ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Prudential Securities became the first
corporation to sign a contract with iJet Travel Intelligence, a
start-up company here that provides pretrip advisories for
international travelers.
The service is dubbed WorldcuePro, a database that covers about
150 countries and is continuously updated, said Marty Pfinsgraff,
iJet's chief financial officer.
Pfinsgraff said iJet is unique among intelligence services
because the company aggregates information in several categories,
including health, weather, security, culture, communications,
transportation and entry/exit requirements.
Pfinsgraff said iJet scours more than 3,000 sources of
information on the Internet, including Web sites run by the State
Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Henry DeGeneste, Prudential Securities senior vice president and
director of corporate security, said that iJet's service will go a
long way toward putting travelers' minds at ease.
"IJet provides a one-of-a-kind service that meets the needs of
our international travelers," said DeGeneste.
"Our employees travel abroad a great deal, and we want to help
ensure their safety and productivity while away from the
office.
"It protects our most valuable asset -- our employees," he
added.
Pfinsgraff said iJet provides country-specific information that
even the most seasoned international traveler might not know.
For example, Pfinsgraff said travelers who suffer from asthma
need to know that toting an inhaler is illegal in Japan.
Also, iJet provides communications information, such as how to
use a public pay phone in a particular country or how to obtain a
mobile phone that functions in that country, said Pfinsgraff.
DeGeneste and managers in Prudential's travel department have
access to iJet's database. Users enter the date and destination,
and the system produces a report.
DeGeneste said the intelligence report will be packaged with the
airline ticket and sent to the traveler -- as long as the traveler
books his or her ticket at least 48 hours in advance.
In the summer, iJet plans to further automate its intelligence
service by providing e-mail capability.
This developmental process already is under way at Prudential,
said DeGeneste.
In June, said DeGeneste, Prudential travelers automatically will
receive a customized report when they book a trip. In order for
such automation to occur, iJet's service must be integrated with
passenger name record information.
Prudential and iJet are working with American Express and Sabre
-- Prudential's travel management company and CRS provider,
respectively -- to a make personalized, automated intelligence
report service a reality.
John Power, iJet's chief executive officer, said iJet is
speaking with 44 other companies about providing its service.
IJet already has a reselling agreement in place with Worldspan,
said Pfinsgraff, in which the CRS company will make iJet's service
available to Worldspan-wired travel agency locations across the
U.S.
Pfinsgraff added that iJet intends to expand its coverage to
more than 200 countries.
Later this year, Power said iJet will incorporate city-level
information into the database as well.
IJet's city database will gather data from many sources, said
Power, including city crime statistics.