The Day Everything Changed
It was supposed to be a routine trip to the airport. We arrived with what we thought was plenty of time—two hours before our flight. We had our bags packed, our boarding passes ready, and we were feeling good about making it through security with time to spare.
But as we approached the terminal, something felt off. The line for TSA security was unlike anything we'd ever seen. It stretched far beyond the usual queue, snaking through the terminal in a way that made our hearts sink.
The Conference
That's when we found out. There was a massive conference in town, and thousands of attendees had all decided to leave at the exact same time. Every single one of them was heading through TSA security, right alongside us.
We watched the minutes tick by as we inched forward in that seemingly endless line. The departure board showed our gate, our flight, and the time counting down. We could see it, but we couldn't reach it.
The Missed Flight
Despite our best efforts, we couldn't get through in time. We watched our flight board, then depart, without us. Standing there in that security line, we felt frustrated, helpless, and completely blindsided.
We couldn't help but think: "If only we had known. If only there was a way to see how long the wait really was before we got here."
The Search for a Solution
That night, sitting in the airport trying to rebook our flight, we started looking. We searched for apps, websites, anything that could give us real-time wait time data. We were certain someone must have solved this problem already.
But what we found amazed us—and not in a good way. There were no good offerings. No reliable way to know wait times ahead of time. No community-driven solution. No real-time data that could help people make informed decisions.
We Knew We Had to Change That
That's when it hit us. This wasn't just about airports. It was about restaurants with long waits, basketball courts that were full, doctor's offices, and every other place where people waste time waiting without knowing what to expect.
We knew we had to change that. We envisioned a world where people could check wait times before they left home. Where a community could share real-time information to help each other. Where businesses could provide transparency to their customers.
And so, Waitzee was born.