Sam S. Jain

Founder and CEO at Fareportal

Sam S. Jain is the Founder and CEO of Fareportal Inc. After beginning his career in travel, Jain quickly noticed the inefficiencies inherent in the offline processes of the wholesale travel industry. Recognizing the opportunity, he began work to automate and digitize travel ticket purchases. Jain’s first company, Farebuzz was part of the early travel boom, entering as a business-to-business company In 2003, Jain used his own finances and bootstrapped the launch of Fareportal, a tech company focused on the travel space. Sam then purchased Travelong, a 50-year old travel company which provided Fareportal and other groups with enhanced ticket fulfillment and back-end processes and support, and expanded Fareportal’s relationship with a long list of airlines. Jain then moved to acquire One Travel, which provided a platform for product and market diversification. The company’s CheapOair brand targets the value-conscious market, while One Travel serves the more affluent, aspirational traveler. Jain also focused on developing relationships with airlines worldwide, growing to the company’s current partnerships with over 600 domestic and international carriers.

In 2005, when CheapOair was launched as Fareportal’s first consumer online portal, Jain built and conceived the first OTA to incorporate the hybrid approach. This customer-centric focus emphasizes what Sam calls “the human touch” by combining the ease of online purchase with the support of live agents. Jain still believes in that promise, and as a result, Fareportal now employs thousands of customer care agents in locations worldwide and the company’s CheapOair and One Travel brands are the only online travel agencies that feature 800#’s on every webpage. Jain was one of the first to foresee airfare unbundling and as a result, CheapOair was the first OTA to integrate the ability to purchase seats, bags, and other ancillaries. CheapOair is recognized as a leading OTA and appears regularly on the annual Travel Weekly Power List. The Fareportal of today has grown to include domestic and international brands including CheapOair, One Travel, Duke’s Court Travel, Royal Scenic, Travelong, and Club Miles.

In addition to maintaining his trademark emphasis on innovation, Sam S. Jain’s focus is on investing in company employees across the globe to help them grow in their professions to achieve their and the company’s common goals. Looking to the future, Fareportal will expand its international presence, and create growth initiatives in the areas of artificial intelligence, cloud, social and mobile.

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Timeline

  • Founder and CEO

    Current role

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