I registered ismyflightdelayed.com for fun to mess around with some of the Flight Aware API's. I haven't given much thought on potential monetization (outside of ads) so I thought I would solicit feedback from HN.
1. With a free account they get an email. If they upgrade to paid they get a text message (you can use Twilio).
2. You can partner with area hotels and limo companies. If the flight is delayed the email suggests hotels they can stay at or cabs they can take.
3. There are two parties involved: the person who is flying and the people who are expecting him/her. Target them separately. The person who is flying might be interested in letting his relatives or friends know that he/she will be late so that they don’t have to rush to the airport to pick him up. So to auto-notify other people you could charge a small fee.
4. Offer a subscription based service for people who fly frequently. This way their family always knows if they are running late.
5. Gamify it. When a flight is delayed people guess how long the delay is. Sell the guesses as options that are traded on a free-market (for points not real money). Use crowdsourcing to predict when the flight will actually arrive.
6. Calculate statistics. How often is a specific airline late? How often is a specific airline late to a specific airport on a specific flight? There might be other factors. Keep running scores on airlines. Rank them. People buying tickets could use the list to decide which flight to take.
7. Turn the list from #6 into a press release. Newspapers might run with it. Or it could make for a good blog post. Publicize it on HN. Create marketing buzz for your website cheaply this way.
- Create a messaging API to inform passengers with realtime msg. Obviously, you should be able to send mass emails/SMSs with proper custom msg about flight info.
- Partner with airline companies who could pay for this
- If someone buys an airline ticket, the airline usually gets a contact phone/email.
- If the flight is getting delayed, automatically send this information to the customer for that airline through SMS,Email etc as real time as possible. Airline will use your infrastructure to mass email the users.
Airline could pay you for the service/API you provide. I doubt this could be something that a consumer will pay for.
1. Airlines tend to estimate delays optimistically. They don’t want to look bad. I’d rather rely on a third-party.
2. Airlines offer very bland services. This service could offer a better experience. For example, will airlines tweet my delay? Or send me a Facebook update? Or text me? Or call me? There might be useful options here that airlines are not providing.
3. Airlines might not notify my friends and family. Generally, notifying me is less important than notifying them. If I get notified my flight is delayed but I am in the air and have no internet then the notification is pointless. This service could notify other people that I add to my flight’s notification list.
The fact that the airlines provide this service is not a sign that this won’t work—rather it’s a sign that this is something valuable. You can use the airlines’ service as a starting point and then build this into something a lot better.
Plus the service is a useful record of all my flights. This record might be useful for tax purposes. I know for immigration paperwork sometimes they ask you how many days you have been out of the country. This service could easily provide this data to you.
Considering it's already a free service from carriers, I don't think you'll be able to do any sign ups.