Flightfox
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 | |
| Type of business | Private company |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Boulder, Colorado, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Lauren McLeod Todd Sullivan |
| Industry | Travel |
| Products | Expert flight search |
| URL | Flightfox.com |
| Current status | Active |
Flightfox is a website that offers consultative flight searching by allowing users to launch trips in which contracted experts consult with the customer to find the lowest airfares and construct the best itinerary. The customer pays a flat rate fee which provides access to a consultant.[1][2]
Flightfox was founded in 2012 by Todd Sullivan and Lauren McLeod, in Eveleigh, New South Wales, Australia. They were frequent travellers and were seeking to make their travel funds go further. They raised $800,000 in seed funding from Silicon Valley and Australian investors to set up the venture.[3] As part of the process Sullivan and McLeod moved to Mountain View to take part in a Y-Combinator class, that provides intensive mentoring for start-ups.[4]
Sullivan and McLeod had previously created Globetrooper, which allowed travellers to meet up with other like-minded people to go travelling together. They sold Globetrooper in October 2011. McLeod commented that after creating Globetrooper they realised that they needed a business model from its inception and needed to listen more to its users on improving the site. Sullivan has an IT background and is the site's developer, while McLeod who has a business and design background, works on marketing and dealing with the sites users.
Flightfox previously featured a contest-style format in which multiple experts competed to find the best flights for the customer, however due to demand, a one-on-one consultative model was implemented in January 2014.[5]