
Photo Credit: alex plesovskich | Unsplash
New App Lets Travelers Book Flights Based On Instagram Screenshots
If you’ve ever seen a photo that you feel is the perfect vacation destination but you’re not sure where it is, screenshots will now help you find it.
EasyJet has launched an extension to its app that will allow users to directly book a flight from a picture of a destination.
“It’s all done through the power of the photo. You will be able to take a photograph from, say, Instagram and find that destination on our app and go straight on to booking,” Lis Blair, chief marketing officer at EasyJet, told Marketing Week.
The app not only recognizes the destination but tells the prospective traveler where the nearest airport is and pre-populates the booking form in the app with those details, according to a report from DigiDay.
And it’s as simple as a tap. App users will take a screenshot of a destination they like the look of and upload it to the Look&Book app. EasyJet will then tell you where it is and which flights will get you there through image recognition technology.
The new app feature, which launched earlier this month, is available only for European destinations. Officials said for the best results, Instagram is the best social media resource to use.
That’s because Instagram photos are more likely to be geo-tagged, Daniel Young, EasyJet’s head of digital experience told DigiDay. In addition to the geolocation tag, airports have been weighed with a number of tags such as beach, building, architecture and culture. If the location is not present, the tool will identify the key tags in any pictures and match that to the most accurate airport matching those tag percentages.
Try our new app feature, Look&Book, where you can book a flight using just a photo.
Take a screenshot of a destination you like, upload it to our app and we’ll find the flights to get you there. Use Instagram for best results. pic.twitter.com/xEY4HRPpKf
— easyJet (@easyJet) October 2, 2018
“We’re excited to be the first airline in the world that lets you search for a flight using just a photo,” a statement from EasyJet officials reads.