Uber has taken a step closer to its "seamless, door-to-door travel" ambitions with the addition of flight booking functionality to its app in the United Kingdom powered by Hopper.
The capability rolls out to users across the country in the coming weeks and will be available to all U.K. users this summer. Uber hasn't yet revealed any plans for expansion into other markets.
The partnership with Hopper also means Uber will offer the online travel agency’s fintech products, including Prize Freeze, Flight Disruption Guarantee and Cancel for Any Reason.
And Uber is adding additional features that capitalize on Hopper's historic flight data analysis capabilities. Sharing the news of the partnership on LinkedIn, Loren Kosloske, Uber's head of growth and new products for travel, said the new user experience offers a price map showing flight pricing changes over a month or week as well as price prediction that shows when and by how much fares may change.
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The domestic and international flights functionality joins Uber's existing multimodal content in the U.K. that includes Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, National Rail train journeys, Eurostar and National Express and Megabus coach added a year ago and the recent integration of Heathrow Express bookings. Uber has also opened up car rental booking to U.K. users.
“We’re incredibly
pleased to introduce flight bookings as the latest addition to Uber’s suite of
travel booking options,” said Andrew Brem, general manager at Uber U.K.
“Perfect for business travelers
and tourists alike, our new functionality will make the booking and managing of
air travel simple and stress-free, with the booking process taking as little as
one minute in the Uber app. Over the last 12 months with the addition of rail,
coach and now flight bookings, Uber is truly a one-stop travel solution.”
Uber is a big win for Hopper as the newest customer for its Hopper Cloud product that launched in March 2021 and now accounts for about 40% of the company's revenue. Other Cloud customers include Trip.com, MakeMyTrip, Kayak and Amadeus.
“Through our B2B initiative, Hopper Cloud, we can seamlessly integrate both our travel inventory and fintech products into the Uber ecosystem,” said Frederic Lalonde, co-founder and CEO of Hopper.
“This new partnership will offer Uber users choice, transparency and flexibility when booking flights, all in the same place they are already booking their other transportation.”
In November Uber expanded Uber Travel globally. The feature imports flights, hotel and restaurant reservations into the Uber app so travelers can book rides for their entire itinerary without having to input addresses. The company also added experiences content from Viator, primarily for customers in the United States, as part of its Uber Explore development.
In an interview in the PhocusWire studio at The Phocuswright Conference in November, Kosloske shared more about the company's plans for for multimodal expansion and touched on the possible addition of hotel bookings. Watch the interview below.
Executive Interview: Uber
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