Mobile Travel App: Orbitz TLC

I've traveled a lot.  It has been core to my jobs--building out a global mobile messaging company and igniting cross border, international sales for over a decade. 

Here are some measures of my travel experience:

a) I crossed the mark of 1 million air miles flown with United Airlines over two years ago, mostly earned internationally. I've visited 80 countries in my life, and now have Premier Elite status with UAL for life.
b) I currently hold United Airlines "Global Services" elite flyer status. A category that is neither marketed nor mentioned by United and incorporates both annual miles flown and how much revenue you've generated at full fare for UAL.
c) I was interviewed last year by The Washington Post as a subject matter expert on global business  travel in "Finding Your Wings on Your First Trip Abroad". (Read it here)
d) In my past career in American politics, I served as a "political advance man" ensuring everything goes smoothly for political appearances, events and travel logistics for a cabinet secretary and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 1996.

Suffice to say I've had to navigate globally from Point A to Point B to Point Z reducing the amount of travel friction and hassle. 

So, it was with interest when a friend of mine at Orbitz asked me to take a look at Orbitz' TLC beta, a new service for customers using mobile access for critical travel information. Given my road warrior status combined with experience as a mobile product developer she thought I might provide perspective on the Orbitz TLC service.

The Need
Two major friction chains exist when traveling: a) Pre-flight--getting to the airport, such as ground route traffic, parking, check in lines, and security ques, (b) Going Airborne--flight associated issues such as weather and scheduling delays, plus connection foul ups. OrbitzTLC Traveler Update provides real-time information on what’s happening in and around airports, through a mobile interface. The OrbitzTLC Traveler Update knits together up-to-the-minute information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and OrbitzTLC air traffic alerts with the contributions and reports of everyday travelers, through mobile user generated content (UGC), to create a powerful new picture assisting travelers getting to their destinations. Content includes real-time data and information on security line wait times, traffic delays, parking updates, taxi lines, flight delays, weather information and more. 

The service also incorporates suggestions and tips from travel peers, such as good restaurants, quiet work spaces and any other insider advice on city destinations. Orbitz has innovatively combined the UGC aspect with a community building component, via a competitive rating system of tips. If your information is deemed positive by the community, you get rewarded for it with a higher esteem by the community of users.  Orbitz plans to award a tangible benefit from your peer reviews including potential upgrades and discounts on hotel and airfares. A fully interactive mobile community application with transactional awards. 

UGC as USP
The unique selling proposition of Orbitz TLC is the incorporation of real time, front line information from travelers themselves--user generated content creating the first Mobile Web 2.0 travel application. Through multi-modal mobile messaging, SMS, IM, MMS, and mobile email, Orbitz folds real time data provided by travelers themselves illuminating the fluid changes always occurring while traveling. What's more, through the Orbitz TLC team--a network operations center (NOC)--manned by former air traffic controllers and Orbitz travel assistants--Orbitz is able to take action on developing travel situations whether driven by flow control or weather delays.   This provides TLC mobile subscribers a means to contribute to the fabric of information as well as being able to capitalize on it and making their travel experience the best it can be. Orbitz is the first to knit all this information together in one mobile access point, then build the voice of the traveling customer into every facet of the service turning it into the ultimate Mobile Web 2.0 travel application. http://updates.orbitz.com/mobile .
Traffic: Once at the landing page, your first objective is getting to the airport. Through Yahoo! Traffic Sources, you have real time data on traffic times, delays, accident reports and construction updates to expedite your ground transport or pick up. 
Parking: Once at the airport, Orbitz TLC Team provides insight into various parking options at your departure airport, rated by both convenience and pricing.
Security Lines: Refining TSA data, Orbitz TLC provides 30-day average security line wait times, with current tips and updates by travelers navigating the security lines.
Web Access: Once at the airport, TLC informs flyers of the Wi-Fi options available at the airport and its costs.
Flight Status: Orbitz relays flight status and any airport delays based on FAA data.
As you can see from the screen shots, the mobilization of the information is easily readable and well rendered considering the "doing something else" mobile culture while traveling.

Service Experience & The Innovation
Here's how it works. You sign up for the free service either via your mobile or fixed web. The mobile address is at:

The Revenue Model
The Orbitz TLC service is free. Their model is a revenue share with airlines, hotels and rental car services consolidating traveling purchases at one portal, so the TLC service is a real value. Especially given the availability of Orbitz travel assistants for changes in reservations and the predictive alarm capabilities obtained through 24/7 observations of the travel grid, something usually available to only the most elite travelers.

Mind the Gap

The only wrinkle in testing the service is they haven't incorporated international airports into the system. Plans are to have that within a year.

The Result
Overall, the Orbitz TLC service gets a four mobile rating from me. The rendering of the service is clear, colorful and coordinated in concert with the front line information from travelers themselves. I found it easy to access and easy to use.

Written on UAL 871 flying from IAD to SFO