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Hundreds of Orbitz.com customers pass through national airports on an hourly basis and, as of today, the online travel agency is putting them to work. The cool new application OrbitzTLC Traveler Update allows travelers to access and share real-time information from a laptop or from a mobile device at mobile.orbitz.com. (Note that you don't have to be a customer to view the information or even to submit an update.)
Posts, tagged with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon, can alert travelers to which security lines to avoid, which local highways are clogged, which taxi station is speediest, which flights are delayed and which are calling for bumped passengers…what isn't there to sound off about lately?
There are dedicated pages for more than 40 major U.S. airports, each with the just-launched traveler updates as well as traffic information from Yahoo, Google maps, security wait times as averaged monthly by the TSA, delays reported by the FAA, and tips on weather, parking, and where to find WiFi access.
Travelers' comments are fed through a spam filter to weed out the vulgar or irrelevant, but Orbitz has no way of verifying that a user is, in fact, at the airport that they are posting about. Like many other sites relying on user-generated content, Orbitz counts on users to rate tips for their quality and plans to offer discounts on future bookings to the most frequent and highest-ranked Traveler Update contributors.
One more perk: if you've signed up for Orbitz's travel alerts, you'll now automatically be receiving these traveler updates, too.
Related: Sign Up For Those Flight Alerts
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.
My wife and I recently experienced stress and anxiety from London-Gatwick's STUPID one-bag rule. We were required to remove our laptop computer from the carry case and CRAM the case into my already-overstuffed carry on bag. I am very sincere when I ask WHY can't they allow TWO items on the conveyor for screening, like every other aiport in the world??!!? We will avoid Gatwick in the future, if at all possible. Maybe if their traffic stream dries up and all the security personnel lose their jobs, they will reconsider.
Posted By Chris W. Maier on September 6, 2007, 2:05 PM
Just a comment. I get so tired of everyone bad mouthing the airlines. You still travel and get to your location. You still get your bags. And most of the time pay a great rate. So get off it and just enjoy you vacation or trip. Think of the people who actually make it happen so you can have your vacation.
Posted By Carol on September 6, 2007, 6:28 PM
We all have choices but expecting decent customer service is part of the choice when a person travels. To make the statement that you arrive at your destination and pay a great rate so don't complain about poor service is comparable to going to a restaurant with an hour delay to be seated, hour delay to be served, but you got your food, were not poisoned and paid a fair price. How often would you return to this restaurant? recommend the place to a friend?
There are always exceptions but the majority of travelers are reasonable and can accept the safety and security concerns that cause delays, we realize the travel personnel have had a long stressful day and only doing their job, however, updated information, kindness in general being courteous can go a long way for everyone...not just the airline employees.
Posted By Dee on September 7, 2007, 4:37 AM