WorldMate 4.0 With TripCatch: Let WorldMate Work For You

We're excited. Big time. For the last six months we've been working on TripCatch - the next phase in making WorldMate an even more convenient way for you to plan and manage your travel. We're just out of a closed Beta with about 1,000 active users, who told us quite plainly - "We love it". Well now you can get WorldMate with TripCatch too (well, on BlackBerry, for now).

What is TripCatch?

If you're reading this, you probably already know that WorldMate automates itinerary creation by reading the confirmation emails you forward to it, assembling the information in them into itineraries and adding location and meeting details. So far, you had to forward your confirmation emails to trips@worldmate.com manually. With TripCatch - even this is automated for you. TripCatch automatically identifies confirmation emails sent to you by travel agents, airlines, hotel chains etc., and integrates them into your itinerary. In plain English - TripCatch knows a certain email is a confirmation email and automatically takes care of it for you, it's that simple.

So what's so great about TripCatch?

TripCatch not only saves you the effort of manually forwarding an email. It also means that as soon as you get a confirmation email, WorldMate knows about your booking and can add it to your itinerary and start tracking it for you. So when you embark on your trip, you're guaranteed you have all your travel details with you. And as soon as you book something, WorldMate can help you with that booking - or assist with booking what you're still missing.TripCatch takes the hassle out of creating your itinerary. Whenever you enter WorldMate on your BlackBerry or on our website, your itinerary will already be built and will include all of your travel plans. It will save you time and effort and will make the whole process a lot easier.

I'm a control-freak. Can I retain control?

With TripCatch, you decide the level of automation you want. You can choose to have TripCatch alert you whenever a travel confirmation email is detected - at which point you can decide if you want to integrate that booking into your itinerary or not. Or you can decide to Always have TripCatch integrate the bookings it detects, and have a fully automated process. The choice is always in your hands.

 

So is WorldMate now looking into my inbox?

Your Privacy and Security Are Assured.

At WorldMate we take our members’ privacy very seriously. We built TripCatch with that goal in mind – it works quietly in the background only picking up travel-related emails. It filters emails with only very specific travel expressions and is careful not to pick up other messages.  It is optimized such that it almost never "catches" the wrong email. In fact, we had it catch dozens of thousands of emails during the private beta period, with virtually zero non-travel emails caught. Furthermore, all emails are immediately deleted off our server after they are parsed (including the ones that are "misses"), so even in the rare case the wrong email is caught, it is immediately deleted without a trace.

Your privacy is our concern. So much - that you don't have to take our word for it.We’ve partnered with privacy leader TRUSTe. They’ve certified our software and databases with the TRUSTe Privacy Seal to verify that your information is safe with us. Please see our privacy policy for more information about how we maintain your privacy.

How can I help TripCatch get even better?

If you appreciate the value of technology like TripCatch, you can help us improve it even further. We've launched TripCatch as a Beta to make sure we have an opportunity to keep improving it. If you'd like to assist us - please join our Product Improvement Program. By doing so you'll enable us to analyze those emails that TripCatch "misses", so that we can improve it even further.

Hey, what about us iPhone users?

We are working to enable TripCatch for you too. It is a little tricky, as iOS has different limitations, but we'll get there. And you'll be the first to know.

Scheduling with the WorldMate on the Web: It’s All in the Timing

WorldMate’s web app makes scheduling meetings a breeze. Schedule your meeting in the web app, and then you can stop thinking about it, because the web app calculates the correct time zone for you.

Better yet, all this information syncs automatically with WorldMate on your smartphone.

Why You Can Zone Out About Time Zones

The WorldMate time zone system works by treating your meeting as a place, not just a time. When you enter the meeting location—whether it’s New York, Singapore, or Sydney—our system keeps track of the correct time, no matter how many datelines you skip.

Even complicating factors like Daylight Savings Time are automatically taken into account. If for example your meeting is in New York, the time of the meeting will always be displayed in Eastern Standard Time—wherever you are in the world.

So when you reach your destination and set your computer for the local time, your meeting times stay the same—because it’s the place that matters, and we’re on it.

Doing Things the Old Way Makes Jack a Dull Boy

Without WorldMate’s web app, what happens? You end up doing one of two things:

• You schedule meetings on your PC in the local time of your current location. So you’re in London, and you have meetings in New York, Hong Kong, and Melbourne. This means you spend a good twenty minutes calculating what time it is in each of these cities, and then what time the meetings will be in your current London time. And with all your careful calculations, somewhere along the way, it’s easy     to make an error and miscalculate by an hour, perhaps two—just enough     time to make you late, or worse, make you miss the meeting altogether.
• Another old school way to schedule meetings is in the time zone of your destinations. So if you have meetings in New York, Hong Kong, and Melbourne at 10:00am in each, then 10:00am is what you put in your calendar. Sounds easy, right? Except that you reach your destination and change the local time on your computer, the meeting times will change, too…And you’ll be lost.

Three Time Zones? No Problem!

Now imagine the same scenario—you have three 10:00am meetings in the course of one trip, in New York, Hong Kong and Melbourne. You’re flying from London. But this time, you’re using the WorldMate web app to schedule your meetings. You’ve entered into your itinerary that your meetings are at 10:00am in those three cities.

You don’t have to calculate the time zone. You don’t have to worry about the times changing on your PC.
While you travel around the world, crossing datelines and time zones, your meeting times are fixed in stone. And they’re available on your PC calendar and your smartphone for easy access.

So log in to our web app with your WorldMate user info and start scheduling your meetings today!

(image credt: http://www.salvador-dali.org/en_index.html used with permission)

Want to Fly on the Air France Inaugural A380 Flight? Oui Oui!

By Tom Botts for Hudson Crossing.

Air France has just announced details of their plans to offer seats on the inaugural A380 flight from Paris to JFK and, a day later, JFK back to CDG. The 1st flight (which is really the inaugural flight) leaves Paris CDG on November 20th with the return from JFK (after some crew rest and photo ops, no doubt) on November 21st.

They are auctioning 380 seats - unclear what will happen to the other 158 seats but one would assume that press, dignitaries and other various hangers-on will fill them.

Pick your seat and get out your wallet!

All details can be found here.

Travel Smart: Avoid Getting Sick on the Plane

By: Ilana Reichert

Nothing kills the buzz of your trip faster than a coughing fit brought on by a bug you caught on the plane. With so many people traveling together in a confined space, sharing the same air, it’s inevitable that the plane can feel like an airborne petri dish. And with swine flu now rearing its ugly head around the world, travelers have the additional fear of contracting the contagious disease.

Beat Swine Flu on the Plane

Back in April, Joe Biden remarked that neither he nor his family members would be getting on a plane or any other confined space for fear of catching swine flu. But the reality is that you can avoid catching the disease by following some precautions.

 First of all, stay calm. The air on a plane is not as bad as many people believe. Fresh air is constantly circulated into the plane, in addition to the air that is already there before takeoff. And though 50 percent of the air is recirculated, it goes through special filters each time. It’s not an ideal situation—especially on long international flights—but nor is it hopeless. As long as the plane’s ventilation system is working properly, your exposure to disease through the air is reduced.

To further minimize your risk, there are a few key actions that you can take:

 • Hand hygiene really works. Dr. Mark Gendreau, senior staff physician and vice chairman of emergency medicine at Lahey Clinic in Massachusetts told CNN.com, “Sanitize your hands before eating, drinking and after retrieving something from the overhead bin or returning from the restroom, and you have just cut your chances of getting infected by at least 40 percent.”

Swine flu, says Gendreau, is spread when people cough or sneeze—the droplets bearing germs travel a few feet, contaminating any people or objects within that distance. So your chair, your foldout table, and your armrests are all potential germ carriers. By washing your hands constantly—either with soap and water or with hand sanitizer—you are significantly reducing the risk of becoming contaminated by the germs that made their way to objects that you touch. Be sure to wash right, though—hand washing is only effective if your scrub your hands with soap or hand sanitizer (with an alcohol content of at least 50%) for a minimum of fifteen seconds.

 • Ventilation is important. The good news is that your plane most likely has a ventilation system in place already, which operates as long as the plane is in the air. (Long delays on the ground are another story!) But you can contribute to the ventilation you get by pointing the air conditioning vent above your seat to blow across the front of your face, so that any incoming germs will meet this wall of air and dissipate.

• Surgical masks, which are popular in the Far East for the purpose of protection against germs, might seem like an overreaction but are a good idea if know you are traveling to a country that has been hard-hit with swine flu. You may feel silly wearing one, but it will protect your mouth from airborne particles.

Protect Yourself From Blood Clots

Those long hours in a stationary position on the plane can cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which can be fatal if it is left untreated.

 Here are some steps to prevent DVT:

• Make sure to drink a lot of water, and cut down on alcohol and caffeine. The plane air is dry, which causes you to dehydrate much more easily than you would otherwise, and this dehydration puts you at greater risk for blood clots.

• Get up from your seat every hour or so just to walk around. While sitting, flex your feet so that your calf muscles are working, which creates blood flow in the legs.

• Pregnant women or others who may be at risk for DVT should consider wearing elastic support stockings during the flight.

 If after your flight you experience pain or swelling in your leg, call a health care provider immediately. If the pain is accompanied by shortness of breath, the situation is all the more serious and requires emergency medical attention.

 Paying attention to your health during the long hours on the plane is an investment of time and effort that will pay off in the long run.

Fly.com: A New Way for the UK to Search for Aeroplane Trips

By Tom Botts for Hudson Crossing.

TravelZoo property Fly.com has quietly launched a UK version of their meta search site. For curious US users, simply click on the flag in the upper right hand corner. UK users are redirected automatically.

The site features the same functionality as the US based version but offers different OTA partners including TerminalA and Ebookers.

In addition, Fly has managed to include numerous low-cost carriers including easyJet, Flybe, Wizz and SkyEurope - many if which have often declined to participate in broad distribution plays in the past. Alas, no word on the biggest hold-out, RyanAir.

The meta-search march continues....

New York Air Market Continues to Heat Up: American Offering Double Miles

By Tom Botts for Hudson Crossing.

The highly competitive market in New York continues to just get hotter. Today, American launched a new promotion offering New Yorkers double AAdvantage frequent flyer miles for the rest of the year. On all routes, all fares, worldwide.

This is clearly a response to a similar offer that Delta made a few weeks ago for which was broader in some respects (you don't have to live in NY) but also more targeted because you need to be a Delta American Express card holder.

What is interesting is that American felt the only place they needed to match the offer was the NYC market. The New York area has increasingly become a battle ground between Delta, Continental and American. AA and DL (especially DL) have added extensive new flights from JFK, AA has opened a new terminal at JFK. Continental continues to operate the largest operation of any of the carriers, albeit over at Newark - NY's third airport even though it is in New Jersey. (Which simply allows Delta to claim more flights from New York meaning the state rather than the metropolitan area - funny, they dont make the same claim in Cincinnati where the airport (CVG) is actually in Kentucky!) But we digress.

Complicating the story is Continental's impending move from the Skyteam Alliance (of which Delta is part of) to the Star Alliance which has not had a strong New York presence. Many NY travelers split their loyalty between Delta and Continental and credit their miles on both into one program. This is about to change as consumers will no longer be able to credit CO flights to DL and vice-versa. This change, set to happen this fall, raises the stakes for both carriers to hold on to the other's travelers.

Oh, and if you want those double miles on AA, go here and register....

WorldMate Itinerary Generator: LateRooms.com and CarRentals.com Now Supported

In our spirit of non-stop progress on the itinerary generation front, we just added two more suppliers to the list of supported itineraries. Our system can now read itineraries from  LateRooms.com and CarRentals.com. What this means is that if you booked a hotel with LateRooms.com or a car with CarRentals.com , all you need to do to get the info for those into your WorldMate itinerary is to forward the confirmation email you got to trips@worldmate.com. The booking info will automatically be extracted from the email. We'd even geo-locate the hotel / rental car office so it's easy for you to navigate to them. From there - the information will flow directly into your BlackBerry, iPhone or Windows Mobile phone, where it will be instantly available for you while travelling.

       
Learn more about how we automatically build itineraries in our article named Email Us Your Travel Plans.

WorldMate Itinerary Generator Now Supports Flybe

We are continuing to grow our parsing support for travel confirmation emails coming from European providers. We've just launched support for Flybe - Europe's largest independent regional airline carrier. Flybe was named 'Regional Airline of the Year 2009' and operates throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe. 

So from now on our Itinerary Generator can automatically add flights booked with this airline directly to our mobile itineraries, so their details are available on your BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone and they can be automatically tracked for you. Of course, flight schedules and flight status / alerts for Flybe are also available!

To learn more about WorldMate's Itinerary Generator and how it automatically builds your travel plans and puts them on your mobile phone - read this article.     

The World's Worst Business Travel Experiences

As you may have guessed - we see it every day. At WorldMate we get to experience all those flight delays and cancellation, lost luggage, mishandled hotel bookings and all sorts of travel mishaps - TWICE. First - because we monitor everyone's flight and itineraries - we send dozens of thousands of flight alerts every day. We track flight and airport delays, and we have users sending us thank-you notes about how we saved them from their trouble... Second - we're out there ourselves... just a few weeks ago I landed in RDU at midnight, rented a dingy Subaru to drive all the way to Pinehurst NC the next day to participate in a conference, then drove to CLT to catch a flight to Toronto... So we share your pain...

And because we do - we are now announcing the "World's Worst Business Traveler Experience" contest. What you have to do to win is very simple. Send us your worst travel horror story. It has to be up to 100 words, and all you have to do is post it as a comment right here (below). On June 1st we will bring all these stories before our esteemed panel of judges hand-picked from our team and our buddies... the best story will be featured in our next WorldMate newsletter, and the lucky winner wins an Amazon Kindle II reader, to keep him entertained on the next long wait at some airport...

So what are you waiting for? Tell it all, WorldMate Listens!

The Age of Ancillary Revenue

We recently attended TravelCom and one phrase stood out amongst all others “ancillary revenue”.   This term covers the various ways in which airlines supplement their traditional revenue streams.  Some examples include charging $15-$100 to check in bags, selling sandwiches instead of giving away free snacks, and fuel surcharges.  Basically, it is code for nickel-and-diming passengers with hidden fees.

This hunt for ancillary revenue isn’t unique to airlines.  In fact, travel agencies are on their own mission to find alternative revenue streams.  Expedia, which is the largest online travel agency, just made this revealing announcement to Wall Street:

In 2008, over 60% of our revenue came from transactions involving the booking of hotel reservations, with less than 15% of our worldwide revenue derived from the sale of airline tickets. …… We have been working toward and will continue to work toward increasing the mix of advertising and media revenue from both the expansion of our TripAdvisor Media Network, as well as increasing advertising revenue from our worldwide websites such as Expedia.com and hotels.com, which have historically been focused on transaction revenue. During the first quarter of 2009, advertising and media revenue accounted for approximately 11% of worldwide revenue.

In other words, Expedia now makes almost as much revenue from selling advertising as it does from flight booking commissions.  Incredible!   What’s even more surprising is that Expedia’s TripAdvisor has launched a flight meta-search engine in which it displays the cheapest flights and actually directs you to Expedia’s competitors to book.

What is going on here?         

It started last year when the airlines responded to the oil price hikes by adding fuel surcharges and baggage fees.   It worked.   AirTran announced that it made a $28.7M profit in the first three months of 2009 with $56M in revenues coming from “other” (aka ancillary revenue).  So, even though oil is back down from $140 to $53 a barrel, there’s no sign that the airlines will walk away from this goldmine …especially with the global economic slowdown.

The online travel agencies’ move to advertising revenue has been spurred by other factors.  First, they are losing market share to the airlines’, hotels’ and car rental chains’ own websites.  Also, some of the larger online travel agencies smell blood in the water and are reducing or eliminating flight booking fees to drive out smaller rivals which are completely dependent on that revenue.  And so we get the case outlined above- Expedia is now making almost as much money driving affiliate traffic to the airlines’ sites as it is by selling the flight ticket directly to the traveler.

Is it just me, or is this getting out of control?  I can’t tell you how many times I‘ve heard fellow passengers say, “Why don’t they just raise the ticket price instead of surprising me with these ridiculous fees?”  Wouldn’t the airlines and online travel agencies be better served if they competed on value instead of price?  I’d gladly pay twice as much for the fantastic Virgin America experience, especially if they would throw in snack or two.  And as for the online travel agencies, there’s nothing wrong with a booking fee as long as it is supported by service—i.e. suggesting better flights, hotels, and vacation packages than we would find otherwise.  Come on travel industry players!  Focus on your core value proposition, make it world-class, and then charge a high enough price to earn a profit.  Seems to work for Southwest Airlines.

Check out how much you’ll have to cough up for baggage check-in on your next flight: flyingfees.com.