Here’s a great little service that Orbitz is currently advertising.
Book a trip with the online travel service and they will automatically contact you if things go wrong. A free TLC Alert will be sent to your cell phone or PDA if your flight is delayed or canceled, an airport is shut down, or even if your departure gate has changed.
In addition, Orbitz will send a TLC alert if a problem develops with your hotel, such as “pool and fitness center closures” or if there is “construction or maintenance.” Orbitz can send the alerts to six of your closest associates as well, just in case you are meeting someone and need to let them know you will be late.
Personally, this seems like a pretty cool service to me. Two of the last three times I’ve traveled, my flights have been delayed three hours. That’s three more hours I could have spent enjoying Chicago and San Francisco instead of wasting time in the airport. In today’s competitive, cut-throat world of travel agents, such nice little extras as this can make all the difference on who gets my business.