Jafri is the brains behind cFares.com, his latest in a series of successful travel enterprises.  With cFares.com, he has broken new ground by bringing previously unavailable air fares right into the customer's living room via the Internet.

In an exclusive interview with The Saturday Post, Jafri talks about cFares.com, his experiences as a successful entrepreneur, and being a part of the Pakistani American community.

Vajid Jafri

We just learned about cFares – the newest entrant in the online travel sales industry - please tell us more about it. What does cFares do and how long has it been around?

Essentially, cFares.com is a travel site providing fare finding, reservation, and ticketing services to customers. But the similarity with other travel sites like Expedia and Orbitz ends there. We have a very different value proposition for our customers than a simple online travel agency, based on three unique capabilities.

1. We bring previously unavailable wholesale air fare inventory direct to the consumer. These fares are not available online through any other travel site and yet they offer consumers hundreds to thousands of dollars in savings on a single flight. This inventory represents 20% of available fares in the US, 50% in Europe, and 80% in Asia.

2. We have patented technology by which our airline partners can create customized fares for the customer at the point-of-sale. These one-of-a-kind fares are not available anywhere else in the market.

3. If these savings are still not acceptable to a customer, we offer them the option of suggesting an even lower price to the airlines through our cAgent Internet concierge service. With cAgent, you propose an itinerary and a price you want to pay. cFares then searches continuously among all the airlines for a matching price/itinerary. When a match is found, cAgent places a hold on that fare for 24 hours. The consumer then determines whether they wish to accept the reservation or decline it. Our customer knows the airline, the itinerary and their price before having to purchase. Unlike similar name-your-price services, cFares customers do not have to play Russian roulette with their travel plans .

Finally, what about cAgent?

cAgent is an automated agent which finds and holds a fare that you’ve specified. Unlike Priceline, you are not buying blind. On cFares, with cAgent, you specify your itinerary, specify the fare you want, and make no payments or commitment. cAgent searches continuously for you, and if it finds the fare you want for your itinerary, it will book and hold the fare for you for up to 24 hours without any commitment from your side. You can see the details of the fare including what airline it is on, how many stopovers you will have, etc. It is up to you to decide whether you want to buy or not.

You could say that the foundation of cFares.com was laid when I was studying at Stanford. The travel industry has been my area of interest since then. The information based nature of this industry and how it was actually structured with a heavy reliance on brick and mortar really intrigued me. I was learning computers at Stanford and I saw a huge opportunity to leverage computer technology to redefine the way travel business is conducted. I could see the potential of unlocking real values for customers and travel service providers. I’ve successfully implemented several ventures in the same industry before cFares.

The value proposition for cFares stems from the unlocked values available in the wholesale air fares segment. Airlines offload a huge inventory risk with wholesalers very early in their sales cycle. In turn, wholesalers end up getting large discounts. It’s like when you buy a ticket 3 weeks in advance you get a better deal than when you buy 7 days in advance. The airlines are hedging against the potential loss of sale by selling cheaper, in advance. Secondly, airlines only put out published fares to customers. All other travel sites pull the fares from reservation systems like Saber. Wholesalers work differently. They’ve already purchased airline fares at cheap rates, which gives them the flexibility to price those fares based on competition and market needs. To us, the value proposition of letting customers access the wholesalers directly was a no-brainer. The big challenge was how. The different components you see on cFares.com are the result of a lot of careful thinking, custom technology development, and many years of experience in putting forth a model that best serves the customers’ needs while meeting the airlines’ business goals, creating a win-win situation for all.

As I mentioned, the three basic distinctions are:

1. The availability of wholesale fares
2. The access to dynamic fares created specifically for you, courtesy of our Dynamic Pricing Engine (DPE) technology
3. The ability to find a fare you specify with no blind-buy; in fact, we even recommend fares that you could specify based on our system’s knowledge of where the cheapest fares are available

In addition, all other travel sites are really just online travel agencies. They are not unlocking the real value for their customers the way we are doing through opening up the wholesale market and dynamic pricing.

Finally, if you are familiar with the Progressive Insurance model, we too offer the customer the cheapest fare, wherever it is available. Essentially, we are like a search engine, so we will search the cheapest fare for you, and show you all competitive fares so you can make the most informed choice.

Is it true that you are charging customers a membership fee to use cFares? If yes, what is the fee and how do you justify it when all other travel sites let you shop for free?

Not entirely true. We have two models. One is a Costco type model, where we offer Platinum Membership to customers who pay an annual membership fee. These customers have access to all three benefit areas of using cFares, i.e. wholesale pricing, the dynamic fares, and cAgent’s concierge service.

Our second model is more like the Walmart model, where you register yourself for free, and become a Gold Member. This is the minimum membership you require (and it’s free) for being able to buy via cFares. All Gold Members can see what our wholesale fares are, use cAgent to find a fare, and buy tickets. However, they do not have access to Platinum fares which are even more deeply discounted than Gold fares and they must become a Platinum member before booking a cAgent fare.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you can’t search fares on cFares.com without either membership. Anyone can go to cFares.com and search for fares and they will see what values they can get by buying through us. Then, if they like what they see, they can sign up for Gold or Platinum membership.

Does cFares offer tickets from all airlines?

Yes. The only airline not in our system, or anyone else’s, is Southwest Airlines. For our dynamic pricing engine, we currently have about a dozen airlines and another dozen or so are in the process of being added. That is just a matter of time and our dynamic pricing technology is so valuable from a customer and airline perspective that we hope to soon have every major airline on it.

What are your future plans regarding cFares?

We intend to expand to other service offerings like hotels, cars, cruises, and packages. We also intend to expand geographically to the Asian and European markets. Our biggest challenge is whether to expand our product offering first or to expand geographically first with a deep product offering in the airline fare segment. Let’s see what works out to be a better strategy, but we will be expanding both our product offering and geographical service more.

Switching gears to yourself, cFares is not your first venture. What have you done prior to cFares?

I created one of the first B2B travel companies called Tri World Travel. It was one of the first technology based travel company servicing business clients. It became one of the top 10 companies in that space. I sold that company at a very good market position and since then have successfully created five other companies in the travel space.

What are some of the lessons you’ve learned that our readers can apply to their own business ventures?

Find a need, make sure it really exists and that you have a clear idea of how to fill it!

Once you have the idea and how you are going to fill it, burn your ships and work relentlessly make it happen.

When you’ve made the commitment, make sure you are surrounded with people with the best talent. Jack Welch was right about A people hiring A people, and B people looking for C people so they can continue to look good. Hire only the best talent and not just someone who will make you look good because eventually, that will not benefit you in creating the best product.

Make sure your team is in sync, everyone respects each other, and they work well together. If you have 10 thoroughbred horses but five are pulling in one direction and the other five in another direction, it won’t get you anywhere. Everyone must work with a common objective.

Provide real leadership and motivation to your team. Inspire them to do their best and make it very clear that failure is not an option!

What is the value of ethnic or community based marketing in your opinion? Does it make financial sense in a cultural and ethnic melting pot like the US?

Absolutely, especially in the travel market! Ethnic communities have a real need for travel. I know that because I am from that market. We are target marketing our services specific to the needs of different ethnic groups. Their needs aren’t the same as an Oracle executive who can pay $2500 for a fully refundable ticket or full coach fare. You ought to give ethnic communities real value and additionally the comfort level and confidence in your product or service. They must believe, from experience, that you are the best provider in that marketplace.

What do you see as the future of ebusinesses – are we going to see another dot com boom like that of the 90s and in 5-10 years, do you see a majority of customers switching away from brick and mortar towards eChannels?

We all saw the boom and bust of the 1990s, but I would say a lot of it was because of money chasing foolish ideas. We are not going to see any more sock puppets that we saw in the 90s. Now what we are seeing is new ideas with real value in a very exciting marketplace. Today, almost 25% of US travel is booked via the Internet. There is great opportunity to build a business, because the Internet offers a very capital efficient model. Because of the technology that is available and the way people are buying, it is now possible to realize that opportunity. Plus, you don’t need to spend millions on advertising. Word of mouth and organic traffic automatically builds for compelling product offerings. Look at Google, You Tube, and other companies like them – they all got traffic based on their value proposition. You could say that this is the real Internet that was promised in the 90s!

How long have you lived in the US and how do you feel living here in the post 9/11 world?

I came here in 1972. Initially I thought I would graduate from Stanford and go back. But the opportunities I got here, the reception, and the support, were all unbelievable. I feel very fortunate to be here and feel that I could not have done what I accomplished anywhere else in the world. I was pretty well connected in Pakistan as well. I had family connections, I went to Aitchison College, built my professional network. Based on how Pakistan works, mainly on connections, I was well established there as well. But the key difference was that the US works on talent. Not that connections aren’t important, but it’s talent that really matters in the end.

After 9/11 a lot of people said you’ll get discriminated against, and things will become difficult for you. But I have not felt one bit of discrimination, anyone looking at me strangely, or any discomfort whatsoever. I go to conferences and attend meetings all the time – it’s the nature of my business – but there is nothing I have felt or experienced that would make me feel like the post 9/11 US is any different for me.

Yes, like all other Americans, I have to face the discomfort of long lines at airports and extra security procedures, but that’s the extent of what has changed after 9/11.

How do you view the Pakistani community within the US – how do you see us becoming more influential and prominent within mainstream America?

Looking at people I know, Pakistanis in the US are among the best and brightest people from Pakistan. Look at Shafiq Khan with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working when I was working on a project with US Airways. Then there are several other people here in the Silicon Valley, as well as all over the US. These are luminaries who have lifted any product or idea that they worked on.

On the flip side, I’m a little disheartened that the Pakistani community is not as well organized as the Indian community. Pakistanis haven’t done for Pakistan what the Indians or Chinese have done for India and China. The way the Indian community is organized, they have been able to do a lot for themselves and have enabled India to develop its bilateral ties a lot more. I’m a part of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE). Because of the efforts of the Indian members of this organization, Governor Schwarzenegger is now slated to visit India and talk about creating more bilateral trade opportunities. We don’t see that happening as far as Pakistan is concerned. Our community has not organized itself to leverage opportunities that can in turn cause similar national benefits for Pakistan as in the case of India.

This doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it needs a catalyst. Pakistan is in no way less than any other country, but we don’t have our share of the business that we should. Pakistan is a closer ally to the US on the war on terror, but we haven’t benefited from this relationship as we could have, with the right kind of community efforts and synchronization. As part of TIE, I’m helping with setting up a venture capital fund in Pakistan and getting it organized. We need to focus on creating opportunities like this, which will fuel the economic growth and make our markets and businesses more international.

Any general advice for young entrepreneurs and business students based on your experience?

I would encourage younger entrepreneurs to seek opportunities that can create real business value for Pakistan. Pakistan needs a lot of mentors, especially in the small business and entrepreneurship fields, to enable people to bring truly valuable ideas to fruition. Pakistan is also in dire need of entrepreneurs who can create real value based businesses. So I would encourage entrepreneurs in general, and younger entrepreneurs in particular, to focus on this need and try to do their part in creating real business value for Pakistan.