Press Releases 2005
lastminute.com to provide real-time Flight Status notification supported by OAG
14 October 2005
OAG, the world's largest provider of flight schedules and online travel information, today announced a partnership with lastminute.com to distribute real-time flight status information directly to mobile devices.
The lastminute.com Flight Alert Service includes more than 190 airlines and relays any significant changes to the time, terminal or gate of a registered flight directly to individuals via SMS Flight Status Alerts.
Subscribers are kept informed of flight status changes up to 4 hours prior to departure and arrival including check-in and gate information, at a cost of £1.50 per flight. Messages are sent within 20 seconds of the status update occurring and the service is available to anyone with a UK registered mobile device. Customers are prompted to opt in to receive SMS Flight Status Alerts during the booking process or alternatively the service can be subscribed to by selecting 'Message Alerts' via the Mobile and TV pages on the lastminute.com homepage.
Matt Jerwood, Head of Mobile & iDTV at lastminute.com commented "Every year thousands of business hours are unnecessarily lost as a result of flight delays and cancellation. Teaming up with OAG to provide this important service enables individuals to better manage the inconvenience and unnecessary costs associated with late flight departures and arrivals.
We are delighted to be able to offer a service that helps our customers beyond the purchase itself and throughout their journey. This service is especially convenient as virtually everyone will be carrying a mobile phone anyway, they do not need to take anything extra, and therefore SMS updates are the logical and most useful solution."
To find out more or register for the lastminute.com Flight Alert Service, visit www.lastminute.com, scroll down to the Mobile and TV pages and select 'Flight Alerts'.
- E N D S -
For further press information contact:
Louise Prior 0207 866 4274 lprior@lastminute.com
Jane Sinclair 0207 866 4272 jsinclair@lastminute.com
Claire Williams 0207 866 4498 cwilliams@lastminute.com
- 2 -OAG Duncan Alexander
Managing Director, Europe, Middle East & Africa
Tel: +44 (0)1582 695476
dataservices@oag.com
or: Margareta Stanley at DBA, tel 44 (0)207 930 8033 or e-mail info@nchl.demon.co.uk or dba@nchl.demon.co.uk
About OAG
OAG is a global content management company specialising in the provision of travel and transport information.
OAG's expertise is in managing large amounts of data and building applications and products to get that information into the hands of people who need it.
OAG holds a breadth of travel related content. It is best known for its airline schedules database, which holds flight details for 1,000 airlines and more than 3,500 airports. Every ten seconds a flight is updated on the OAG system.
OAG provides a broad range of products for business and consumer customers, available in virtually any way the customer wants it: Internet, PDA, mobile, digital and print.
OAG is a private company supported by over 400 staff with presence in Europe, America and Asia. To view OAG services visit http://www.oag.com, http://www.oagdata.com/ and http://www.oagcargo.com/
About Lastminute.com
Notes to editors
lastminute.com is part of Travelocity Europe Limited after it was acquired by Travelocity's parent company Sabre Holdings Corporation on July 20, 2005.
About lastminute.com:
- sells package holidays on behalf of 250 third party tour operators
- offers customers the opportunity to tailor make unique holiday experiences combining any flight with any hotel room and rental car
- offers tickets to shows, gigs, festivals and theme-parks as well as leisure experiences, DVDs, restaurants and gifts
- operates in the core European markets of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain
- has satellite offices in Ireland, Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands and joint ventures in Japan and UAE
- employs 2,000 people globally, with its head office in London Victoria housing 350 of them
- owns UK travel & leisure brands holiday autos, online travel corporation, medhotels, eXhilaration, first option and travel4less as well as degriftour.com and travelprice in France and lastminute.de in Germany
- is one of the top two most visited travel agency websites in the UK, with an average of six million unique site visitors monthly
- receives most site hits on a Monday, with almost 18% of overall visitors logging on that day
- has 9.8 million subscribers to a weekly newsletter (March 2005 figure)
- has global deals with 100 airline partners and access to flight seats on around 600 carriers worldwide
- features 80,000 hotels worldwide and sells almost eight million hotel room nights each year
- was founded in April 1998 by two young entrepreneurs, Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox, in the sitting room of Brent's London flat