Aussie-based start-up Seatfrog lets passengers upgrade flight seats at last minute

Australian start-up company Seatfrog is giving passengers chance to upgrade their flight seats up to the last minute. The new smartphone app lets users bid for premium seats available on their flight, helping airlines fill vacant seats at the same time.

The Sydney-based start-up has announced it has secured $1.2 million seed funding, which has been backed by venture capitalists HOWZAT Partners. The app is currently in private beta mode and is set to launch globally this year, although there is no information on whether it would be available for both Android and IOS apps.

To use the Seatfrog app, passengers should add their flight details into the app any time before their flight takes off. The app will notify them if there’s bidding open on premium seats. And if there is open bidding, the passengers will see the current price of the seat and what others are bidding for the upgrade. If a passenger won the bidding, Seatfrog will send a new boarding pass to the passenger’s phone, and which he/she can use at the boarding gate.

“Every year, millions of premium class seats fly empty across the globe, representing billions of dollars in unrealised revenue opportunity,” Seatfrog CEO and co-founder Iain Griffin said.

“For airlines, ancillaries are currently estimated to be worth around US$60 billion (AU$83 billion). Seatfrog’s technology dramatically broadens the scope of this market opportunity by making upgrades seamless for passengers and maximising efficiency and profit for airlines.”

Former Qantas International CEO Simon Hickey has also joined the Seatfrog team as an advisor.

“Seatfrog is undeniably ahead of the curve,” Hickey said. “It not only delivers an exceptional mobile passenger experience, but it is a smart solution to the challenges of merchandising facing airlines and is already fully integrated across their systems, enabling real-time upgrades of ticket bookings right up to the departure gate.”