Ah, the holiday travel season. Nothing says Happy Holidays like crowded airports, miserable flights, tight security and exploding tempers. What if you miss your flight? Was it canceled or severely delayed? There’s an app for that.
That app is called Freebird. For about the cost of an airport dinner for two, you can book another flight on your smartphone or device. Just follow the simple instructions on Freebird. There are no mean-spirited airline reps, and no outrageous fees either. Before you can make alternative plans through Freebird, your original flight needs to be cancelled or delayed for 4+ hours. Then Freebird will send you a text to alert you about alternate flights. Freebird came out last week. It will cost you $19 to re-book an alternative one way, and $34 to re-book an alternative round trip. It will give you a choice of substitution flights. Follow Freebird’s instructions, pick your favorite flight, and press ‘Book Flight’. The ticket gets delivered to your phone, and you use that ticket to get on your new flight. And just like that; it’s back to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress. Let’s say a blizzard goes down. All flights are grounded. Not even Freebird can bail you out of that one.
I have a feeling Freebird is going to be very popular in the next five or six weeks. It’s no coincidence Freebird chose mid-November to be released. That’s just smart planning. Now let’s talk about weather related issues. If a couple of flights are canceled, Freebird is just what the doctor ordered. But remember how bad the last winter was for some of the country? Remember when airports were shut down for two days at a time…then again…then again? What if that happens again this year? What’s to say that it won’t? So far this Thanksgiving week, we’ve seen blizzard like conditions from Colorado to Illinois. Can Freebird save travelers from this during the busiest travel week of the year?