , your application should assign a seat in the economy section (scats \(6-10\) ). Your application should then display a boarding pass indicating the person's seat number and whether it is in the first-class or economy section of the plane. Use a one-dimensional array of primitive type boolean to represent the seating chart of the plane. Initialize all the elements of the array to false to indicate that all the seats are empty. As each seat is assigned, set the corresponding elements of the array to true to indicate that the seat is no longer available. Your application should never assign a seat that has already been assigned. When the economy section is full, your application should ask the person if it is acceptable to be placed in the first-class section (and vice versa). If yes, make the appropriate seat assignment. If no, display the message "Next flight leaves in 3 hours."

Short answer

Use a boolean array to track seats; assign based on user's class choice, offer alternate if full.

Step-by-step solution

Initialize the Seating Chart

Create a boolean array of size 10 representing the seats on the plane. Initialize all elements to 'false', indicating all seats are initially empty.

Display Menu Options

Prompt the user with two options: type 1 for First Class or type 2 for Economy. Read the user's choice.

Assign Seat Based on User Choice

Check the user's input. If it's 1 (First Class), iterate through seats 1-5 in the array. If it's 2 (Economy), iterate through seats 6-10.

Check Availability and Assign Seat

For the selected section, check each seat for availability ('false'). Once an available seat is found, assign it by setting the corresponding array element to 'true'. Then, display the boarding pass with seat number and section.

Handle Full Section Scenario

If no seats are available in the chosen section, check the other section for availability. Ask the user if they want to be placed in the other section.

Alternate Offer or Display Wait Message

If the user accepts to sit in the alternate section, assign a seat from that section. If not, display the message "Next flight leaves in 3 hours."

Key concepts

Boolean Array

In an airline reservations system, a seating chart is often represented using a Boolean array. This is a simple array of Boolean values, either true or false, that indicates the availability of each seat.

• False means the seat is available.
• True means the seat is occupied.

Initially, all values in the array are set to false to show that all seats are empty. As passengers book their seats, the respective array positions are updated to true, reflecting that those seats are no longer available. Using Boolean arrays helps efficiently keep track of seat allocations without complexity.

Seating Assignment

The seating assignment in an airline reservation system needs to be handled with care to ensure passengers get seated as they prefer. The system divides seats into two categories:

• First Class (seats 1-5)
• Economy Class (seats 6-10)

When a passenger selects a class, the system loops through the respective segment of the Boolean array to locate an available seat. Once found, that seat is assigned to the passenger. This involves changing the corresponding Boolean value in the array from false to true.

Conditional Logic

Conditional logic is pivotal in controlling the flow of an airline reservations system. It determines how to efficiently assign seats based on user input and seat availability.
Decision-making starts by evaluating the user's class choice through conditional statements (e.g., if-else).

• If a passenger selects First Class, the system checks the first set of seats (1-5).
• If Economy is chosen, it checks seats 6-10.

Furthermore, if the preferred section is fully booked, conditional logic is invoked again to prompt the user about the alternative option. If the other section still has seats available and the user agrees, an appropriate seat is assigned. If not, the system responds with a message about flight availability.

User Input Handling

Handling user inputs effectively is essential for a smooth airline reservations system experience.
The system prompts the user to choose either First Class or Economy, ensuring it accepts correct inputs by validating them. Invalid inputs must be managed carefully by asking the user to re-enter a valid choice, thus preventing system errors.
Once valid input is received, the system processes this information to allocate seats. If unexpected situations occur, such as full sections, user input handling involves politely offering alternatives or delivering necessary wait time messages, keeping users well-informed through every step of the booking process.