JS 44: Finding the Best Airfares with James Filsinger CEO of Yapta A Discount Airfare & Hotel Price Tracking Service

Jason Hartman is joined by Yapta President and CEO, James Filsinger to talk about how Yapta is able to save travelers millions of dollars in airfare and James demystifies the automated yield management systems used by airlines to establish pricing. James explains how the Yapta website works, from finding the best deal on a flight to obtaining a refund or credit voucher if Yapta finds a cheaper flight than a traveler first booked. James’ knowledge of the business sheds light on the complexity of searching for the best airfares. He defines airline change fees, explains why airfare prices fluctuate, and talks about “Guaranteed Airfare Policies.” Yapta recently launched FarelQ, an airfare price tracking solution for companies with large travel volumes. James has more than 16 years of experience in the travel industry with proven success in CEO, M&A and Business Development roles within global startups and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Yapta, James was CEO of EZYield.com, Inc. where he was responsible for orchestrating the sale of the company to TravelClick in November 2011. Earlier in his career, James was CEO and General Manager of Moneydirect, an international joint venture between Sabre Inc. (USA) and Amadeus IT (Spain) that processed over $2.5 billion in travel payment transactions annually. Prior to Moneydirect, he spent more than a decade at Sabre Holdings where he served as VP of New Business Ventures, among other roles within the organization.