Superfly launched at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in 2010 with plans to become the Mint.com of travel, or more specifically, for your rewards and frequent flier miles and travel spending. Following Kayak’s lead, over time, the startup added metasearch capabilities, integrating rewards and points into the flight booking process. Its approach attracted ex-Kayak CFO Bill Smith, who began advising the… → Read More
Over 25 million Americans participate in frequent flier programs which allow them to earn airline miles through flights and credit cards. Today, Chicago-based Rocketmiles is launching a service which will allow those travelers to earn miles just by booking rooms from select hotels, which Rocketmiles serves up directly on its website, and soon, on mobile, too. → Read More
Sure, socially-powered recommendations or good old-fashioned serendipity can be useful tools for discovery, but, when it comes to deciding where you’re going to take the family on vacation, you’re probably not going to just throw a dart at a dartboard and wing it. You’re probably going to spend some time researching and try to make an informed, democratic decision.
If that’s the case, would you… → Read More
Last week, Priceline.com acquired Kayak for $1.8 billion. That’s more than twice what Google paid for ITA back in 2010. Why did Priceline make this move? And why now?
Priceline acquired Kayak for $40 a share, about $500 million in cash, $1 billion in Priceline equity, and about $300 million in stock options. Kayak got a premium price — a 29 percent premium, to be exact — from Priceline… → Read More
Delta is joining American Airlines and Southwest Airlines as the third major brand to deny travel startups access to users’ frequent flyer accounts for the purpose of tracking airlines miles and rewards. Startups affected include TripIt (reportedly*), MileWise and AwardWallet (confirmed) and others. Here’s the situation in a nutshell: the airlines think your rewards data is theirs. Users think… → Read More
Australian airline, Jetstar, will begin offering iPad rentals for customers by this April. The iPads will come loaded with “movie, music, magazines, books and games” and will be on A320 flights in Australia and Asia. Jetstar has been running a pilot program with the iPads since last summer and the results have been good. → Read More
Remember back in 2008, when the airlines told us that they needed to add extra charges and fees because of rising fuel prices? Please tell me you didn’t think when fuel prices went down they’d drop those fees? It all comes down to profit, and we can definitely see that given what happened to Scott Jordan from ScottEVest. Scott makes a line of travel clothing, and in recent months has been… → Read More
It took years for the technology to come out, but in-flight WiFi was supposed to be the next big thing. The problem is, no one really uses it. Is it still too expensive? Too much of a pain to pull out the laptop? Whatever the reason, less then 10% of people flying are using in-flight wifi. → Read More
While I’m sure it’s super fun to stuff your gaming console in your carry-on luggage so it doesn’t get stolen, it’s not all that practical. Yale University student Jesse Maiman found that out the hard way when his Xbox 360 disappeared from his checked luggage on a US Airways flight. → Read More
Doug Aamoth reporting from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Today in the B terminal I saw some good-looking New England Patriots cheerleaders, a good-looking Maria Menounos, and then everything went all haywire when two guys in bumblebee tutus showed up followed by Richard Branson dressed like a patriotic psychiatrist’s wet dream. → Read More
CNet is reporting that Delta will add WiFi service to some of its flights in 2009. Initially available on shuttle flights, long-term plans are to make WiFi available on all 330 planes in Delta’s domestic fleet. Expect to pay $10 on flights up to 3 hours, and $13 on flights over 3 hours. → Read More
While Delta initially said it had no plans to filter Web sites from its in-flight broadband offerings, complaints have caused the airline to change its mind. When the service launches later this, Delta will block inappropriate Web sites, thus saving humanity from itself. A Delta spokesperson says the filtering will be limited in scope, he didn’t elaborate as to what exactly constitutes… → Read More
Canadian travelers will soon be able to emulate their favorite CrunchGear blogger, Peter Ha, as they glom on to Aircell’s Gogo wireless internet service aboard their next international Air Canada flight. You’ll recall that Sweet Pete recently blogged from 37,000 feet using Gogo service aboard American Airlines. What fun we all had! You’ll have to wait until at least spring of 2009, as… → Read More
Hot off the travel-related press, is news that Jet Blue’s in-flight Wi-Fi service has added support for checking more e-mail accounts than just Yahoo! Mail and BlackBerry Mail, which were previously the only ones available. Jaunted.com has more details, including… [S]tarting today, you’ll be able to check your accounts at Gmail, AOL, Hotmail and Windows Live Mail, too. If your… → Read More
The constant attempt to ignore the person next to you on the airplane is about to get a little bit easier, thanks to Delta’s plans to install these Thompson Solutions Cozy Suite seats on all of its Boeing 777 and 767 airplanes by 2010. → Read More
Someone pinch me and tell me this isn’t happening. The European Commission announced today that mobile phone use over European skies has been given the go ahead. An onboard network that’s connected to a ground network is being deployed that will allow travelers to babble on and message at their leisure. Pricing hasn’t been announced but many suspect that providers will price aggressively… → Read More
You know how these days at the airport you can only take a clear plastic bag with 3oz bottles of liquids or gels? Remember the panic that precipitated that? Well, the trial is underway and they’re revealing their dastardly methods. Apparently they were going to mix Hydrogen Peroxide and Tang, then detonate the resulting mixture with a disposable camera. Does this sound like a national… → Read More
Why should American Airlines and Jet Blue have all the fun? Southwest is getting set to test in-flight Internet access as well. It’ll partner with Row 44, offering satellite-based access on four different aircraft sometime this summer. Passengers will have “full access to the Internet” over the “the highest bandwidth available to commercial airlines in the United… → Read More
Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin flew on Virgin’s inaugural flight and has posted a great writeup. Oh please, please, please let this be the final blow to Northwest Airlines. I’ve been waiting for those backwards, greedy bastards to go under for years now. Virgin America has low prices (SF to NY for $278), WiFi access, super comfortable seats, touchscreen infotainment systems built into… → Read More
In-flight Wi-Fi seems to be all the rage these days. Lufthansa is bringing sexy back Wi-Fi back and Qantas is joining the fray, but when will domestic airlines quit quibbling about giving us food and blankets to realize there’s money to be made in Wi-Fi? Huzzah! American Airlines has pulled their head out and teamed up with AirCell to bring Wi-Fi to passengers next year. Transcontinental… → Read More
It took three years for the FCC to state that flying the friendly skies should not include jabbering on our cellphones. In a closing statement, the FCC ruled that research “provides insufficient technical information on whether the use of cellular phones onboard aircraft may cause harmful interference to terrestrial networks.” As far as I understand it, the original issue was that… → Read More
The WSJ has a great piece on how American-based airlines are going to soon offer WiFi on flights. With the growing demand and absolute need for the Internet everywhere we go, it was only a matter of time before US-based airlines jumped on ship. According to the article, within the next 12 months, airlines will offer in-flight net connections, IM, and e-mail. The announcements are expected to be… → Read More
Booking flights is one of the most depressing parts of traveling. Those big adventure plans always seem great until you see how much it’s going to cost. But all is not lost. There are several ways to significantly reduce your airline expenditures. And fortunately for you, we’re familiar with more than a few ways to help you realize that goal. → Read More
Apple has announced that it has struck deals with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to provide seamless integration for iPod on flights. Starting in early 2007, iPod owners will be able to plug their devices into seat adapters that will charge their players and play video on the seat displays. So that the next time you fly, you might be subjected to your… → Read More
The Korea Times is reporting that following a similar move by the Aussies at Qantas, Korean Air has banned Dell laptops and Apple Powerbooks and iBooks from its flights. The decision comes at the heels of recent widespread issues with exploding laptop batteries. Laptops from Sony, the makers of the questionable battery, remain unaffected because they were apparently using better, non-exploding… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
