Hipmunk first online travel agent to integrate Amtrak searches

by Grant Martin on

It is the El Dorado of Online Travel Agents (OTAs) to provide the fullest spectrum of travel options when users search from point A to point B. Having more data than the competition allows passengers to be confident that they’re getting the lowest price, and when they have that feeling then they keep their business in one place. That’s why metacrawlers like Kayak and Mobissimo have enjoyed so much praise in the community.

Hipmunk is now adding a new layer to the passenger travel game by integrating Amtrak fares along side their already-powerful airfare engine. This means that for itineraries like those along the east coast (where Amtrak service is strong), train tickets and prices will appear in parallel to those provided by airline carriers. The reflected prices and times should hopefully give passengers greater flexibility and pricing power when considering routes.

The inclusion of Amtrak itineraries into general travel search is a first in the OTA industry, and highlights Hipmunk’s visionary approach to displaying the best fare content for its users.

As far as integration, train fares, amenities and connecting data will be displayed next to the normal airline itineraries, and when a user clicks through, an Amtrak page will be deep-linked with preloaded dates and times.

Don’t count on booking flights and train tickets under one seamless reservation though. As Adam Goldberg, CEO of Hipmunk tells us:

“Users can’t combine air and train into a single ticket because it’s not supported by any of our partners’ ticketing systems. If this becomes possible in the future, we’ll definitely explore it. In the meantime, the best bet is to do two one-way bookings.”

Nevertheless, this new upgrade engine is a welcome approach to travel booking, a breath of fresh air sorely needed in the OTA industry. Team Hipmunk: you continue to amaze us.

[Update, 0948EST, Sept 8, 2001: Kevin May from Tnooz points out that Momondo has been hosting Amtrak fares for more than a year. That would make Hipmunk the second OTA to provide combined airfare and train booking.]

Galley Gossip: A letter to the producers of Project Runway regarding flight attendant uniforms

by Heather Poole on

Dear Project Runway Producers,

Have I got a challenge for you! With the premiere of the new television show Pan Am airing September 25th on ABC, there’s been a lot of talk about airlines in the news lately. One can’t help but compare stewardesses of yesterday to flight attendants today, and yet the job rarely resembles what it once was so many years ago. Long gone are the days of glamour when stewardesses had strict age, weight and height requirements, and only averaged 18 months on the job. Nowadays flight attendants are allowed to be married, grow old, and gain weight – just like the rest of society!

Image is important to an airline. This is why most airlines have established very strict grooming standards flight attendants must abide by. I’ve been told passengers have more confidence in an airline when its employees look good. That makes sense considering when I look good, I feel good, and that in turn has a positive affect on passengers. But in America we come in all different sizes, shapes, and colors, opposed to our foreign counterparts who are hired because they are a specific size, shape and color. This is why it’s more difficult for US carriers to design a uniform that looks good on everyone.

Since 9/11 airlines have had to reduce expenses to stay in business. I’ve been working as a flight attendant for sixteen years, so I’ve experienced first hand just how much travel has changed in the last decade. Food was the first thing to go, followed by magazines, pillows and blankets. Even a few colleagues and a couple of airlines disappeared. This might explain why our polyester uniforms are no longer quite as impressive as they once were when air travel was considered a luxury and only the wealthy could afford to fly. Needless to say our uniforms have to be cheap enough to outfit tens of thousands of employees.

What most people don’t realize is that flight attendants today work ten times harder than ever before. A 12-14 hour work day followed by an 8 hour layover is not uncommon. Nor is working three back to back trips in a row. This adds up to a lot of wear and tear on a uniform in a short period of time. That being said, durability should play a major factor in our uniform design. Comfort would also be nice. Remember being able to move, stretch, bend and work in a cabin that alternates between hot and cold is very important.

The pencil thin, girdle wearing stewardesses of yesterday have evolved. Even so we, too, would love nothing more than to walk through the airport terminal with the same pride they felt by wearing a distinguished uniform that is fashionable, but also age appropriate and practical to work in. Why not take on this challenge for those of us who work the not so friendly skies and design stylish coordinating uniform pieces that are affordable and comfortable and will look good on your daughter, son, wife, brother, mother or father. Not an easy task, I know. This could be your biggest challenge yet. Think you can do it? Millions of flight attendants would be forever grateful if you could at least give it a try.

Sincerely,

Heather Poole

Photo courtesy of JFithian

Hurricane rebooking madness: US Airways wins, American loses

by Grant Martin on

Stella Service just captured an interesting slice of airline customer service data during hurricane Irene. The weather catastrophe, which stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers throughout the weekend, left many trying to rebook their tickets at the airport and on the phone — only to be met with hours of on-hold-music and frustration.

Not all airlines handled the disaster equally, however. Based on a series of eight test phone calls and a dozen tweets to each airline, Stella determined the responsiveness of each airline and ranked them accordingly. What they found was that on average, hold times with US Airways were an average of only 2 minutes and 38 seconds long, while to reach an agent at American it took over an hour and a half.

Similarly, Delta was the best at responding to Twitter issues, responding to 100% of Tweets in an average of 14 minutes, while neither American nor United nor AirTran even bothered to respond.

These data paint a rough portrait of the state of customer service at the airlines during a weather emergency, though they should be taken with a grain of salt. In their defense, American and Delta have more flights departing from New York City, so it follows that more passengers were probably displaced on those carriers. Southwest and US Airways, conversely, have their major hubs inland.

Attention to Twitter, however, is harder to defend. Any airline can devote manpower to a Twitter feed, and letting customers stew in that medium without resolution is just plain irresponsible. As a silver lining to this study, hopefully these data provide incentive for the airlines to put more thought into their social media strategies.

You can read the full dataset over at the Stella Blog.Update 1: United Airlines issued the following statement following the release of this data:

STELLAService sent 12 Tweets to our inactive @Continental handle, and we replied to six of those from our active @United account. A short time later, we saw the same 12 questions submitted to the @United handle. STELLAService’s assertion is that we didn’t reply to any of the questions they submitted to @United, which is only true because we had already answered the identical questions they submitted to @continental.

Had we not answered the questions they tweeted to our inactive @continental handle, we would have replied to the questions they tweeted to our active @United handle, just as we replied to more than 200 other customer inquiries on Twitter.

Update 2: American Airlines issued the following statement following the release of this data:

We disagree with the findings of the study. We believe it is highly inaccurate and based on an insufficient sample size – eight calls and 12 tweets on average – that that skewed results and does not represent reality. We handled more than 100,000 calls on Friday, and during the period in question our customers waited an average of 21 minutes – far less than alleged and in line with most of our peers. Our response time for AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold customers averaged from 30 seconds to less than three minutes per call. Of the 78 tweets directed to us from Thursday through Sunday, a significant number of which did not request action, we responded to 46 tweets either publicly or privately to assist customers, and we also sent four proactive tweets with travel information related to the storm. Each day, and especially in times of service disruption, we make responding to and informing our customers – whether through social or other traditional direct channels – our highest priority.

How rolling shutter technology can warp your photos

by Grant Martin on

There’s an interesting discussion going on over at Reddit about the concept of rolling shutter photos, and how the technology can limit image acquisition on a smartphone. The image on the right is of an aircraft propeller and was snapped with an iPhone. But because the image is collected from top to bottom (albeit, very quickly), only parts of the blades are captured by the phone. The result is what appears to be an image depicting propeller blades bending away from the engine in some twisted mechanical failure. Rest assured — it’s only an artifact from the camera.

Compare this to a normal camera where the entire image is captured at one time, using a shutter and a CCD (or film!) and one can see the benefits of using a real camera for capturing faster moving objects.

Rolling shutter cameras — or rather, their limitations — also appear to create some interesting effects on video capture. The below video shows a similar propeller blade where the same sort of distortion is apparent. It was also shot on an iPhone.

First domestic 787 begins construction

by Grant Martin on

Production and delivery of the 787 jumbo jet is starting to shift into high gear, and as ANA shows off its new Japanese aircraft the focus is now turning to the domestic carriers. Delivery of the new Boeing aircraft to its first domestic carrier is slated for the merged Continental/United airlines — it was Continental’s order (in 2004!) before the two giants joined forces.

Planned for delivery in the beginning of next year, the 787 is scheduled to begin service between Auckland, NZ and Houston, Texas.

In its current state, the aircraft is just having its wings attached at the Boeing plant in Washington. If you look closely, you can see that the fuselage is in multiple pieces and the tail isn’t even in sight. Either way, that fact that the airplane is on the production line is exciting news — we look forward to seeing the inside.