Yapta

Next time you're on a flight enjoying your honey-roasted peanuts, ponder this: The average flight price fluctuates 400%. In other words, the guy next to you may have paid hundreds of dollars less for his ticket than you paid for yours. How can you avoid paying too much? Use Yapta.

Yapta was created to make it easy for you to find the best flight at the right price. We do this by helping you find flights based on your personal preferences, tracking prices on these trips, and alerting you when prices drop so that you can purchase tickets when they're most affordable.

Even after you purchase your ticket, Yapta continues to track its price. If the price drops below what you paid, and you're eligible for a refund or travel credit from the airline, Yapta can help you claim it.

Yapta was launched in May 2007 and has since helped its members save millions of dollars on airfare. Here are just a few of the people who have been integral to Yapta's success-and your savings:

Tom Romary, CEO & Co-Founder

For the past 20 years, Tom has served as a marketing and general management executive for some of the nation's premier consumer brands, from e-commerce to airlines. Before serving as CEO of Yapta, Inc., Tom was Vice President of Marketing at Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) with responsibility for over $250MM in annual revenue and over 2,400 employees. He led Alaska's frequent flier program, customer care call centers, product marketing, advertising and promotions, airport club rooms, and in-flight service and catering. He also launched numerous product innovations, including the digEplayer, an award winning hand-held in-flight entertainment system.

Prior to Alaska Airlines, he was Vice President of Consumer Marketing at Real Networks, where he helped launch the company's music and premium video subscription services. Before his years at Real Networks, Tom served as Vice President of Marketing at Fogdog, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOGD), helping the sporting goods e-retailer grow annual sales from $100K to over $30MM and playing a key role in its successful 1999 IPO. Earlier in his career, he held various management and director roles at Electronic Arts/Walt Disney Software and General Mills.

Tom has an engineering degree from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard. He is an avid traveler and outdoorsman, having climbed Mt. McKinley in Alaska and Cho Oyu in the Himalayas. He lives in Seattle with his wife and three boys.

Brett Allsop, Chairman, Vice President of Strategy & Co-Founder

Brett Allsop is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for building consumer Internet and software businesses. He started his career by founding Fogdog, Inc. and eventually growing the company into the Internet's leading sporting goods retailer with more than 180 employees and over $9MM in quarterly sales. Following the acquisition of Fogdog by GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: GSIC) in 2000, Brett served as part of the Investment team at Amadeus Capital in London where he focused on evaluating potential investment opportunities in the software field - specifically enterprise, wireless, consumer and SME opportunities. In 2003, Brett became President of Allsop Inc., designers and builders of unique computer and consumer electronic accessories with offices in the United States, Ireland, and China. He currently oversees product development, implementation and sales at major retailers across North America and Europe.

Brett is a graduate of Stanford University's Engineering program and enjoys running, sailing, skiing and traveling. He is married and has two children.

Executive Team

Meghan Kiernan, Vice President, Business Development

Meghan joined Yapta in December 2007 with more than 10 years of business development and marketing experience at online start-up companies. Most recently, Meghan was Director of Marketing at Jobster.com where she managed marketing and business development efforts, including online display advertising, email marketing, search engine marketing, affiliate program development and strategic partnerships. Prior to Jobster, she was Director of Online Media at HouseValues Inc. where she successfully negotiated an exclusive, multi-year partnership with MSNBC.com and brokered innovative marketing programs with WorldNow's Local Media Network.

Earlier in her career, Meghan served as a Senior Account Manager and Media Planner for Avenue A, Inc., the interactive services division of aQuantive, recently purchased by Microsoft Corporation. She joined Avenue A before its IPO in 1999 and was responsible for helping large, brand-name clients, such as Eddie Bauer and Harrah's Entertainment, optimize their online advertising investment.

Meghan graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 1997 and has lived in Seattle ever since. She currently lives in West Seattle with her dogs, Harley and Joey.

Hugh Birch, Vice President, Product Development

Hugh's career continues to be rooted in online travel, having joined Yapta in March 2008 after spending nearly a decade at Expedia, Inc. and six years at The SABRE Group Inc. At Expedia, Hugh helped develop the company's first net airfare product and played a key role in growing the product's gross bookings to more than $300MM annually. He went on to revitalize Expedia's rental car offerings and led the launch of multiple new products that resulted in strong sales gains and improved web site conversion. Later, as Expedia's Vice President of Engineering, he led the company's supply systems engineering team and forged working relationships with travel suppliers, including airlines, hotels, and car rental companies to get the best inventory onto Expedia.

Prior to Expedia, Hugh held various management roles at The SABRE Group Inc., helping develop, operate and support the company's computer reservation system consisting of more than 140,000 terminals at over 40,000 travel agencies in 108 countries around the world.

Hugh has a master's degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree from The University of Chicago. He lives in Woodinville, Washington with his wife and three kids.

 Yapta employs an advertising-based revenue model.  The company also has a Premium Service offering where, for a fee of $15, Yapta will call the airline on behalf of its customers who are eligible to receive a travel voucher (per the "guaranteed airfare" policies of most major U.S. airlines).

Yapta.com is the only travel shopping Web site that delivers a unique combination of price assurance and transparency to the 71 percent of travelers that buy their tickets directly from airline Web sites. According to research conducted by PhoCusWright, a travel industry research firm, online travel agencies will book only 29 percent of online air ticket sales in 2008 (down from 40 percent in 2003). By channeling ticket bookings exclusively through airline Web sites, which extend consumers the strongest price protection policies, and alerting travelers when prices drop or when they're eligible for airline travel credit, Yapta is helping travelers make a more informed and confident purchasing decision.

No other online travel site today offers automatic and continuous, flight-specific price checking.  Before Yapta, consumers had to manually check multiple airline websites over and over again to ensure they were getting the best price.  Due to constant price fluctuations, consumers frequently missed out on opportunities to purchase at the lowest prices, and felt uncertain they were getting the best deal when they did buy a ticket.  Yapta lifts this burden from the consumer by providing price transparency in the form of a timely pricing email alert.