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I invested in this company because during my 7 years working on the sales team at Facebook I was traveling to see advertising clients 100+ days per year and always ran in to delays and cancellations (especially in the winter since I was living in NYC and Boston). Most airlines will only allow you to re-book ON THEIR OWN flights if your original flight has a travel interruption (cancellation or long delay). Because I had to wait for the next flight from the same airline, the soonest I could get to my designation was usually much later in the day or, more likely, the NEXT day. I loved the Freebird idea when I first learned about it because there is likely another flight on a DIFFERENT airline going to your destination sooner than when you would be able to get there on your original airline. So, if my United flight is cancelled, I can just use Freebird to walk over to the Delta terminal and hop on the very next flight without needing to buy another full priced ticket.
@kevincolleran Thanks Kevin... we're excited to have you as an investor! Although we never like to hear travel horror stories, it's what keeps us motivated. Our mission is to empower travelers to have better travel experiences.
@arron_dean@iambarronroth Thanks Barron, thanks Dean. We are a rebooking service that helps people get to where they need to go when their flight is disrupted. There are some similarities to travel insurance, but many more differences. Existing travel insurance covers things like hospitalization, job loss, and passing of a family member -- things that have nothing to do with your actual trip. They often don't cover weather or airline maintenance issues. Freebird, on the other hand, has zero paperwork, instantly notifies you when your flight is disrupted, and enables you to rebook on any airline at no additional cost in less than 30 seconds, with only three taps on your phone. We help you get to the people and places that matter most.
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Nice idea. How will you get people to come to you for each flight since you have the disadvantage of not being part of the purchase flow? Maybe integration with email so you can suggest insurance for each new flight that the customer has booked?
@hey_arne Hi Sarah... great suggestion. Ultimately we want to be a "check-the-box" everywhere airline tickets are sold. Today we operate as a stand-alone website, but we're looking to form partnerships so customers can purchase our services even more quickly and easily. Email is another great way of interacting with potential customers who are traveling, but most people have concerns about privacy. We're still exploring ideas and are open to suggestions!
At first I thought I was buying 'credits' for using against flight delays at any point (I was hoping it'll be a monthly/annual subscription model of some kind). Turns out you need to specify your itinerary and this is essentially tied to just that itinerary.
Pretty much a gamble (much like insurance like @iambarronroth mentioned) but I like how it doesn't throw 100 clauses that would not allow you to use it - like rain/maintenance/other factors in delays etc.
@sarthakgrover Thanks Sarthak. We keep things simple with one goal in mind -- to get you to the people and places that matter!
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As a frequent flyer, this can be an incredibly useful tool to have as some sort of "insurance" in case current flights were to be delayed or canceled. Although I imagine it would be very difficult, I wonder if Freebird could be integrated into the actual buying stage of airline tickets? Will be keeping an eye out for this!
the numbers must make ridiculous sense or else they are going to just lose money while giving their early adopters free flights. I can't imagine this being a bootstrap-able/cash flow positive startup like the jet's of the world until ridiculous numbers of customers. nothing against the service though!
on second thought, the margins/referral fees on last minute bookings may be so ridiculous that their "cost per rebooking" isn't actually that exorbitant. hope it takes off... =p
@taylorhou Hi Taylor. We bootstrapped this business for months, actively selling our product, before raising money. Keep in mind, the current pricing is only a winter promotion. Following the promotion, we will be dynamically pricing Freebird on a flight-by-flight basis, based on the underlying riskiness of each flight. There is a lot we still need to figure out, but early signs are positive.
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