2 friends who are both almost 6 foot 4 inches tall launched an app to make train journeys more comfortable – without costing an arm and a leg

• Iain Griffin and Dirk Stewart wanted to improve train travel in the UK.
• They would sneak into first class or negotiate with tickets guards to get cheaper upgrades.

Iain Griffin and Dirk Stewart spent a lot of time on trains while working for a global ad agency. They would often try to compete against each other to see who could get an upgrade by haggling with a conductor in pursuit of a more comfortable journey.

Griffin said traveling in standard class is "terrible" when you're almost 6 feet 4 inches tall – like Stewart is too.

"Most seats are tiny so the amount of space for someone whose body is mostly made up of legs is obviously a bit of a challenge," Griffin added.

They found that first-class carriages were often empty, so they'd try to "beat each other" to an upgrade. In the UK, with a standard train ticket, you can still sit in an unreserved first-class seat once you've boarded a train and simply pay the price difference when a train attendant comes to check tickets.

"There'd be moments where Dirk would get an upgrade and sit in first class and text me saying 'where are you?' It was good, healthy banter between us to try and talk to the guard and get a better price."

When trying to get a cheaper upgrade from a ticket guard on board a train, the pair would push back on the price differential arguing that the first-class carriage was empty and the guard could upgrade them for less because of the lack of demand.

Haggling can be awkward

"It was never easy. Sometimes it works, but it's pretty opaque and not a great experience," Griffin said. "You probably need to have loads of confidence to own that scenario and try to negotiate."

He added: "Nine times out of 10 they'd accept they can do a better price for you rather than just charging you the difference because they have leeway with how they can price things onboard."

Griffin said he would often win the competition because his negotiation skills are "just a little bit better" than his co-founder, whose background is in software engineering.

In late 2017 they decided to launch Seatfrog – an app that lets travelers bid for cheaper upgraded seats. They negotiated with train companies directly so users can get good deals on tickets and upgrades with its auction feature. Train companies can also fill their more expensive seats.

"The cheapest we'll sell an upgrade for is £5 but the average price for a ticket upgrade in the UK is about £22 to £23," Griffin said.

Cheaper upgrades

Passengers can use Seatfrog to book tickets to 2,400 UK destinations. Users can upgrade their ticket at any time from booking until they are on board. They can also upload tickets bought elsewhere to the app to access discounted upgrades.

24 hours before a train departure, Seatfrog runs an auction for any available first-class seats. Customers can also purchase their ticket at its "buy it now" price, but Griffin says it's cheaper to bid in an auction.

"If it's during off-peak, there might be less than 10 people bidding, but during peak service we've seen upwards of 60 or 70 people bidding to upgrade," he said.

The volume of capacity depends on how busy trains are: sometimes it's five seats, other times it's 45.

Time for change

Seatfrog has more than a million users and is on track to generate revenues of more than £20 million ($24.3 million) this year, according to Griffin. Next year it plans to start offering European journeys too.

Griffin told Insider: "Consumer experience in rail has not been good for a decade and it's just about time somebody changed that. The regulation in the market, and industry where it is, means that we are best placed to lead that charge and make that change."