Do travel assistant services actually help when things go wrong?
I’m 32, based in Amsterdam and work remotely, so I end up flying around Europe fairly often for client meetings. A few months ago I had one of those travel days where everything went wrong. My train from Lisbon was delayed and then cancelled, I reached the airport too late for check in and I had to book another flight and rearrange a meeting in Amsterdam. Nothing catastrophic, just a lot of unnecessary stress. Since then I’ve been looking at travel-assistant services that offer things like itinerary reminders, flight updates, help with disruptions and other travel related support. My trip online was one of the services I came across while comparing them, along with a couple of others. The part I’m unsure about is what actually happens when there’s a real problem. Getting a reminder about a flight is useful but the bigger question is whether these services can genuinely help with cancellations, rescheduling, refunds or changes, or whether they ultimately just send you back to the airline. I’m also curious whether people find the extra features genuinely useful or whether most of them are things you can already handle yourself through the airline’s app. I’m not looking to promote any particular service. I’m more curious about whether having this kind of service has actually made travel easier for frequent travelers.