
Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time - blainevess
Hey!  I’m Blaine from Solve (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.solve.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.solve.com</a>) and we&#x27;re in YC&#x27;s current batch.  We save international travelers hours of time by greeting them at their arrival gate, expediting the immigration&#x2F;customs process, and making sure they&#x27;re safely in their vehicle heading to their destination.  We’re available in nearly 500 airports around the world, and we help with departures and connections too.<p>Our service sounds like it&#x27;d be expensive, but it is actually quite reasonable for someone who&#x27;s already traveling internationally.  For instance, our service for two people arriving in London costs $225 and in Hong Kong it costs $210.  It&#x27;s about $75&#x2F;person from there.  Many of our clients are business travelers and families, but we can help anyone who values their time and&#x2F;or wants some extra assistance getting through the airport.<p>I stumbled upon this idea when a friend and I were flying from Seoul to Bangkok.  I wondered if there was a way for us to get through customs more quickly, so I searched Google and found a (rather shady-looking!)  website for a company that said it could help.  I took the risk of giving this company our passport and credit card details, and amazingly, it all worked out.  When we arrived, an agent met us at the gate, we were whisked through the airport process in minutes, and the agent helped us get a taxi to our hotel.<p>I wanted to book the service for other trips, but there was no easy way to do it.  So, my co-founders (Shawn and Justin) and I built Solve.  We’d love your feedback and are happy to answer any questions. 
======
kinkrtyavimoodh
This seems incredibly pricey, especially for the services you seem to be
promising (which, for all the airports I spot-checked, amounted to Meet and
Greet, Custom Assistance, and Transport Assistance).  Fast tracking was not
covered in the base price for any of the airports I checked.  Connecting flight
service is $745 per person!!! 

Your example pricing was for 2 people, but I checked and it looks like the
price for 1 is the same—SFO is $375 (for both 1 and 2 passengers), likewise
for BOM ($340 for 1).  Given how much you are pushing the business traveler
angle, I think it'll be more honest to talk about price per passenger, as
business travelers rarely travel in pairs. 

Business travelers typically travel light, and might not need as much baggage
assistance or custom assistance.  Likewise, you only claim to provide
assistance booking transportation (the passenger pays for the actual
transport), which means that unless someone is traveling to a very very
'foreign' land (where no one speaks English, the signage is very confusing,
you are very likely to be cheated, etc.  etc.)  I don't see too much value
coming out of the service for most travelers. 

I understand it's a discretionary spend, and that you can charge whatever you
want, and that three or four hundred bucks is throwaway money for many
business travelers (or their companies) but I was personally quite
disappointed to see the pricing, because I was hoping to use it to get, say,
an aging parent through all the airport hassle.  For 50-100 bucks, worth
considering.  For 400, not so much. 

~~~
blainevess
Pricing varies and our goal is to make it much consistent in the not so
distant future.  When we decided to build Solve, we thought we were building a
simple booking engine.  But really, behind the scenes, we are taking a ton of
data and making it easy to understand.  It just ended up being much more
complicated than we thought. 

Now that we've got a better understanding of price, it will help us figure out
how to optimize.  The paired pricing is actually just legacy in the space and
we'd like to ditch it or at least come up with something better. 

We've got some work to do before we're at the 50-100 buck range, but we
definitely appreciate your perspective and feedback. 

------
JimDabell
One of the first things I do when I arrive in a new country is pick up a local
SIM card so I can use my phone without roaming charges.  Sometimes this is nice
and simple where you just walk to a booth in the airport and pick one up,
other times it's a real hassle, having to hunt around for a local shop and
fill in personal information on sign-up.  Have you considered providing local
SIM cards as part of your service? 

~~~
deepGem
This is a huge pain in many of the airports that I have travelled.  In fact,
you'll even get ripped off at some.  For example Rome.  We paid 50 euros for a
supposedly Schengen wide 1GB plan but as soon as we left Italy that SIM was
useless.  So yeah, I'd definitely pay someone if they can just hand me a SIM at
a nominal price as soon as I walk out of immigration/baggage claim

Singapore has done this in a great way.  As soon as you take your bags and go
out there are display boards for SIM purchases - quite quick as well.  Super
friendly staff. 

EDIT: changed Europe to Schengen. 

~~~
ransom1538
In Rome buying a sim is a total gamble -- many times they don't even work.  I
learned to buy the sim, then literally _STAND_ in the same line and install it
into my phone. ( When I do this the staff at these stores start to get
nervous.)  If it doesn't work - I hand them back the sim and explain it doesn't
work on my phone.  They then take my receipt, type something into their
computer, restart the phone and explain how it should work now. _ THEY NEVER_
check the phone to see if it works _they know_ \-- its related to something
they are typing on their computer. __ ALSO, another trick they try is to
explain it takes 24 hours.  This is a total lie, it wont work after the 24
hours -- i usually just argue until they fix. 

~~~
StavrosK
Are there people who take the SIM and leave?  I always assume everyone stuck
around until data was okay on the phone, since sometimes it needs activation,
sometimes it needs settings, etc. 

~~~
wapz
In Japan you can buy it at the convenient stores and the "mini" electronic
store (haneda) at the airports.  Switching sims, setting up the APNs, and the
_NO REFUND AFTER OPENED_ on the sticker make people buy it and jump on the bus
or train to downtown tokyo (where you have 45mins ~ 1.5 hours to burn
anyways). 

~~~
StavrosK
Hmm, I see.  Maybe that's why the ladies selling the SIMs at Haneda were a bit
perplexed when I hung around to make sure that it worked. 

~~~
wapz
Yeah, even if you buy a prepaid sim and it doesn't work on your device the
store probably won't refund you (unless it's "cracked" or something when you
open it). 

------
a13n
Hey Blaine!  Congrats on your launch. 

My co-founder Sarah and I just moved from SF to travel the world while we
bootstrap our startup, Canny.  I'm also a huge fan of products like Shyp,
Instacart, Prime Now, and Gobble that let you trade money for time.  I think I
could be your target customer. 

However, $210 sounds pretty darn expensive for HK.  I just went there last Nov.
It didn't take much research at all to figure out how to get the 2 of us
downtown on the bus for $40-50.  The immigration process was smooth. 

Maybe I haven't felt the pain point you describe, or maybe I'm not
wealthy/spendy enough to be your target customer. 

My feedback for you would be to work on crafting a story that sounds like "oh
man, that's a life saver" rather than "save a few hours".  Or maybe be more
obvious that your product is just for the very wealthy and business travelers
- like a high end credit card or something? 

Just my 2 cents, hope it was useful.  Best of luck! 

~~~
throwaway123945
Since you're an international traveler, I'd like your thoughts on our idea. 

Would you think it's a life saver if the hotel you checked into at your
destination gave you a smartphone that gives you access to the Internet,
Google Maps, and other travel-related apps while you can also use it to Wifi
hotspot your own personal phone? 

~~~
nicpottier
I travel a lot and to many different places and I can say no, this isn't a
useful service to me.  A local SIM card yes, and those are the first thing I do
upon arrival at airports (I have a pouch of 30 or so I keep as momentos). 

My wife was just in Accra and received an Android device like you described at
her hotel.  My advice to her was not to use it for anything that involved
logging in, because honestly, that just sounds shady. 

~~~
tluyben2
There is something called a Handy (I think) which is an Android phone; it
works well for browsing and maps.  I have gotten one for free to borrow in a
number of hotels around the world.  Usually I have a local SIM though. 

------
pdovy
I'd agree with other commenters here that it seems pretty expensive for what
you're getting, or at least the value proposition is poorly presented.  For
example, I don't see any reason why I'd want to pay for this at a US airport
(at least from the perspective of a US citizen).  On the other hand if you told
me the immigration line at XYZ airport was typically 45-60 minutes long and
you could guarantee me priority access, there is a value there that I might
pay for. 

The pricing also seem really opaque - the prices even within a single country
vary (from $250 at JFK in the US to $375 at SFO, why?).  Certainly the going
rate for a fixer at the location must play into this, but from a customer
perspective I'd expect the fee to mostly depend on the value to me - I'll pay
more if the expected level of delay or hassle is high.  That might actually be
inverse of the rate you pay the fixer - there's less value in US/Europe for me
than if I'm traveling in e.g., Southeast Asia. 

Overall though I think this is an interesting idea and I'd be a customer at
the right price point, at least for certain destinations.  Good luck! 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Love all of your points here.  The pain for a lot of customers seems to be
international travel.  You're often not sure what to expect and once you're out
of the airport safety can also be a factory. 

We're working with a ton of different vendors and suppliers so pricing is a
bit opaque, however we're working to normalize and bring down pricing as we
grow the business.  For example Johannesburg is $140 for the first two
travelers and $60 there after. 

Overall, the goal is to modernize this industry and provide different products
to different customer segments based on price/features.  This is just the
beginning :)

------
anovikov
Do it guys!  There is definitely a demand for this!!! 

VIP lounges, fast track and other premium services are all different from
airport to airport, procedure for ordering them is unpredictable and sometimes
cumbersome (like, faxing a request on the company blank and paying through the
wire transfer ONLY, no credit cards accepted - that isn't an exception, but
more like the accepted practice).  If you will figure it out to the Uber level,
when i can take an iPhone app, type in my booking reference for the flight,
pay through the attached paypal account or CC, predictable and reasonable
price, and someone will meet me at the entrance to the airport or off the
plane and get through everything - that will be a killer! 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Appreciate the kind words and support!  You're amazing!  Before we started this
company definitely felt the low tech insecurities of booking these types of
service.  To your point, the goal is to definitely "Uberfy" the process as we
grow.  Thanks again and we hope to serve you soon! 

------
clamprecht
It's a good idea, and it reminds me of "handlers" in the general/business
aviation world.  When you land, they expedite your fueling, customs,
immigration, overfly permits, flight planning & routing, and more. 

Back to normal travelers - I wish there were a free wiki that covered all
this, since it seems like it's just a matter of having the right information. 
Like knowing which office to go in, what forms to have ready, etc.  I guess
it'd be more targeted towards casual travelers who won't pay $200 for this
kind of service. 

~~~
splonk
Wikivoyage is the usual resource for this.  Note that much of wikivoyage is
targeted towards the backpacker world and is somewhat spammy so I wouldn't
necessarily use it for hotel/restaurant recommendations, but it tends to be
pretty good for basic stuff like airport entries and city transportation
systems. 

Wikitravel is very similar - I believe wikivoyage forked from wikitravel some
years back, and my understanding is that many of the primary contributors
moved to wikivoyage. 

------
bluesign
First of all this is a great service, and congratulations on the launch. 

But...

After checking I am a bit disappointed:

\- Istanbul: $235.00 Not including "Fast Track Immigration/Customs" for 2
passengers you can get local fast track card (I think it is around $500 for a
year) which grants fast track on immigration/customs and also for all security
checkpoints for 2 pax

\- Amsterdam: $345.00 Includes fast track vs Privium Basic €121 yearly incl. 
VAT

\- London: $220.00 Includes fast track vs AFAIK it is around 50 GBP for fast
track for one time

Also I think if target is business travelers, a lot of airlines provide
complimentary fast track for business class travelers.  I don't recall not
using fast track when flying business. 

TBH I dont think Meet and Assist has big value, unless you provide some added
value there. 

Also at least I was expecting some lounge access on departures. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Hey there!  We're still working on the wording and how we're crafting the
message, but where we say we include Fast Track Immigrations and Customs we
have access to a dedicated fast track line or the diplomat line. 

For airports where it says does not include, we usually have an expedited
immigrations/customs.  Another agent will go stand in line a head of time and
you can cut in with them, or they'll know the immigration officer and simply
walk you to the front.  It's true for all airports we service except for the US
airports. 

We've found that a good amount of families and the elderly benefit from the
meet and assist.  We also have a fair amount of high profile clients that want
to avoid the paparazzi. 

We consider our agents problem solvers.  For example, we had a client leave his
phone and passport on the plane in Singapore.  The agent ran back, talked to
the airline staff, got onto the plane to grab the passport and phone and was
back in 5 minutes. 

Lastly, our agent syncs up with the driver or helps you buy a train ticket
which has been a huge value for our clients.  Basically not having to think
about how to leave the airport - our agents are taking care of everything for
you. 

~~~
chinathrow
> Another agent will go stand in line a head of time and you can cut in with
> them, or they'll know the immigration officer and simply walk you to the
> front. 

If I would be in said line and observe such a behaviour, I'd be really pissed. 

------
rsync
How does this work, inbound, to the US ? 

When I return to the US (San Francisco) on first class or business tickets
there is no segregation of lines/service - you queue up in the big line and
wait your turn (45-60 minutes later) like everyone else. 

Other than diplomats, I see no mechanism for expediting immigration/customs
inbound to the US and my (short, reckless) research suggested that expedited
immigration/customs is not a perk for any level of ticket price or "elite"
status. 

Perhaps I misunderstand ? 

~~~
jrbancel
> I see no mechanism for expediting immigration/customs inbound to the US

Global Entry [0], if you are a US citizen or permanent resident. 

It is life changing.  Immigration takes under a minute at a kiosk and there is
a priority lane at Customs. 

[0] [https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-
programs/global-...](https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-
programs/global-entry)

~~~
tptacek
I don't fly internationally all that often, but I do sometimes and just did
this week, and I have never had an immigration experience that took longer
than the baggage claim did.  Is this a problem that only occurs at airports
other than O'Hare, or am I just lucky? 

~~~
kasey_junk
I've had immigration experiences at O'Hare that have taken 2 hours. 

Even with Global Entry I've had immigration take 25 minutes at O'Hare. 

~~~
tptacek
What part of the process did you end up waiting 2 hours at? ( I'm just curious,
and I guess feeling lucky). 

~~~
kasey_junk
The line. 

~~~
tptacek
Before or after bag pickup? 

~~~
kasey_junk
Its been a few months since I've cleared at O'Hare vs Midway.  But my memory is
"long ass immigration line that is bad for US citizens without Global Entry
and terrible for non US citizens" followed by baggage claim and "basically a
cursory scan by customs". 

The last time I did this I had Global Entry and 5 of the 10ish kiosks were
broken so that took a fair bit of time as well (you skip immigration but not
customs in that case). 

[edit] the time I had a truly miserable experience the line for immigration
stretched long down the hallway to the immigration hall.  It took more than an
hour to see where the citizens vs non-citizens lanes began. 

------
venning
Off-topic, but how expensive are five-letter, English word _.com_ domains
right now?  I don't see new companies with domains that are small-ish words
very often. 

~~~
nathan_f77
Wow, yeah that domain must have cost a ton of money.  Wouldn't that be worth at
least 5 figures, maybe even 6?  Is that something that YC would encourage them
to do, and maybe help fund the domain purchase? 

~~~
blainevess
You're right, the domain wasn't cheap, but we had it prior to YC.  We bought
Solve.com at my last company (n/k/a StudentBrands.com) for a math-related
product we were going to build, but we decided to focus elsewhere and didn't
use the domain.  Anyway, we were able to work out a way to use it in a way that
worked out for everyone. 

~~~
venning
I kind of expected something like that, based on the generic-ness of the
domain.  Hopefully you can leverage that generic-ness into solving other
problems under the same name. 

Nice service, lots of luck. 

------
kirillzubovsky
This all sounded incredibly like a very San Francisco first world problem,
until I thought of one use case for which you could be incredibly useful - old
grandparents who don't speak the language traveling internationally on their
own.  I know mine are always afraid to travel because there is no one to help
them on connecting flight to go cross customs on arrival.  $300 to help them
move doesn't sound all too bad, when combined tickets are already over a
grand. 

~~~
andr
A good solution for grandparents is to ask for wheelchair service.  It is
usually free and they'll get whisked from the checkin desk all the way to the
baggage claim on the other end.  If they don't like the idea of sitting in a
wheelchair, they can just walk next to the agent. 

~~~
kirillzubovsky
Yup.  Have done that on "both ends," which is really convenient and also allows
me or someone else to accompany them directly to the gate.  That said, Solve
could be a solution in transit.  For example, try navigating Schiphol or
Heathrow if you don't speak the language, and have a long delay between your
connections.  There's room there for premium experience. 

------
refrigerator
Looks interesting!  Out of curiosity, how do you guys actually expedite clients
through immigration/customs/security?  Do airports really let you do this? 

~~~
anovikov
Every airport already has this service.  It is simply complicated to order it. 
Like VIP/CIP lounge/fast track/diplomatic channel/anything. 

That is a complicated, unsexy business though.  It will be hard to pull off on
a scale, in many airports. 

~~~
tehlike
do things that don't scale. 

~~~
anovikov
yeah, i just imagine how painfully difficult it will be for them.  Every time
they will try to make arrangement with a new airport to become their point of
service, they will hear a lot of 'young man, get off my butt, you don't know
what are you doing' before they will get a deal.  The people who are in charge
of these things in airports are very entitled, arrogant, and bound with a lot
of regulations because it is a border and customs control zone after all. 

------
Nadya
This is something I could actually see myself using soon, what perfect timing
to stumble upon it. 

ps.  Whatever SEO marketer you went to, abandon them ASAP.  The spammed geo
pages (in this case: airport pages) with duplicate content is going to impact
your rankings negatively.  It is considered a "black hat" SEO technique.  That
or differentiate the content in a meaningful way.  I only checked 4~ of the
pages and they were all the same, so I'm assuming they all are.  I could be
wrong, but even then you'd want to change any that are too similar. 

E: A small grammar fix. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
That's awesome to hear!  Please use promo code "hnfriends" for 10% off your
booking. 

Thanks for the SEO feedback, we'll definitely relook our strategy! 

------
dankohn1
I landed in Beijing Sunday and arranged a car from my hotel since Uber doesn't
work here.  I arranged via email for the Intercontinental to send an Audi for
me and my colleague for CNY 780 (USD 114).  Included in the price was an
expediter service of a very nice woman who met us at the gate and accompanied
us through immigration until she put us in the car. 

In Europe, your service doesn't make sense either, because Uber to a hotel is
so convenient and reliable. 

I'm your target audience, but I don't think you've hit product market fit yet. 

------
orliesaurus
Hey I travel a lot, always economy class, I hate queues... Im not sure about
this, is it legal to speed up immigration process?  Like how can non airport
staff even get access to help you speed up internal airport stuff?  I
understand prebooking a taxi and helping you carry luggage?  But anything else? 

~~~
shawnsheikh
It's definitely legal, all of our ground team members have special badges that
allow them to do this service.  They'll escort you to special fast track lines
or simply walk you to the front of the immigrations and customs lines. 

Our agents are problem solvers.  If you forget something on the plane or need
something they'll be sure to handle it quickly and efficiently.  They're your
your best bet when trying to get through the airport as quickly and safely as
possible.  A fair amount of our clients use the service to make their
connections on time. 

~~~
fauigerzigerk
_> They'll escort you to special fast track lines or simply walk you to the
front of the immigrations and customs lines._ 

Just be careful how you do that.  If you are a U.S company the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act may be relevant: [https://www.justice.gov/criminal-
fraud/foreign-corrupt-pract...](https://www.justice.gov/criminal-
fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act)

(IANAL)

------
CaptainZapp
As others have pointed out it seems expensive.  Very expensive.  But I wonder
how you justify the following:

Arrival services in Zurich, 1 person : 645$ ? 

I specifically wonder how customers are fast tracked through immmigration,
given that Emirates complained that the airport does _not_ offer any fast
track immigation counters for their first - and business class customers. 

As a matter of fact: There are two types of passport counters: Swiss - and EU
countries (including Norway and Iceland) & All others.  So how is a "fast
track" offering justified and what is contained in such an offer? 

Also: Whisking customers through customs at that airport seems a tad, well,
marketingish.  Given that you usually don't deal with customs at all.  You just
leave through the green entrance (if you have nothing to declare) and usually
just walk out.  Sure, a customs agent may check on you, but in that case your
helpful solver isn't of much help. 

Sorry, but charging 645$ for your services at an airport where your maximum
exit time - from the plane to public transport - from a Schengen country is 20
minutes and from a non-Schengen country 40 minutes (add 15 minutes for luggage
retrieval) seems breathtakingly expensive.  Even for an expensive city like
Zurich. 

How can you justify such prices? 

------
seanmcdirmid
In Denpasar, Indonesia (the airport for Bali), you could always get through
immigration/customs by bribing the immigration officers.  Actually, they would
come through the lines telling us about their "service" given that they
immigration lines were moving so slowly (and I have a feeling, this was by
design).  With the new airport and more efficient immigration lines, these
people have disappeared, however. 

I wonder what kind of relationship you need to set up a kind of service that
would even allow you to meetup at the arrival gate?  Many airports simply have
nothing for this beyond VIPs, I can't think of any airport in China that would
do this, for example, which is why all the people are holding up signs waiting
for their charges outside of customs. 

Edit: they seem to offer service at PEK
([https://www.solve.com/pricing/pek](https://www.solve.com/pricing/pek)), but
DAMN those prices are sky high (start at $1,690).  I guess that answers my
question then. 

------
mailmrg
Saw the pricing for bangalore, India.  Goodness me.  its $290 for 2 persons. 
this is for meet and assist without fast immigration.  just to give
perspective, its about $20 for you to get to city from airport for 2 persons
(40kms trip).  I can say your Bangalore price is really very high.  $100 in
india can get you done a lot of things. 

------
paulsutter
How are you able to consistently skip the lines in so many countries?  I love
this idea but my skepticism would prevent me from trying it. 

A better explanation might help resolve that.  Is it sketchy?  does it involves
bribes?  Is it just a scam?  These are the questions that will give your target
customers doubts.  If I knew it was legit I would always use it. 

~~~
kcorbitt
Same question.  AFAIK in the first-world countries I've flown into the line
you're put in depends entirely on the passport you hold, and sometimes
traveler-specific preregistration programs (e.g. Global Entry in the USA).  Are
you actually helping people skip lines, or just showing them the right ones to
stand in? 

------
hayksaakian
Super cool! 

Dubai airport has a service called 'marhaba' which basically does this but
only in Dubai. 

It's great for helping someone who is older or disabled figure out their
connecting flights through an airport. 

Smart to bring this to more places. 

Your pricing is pretty spot on too, it's a bit less expensive than marhaba
btw. 

~~~
peteretep

        > Smart to bring this to more places. 
    

I would be 90% amazed if they're bringing it to more places, rather than just
reselling existing local services. 

~~~
blainevess
The key for us is making it more accessible and easy to book.  We know that the
current space is about to evolve pretty quickly.  The current companies and
individuals have actually been quite receptive to our approach.  They just
haven't had access to the tools we're building and the customers we're
reaching. 

Otherwise, yeah, we want to bring it to more places as we get a better
understanding of the demand in places where the service isn't currently
offered. 

------
jelmerdejong
Like the idea!  Especially on airports that are famous for their lines and
waiting time (JFK...) winning time at immigration and avoid standing in line
for a taxi quickly saves you 2 hours.  For the business traveler that is almost
2 extra meetings, and for the family traveler that is 2 hours less stress and
crying children. 

I registered a domain name a while back 'DeliveryOnArrival.com' with the idea
to also accelerate business travel.  The plan was that you could travel with
less stuff (and therefore could bring only hand luggage) and get what normally
use and need delivered on arrival: at the airport gate, in your Uber, in your
Hertz rental, or at your hotel.  Never executed on it though, maybe a nice add-
on service (I would use it). 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Thanks for the kind words!  Your thoughts are exactly how we're approaching our
business.  Business travelers, families, the elderly are just a few of the
clients that we serve. 

As for your baggage idea, check out a company called Dufl
[http://www.dufl.com/](http://www.dufl.com/) We've spoken to them and they
have an awesome service for not having to deal with your luggage. 

------
peteretep
I do a _lot_ of international business travel, mostly in business.  3 figures
of flights last year.  I would use this service, but you're about 2x as
expensive as I'd pay for it. 

For example, you want £140 for landing at Suvarnabhumi.  This gets me Fast
Track immigration, but I already get that if I'm landing in business, and help
with onwards transportation, but as per most airports, the place is swamped
with good quality limo transfers for maybe 2x the price of a regular taxi.  So
I'd be paying £140 for a cart from deplane to immigration, plus perhaps
shortening priority immigration, and help with luggage.  That definitely has
some value, maybe up to £70, but £140 is way too much. 

~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
I also wonder why the prices are largely in the same ballpark irrespective of
the airport.  This seems a mostly labor intensive offering, and labor costs are
much lower in, say, India. 

~~~
peteretep
They are reselling local services.  The costs are going to be space in the
airport + paying for customers to cut queues, which airports will already be
selling to airlines.  Staff costs will be a minor component, I suspect. 

~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
Fair point. 

------
krmmalik
I've been dreaming of a service like this since last year.  Im travelling to
Malaysia in a couple of weeks from Heathrow and would love to get through
security faster.  I paid $8 (approx) to get through security faster at Luton
airport when i was travelling to Amsterdam and i loved it.  But unfortunately
such a service is not available at Heathrow unless i buy business class or
have an executive club membership. 

$225 is rather pricey for me.  Its a bit beyond my budget, but id happily pay
$60ish to get through security/customs faster on my out to Malaysia from
Heathrow if it was possible in anyway.  If anyone from Solve is reading this
please let me know if you can do something for me? 

~~~
krmmalik
I just called up Heathrow premium upgrade seevices.  They can do the same thing
for $140 but when i told them i am travelling economy they told me they
couldnt fastrack me at check-in or through security which -- to me -- makes it
a complete waste of money. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Also here's a promo code for 10% for our Hacker News friends: "hnfriends"

~~~
krmmalik
Thanks but still beyond my budget.  On the offchance that somehow i could
afford this are you saying you can guarantee expedited security AND check-in
at Heathrow? 

------
twiss
With all the stories about US immigration recently, I think what people would
pay for is: fast-tracked and friendlier US immigration for international
travelers, nothing more, nothing less. 

There are some programs to fast-track US immigration here [1], but only from a
short list of countries [2]. 

1: [https://www.dhs.gov/trusted-traveler-
programs](https://www.dhs.gov/trusted-traveler-programs)

2: [https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-
programs/global-...](https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-
programs/global-entry/eligibility)

------
patrickg_zill
Hopefully you will have better optimization of providers in the future,
allowing for better pricing. 

For instance, arriving at SVO (Sheremetevo airport in Russia) you want $735
for meet and greet and transportation help. 

Yet local pricing for transportation into Moscow is no more than $75 for the
one way trip (SVO is a bit outside of Moscow proper) and, well, very capable
translators are available for what, $50/hour or less?  I've paid as little as
$10/hour, though not at the airport. 

SVO already has express lanes IIRC for USA citizens at least.  You should
either have this info noted or possibly figure out how to integrate this into
your service. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Moscow is definitely an outlier.  Our services in Johannesburg, for example,
are $140 for the first two travelers and $60 thereafter.  As we continue to
grow, we're pushing our suppliers to bring their prices down and we're
deploying our own teams.  The problem with airports like Moscow is that they
are not doing enough bookings each week to operate at (minimal) scale - so
they're up charging the limited amount of business travlers coming into the
country that are using the service.  Definitely something we're going to
change. 

------
neerkumar
I think this can make sense.  I recently traveled with a toddler for the first
time.  I was amazed by how in certain airports (the Asian ones), when they saw
I had a toddler, they managed to speed up the process by sending me to other
lines.  At the same time, in the US they didn't send me to any special line and
was horrible.  I would have easily paid 200$ to avoid staying in line with a
toddler. 

The website though seems so vague.  It is really hard to understand exactly
what I would be paying for.  There is a little bit of everything and nothing is
very concrete. 

~~~
blainevess
Thanks for your feedback.  We are working on the language on the website. 
Believe it or not, our pricing / services page
([https://www.solve.com/pricing/](https://www.solve.com/pricing/)) explains
this service much better than what's been done in the past, but you're right
that there's room for improvement.  The next version of the site will be
launching this month and is a bit clearer. 

~~~
neerkumar
That's (a bit) clearer.  I hadn't seen that. 

I think the entire airport experience is a mess and one of the few things I
can think of that's actually worse than 20 yrs ago.  If you guys gain deep
knowledge about their process and can then make it more efficient via
technology, it would be huge. 

Good luck. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
That's definitely the goal!  Thanks for the kind words and we hope we can help
you on a service soon! 

------
anaskar
This is great!  This is sort of like how Clear brokers deals with airports to
expedite security, except for more interesting and complicated airport
processes. 

Could have used this coming back from Rome to the United States via Spain. 
Ended up going through customs 4 times just to make a transfer. 

Curious how difficult it was to do this for 500+ airports so quickly,
especially since you're a private company and operating beyond security gates
in an era of permanently heightened security. 

~~~
fudged71
What is your opinion of Clear?  I just saw it on a recent trip and it seemed
like a violation of privacy

~~~
shawnsheikh
Clear is an awesome service, but their strategy/service is a bit different
than ours. 

We provide you with a dedicated agent/problem solver (pun intended) that takes
you from curb to gate and gate to curb.  We're also really helpful on
international trips where there are language barriers and insanely long
immigrations/customs lines. 

We also make sure you're safely off in your vehicle when you exit the airport
and your'e not getting ripped off on a taxi or car.  For example, in places
like Mexico City or Beijing you're swarmed by drivers trying to get you in
their car as soon as you exit the airport. 

------
FLUX-YOU
What are you using to coordinate with your staff that actually meet customers? 
Do you have a mobile app or an internal website they use for this? 

Same questions for customers: Agents could acknowledge that they are there and
waiting (with the customer's desired name/special request).  It could also
function as a customer support interface as well as providing the support
phone number. 

This seems like it would be very attractive for business-to-business with
traveling employees as well. 

Good luck! 

~~~
blainevess
Communication with everyone involved has been a pain point for us, even as
we've thrown technology at the problem.  Right now, we're of course
communicating with our agents via email, phone, and text to make sure
everything goes smoothly. 

Plus, our clients have the agent's information and the agents have our
client's information, so they can communicate directly if necessary.  In the
near future, the client and the agent will have a Lyft-like experience on
arrival or departure, where our agent sees the customer information on their
agent app, and the customer sees the agent information on their customer app. 
This will be a massive improvement to the industry. 

Thanks for your feedback/questions! 

~~~
JimDabell
> In the near future, the client and the agent will have a Lyft-like
> experience on arrival or departure, where our agent sees the customer
> information on their agent app, and the customer sees the agent information
> on their customer app. 

That's not going to happen without a data connection on the customer's phone
though, which means either expensive roaming, buying a SIM card before they
meet the agent, or fighting through crappy airport Wi-Fi sign-up pages.  You
could potentially partner with the airport Wi-Fi and have your application
authenticate them to the Wi-Fi network automatically though.  Do you have any
other thoughts on how to solve the data problem? 

~~~
blainevess
True - it won't work in every situation.  We're planning to communicate
similarly to how Airbnb communicates when a host gets a booking - push
notification, text message, and email at all once.  In the cases where someone
doesn't have data, they often are still able to receive texts (not always). 

Either way, we already over-communicate to the client to make sure they know
what to do.  Eventually, the agent's app will be helpful too, so the agent can
recognize the client if the client uploads their photo to our system. 

Your idea about Wi-Fi is certainly something to explore as well. 

------
calcsam
To HN readers complaining about pricing: You Are Not The Target Audience.  At
least unless you (or your employer) are willing to pay $2000 extra to fly BER-
SFO first class to get an extra few hours of sleep on your way to a high-value
meeting. 

To co-founders: I hope you know this as well!  Keep pricing in a way that shows
you understand your target market. 

~~~
rosege
I guess the thing is that if you are flying first or business you already get
a card that lets you use the express immigration counter so you might not
really need this anyway. 

------
squarks
Instead of personal attention, what if there were a kiosk in every (or many)
airports, like a RedBox, where you could get your tickets, SIM card, or
whatever predictably before arriving?  Or perhaps even a locker where someone
gets all your things and puts them in the locker for you for when you arrive? 
That might keep the costs down. 

------
brenschluss
I wouldn't use language like "Quick Quote" \- I associate "quote" with "We'll
call you back on the phone in a few hours or days".  Just write "Pricing", etc. 

------
Animats
So what assets do you have on the ground at each airport you serve?  Do you
really have offices at all those locations?  Or are you just a booking agent
for the companies with those shady-looking web sites? 

~~~
shawnsheikh
We've basically partnered with the best suppliers at each airport.  There are
often 2-3 companies at each airport that do this and 2 of them are terrible
and 1 is really good.  We've worked really hard to vet ever single supplier to
make sure there is consistency and reliability on every service. 

------
geocar
This sounds awesome.  I've never heard of you. 

I commute internationally for work, but I've bookmarked you then to try out
the next time I hit an unfamiliar airport. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
That sounds awesome, we're excited to help!  Please use promo code "hnfriends"
for 10% off your booking! 

------
justkd
Great idea!  And btw that is a killer company name and domain! 

Yeah and I agree pricing should be lower.  As you said, some Airports offer
this: at Frankfurt Airport in Germany they pick you up with a
Bentley...[http://vip.frankfurt-airport.com/en/](http://vip.frankfurt-
airport.com/en/)

------
deepGem
Guys - this is way better than the crappy concierge service that many credit
card companies offer.  I got a bad experience with DBS Treasures.  I'm wondering
how you guys will compete or complement TSA pre-check or other comparable
services, for example the premium immigration service at LGW that can be
purchased for 10 GBP. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Love your thoughts, and appreciate the kind words.  We actually see ourselves
complimentary to services like TSA pre-check.  Nowadays so many people have TSA
pre-check that you're still waiting in line.  Our agent will meet you curbside,
hand you your ticket or help you check in, walk you to the FRONT of the pre-
check or even the first class line (United Premiere's First Class Line at JFK
is still a nightmare) and make sure you get on your aircraft safely.  So it's a
true end to end concierge service. 

------
mindhash
This could work when my non English speaking parents visit my brother in US. 
Also there are quite a few travel packages that non English people travel on. 
Its a very useful solution for such groups.  I am not sure how big market you
are targeting though.  It could be big if you look internationally.  All the
best

------
rllin
Where are you seeing (your own comprehensive market research?)  that there's an
actual demand for this?  I'm very curious as wanting a service like this seems
like such an odd desire to me.  Traveling is cumbersome at times, but those
that do it often often have it down to a science themselves. 

~~~
blainevess
This type of service has actually existed for about 20 - 30 years and a decent
number of people use it, but there's never been 1) an easy way to book it and
2) price transparency.  We've solved those two issues and we believe many more
people will book the service once they're aware of it.  Plus, frequent
travelers want to move quickly and safely and we help make that happen. 

~~~
splonk
On the topic of price transparency, can you discuss the breakdown of the
pricing between different airports?  I've traveled enough that I'm not
particularly interested in anything besides expedited immigration, and I can
totally accept that it's expensive to get a person past security and buy you
into the line, but I'm confused about the difference in pricing for, e.g.,
LHR, where $220 gets you fast tracked, and SFO, where $375 doesn't. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
That totally makes sense.  Right now, we're working with a fair amount of
fragmented suppliers.  At airports with higher demand, we're able to decrease
pricing due to scale. 

As for places like SFO - in the US in general (Miami and JFK airport being the
exceptions), no company has access to meet clients at the gate for
international arrivals, so this service isn't as in demand. 

We're also still working on crafting our wording and how to pitch the value
props to our clients. 

For airports where it says does not include fast track immigrations/customs
(except for the US), we usually have an expedited immigrations/customs. 
Another agent will go stand in line a head of time and you can cut in with
them, or they'll know the immigration officer and simply walk you to the
front.  It's true for all airports we service except for the US airports. 

~~~
avarun
Is it true for DEL? 

------
simplehuman
Just wondering if there is any backstory to the name 'solve'?  Congrats on the
launch

~~~
shawnsheikh
We consider our Solve agents your personal "problem Solvers".  The service
isn't just about getting through immigrations and customs quickly, it's more
about making sure you don't have to worry or stress at all which is why we
went with the name Solve :)

------
bhaile
I like this and will be exploring it when my travel picks up again.  Have you
posted this in the forums at FlyerTalk?  Highly engaged community that features
lots of premium flyers and will give candid feedback as well. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
That's awesome to hear, feel free to use promo code "hnfriends" for 10% off
your booking.  Awesome advice in regards to FlyerTalk.  We're actually chatting
with them now and are hoping to get something up soon! 

------
ape4
How about a service for muslims or non-white people arriving in the USA. 

------
aracarie
This looks great, will definitely try it out next time I travel.  Looks like
there is no fast tracking immigration/customs for US airports though?  Any
plans to add this in the future? 

~~~
shawnsheikh
That's great to hear!  We'd love to help.  Please use promo code "hnfriends" for
10% off of your booking :)

As for fast track immigrations/customs in the US, we're only able to help in
some cases at JFK and MIA.  Basically no company has access to meet travelers
at their gate in the US.  We're working to make this happen though, and there
are pilot programs at a few airports coming later this year! 

------
nuna
DXB Dubai offers a similar service called Marhaba, they were great, even
waiting for a long time until a lost baggage dispute was resolved

------
potomak
I must say the logo resembles Tomatoes[0] productivity app logo very much. 

[0] [http://tomato.es](http://tomato.es)

~~~
blainevess
Thanks for your feedback.  I definitely see the similarity with the check mark,
but it wasn't on purpose. 

------
ck_one
Can you eloborate on what "fast track immigration" means?  How can you get your
customers faster through immigration? 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Exactly what tintor is saying.  We have access to special lanes including fast
track lines, pilot/crew lanes, or the diplomat lines.  In other cases, our
agents are able to simply walk travels to the front of the
immigrations/customs lines. 

~~~
nathan_f77
Wow, how did you do that?  Do you have deals with every airport, and part of
the cost is paying for the faster line? 

I've been through a priority queue in business class, but this sounds like a
much cheaper option if you just want to fly economy.  I will definitely try
this out on my next trip. 

~~~
jpalomaki
Did not really think about this before, but if airlines are able to purchase
this service for their business class customers, then other companies can
certainly do it as well.  For example Norwegian has an option to purchase
access to priority security check on certain airports in their mobile app. 

Actually a bigger business opportunity might be to sell the "pass the queues"
access on the fly (without pre-booking).  In most cases I would be a bit
hesitant to spend money on these in advance, but if things don't go as planned
I might be interested in paying to speed things up. 

------
aloukissas
The value-add over the $95/5 years of Global Entry doesn't seem to warrant the
price. 

~~~
shawnsheikh
Global Entry is a service that only works in the US, and it doesn't include a
dedicated agent meeting you at the gate, luggage assistance, or assistance
booking/finding your car. 

We help with fast track immigrations and customs and safety when traveling
international.  On my last international flight, I landed and a guy grabbed my
bag and started walking off yelling "fast track" hoping for a tip.  If I wasn't
already used to this is would've been alarming.  Our mission is not just the
speed of immigrations/customs but comfort and a hassle free experience when
you travel. 

------
wayn3
quick review.  im arriving in vegas in a couple hours so i thought id check it
out. 

after signing up, i'm asked to enter my flight details, which goes reasonably
well until you ask for the record locator number, which is required.  I have no
clue what a record locator number is or where to find it, so that's as far as
I got into the booking process.  I literally can't continue right now, and at
this point, the potentially helpful intercom is gone. 

the price for Vegas would have been §305, which sounds incredibly expensive.  I
don't really get why the pricing is different for different airports, other
than the fact that you want to fleece people for as much as possible.  At least
feels that way. 

In order to fully take advantage of your service, I'd need to book it for both
airports.  That puts the price in the $500 range, which effectively doubles the
price of the ticket for economy class flights.  For business class flights, we
are still talking about roughly 25% of the ticket, or 125% total. 

Thats incredibly expensive and I dont really get the value proposition.  If I
travel for fun, I go through customs which takes an hour at the worst and then
I walk out the hall, press a button on my app and an uber picks me up.  I dont
see how you can possibly speed that up.  Even if you could cut out the whole
customs process entirely, which I doubt is possible (picking up the luggage is
the time intensive part), it would not be worth it. 

If I travel for business, whatever I do at the airport amounts to a billable
hour so I dont REALLY care either. 

For reference, I make $20-$30k a month all things considered.  I feel its
expensive.  Based on the value offered, I wouldnt book it.  Maybe I lack a
really annoying flight experience. 

Now, you could argue that I'm not your target customer, which is fair.  I get
that there are people who make more money.  But.  My girlfriend happens to be
wealthy.  She takes advantage of services like yours.  But she would never visit
some random website to book that off of.  When she travels, she gets picked up
at home and then a whole bunch of things happen that go beyond what you offer
and its being taken care of by her credit card company.  At the airport, she's
handed off to the priority check-in line of her favourite expensive airline
and then its off to the business lounge where some concierge takes care of
anything that could potentially bother her. 

I'm sure that this may be more expensive than your service, but she doesnt
care.  Its just a line item on the credit card bill that shes not even going to
look at.  If you want to compete with that, go super high-end and somehow make
it really easy to book.  btw, she wouldn't know her locator number thingie,
either. 

If you want to just do the thing you do, I believe it needs to be cheaper.  Or
at least make the pricing consistent so that I dont feel like I'm getting
fucked for flying into vegas. 

------
wbeckler
If it's possible to pay more to avoid the hassle that the other 99% have to
deal with, then there is even less incentive for elites to rein in the
unnecessary hassle. 

I'm sure the 1% will love it, but due to the political calculus, your success
will make the world a worse place. 

~~~
blainevess
We definitely want to make this type of service available to more people in
the long term and we believe that increased awareness/volume will help make
that happen.  TSA Precheck has been helpful to the masses within the USA, and
perhaps we'll head down a similar path internationally.  Airports in general
haven't been very technologically-focused and even at this early stage, we're
seeing an opportunity to help airports improve. 

~~~
yequalsx
I think you missed the point being made.  TSA Precheck has not made things
helpful.  It has merely allowed people of means to return to the status quo
ante before TSA existed.  It has come at the cost of less freedom and a
lowering if expectations on how government should treat people without means. 

------
petraeus
$540.00 to land at YYZ for a glorified bag carrier?  What is this? 

p.s.  solve isnt a great domain I hope you change it, something like
traveller.com

