September 2008
15 posts
It's Fun to be a Virgin
Our trip to San Francisco last week wasn’t merely to give presentations and meet investors. We also made sure to carve out some time to meet with Virgin America. Boy are we glad we did! Virgin is the new darling of San Francisco International Airport (SFO), with headquarters in Burlingame, California. The airline currently flies to seven major cities on the west coast with plans to expand to up to...
Free Software Job Fair in Boulder
Note: Travelfli has officially joined the Software Job Fair as one of the 20 companies contributing to the cause!
Boulder is cool. And because our community is so sure of it, we’ve decided to invite 100 talented software engineers to come check it out at the Boulder Startup Job Fair…all expenses paid.
About 20 of Boulder’s hottest companies are chipping in to fly in 100...
This is the fun part… at least for me
My name is Austin Veith and I am the co-founder of TravelFli. I handle most of our financial matters, legal work, infrastructure, and human resources. This is my first post on our company blog because I haven’t had too much to write about until just recently. Fortunately, my co-founder Krista Paul has done a great job of updating our blog with current industry events and valuable frequent flyer...
WatchCheck out Travelfli sporting pilot uniforms on Vator.tv!
Travelfli Wins Plug and Play "Investor's Choice"...
We are starting to wind down from a crazy productive week in San Francisco. The Plug and Play Expo was held yesterday in Mountain View and several of the TechStars companies took David Cohen up on his invitation to present at the event.
Scott McNealy, the Co-Founder and Chairman of Sun Microsystems, hit off the expo with a keynote that had me in stitches. Aside from cracking some great jokes, he...
TechStars San Francisco Style
Today Travelfli presented at the second TechStars Investor day held at the Microsoft offices in Mountain View, California. I know I gushed about what a great job all of the companies did in the first demo, but I think I can safely say that everybody stepped it up ANOTHER notch in Silicon Valley and impressed the heck out of me, and hopefully all of the investors in attendance! Since this year was...
Travelfli Meetings: AirTran
Our third and final meeting in Atlanta was with AirTran, the low cost coast-to-coast carrier. We met with Tad Hutcheson, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, who has been with the airline since 1997. He oversees marketing, sales, partnerships, the A+ loyalty program, AirtTran.com, community and government Relations, public relations, and charitable giving. The overriding point I’m trying to...
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Win Jet Blue Tickets on eBay!
eBay boasts its share of bizarre and entertaining auctions. Remember the guy from Nebraska who sold advertising space on his forehead to the highest bidder? Or what about the guy who sold his wisdom teeth for $20?
eBay is a thriving marketplace for buyers and sellers that would like to take part in a transaction for almost anything in the world. On September 8th, Jet Blue hopped on the bandwagon...
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Travelfli Meetings: Delta Airlines
Our second meeting in Atlanta took place at the Delta Airlines World Headquarters. As we all know, Delta is in the midst of merging with NWA to become the largest carrier in the world. The merger is awaiting approval of the U.S. Department of Justice, which is presumed to close by the end of the year.
The general mood at Delta seemed upbeat in comparison (I can imagine) to employees at many of...
Travelfli Meetings: Intercontinental Hotel Group
Travelfli initiated a series of meetings last week that will involve all of the top airlines, hotels, and credit card companies in the development of our site from the outset. Our business has a strong value proposition for the consumer and we’ve been engaging frequent flyers since the very beginning to help us build a useful product. We think it is just as important to create a product that...
Do OTA's Owe Taxes To Atlanta?
Travelfli is in Atlanta this week meeting with some of the top airline and hotel loyalty programs (more on that later) and enjoying some good Southern cooking. Keeping in theme with our Georgia visit, the city of Atlanta filed lawsuits with a variety of online travel agencies today, including Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia and 14 others.
The city claimes the OTA’s owe them millions in unpaid...
Dreary News From Continental
News Flash: Continental Airlines has responded to the recent frequent flyer program changes airlines have instituted…by instituting the same changes. Ugh.
First and foremost, Continental will charge $15 for the first checked bag. Heard that one before. Next.
Members will now earn the actual miles flown on shorter flights rather than 500 minimum miles. US Airways did this a couple of months...
Have Airlines Crossed The Line?
I came across this spoof video and it made me laugh, but it also encouraged me to consider whether or not the airlines are making the right decision in imposing all of these ‘hidden fees’ (i.e., charging for things like checked bags, pillows and snacks), or would it be better to pile all of the charges into the cost of airfare?
Although oil prices have (thankfully) dropped from $150 a...
Donate Miles to the Obama Campaign!
As many of you know, the Democratic National Convention was held in Colorado last week. Although I didn’t leave the Republic of Boulder even one time to enjoy the festivities in Denver (which looked more like a war zone than a fairground, from what I heard), I did make an effort to watch some of the action on the television like everybody else.
I must admit I am feeling a bit of remorse...
Redeem Starpoints for Airfare
Starwood announced today that members of their loyalty program will now be able to book flights in their SPG Flights program.
Available immediately, members can book flights with hundreds of different airlines (Southwest not included) with no blackout dates. A $150 ticket will cost 10,000 Starpoints, which can be earned at 890 participating Starwood Resort locations worldwide at 2 points for...