Routehappy
Innovative flight search site uses data-driven “Happiness Factors” to deliver the best experience for your buck
We fly far and often, and because of this we’ve become quite particular in our ways, spending a lot of time sorting out which airlines, planes, routes, seats and amenities are going to provide the best case scenario for painless travel. Promising to save us literally hours each week, we’re thrilled to announce that Routehappy has just launched. The foundation of Routehappy is a not-unusual fare-based search engine, but on a more important level it’s a powerful tool to help achieve happier flights. Led by a team of seasoned travelers (culled from Travelocity, Orbitz, KAYAK, Jetsetter, Site59, IgoUgo, American Airlines, Air France, and the US Air Force—with more than 422,700 collective miles flown in 2012 alone) the new site is reliable to its data-centric core.
What sets Routehappy apart from other travel assist sites is the emphasis put on data, and using it to measure a “happiness” metric by which flights are rated. Routehappy relies on this variety of information to deliver relevant details ranging from aircraft layout, seat pitch and width, in-flight entertainment options, power adaptor availability, Wi-Fi and user-generated reviews garnered from over 50,000 ratings already submitted by travelers in the iOS app. “We’re obsessed with data quality,” Routehappy founder Bob Albert told us. “Every piece of data is double and triple checked.”
All of this saves time and comes in handy when deciding from a group of similarly priced flights. Knowing which flight offers more leg room or better inflight entertainment can guarantee you get the best flight, as determined by your preferences, for your money. When price isn’t the main deciding factor you can explore factors like fare class, roomier seats, shortest flight times, preferred airports and airlines, all while seeing an overall reference rating. Looking deeper into each flight reveals insider tips, too. For example, Routehappy tipped us off to the US Airways A321, a short distance gem with greater than average legroom, guaranteed Wi-Fi and filtered coffee—not available on other planes in their fleet, for fares similar to those on other carriers.
Once you’ve settled on your flights Routehappy’s easy-to-use interface sends you directly to the appropriate airline for purchasing, leaving you in (hopefully) capable hands to minimize last second mistakes. And because Routehappy focuses on flight data and that alone, there’s need to push away unwanted hotel or car rental pop up ads. Launched today, 26 April 2013, Routehappy is now up and running. Get going on flight searches and download the iOS app to help bolster the user review section, which can also be viewed in detail online.
