A couple of weeks ago I attended the Phocuswright Conference in Los Angeles, where I discovered some incredible travel tech companies. One them is called Freebird, which offers an insurance tool for cheap.
You know how I always say that time is of the essence if your flight is canceled or significantly delayed. There just aren’t that many seats available these days, and savvier travelers are quicker to jump to get in line and call and tweet the airline while standing there. Or go to the airline club.
However, I’m now going to need to add the Freebird service to the top of my cancellation/delay to-do list. It’s a first-of-its-kind mobile rebooking tool that empowers travelers to skip the line and instantly book a new ticket—on any airline at no additional cost—in the event of a flight cancellation, four-hour delay or missed connection.
Currently, it costs a flat fee of $19 for a one-way flight or $34 for a roundtrip flight during its launch promotion. Unfortunately, the price will apparently go up in 2017 and vary flight by flight since some are more prone to disruptions.
The cool thing about Freebird is that it makes it so simple and cheap to get on a new flight. Instead of potentially spending endless amounts of time and aggravation on the phone, and/or forking over hundreds if not thousands of dollars to rebook, it lets you rebook without speaking to someone or spending any extra money.
Freebird will instantly notify you in the event of a flight disruption, and it gives you the ability to rebook in less than 30 seconds with only three taps on your mobile device (1: tap to open your alert; 2: tap to select a new flight; and 3: tap to confirm your selection).
To get Freebird, just log on to the website after your flight is booked. The process takes less than three minutes and it can be purchased approximately up to two days prior to departure. Here’s a video on how it works.
Bottom line: You already know how strongly I feel about travel insurance (I’m one of Allianz’s brand ambassadors) and this service from Freebird is just more peace of mind. I would definitely use it if I were traveling during a peak time and/or to somewhere I really needed to be like a business meeting or wedding.
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