Airhopping or doing an air interrail

If your idea is to travel through different European, American, or Asian cities comfortably and without spending much time, effort, or money, your solution is Airhopping.

Do you know what Airhopping is?

Some people call it the air interrail, others the new travel agency for millennials, and others consider it the best option to fly to several destinations for the price of a cheap round-trip ticket. The truth is that it is a very visual and easy-to-use flight search engine that allows you to organise multiple combinations (up to a maximum of four destinations) of plane trips in the cheapest way.

As simple as going to the Airhopping website and filling in the number of passengers, departure airport, dates when you want to live the adventure, and destination airport. From that moment, the platform shows you the cheapest flight it has found and gives you the option to add new destinations at the lowest prices its engine can track. The page automatically arranges the different destinations so that the trip is as cheap as possible.

Goodbye to the hassle of choosing which place to visit first to keep your trip within your budget. Also, the search engine offers to complete your flights by booking hotel rooms.

Its founders, two university students

In 2016, Carlos Montesinos was finishing Business Administration when the most awaited moment for any university student arrived: the end-of-degree trip. The young man wanted to do an interrail through several European cities, but by plane.

He soon realised the headache that awaited him when trying to find the best dates for the different flight combinations and, at the same time, the cheapest ones. The solution? Create a tool that would help himself and many other users find cheap flights. Thus, together with his friend Gonzalo Ortega, who was also finishing his computer studies, they created Airhopping. They launched the company with their own flight, which took them through Berlin, Budapest, and Copenhagen for just over €100.

With the support of the owner of Mercadona

Montesinos and Ortega had no knowledge of the travel sector; but they did have a passion for travelling and a desire to start a business. They received support from Lanzadera, the business acceleration programme promoted by the owner of Mercadona, Juan Roig. The businessman invested €271,000 in Airhopping through his Angels company and currently controls more than 10% of the young company.

The creators of Airhopping admit that they launched their project thinking of young people; but nowadays, this is not a fixed criterion and the main users of their tool are travel lovers who want to visit as many different places as possible.

Who really benefits from Airhopping?

Its founders know that for a business based on a public service to work, it must be profitable and also offer its customers an advantage greater than the savings they would get without paying for that service. In this sense, Airhopping meets both conditions. On one hand, the company charges each customer a 15% commission for each flight it operates (already included in the flight price). On the other, it is locating flights, often “hidden” to ordinary people, that allow linking additional destinations very cheaply or even for free.

The price of the trips includes insurance through which the company offers a new ticket in case of delays or cancellations by airlines that prevent reaching the connection with the next flight. Also, the company helps with the check-in of the different airlines so that in the mobile app tickets appear as they become available.

Therefore, everyone wins: the airlines, Airhopping, and the customers themselves.

Airhopping in numbers

1.6 million euros billed in 2018 (140% more than in 2017).

More than 50 destinations to choose from

More than 40,000 flights sold

254,000 followers on Instagram

€271,000 investment from Juan Roig (Mercadona)

15% commission per flight (already included in the final price)

Now that finding flights is easy, when will you plan your next trip?