Travel For Less and Network While You're At It
Yapta and PairUp are soon to be the among latest in the ever-growing cascade of websites promising lower rates for travelers. We've already talked about how useful we've found Kayak. How will the newcomers work?
We can't test Yapta ourselves (closed beta), but the helpful folks at Tech Crunch have and have given it a thumbs up, even though some commenters had questions. According to TC, the core of Yapta is a browser bookmarklet that lets users “bookmark” fares they find on major travel sites. At launch, 10 airline and travel sites will be supported, with more to be added. See a flight you are interested in and bookmark it. The flight and fare information is then stored in your account at Yapta.
Find a number of different flight options at different sites, and then go back to Yapta to compare them. TC said this can be helpful when you fly Southwest or Jet Blue, which do not provide flight information to other services. If the fare increases or decreases before you make a purchase, that will be reflected on Yapta. After purchase, Yapta will continue to monitor the price. If it falls, they’ll ping you and suggest you contact the airline for a refund or flight coupon. All airlines offer these on price drops but few consumers follow up. Yapta will help by reminding you.
Pair Up is a social networking site for business travelers that is supposed to allowing businesspeople for the first time to easily share travel plans and instantly search for potential business connections at their next trip destination or industry event – across companies and across booking engines. The idea is to improve travel efficiency and increase your business networking.
I've signed up for it, and will give it a test. Like all social networking sites, though, it's only as good as the number of people who use it. So, if you happen to find my name when setting your travel plans, let me know – maybe we'll get together. So far, however, I haven't found anybody.
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