Q: What is the travel companion application?
A: Travel companion module would be helpful primarily to elderly travelers who have language or other constraints and traveling long distance and internationally. e.g., Son who lives in the U.S. is inviting their parents to come to the U.S. from India. Parents are elderly and don’t know English. Travel includes one or more flight changes or possibly terminal/airport changes and may also need help with filling the immigration forms or help with immigration at the port of entry.
Q: If I would like someone to accompany me on my trip to the U.S. for 15 days. Is this right place to place an ad?
A: No. This application is not suitable to post the ads where you would like someone to specifically accompany you during the entire trip and give you company for few days or few weeks. This application is meant to connect the people during the travel who are already going to the similar destinations.
Post New Ad
Q: How do I post the ad?
A: Simply click on ‘Post New Ad’ link from the top of the page. If you are not already registered user, you will have to register first. Make sure to provide your accurate email as you will need access to that email account in order to complete the registration. Once you have registered, please log into your account to post the ad.
Q: If I am not looking for help but would like to post an ad to offer help to others, can I do that?
A: Certainly. In that case, in the ‘Need Help With’, please select ‘Other’ and mention that you are offering help.
Q: What should I enter in the itinerary?
A: Please enter each leg of your journey along with the airline. This would help others search for your ad more accurately and will increase your chances of getting more replies.
Q: What is Notification of Matches?
A: If you would like, system can automatically send the notification of other ads posted where the itinerary matches your itinerary. If you would like to get the notification only when your itinerary matches completely, select Full. If you would like to get notification even if there is partial itinerary match (one or more legs) or full itinerary match, select accordingly. ‘Partial Itinerary’ selection automatically includes ‘Full Itinerary’ selection as well. If you don’t want any such notifications, just select ‘No’. In that case, you would have to periodically come back to this web site to see if there are any matching itineraries. Of course, if someone directly contacts you, you will get the email anyway.
Q: I have not booked the ticket yet. Can I still post the ad?
A: Yes, you can. Just indicate so when posting an ad. In this case, itinerary match notifications would exclude the airline you have chosen. Notifications would take into account only your travel date and the From/To airports.
Q: What exactly do you match in the itinerary match notifications?
A: Your travel date and your travel legs (From/To airports) are always matches against. Additionally, if you have booked the tickets, your airline will be matched as well.
Q: Can I post more than one ad?
A: Yes.
Search Ads
Q: How can I search the ads?
A: Search functionality is at the top of the home page of ‘Travel Companion’ application. Enter as much (or as little) criteria you would like to search by and click on ‘Search’. You will see the ads that match your criteria right below the search form.
Q: How do I clear the search filter?
A: Simply click on ‘CLEAR’ button and then click on ‘SEARCH’ button.
Q: How does the search criteria for airports work?
A: When searching for the itinerary (airports), the search results would include the entries even if it includes multiple legs.
e.g., one entry says Hyderabad-Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago-Minneapolis.
If the search term is Delhi to Chicago, that entry would be included, provided all other details such as the date range and airline etc (if specified) match. Similarly, Hyderabad to Chicago would be included too. Frankfurt to Minneapolis would be included too. Delhi to Minneapolis would be included too.
If someone is searching Delhi to Chicago on Lufthansa, most likely it would be Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago. But if someone is searching Delhi to Chicago on British Airways, it would not be Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago (but could be) but most likely Delhi-London-Chicago.
Reply to Ad
Q: How do I reply to the ad I am interested?
A: Simply view the ad you are interested and complete the reply section at the bottom of the ad.
Q: Do I have to register in order to reply to the ad?
A: No. However, if you are a registered user and already logged into your account, the system automatically fills the email field with the email address you used when registering to the account.
Q: How do I do further communication with the person who replied to my ad?
A: The system will immediately forward the reply to the ad poster. Beyond that point, any further communication must be done offline and directly between the parties. immihelp® is not responsible for any consequences from such further communication. immihelp® has no way to know the genuineness of such replies or usefulness of such replies or character/motive of the repliers.
My Ads
Q: How do I look at all the ads I have posted so far?
A: Navigate to travel companion login and click on My Ads.
Q: Can I edit my ad?
A: Yes. Please click ‘My Ads’. You will see all the ads you have posted. Click on the link ‘Edit’ for the ad you would like to edit?
Q: Can I delete my ad?
A: Yes. Please click ‘My Ads’. You will see all the ads you have posted. Click on the link ‘Delete’ for the ad you would like to edit?
Q: What happens to the ads after the travel date has already passed?
A: Such ads become inactive and are not visible in the system. Therefore, you don’t necessarily have to delete them explicitly. We do the automatic clean up for you.
