Type | Privately held company |
---|---|
Industry | Software, Travel, Internet, Travel agency |
Founded | 1989 |
Headquarters | Agoura Hills, California, United States |
Key people | Jeff Klee (CEO) Craig Fichtelberg (President) |
Products | Software |
Number of employees | 100+ |
Website | cheapair |
CheapAir.com is an American online travel agency, established in 1989 by Jeff Klee. Based in Agoura Hills, California with an additional office in Chicago, CheapAir is a privately owned company under the parent company AmTrav. According to Travel Weekly, CheapAir.com, under the parent company AmTrav, is ranked #38 on the 2022 Power List of Travel Agencies in the United States.
Founded in 1989 by CEO, Jeff Klee, out of his University of Michigan dorm room, CheapAir.com was originally known as 1-800-Cheap-Air prior to the website launch in 2000. In 1993 Craig Fichtelberg became a co-founder and president and began the nationwide expansion from California to Chicago to NYC.
In 2011, CheapAir.com announced Price Drop Payback, a program that guarantees to reimburse any price difference before a flight. [1]
In 2012, after airlines began adding ancillary revenue, CheapAir.com added amenities like WiFi, movies, Live TV, and power ports, to its online shopping display. [2]
In September 2012, CheapAir.com launched “Easy Search”, which lets users enter natural language to search for travel deals, becoming one of the first travel websites to offer semantic search. [3]
In March 2013, CheapAir.com created the first voice-activated flight search app for iOS devices. [4] The app won a Travel Weekly award and was named one of the best apps and websites for travelers. [5]
In November 2013, CheapAir.com became the first travel agency worldwide to accept bitcoin as an alternate form of payment for flights. [6] In February 2014, CheapAir became the first travel agency worldwide to accept bitcoin as an alternate form of payment for hotels. [7]
In February 2015, CheapAir.com became the first U.S. travel agency to book direct flights from the U.S. to Cuba. [8]
In July 2016, CheapAir.com was the first travel agency to launch a monthly payment option with Affirm allowing travelers to "Travel Now & Pay Later" for flights and hotels worldwide. [9]
In October 2022, CheapAir.com goes green with a new sustainable flight feature called “Green Choice.” [10]
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destination. Travel agencies can provide outdoor recreation, arranging logistics for luggage and medical items delivery for travellers upon request, public transport timetables, car rentals, and bureau de change services. Travel agencies can also serve as general sales agents for airlines that do not have offices in a specific region. A travel agency's main function is to act as an agent, selling travel products and services on behalf of a supplier. They are also called Travel Advisors. They do not keep inventory in-hand unless they have pre-booked hotel rooms or cabins on a cruise ship for a group travel event such as a wedding, honeymoon, or other group event.
Sabre Corporation is a travel technology company based in Southlake, Texas. It is the largest global distribution systems provider for air bookings in North America. American Airlines founded the company in 1960, and it was spun off in 2000.
Kayak is a metasearch engine owned and operated by Booking Holdings.
Wego is the number 1 travel app for flight search and booking in the MENA region with a year-over-year growth of over 157.7% and 143,002 downloads in February 2023, according to data.ai.
Skyscanner is a metasearch engine and travel agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The site is available in over 30 languages and is used by 100 million people per month. The company lets people research and book travel options for their trips, including flights, hotels and car hire.
Momondo is a travel fare aggregator and travel fare metasearch engine. momondo was founded in Denmark and is today managed by KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings.
Booking.com is one of the largest online travel agencies. It is headquartered in Amsterdam, and is a subsidiary of Booking Holdings. In 2022, the company's mobile app was the most downloaded mobile app in the travel agency category. As of December 31, 2022, Booking.com offered lodging reservation services for approximately 2.7 million properties, including 400,000 hotels, motels, and resorts and 2.3 million homes, apartments in over 220 countries and in over 40 languages. It also offers flights in 54 markets and tours and activities in more than 1,200 cities.
Trip.com Group Limited is a multinational travel service conglomerate headquartered in Shanghai, China. Founded in 1999, the company owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel fare metasearch engines including namesake and flagship Trip.com, Skyscanner, Qunar, Travix, and MakeMyTrip. It operates websites in about 40 languages and 200 countries.
HotelsCombined, a unit of Booking Holdings, is a hotel metasearch engine founded in 2005, with headquarters in Sydney, Australia.
Mozio is a New York City-based transportation-search engine company that aggregates ground transportation data and plans trips to and from an airport. Mozio coordinates buses, trains, boats, rapid transit, and other types of transit to allow users to arrive at the airport as fast as possible.
Wanderu Inc. is a ground and air travel metasearch engine that operates throughout North America and Europe. It provides a one-stop search and booking platform for buses, trains, flights, and ferries through its website and mobile app. Founded in 2012, Wanderu is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
eDreams ODIGEO is a Spanish online travel company that was formed in 2011 as the successor of eDreams with the merger of online travel agencies eDreams and GO Voyages, and the acquisition of Opodo.
Transnational eSolutions, Inc., also known as TeSI, is a Philippine-based e-Commerce Company. It is a member of the Transnational Diversified Group of Companies (TDG), an entity with over 30 member companies with business interests which include Air and Travel, Shipping and Ship Management, Logistics, BPO, and ICT.
Yamsafer was an online accommodation booking website in the Middle East. The company combined website, mobile app and call center booking methods in its service delivery for all destination around the world. It was tokened by Tech Crunch, as the "Middle East's Booking.com".
misterb&b is a travel and social networking website that provides a searchable database of LGBT+ friendly rentable lodging, including rooms, apartments, hotels, and homestays, primarily catering to gay men. It is accessible via a website and a mobile app.
JetRadar is a travel search engine that allows users to compare airline prices and offers, specializing in low-cost airfare.
KDS is a SaaS technology provider for online business travel booking and expense management. It is also known as the Neo Technology Group (NTG) since its acquisition by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT). Yves Weisselberger founded the company in 1994 and served as its CEO until 2011. Dean Forbes took the position of CEO after Weisselberger. The company is based in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France with additional locations in Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Trip.com is a private international online travel agency headquartered in Singapore. The website is owned by Trip.com Group, one of the world's largest online travel agencies with over 400 million users worldwide, and also the parent of Skyscanner.
Cleartrip is a global online travel company, headquartered in Mumbai. The company operates an online travel aggregator website for booking flights, train tickets, hotel reservations, and activities in India and the Middle East countries. It holds offices across India, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Hopper, Inc. is a travel booking app and online travel marketplace that sells flights, hotels, rental cars, and short-term rentals. The company is headquartered in Montreal, Canada and Boston, Massachusetts.