A Better Seat On The Plane, Automatically

May 24, 2010 - PRLog -- MINNEAPOLIS — Frequent flyers can improve their chances at landing their coveted window or aisle seat with newly launched MySeatFinder, an online travel application that does all of the legwork for them. For a limited time, MySeatFinder is offering new members a free 30-day trial.

Steve Gordon and Tim Hadden developed MySeatFinder in the days when Gordon, a Cisco executive, was flying back and forth from his San Jose home to Orange County to facilitate Cisco’s acquisition of Linksys. Gordon coveted seat11B on his regular flight (exit row + aisle = leg room!) and lamented to his friend that it often took several calls to the airline to land 11B. The pair, who had worked in information systems at Northwest Airlines years earlier, started brainstorming ways technology could come to his rescue, and MySeatFinder was born.

The way it works is this: Frequent flyer members enroll at http://www.MySeatFinder.com and input their frequent flyer numbers and a profile declaring their seating preferences.  Once they are in the system, MSF automatically goes to work searching for pending flights and using the customer’s preferences to search for a better seat.  Flights that are booked after enrollment will be added under the My Flights tab.  Using a technology the founders call Intelligent Seat Selector™, the service continues looking, several times every day until the customer’s ultimate seat is booked or until the customer checks in.  When it finds that coveted seat – or, even simply a better seat than the original assignment – MySeatFinder books the traveler into that seat and emails notification, all automatically and without any action by the customer.

“As a United Global Services member I get pretty good support from United,” said M. Maple, a Cupertino, Calif., customer. “But on a recent last-minute reservation, all that got me was a seat on the plane. In just two days, MySeatFinder took me from a middle seat in the back of the plane to a window seat in Economy Plus.”
The process is completely automatic, requiring no checking or calling by the busy frequent flyer, and it works with the frequent flyer programs of American, United and Delta airlines. The company plans to bring US Air, Continental and other airlines online soon. New members may sign up and receive a free 30-day trial, after which a $49 annual subscription will apply.

The idea is not to turn 11B into every passenger’s nirvana, but to make every passenger’s nirvana the goal for MySeatFinder. Premium frequent flyers are getting fewer first class upgrades as the competition for these seats escalates and airlines try to fill planes. With flights growing increasingly crowded and business travelers squeezing work into every spare moment, having the desired seat – whether front of the plane or over the wing, aisle or window – can make the difference between in-flight bliss and in-flight blues.

About MySeatFinder: MySeatFinder (MSF) is an online travel application for frequent flyers that helps improve their chances at securing a prime seat on their flights.  Using a technology called Intelligent Seat Selector™, MSF automatically goes to work searching for pending flights and using the customer’s preferences to search for a better seat to improve their chances at landing their coveted window or aisle seat.  MSF was co-founded in 2008 by Steve Gordon and Tim Hadden, and launched in March 2010. Hadden is CEO of the company, which is based just outside of Minneapolis.  
For more information please visit: http://www.MySeatFinder.com.