RickSeaney.com

Lighter Side of the Google Acquisition of ITA Software

2010-07-02T11:06:28Z

For the past several hours I have become the educator in chief for reporters who are struggling to write about Google’s acquisition of ITA today.

Walking them through the acronym soup of ITA, QPX, DACS, GDS and OTA is no small chore – let alone trying to explain what the heck ITA Software actually does to be worth 700 million dollars — as the press tries to make heads or tails of today’s announcement (not that they didn’t have 2 months to prep their stories).

BTW googling “OTA” has the top listing as “Orthopedic Trauma Association” and “Organic Trade Association” – it looks like the folks at the mothership will have to tinker with their relevancy algorithms if they plan on taking over as the world’s largest “online travel agency.”

Not that Google really wants to be an agency per se (one who sells actual tickets) as they note they weren’t interested in that avenue in their press release (which their CEO hedged later during their investor call saying it isn’t “likely.”)

I found the transcript of the investor call fascinating.

Mr. Schmidt (Google’s CEO) states he personally was frustrated with the online air travel shopping experience.

This conjured up a mental image of him slaving over a Nexus One Droid Phone (or maybe even an IPad – on second thought probably not …) hitting the 20+ travel websites that @googletravel say people check before consummating a travel transaction. Oddly enough the bulk of these 20+ sites have their ticket price quotes powered by the very company he just purchased. (isn’t “Search One and Done” already someone’s tag line …)

I guess the newly minted travel team at Google has some yet undisclosed magical pixie dust they will sprinkle on airlines to stop them from releasing seats at one price at 9am then changing their minds minutes later, while simultaneously halting their practice of changing millions of airfare price points throughout the day and curtailing their headlong leap into obfuscating comparison ticket shopping with a myriad of a la carte options on top of base ticket prices (I’d like a pinch of that dust to dribble on U.S. legislators who want to tax things like bag fees by spinning it as anti-airline and thus consumer friendly).

All needling aside — Google today just changed the air travel landscape in a big way (assuming this transaction clears what could be an interesting antitrust review) — kudos to my friends at ITA for fulfilling the dream, all that hard work has paid off – well done.

After ruminating about the ramifications of this game changing deal for the past couple of months, I still don’t have enough information to formulate exactly how this thing will play out in an ever more socially mobile generation.

I do know one thing – it is going to be a wild ride and I for one am looking forward to it.

Spirit Strike: Flights Canceled June 12/13, Passenger Options

2010-06-13T14:40:02Z

The pilots who fly the planes for Spirit Airlines have gone on strike, and the carrier has canceled all flights for June 12 and June 13. It is not clear yet if more cancelations are coming.

Initially, when the airline strike was looming, a Spirit spokeswoman indicated to us that the low cost carrier would keep flying, but at the moment, that’s not the case.

If you were scheduled to fly today, you have a 3 options:

1. You can receive a credit for the full amount of your flight (valid for a year) plus a $100 “future flight credit”

2. You can receive a full refund by calling 1-800-772-7117

3. If you made your reservations before May 11 and purchased the airline’s insurance, call Travel Guard at 1-866-877-3191

The above information is on the Spirit Airline website, and it only refers to today’s flights; however, in an interview with the Wall St. Journal today, Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza indicated “his goal is to get the airline flying again as soon as possible, but he said he couldn’t say at this point what will happen.”

Keep checking back with Spirit Airlines.

Six Reasons to Hop on a Plane this Summer

2010-06-10T20:36:24Z

Attention would-be vacationers: go ahead, find that cheap airfare and get on a plane.

There are good reasons to do so.

I found six, and you may know more; mine include better passenger protections, lower airline fees and occasionally free pizza.

And that reminds me – I’ll save a slice for that alert TSA screener at the Indianapolis airport security line, too.

Passengers May Get Better Compensation for Bumping, Lost Bags

2010-06-02T20:29:51Z

The Dept. of Transportation wants to hear from YOU. And I have no doubt, they’ll also be hearing from the airlines (that’ll be the screaming you hear – okay, just kidding – kind of).

Anyway, the DOT has a whole host of newly proposed regulations to “enhance” the airline passenger experience, and they’d like to know how you feel about it. So do I for that matter.

You can see all the details on these proposed airline rules on Dept. of Transportation site, but here are a few of the highlights (I think you’ll like these):

BUMPING COMPENSATION: It could be raised to between $650 and $1,300; or the DOT might just toss out those limits and reimburse fliers between 100% and 200% the cost of their tickets – and bumping compensation could also be provided to frequent fliers using “free” tickets
BAG FEES: Passengers might be compensated for bag fees if they get bumped or flights are canceled
LOST BAGS: If bags aren’t delivered to passengers in a timely manner, there could be an additional payout
NO PENALTY TICKET CANCELATIONBS: Make and cancel reservations within 24 hours and maybe get a total refund (some airlines already do this, including Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, United, US Airways, and Virgin America)
TRANSPARENCY: The DOT wants the government to show the true price of airline ticket, meaning the base plus those taxes and fees (FareCompare always shows the full price of an airline ticket)
PEANUTS: They might, once and for all, ban peanuts on planes

Want to comment on these proposed airline rules? You have 60 days to do so. You’ll need this docket number – DOT-OST-2010-0140 – then head the this site at http://www.regulations.gov and they’ll tell you what you need to do.

See my longer piece on the proposed airline rules, which includes my take on what is prompting all this.

Finding Cheap Deals with Twitter and Facebook – Video Guide

2010-05-29T15:04:30Z

I had fun at CNN the other day, talking about the bargains you can get if you’re connected to Twitter and Facebook.

These are deals aimed exclusively at the “social media set”.

What if you don’t tweet or don’t have a Facebook account? Relax, it’s real easy – and I’ve got a simple step-by-step “how-to-to” that’ll get you on Twitter and Facebook and enjoying cheap airfare deals in no time. Seriously, you can do this (if my social media-challenged editor can do it, anyone can. “He’s got that right.” – Ed.).

So take a look at this video, courtesy CNN Money – it’s short and to the point, and I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised at what’s out there waiting for you.

Gulf Oil Spill: Cheaper Airfare in Region – My Interview with Fox New’s Shepard Smith

2010-05-28T16:19:54Z

Shepard Smith of Fox News introduced me as the CEO of FareCompare – he then helpfully explained that FareCompare.com is the ” place where we go to sort of look at what everything’s costing”.

Everything airfare, that is.

And as I told Shep in our live interview yesterday, we are definitely seeing airfare prices trending downward to the New Orleans area – recently, airline ticket prices were down about 20%, whereas they are up about 20% everywhere else (compared to last year’s historic lows).

Shepard Smith says he’s hearing from people in Destin and Panama Beach who depend on tourism, saying “We’re hurting”. I believe it, and depending on the fluid situation with that gulf oil spill, we could see more discounting on the way.

Look here for the interview or just click on the picture above (it’s not very long).

Facebook Article in Time Magazine – A Must-Read

2010-05-27T17:44:59Z

I am sitting here on a plane without Wi-Fi (how gauche) reading an actual paper version of Time I picked up at the airport newsstand. The cover story is about Facebook, ostensibly about privacy issues if you are to believe the cover’s tag-line, but oh so much more – a must-read.

The cover caught my eye when I was picking up my normal 3 hour flight reading material at the newsstand, the Wall St. Journal and Financial Times.

The cover art appears to have 1,295 icons of Facebook (FB) profile pictures. These folks evidently were part of an “I Want to Be in TIME” FB group contest – not sure why exactly 1,295 icons (looks like they have room for more) but it appears that some have gotten their 3 nanoseconds of fame (one reason to update that profile pic. ;-)

I must admit I am a Twitter aficionado (having just attended the Chirp Developer conference recently) and have been dragging my feet on getting into Facebook whole hog (as well as LinkedIn) which I hope to correct over the next few months.

One reason for my FB reticence has been feeling bad about not accepting “friend” requests from random people – it makes me feel like I am dissing them (which isn’t the case).

Check out the rest of Facebook Article in Time Magazine – A Must-Read…

Obviously friends are the secret sauce of FB and not everyone gets a lot of non-acquaintance requests which is one reason I feel more comfortable with the “loose” follower relationship on Twitter (that and my brother keeps firing away Mob Wars stuff at me on FB that I have no clue about – yet).

I plan to change my lackadaisical behavior on these two social media platforms shortly (a not so New Year’s resolution). I want to really dig into Facebook (even more after reading this article) as well as LinkedIn (4sq and gowalla are also on my summer short list).

Ok – so back to the article: as I read this very well written piece, it becomes clear to me the writer is half my age. The first dead giveaway was the “insider” Harry Potter references along with an amusing anecdote about him being excommunicated from FB and how he felt he lost a part of his life (by violating the FB terms and conditions).

A few of the choice bits from the article that caught my eye include:

“The willingness of FB users to share and overshare …is critical to its success”
I didn’t realize the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was the group to handle complaints about online privacy
“There’s something unsettling about granting the world a front-row seat to all of our interests. But Zuckerberg is betting it is not unsettling enough …”
Zuckerberg business card title in the early years
Aha! moment for first time FB users is something all usability people should be striving for
Statistics that are mind blowing on reach and stickiness
How Google covets FB ad targeting based on profile and friends in the low keyword targeting world
How FB concentrates on the popular things in fragmented worldwide locales (not one shoe fits all)
A history timeline graphic that helped me catch up on the important events

I think FB should use this article on its own site for first-timers to get a better understanding of what it’s all about, how it got to where it is today and where it is heading – enjoy!

Change in My Personal Blog’s Focus

2010-05-27T17:51:05Z

I am not sure exactly sure how air travel got into my DNA, but certainly it is a strand that is hard to shake (presuming one wants to shake it, which is not the case for me).

I started this blog in July 2007 on a lark after reading a book on the joys and pitfalls of blogging in the corporate environment that everyone should take a gander at, called “Naked Conversations”.

After years of doing just about everything one can do in what some call information technology, from designing data centers to writing firmware for hardware devices along with reams of code in several languages for hundreds of projects (if that is not a run-on sentence, I don’t know what is)

I have found in the past few years a passion for writing (regardless of my terrible grammar and spelling), especially about the intricacies of air travel and airline ticket pricing, in which I have invested almost a decade now in study and research.

Now that I am writing more (my choice), it is time to get a bit of organization.

I have recently been placing my consumer focused analysis, tips and newsy musings on the FareCompare site where they belong – a place where those that want to save a buck on air travel can read and ruminate on the ever more complex process of scoring a cheap flight (I learn something from someone online every day).

I also will have a variety of syndicated content like my weekly ABCNews.com column.

For now, however, I am going to focus my personal blog (the one you’re now reading) on what some might call air travel geek stuff – a lab, if you will, which I have been wanting to do for a long time.

I intend to change the editorial direction on this blog, to muse about:

Algorithms and tools we are working on at FareCompare (feedback is most welcome)
Wonky in-depth research related to our huge historical database of worldwide airfare pricing information (with a goal of productizing the ideas on our site)
My analysis of Hitwise sentiment and competitive intelligence information
Evangelizing Social Media and how it is going to change the way we shop for travel in the future (and how it could collapse under the weight of privacy issues)
Opening up the curtains on FareCompare.com and why we are so different in a world of commodity airline price quotes

I hope you will continue to follow both tracks of musings (over at FareCompare (my author page) and here) and provide me the invaluable feedback needed to have a more lively and active two-way conversation.

Let’s get started

Oil Spill Not Affecting Gulf Airline Ticket Prices – Yet

2010-05-25T22:56:34Z

I decided to take a look at that terrible oil spill in the gulf, and see how it’s affecting airline ticket prices.

So far – and you’ll see this clearly on the airfare price charts I created – it hasn’t had much affect on flights to New Orleans (but you sure can see how much prices have risen since last year).

Later this week, I plan to investigate other gulf cities, and the airline ticket pricing situation there – and see if we’re starting to see some real change.

If any of you have (or had) plans to visit the region – perhaps a vacation on the beach in Panama City, Florida – let us know if you’re going ahead with your plans, or if you are starting to think about looking elsewhere.

Airfare Deals for Memorial Day Weekend: Not Too Late (Yet)

2010-05-19T12:56:17Z

No, it’s not too late to find a good deal for flights during the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend - but you’re cutting it close.

Some ideas:

Low cost carriers: Focus on AirTran, JetBlue, Southwest and others as you are not yet inside their 7-day advance purchase window
Budget: Check the cheapest prices in the U.S. (and beyond) by using FareCompare’s Where-to-Go cheap flight finder for May with a $300 air travel limit (or set the limits to any amount you’re willing to pay)
Surcharge: many airlines will include $30 airfare surcharges (folded into the price of your ticket) for travel May 27 and May 28
Cheapest day to fly: probably Saturday May 29

Please take a look at How to Get a Last Minute Memorial Weekend Airfare Deal for more advice and tips.