Mon Jul 9, 2007: Rearden Commerce now provides real-time flight updates to business travelers who book air travel through its platform. This new functionality further enhances the Rearden Commerce online personal assistant, which helps users quickly find, schedule, and purchase the services -- such as travel, dining, car service, conferencing, and package shipping - based on their preferences and company policies. As each service is booked, the personal assistant automatically updates the user´s calendar, sends invitations, and provides proactive notifications and reminders via email, text message, phone or fax.
With this latest product release, Rearden Commerce now accesses flight data from multiple sources (FAA, GDS, airlines, and weather services) and instantly alerts business travelers to flight delays, gate changes and cancellations. In the event of a gate change or departure delay, Rearden Commerce pushes this information to the traveler via their device of choice, as early as 24 hours prior to flight departure. Armed with up-to-the-minute flight information, travelers can quickly take action to adjust their schedules. This new capability is particularly timely, given travel industry expert warnings of significant summer air delays due to record passenger loads and declining airline on-time arrival performance.
Both The New York Times and USA Today recently ran stories on the air travel delays anticipated this summer as more passengers take to the skies. "Flight delays are frustrating enough for a leisure traveler, but last-minute changes and delays can be exponentially more disruptive and costly for business travelers," said Tony D´Astolfo, vice president, worldwide sales for Rearden Commerce. "We provide travelers the real-time flight information they need to proactively manage their schedules and optimize their time. Whether they´re traveling on business, shipping a package or participating in a conference call, busy people enjoy the convenience of having up-to-date information. Real-time air travel notification is but one example of the Web 2.0 features we´re continuously adding to our platform to improve the busy lives of our customers."
