How we book flights for our crew

What we optimize for:

1. Time (i.e., fewer connections & shorter duration)

2. Cost

   1. NOTE: Generally, we’re happy to pay up to 25% more for a flight with fewer connections / shorter flight time. And we’re willing to pay up to 50% more. But if it’s more than that, we’ll optimize for the lower cost flight that still has the best possible schedule.

   2. We will also generally pay more for flights that allow overhead carryon bags, so you don’t need to check a bag (i.e., you can board/deplane faster)

   3. We will pay more (10% range) for a “main cabin” vs. “economy” ticket that allows flight changes at no cost, so we have flexibility.

3. Comfort (i.e., best seats)

Our Process:

1. Get the flight details from our Crew

1. Ensure their DOB is listed in http://go.StoryTell.ai/Crew (private link) as we’ll need that to book their flight

2. Ask if they have a TSA Pre-Check # and if so, put that into the Crew detail page as well

3. Find out if they have multiple airports they can fly from

4. Find out if they have restrictions on flight departure / return times (i.e., I need to be home by 7pm to put my kids to bed etc.)

5. Find out if they have flexibility on flight departure date (i.e., +/- one day etc) in case the flight prices are drastically different between days

2. Check http://google.com/flights (meta flight search engine)

1. Look for flights that optimize based on above

   1. We do not book on Spirit airlines — too unreliable

2. Find the best option on Google Flights

3. Check the airlines that don’t tend to participate on the Google Flights meta search engine

1. http://JetBlue.com

2. http://Southwest.com

3. http://AlaskaAir.com