When should we leave for the airport? 2 Pittsburgh kids answer with Travel Time app

Arjan Guglani, 16, grew tired of answering his mom’s question: “When should we leave for the airport?”

To find the answer, he would visit numerous websites, taking into account lines for security, flight delays, traffic, and parking.

So when tasked with creating an app for a school competition, the Pine-Richland High School junior designed a tool to answer mom’s relentless question — one that he suspected many others were also asking.

“This is a big problem,” Arjan says.

He sought the help of classmate Justin Waltrip, 16, a Pine-Richland sophomore and, together, the two created an app.

Travel Time gathers a variety of factors – from traffic congestion to flight information – into one place so users can determine when they need to head out the door to comfortably catch their flight. It also provides those all-important flight details about gate numbers and seating maps — and even sends texts to alert family or business associates an hour before landing.

Arjan and Justin partnered with the Grab app, allowing travelers to order food inside airports from their phones, as well as connect them with Lyft and LoungeBuddy.

The app initially was created for the 2017 Regional High School Computer Fair where it won first place. It went on to win third place in the 2017 Pennsylvania High School Computer Fair.

Arjan and Justin quickly realized the app could be a marketable product.

Arjan handled the coding for the app, while Justin worked on the design and marketing side.

“We sort of combined our skill sets,” Justin says. “We realized there was this market gap. There wasn’t really a good solution out there. We wanted to bring it all into one place, so you wouldn’t have to go to all these different places to find your answers.”

Their initial design was rough, but they figured out how to make it work through trial and error.

“Everything that we’ve done with this app has been a learning process,” Justin says.

The partners created a company, Nexxt Labs LLC, to launch the app. As the only two employees, they were able to fund the product themselves. Arjan invested $1,000 he won in a prior contest.

Since the app launched on Oct. 23, it has been downloaded about 1,000 times. Travel Product Hunt named Travel Time as a top trending app, adding to its traction.

The app is free for basic features and $4.99 a year for premium content. Other apps with similar features cost as much as a $30 annual subscription.

Since launching, the partners have been actively monitoring the app, answering emails from users, and working on updating the product. At the same time, they are working on advanced placement classes and participating in their school’s mock trial team. Justin is involved in ultimate frisbee, while Arjan is preparing for the SATs.

“Both boys are motivated, talented and self-starters,” says teacher Valerie Klosky.  “They have researched and implemented both a visual interface for the application, as well as the logistics of combining and manipulating data from several online sources into a useful tool for travelers.”

Arjan says his mom loves the app, although she wants him to focus more on his school work. And his dad, who travels to India often for work? He won’t fly without it.