Amadeus Next, the arm of the GDS company that assists travel
tech startups in the Asia-Pacific region, is partnering with SeatFrog, a seat
upgrade auction app.
“SeatFrog is incredibly smart, mobile, and will deliver an
outstanding passenger experience,” said Simon Akeroyd, vice president of
corporate strategy business development at Amadeus Asia Pacific.
Australia-based SeatFrog has been developing its app for the
past year and is now in the testing phase with an airline that it has declined
to reveal. Once released, ticket holders for flights on participating airlines
will use the app for last-minute seat upgrades to business class and other
premium cabins.
They’ll do so via auction. Within 48 hours of their flight, ticket
holders will be notified by the app that an auction has opened on the upgrades.
The app will display a photo of the type of seat that is up for grabs and its
current price. Users will then place their bids. The winning bidder will
automatically be reticketed through the app so that they will be able to simply
scan their phone upon boarding.
Seatfrog said that the Amadeus Next partnership enables the
company to benefit from Amadeus’ industry expertise, technology and customer
base of more than 130 airlines.
The app will be released sometime this year, CEO Iain
Griffin said in an interview with Travel Weekly last month.