Latest news with #Juurnee
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Mum-turned-entrepreneur launches dream business after ingenious travel hack for parents goes viral
Rachel Crampton, 39, made headlines in the Daily Mail back in 2022 after offering AUS$1000 (£485) for help to take her three toddlers on a 23-hour flight. She found herself stuck, needing to travel back from her brother's wedding in the UK to Australia and her husband, Ben, unable to join for the journey. 'Anyone heading from London to Sydney who wants to make $1,000??' she posted on Facebook before listing the responsibilities of the job. She was inundated with volunteers and since then, the Sydney-based British mother has created her own business inspired by her situation. Juurnee connects parents needing help tackling long-haul flights with child-friendly travel companions. People looking for a flight companion can post their offer for free on the site, while those applying to the ads pay £15 a year to message the parents directly and offer their services. Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Rachel describes how she 'definitely' never imagined she would have set up a company off the back of her asking for help. 'I was kind of in the midst of just having had a baby and thinking about my first trip back to the UK after a while because it had been Covid,' she explains. 'I kind of didn't think that at all, but that's sort of how it ended up.' After sifting through the hundreds of applicants to her advert, Rachel selected an Australian girl called Sarah who couldn't afford a flight home from London. It proved to be a success, with Sarah helping out for the entire 23 hours, and after an overwhelming public response as well as friends urging her to do so, Rachel set up Juurnee. She works on the site while also balancing a full time job, but says she's had 'loads of people using it'. Around 12,000 people have signed up since it launched as a trial in Australia in October, and it is now coming to the UK. 'This is something on the side I just wanted to do because after having been in the situation myself,' Rachel shares. 'The thought of that flight, having to do that by myself with my three really young children, and potentially not actually getting back to see my own family as I attend my brother's wedding. 'I thought, if it hadn't been for that girl that helped me, I might not have done that trick and so I just wanted to get it out there and help other people in the same situation as I was in.' There are plenty of opportunities on the website for those hoping to help and travel around too. Someone is offering £100 to help an elderly aunt during a journey from Melbourne to Delhi. Another ad promises a free flight, usually costing £500, to accompany an elderly passenger from Bangkok to London. Rachel has witnessed plenty of success stories happen through Juurnee, including one that particularly stands out to her. 'A girl who flew across to the UK, she's South African, and had two young children and her husband couldn't come as early as she could,' Rachel recalls. 'But the only way that she would be able to see her grandfather and he would meet the great grandchildren, was if she could get to the UK earlier, because he was flying over from South Africa and would only be there that week. 'And the husband couldn't fly to work at that time, and she said, I'm not doing the flight by myself with the kids, and because of Juurnee she could do the flight. 'The grandfather got to meet the great grandchildren, which without Juurnee wouldn't have happened.' The mum of three even has plans to use Juurnee herself this October when she might be sending her daughter to New Zealand during the school holidays. 'We're actually going to use it this October, because my seven year old will be on school holidays and we'll be working so we might send her over to New Zealand to stay with her grandparents,' Rachel says. 'So we'll get a Juurnee companion to accompany her, so that she's not just alone on the flight.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
How a viral post led to Juurnee, a travel site matching passengers with helpers
It started as a cry for help that went viral. Rachel Crampton was facing a 23-hour flight with three children under the age of five. Unable to recruit a family member or friend to help out, she took to social media and offered a sizeable cash payment – A$1,000 (about £560 at the time) – to someone who would accompany her on the epic London-to-Sydney flight. Crampton, a Briton based in Sydney, was inundated with responses and found an 'amazing Aussie girl' living in London who was homesick but could not afford the flight back to Australia. She has since turned that experience into a business which has just launched in the UK after success in Australia. Her website, Juurnee, matches those who want help on a flight with people willing to be their travel companion. Those needing help could include a parent travelling solo with toddlers, an older person requiring some assistance, someone with a disability, an unaccompanied child, or a nervous flyer. The companion receives a payment that will cover part, or all, of the cost of their flight. At the time of writing there were 30 live requests for help on the site. These included a London-to-Switzerland return flight, where the full cost is offered to someone who can help an older passenger who uses a wheelchair; and a London-to-Sydney return trip, with 50% of the flight cost paid, for someone who can help a mother with her one-year-old (there is an option to help just one way). Crampton says more than 12,000 people have signed up to be a companion and many are qualified teachers, nurses, midwives, childcare workers and others who have clearances to work with children, or qualifications to assist people with disabilities. But she adds: 'You don't need to be a nanny or nurse – just a decent person willing to lend a hand.' People seeking a companion can post their offer for free and don't pay for a successful match. They list the route, the date, the flight details and the sum they are willing to pay someone to travel with them. They can choose their own payment amount, although the website recommends 50% to 100% of a companion's flight cost. Companions sign up for free and can view the offers, but pay a £15-a-year subscription to be able to message people directly to offer their services. They buy their own flights, so, to that extent, the person who needs help is not responsible for them. Once a companion has applied for an offer, the person requesting help has 14 days to accept and match with them. If selected, the companion will be put in touch with the individual needing help. Crampton recommends companions get paid at the end of the trip, and that an escrow service is used to hold the payment from when the agreement is struck until 48 hours after landing. 'At the moment we are recommending our matched travellers use she adds. There is no official 'contract' between the two parties provided by the site – for example, outlining what is expected of the companion – but Crampton says users are free to create one themselves. The website does provide a guide that covers different scenarios. What if the companion doesn't turn up at the airport? 'We haven't had this situation crop up just yet,' says Crampton. If, say, the companion rearranged their flight, they would not be paid their fee. 'Hopefully, they would inform Juurnee, or the person they were meant to be helping, in advance, and then we can find another companion,' she says.
