Anyone who has gone on a trip with family or a group of friends will know the joy, pain and eventual hassle that happens when planning for the trip. Questions such as “What if my luggage goes missing?” and “What can we do at the airport before out flight” will usually surface.
To help travellers with these problems, SATS (Singapore Airport Terminal Services) has revamped their Ready To Travel planning app, which comes with several new features such as Bag Locate which will be able to help passengers keep track of and locate their lost bags in any country, as well as access to over 400 airport lounges in 100 countries.
With just a small fee of S$6, travellers will be able to get two of their bags insured, with a pay-out of up to S$2,200 per bag should it get delayed beyond 96 hours. When a bag is missing, travellers can report it through the app and from there, the RTT team will handle the tracking of the missing bag. Regular updates will be sent to the traveller, with SATS promising to send at least an update a day.
If the luggage is found, SATS will then liaise with the traveller to see if they wish to have it sent back to the country they came from, or to their current location. SATS’ Vice President of Consumer Services Eileen Tan says that this service is made possible through SATS’ wide network of partners worldwide. She reiterates that the Bag Locate service is meant to complement a traveller’s travel insurance, not replace it.
Another major update the revamped Ready To Travel app comes with is the ability to give users access to over 400 airport lounges in almost 100 countries, including SATS’ very own lounges in Changi Airport. Fees to each lounge vary in each location.
Ready To Travel is currently offering travellers 20% off their airport lounge access as long as they travel before December 31, 2019.
The app also provides a collaborative platform for users to plan a group travel itinerary collectively in real-time. It also has a feature that allows travellers to easily upload and access their travel documents.
With the app, you can start a trip and invite your friends into the app to start planning for it together. You will be able to build your itinerary down to the minute and if you are out of ideas on where to go, Ready To Travel has tabs dedicated to recommending places for you to visit.
As mentioned, you will be able to store all your travel documents in one app, and easily access them whenever you need to. If you wish to, you can even pin them to a certain activity, such as a PDF of a concert ticket or visit to the museum.
To help you on your trip, the app also has an ‘Essentials’ tab that lets you know all the well, essential details you might want to be aware of prior to your trip. It comes with useful information such as whether you will need a visa to visit a specific country, the exchange rate, as well as whether you will need to tip when paying for a service.
Aside from providing a space for travellers to properly plan out their trip, Ready To Travel also caters to the traveller’s needs by providing for various travel essentials such as pocket Wi-Fi rental which caters to over 138 countries and has free device delivery and pick-up, as well as an airport concierge service that ferries you to the lounge and to your gate to board your flight.
“Ready To Travel’s goal is to empower a seamless and hassle-free travel experience for travellers today who appreciate an intuitive platform,” said Eileen. “We benefit from our parent company, SATS’ extensive network of ground handling operations and partnerships to bring essential global travel services onto a one-stop platform.”
Though it has just launched, SATS says that they are already working on possible updates for the app. Such as the option for better personalisation on your trips, so that you will be able to add your own personal activity to a group trip, only you will be privy to the activity, none of your friends will be able to see it.
The revamped Ready To Travel app can be downloaded for free on both iOS and Android app stores now.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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