Fareportal Now Offering United Economy Plus® Seats

Leading next generation travel concierge agency offers customers extra legroom seating and booking availability through its online, mobile and call center channels. 

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2016 – Fareportal, the technology company behind consumer travel brands CheapOair and OneTravel, announced today that it is the first online travel agency to offer United Economy Plus® seats on its booking platforms.

Customers booking travel on United through Fareportal’s travel sites can now choose to add a United Economy Plus seat to their reservation. United Economy Plus offers travelers extra legroom in the first rows of economy class, allowing them to stretch out with more room to work and relax, and be among the first to exit the plane. United Economy Plus, a top selling ancillary product for Fareportal, is available on Fareportal’s consumer websites, mobile apps, and through their contact centers.

“One of the ways United is working on becoming the airline of choice is by providing relevant content in the channels where customers shop,” said Jake Cefolia, United’s vice president of Sales, Americas. “Fareportal and United are working together to help make the entire travel experience convenient, comfortable and friendly.”

“Customers often request extra legroom and comfortable seating, so to help address this interest we’ve worked with United to offer its Economy Plus product to our customers,” said Werner Kunz, COO at Fareportal. “This relationship allows Fareportal to continue to offer customers an effortless, affordable, and enjoyable booking experience online and by phone.”

About United Airlines

United Airlines and United Express operate an average of nearly 5,000 flights a day to 342 airports across six continents. In 2015, United and United Express operated nearly two million flights carrying 140 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates more than 700 mainline aircraft, and this year, the airline anticipates taking delivery of 20 new Boeing aircraft, including 737 NGs, 787s and 777s. The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 192 countries via 28 member airlines. Approximately 84,000 United employees reside in every U.S. state and in countries around the world. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the NYSE under the symbol UAL.

 About Fareportal

Fareportal is a high-tech, high-touch Travel Company that powers the next generation travel concierge. Utilizing its innovative technology and company owned and operated contact centers; Fareportal has forged strong industry partnerships providing access to over 450 airlines, 150,000 hotels, and 100s of car rental companies that serve millions of customers every year. With a portfolio of consumer travel brands including CheapOair and OneTravel, Fareportal’s airline partners can benefit from access to a broad customer base that books high-yield international travel and add-on ancillaries. To learn more, visit www.Fareportal.com

 

Fareportal Handles 65,000 Calls during Storm Jonas

CheapOair, OneTravel and other Fareportal brands serve customers non-stop during the winter storm

NEW YORK, NY – Feb 10, 2016 – Fareportal, a technology company that operates consumer travel brands CheapOair and OneTravel, today released statistics of its customer care accomplishments during the recent snowstorm Jonas during the weekend of January 22, 2016.

Although Fareportal’s corporate offices and one of the main customer call centers in New York City stood directly in the path of Jonas, a staff of nearly 3,000 people internationally was working tirelessly to support customers 24 hours a day without interruption through the entire weekend. Despite the ferocity of the storm, which caused power outages up and down the East Coast, Fareportal’s websites, call centers worldwide, and social media pages were all up and running to serve customers’ needs without interruption. With nearly 11,000 U.S. flights cancelled and about 21,000-25,000 of Fareportal’s customers affected, representatives in call centers globally fielded an approximate total of 65,000 phone calls during the weekend. Despite the heavy call volume, the average handling time was only 8-9 minutes per call and it led to an equally impressive average call abandonment rate of just 6.5 %, globally.

“On January 22, the day before the storm, while New York City and other cities and towns along the East Coast were busy readying emergency snow removal and rescue staff in anticipation of the big storm, Fareportal was forming emergency troubleshooting teams of our own and ensuring that we would have extra staff in our customer care departments,” said Ritesh Chaturbedi, general manager of global operations at Fareportal. “Throughout the entire weekend, Fareportal relayed crucial travel information, including the many flight cancellation notices, to our customers on the customer support pages, and we treated every of the 65,000 calls we received with utmost urgency. We were there for all of our customers.”

The winter snowstorm Jonas brought an average of 2 feet of snow, hurricane strength winds, and coastal flooding from Louisiana to Maine and across parts of the southern Midwest, causing upwards of $850 million worth of damage, according to The Weather Channel. The 4th largest blizzard on record, Jonas halted business and travel for a large part of the U.S., as it buried roads, railways, and runways.

About Fareportal
Fareportal is a travel technology company that powers hybrid (online/traditional) travel agencies. Utilizing its innovative technology and company owned and operated contact centers, Fareportal has forged strong industry partnerships providing access to over 450 airlines, 150,000 hotels and 100s of car rental companies that serve millions of customers every year. With a portfolio of consumer travel brands including CheapOair and OneTravel, Fareportal’s airline partners can benefit from access to a broad customer base that books high-yield international travel and add-on ancillaries. To learn more, visit www.Fareportal.com.