I received an email from a new site on the travel block - they call themselves AirOpinion.com and aim to bring to Air Travel what TripAdvisor.com brings to the world of hotel reviews. Unfortunately, when I checked the site, I got an error "PHP has encountered an Access Violation at 097E9878"...an embarrasing start, no doubt :| Attached is a cached screenshot of the site...more information on the concept and features below...

The official blurb received by email from the site:

The new Internet site Airopinion.com is the first online source of air transport information based on passenger opinions. Airopinion.com includes a links directory, an opinion forum and a popularity ranking of the companies in the sector.

2008 marks the start of a new era for passenger air travel. This year brings a host of improvement in air travel, from which companies of the sector and especially passengers will profit greatly.

The 3 main improvements are:

1) May 31, 2008: E-ticketing: From June this year, all plane tickets will be electronic. Electronic tickets or e-tickets are an advantage both for airlines and passengers. For airlines, e-tickets are cheaper to issue and easier to manage. For users, they mean increased convenience.

2) March 30, 2008: Entry into force of the Open Skies Agreement signed by the US and the EU last year. This agreement allows European airlines to fly from any of the EU countries to any point of the US and vice-versa. This liberalization of air traffic will bring increased competition and possible reductions in fares.

3) January 31, 2008: Airopinion.com is launched. At a time where air traffic is increasingly competitive due to the rise of low-cost airlines, e-ticket implementation and the liberalization of air-traffic, as well as the increasing number of companies in the sector offering their services online, the need to find the best option for our next flight is more pressing than ever.

To find out the best way to travel by plane, we need a directory listing all the airlines, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies and flight search engines available on the Net. Airopinion.com is the most comprehensive links directory devoted to air transport. At Airopinion.com it is possible to find, for instance, the airline, travel agency or flight search engine offering the cheapest e-ticket to our destination.

It is also necessary to have an opinion forum, where passengers express their criticisms and comments freely with regard to the companies of the sector. Airopinion.com is the first source of information on air travel based on passenger opinions. At Airopinion.com it is possible to contribute comments and to find both positive and negative information regarding all companies in the sector.

However, a directory and an opinion forum are not enough. It is also necessary to have access to a popularity ranking based on passenger opinions or votes. Airopinion.com is the first site that offers a popularity ranking of the companies in the sector, made by and for passengers, providing information on the best and worst valued companies in the sector. For the moment, the results of the ranking are ordered alphabetically until the opinion of the users puts each company in its place.

For a constantly-evolving sector such as air transport –as for other sectors such as the hotel sector-, it was necessary to have a site offering the most comprehensive information possible and a ticket to the best available flight. In order to access better flights, the best information is required, and that information, offered by passengers, is found at Airopinion.com.

Airopinion.com is the result of the efforts of a group of professionals from outside the air travel sector, of various nationalities, with a common aim: to offer the first online platform with information on the best way of travelling by plane. The site is available in 3 languages (Spanish, French and English).

tags: airlines, airline-reviews, passenger-reviews, airopinion.com, air-opinion, travel, tourism, air-travel