Flight Notification Tools Allow Travelers To Limit Time In Airports

In the quest to make road warriors more productive, many corporations have sought ways to diminish time at the place travelers are least productive: the airport. Typically the least fruitful aspect of any business trip, the unpredictability of security lines and flight delays and cancellations has left many a business traveler missing important meetings or delaying returns to families. Flight notification tool enhancements from a variety of vendors are working to change that.

Travel management companies and other suppliers have refined tools that automatically alert travelers through a variety of communication devices of a delayed or canceled flight. Such features can sit within online booking and mid-office technology, as many travel managers want flight alerts on both online and call center reservations.

American Express offers a risk management suite that includes InfoPoint, a Web site with destination and security information for more than 375 airports. Through a data partnership with FlightStats, a provider of flight performance information, BCD Travel's TravelSource Portal uses its own technology to notify travelers of real-time scheduling changes and cancellations through any device that is capable of receiving e-mail.

Rearden Commerce earlier this year combined its travel notification service with push-messaging technology provided by FlightStats. The capability allows notifications of gate or flight changes or delays to be event-based rather than schedule-based, said Mark Orttung, vice president of products and engineering at Rearden. Through the company's Personal Assistant tool, users can configure specific notifications and how they prefer to be alerted to changes: via e-mail, text message, voice notification or fax. Rearden first began monitoring departure times, gate changes and cancellations and now also can focus on arrival times and gate changes. Rearden and FlightStats soon will look at monitoring security line times.

Travelport at the National Business Travel Association International Convention and Exposition in Chicago this year showcased its two-year-old Orbitz TLC Center, a 24/7 service with locations in Chicago and Denver that serves its Orbitz for Business and Travelport for Business online TMC customers. The center employs former air traffic analysts and controllers to monitor and track flights. The company then alerts travelers to delays or cancellations through "care alerts" and reschedules flights, if necessary.

During the Aug. 10 shutdown of London's Heathrow Airport due to an alleged foiled terror plot, Travelport said it alerted more than 120,000 corporate and leisure travelers to changes in airport security and flight delays and cancellations.

ResX, TRX's booking engine, is able to push itineraries out to travelers once an itinerary has been booked or changed. Within TRX's mid-office product, Correx, the company has more capabilities, said Helen Porter, vice president of solution management and application development for the Atlanta-based company.

"We can do such things as attach additional information or customize the color scheme of the e-mail," Porter said. "We also provide the capability to notify travelers of schedule changes, as well as pretty in-depth reporting out of ResX and Correx that enables travel agency clients to devise their own systems of notification."

In the end, most clients prefer to have all flight information in the hands of the traveler not just five days in advance of the flight, but hours before takeoff as well, Porter said.

The technology is not without its challenges. Steve Reynolds, vice president of technical solutions at consultancy Management Alternatives, recounted implementing a flight notification system while managing travel at ACS, his previous employer. "That was the feature most of the travelers were excited about," he said, "but after resurveying them after about 30 to 60 days, most of them had either turned it off or changed the way it communicated, because they got over-communicated." Reynolds noted his own experience of getting a 5 a.m. phone call notifying him his flight was on time.

"It's a neat feature and for some travelers it adds a lot of value, but for the rank and file, it's an OK-that's-nice feature," he said. "Do I want someone calling me every time my flight is on time? No. I really only want it if the flight is delayed."

Furthermore, Reynolds said most notifications don't come far enough in advance. "The problem is, they don't know that the flight is going to be late until the airlines tell them and the airlines don't tell them until the last minute, so you're already on your way to the airport or you're at the airport when you get the phone call that your flight's been delayed," he said. "There's something missing in the timing of the communication. If they could get it way in advance—prior to the cab ride—that would be beneficial."