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Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

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Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#21

Post by ioman »

This is a market I wish I understood better.

If I understand this correctly, the target market is airlines that need to sell flights online and that don't have (or don't want) the staff to do it in house. According to Wikipedia, there are about 5,000 airlines currently. Large airlines seem unlikely to want to outsource this, but I'm guessing there aren't too many airlines that size (only about 300 use Sabre).

I wouldn't have thought there would be a market big enough for a startup like this, but I appear to be wrong. I'm guessing their biggest challenge will be customer acquisition. But as I said, this is a market I wish I understood better.

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#22

Post by AaronNewcomer »

ceejayoz wrote: post #9
chinathrow wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Google flights sell flights directly?

No (which is very much preferable, IMO); they link you directly into the airline's purchase flow. The search results include a lot of folks who do, like Expedia, if you want the third party experience. It's not much fun when things go wrong.

They actually do on some airlines. For instance, check out the first booking option here: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/booking?tfs=CBwQAhpHag...

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#23

Post by notafraudster »

It probably bodes a little poorly (either for the product, or for the product's applicability to this website) that almost every comment seems to be confused about what the product is or why anyone would ever use it. I've read the original post several times and I still don't understand myself. I read the main page and I can't tell if I'm meant to be in the target market or not. I clicked on Pricing and I don't understand what the free plan is (it doesn't give us access to "Links", which I thought was the product?)

The "Why do you charge for excess searches?" link in the pricing page opens the Forex question, not the excess searches question.

Pricing page provides pricing in GBP, EUR, USD, and AUD but does not use any kind of location data to localize the currency.

I used the "Resources" menu and I don't understand what "Spend management: Unlock incremental revenue" means

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#25

Post by jhbadger »

jacooper wrote: post #14
crenwick wrote: post #5

YC: let’s finance companies to solve climate change Also YC: let’s make tools to encourage more flight travel

Don't kid yourself, not body's going to stop flying because of climate change.

Some people definitely have. Or have decided to limit themselves to one flight a year as a compromise. "Staycations" where people take vacations in their home town are a thing, and the pandemic has shown that most business travel is unneeded.

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#26

Post by SamBam »

ceejayoz wrote: post #9
chinathrow wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Google flights sell flights directly?

No (which is very much preferable, IMO); they link you directly into the airline's purchase flow. The search results include a lot of folks who do, like Expedia, if you want the third party experience. It's not much fun when things go wrong.

Kayak, for instance, now sells all flights through third parties, like ChatDeal. The internet abounds with tales of ChatDeal not actually purchasing the tickets, or canceling them at the last minute. Any issues go through these third-party sites, who do not care about customer service or getting you to your destination.

The idea of buying any ticket not directly from the airline terrifies me now.

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#27

Post by sokoloff »

ceejayoz wrote: post #3

> Quickly and dynamically add markups to fares when creating a link and easily charge your customers. What's the customer benefit to using a random site to book tickets they could already book on something like Google Flights without a markup? Who handles support for rebookings, cancelations, etc.? It's bad enough having to go through an OTA with airlines/hotels when there's a problem; they tell you to call Expedia.

When we shopped for a Galapagos trip, different operators had different offerings, but it was on us to line up “here’s how to get everyone from where they live to the boat” which this has the (theoretic, but perhaps not practical) means to solve.

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#28

Post by ceejayoz »

AaronNewcomer wrote: post #22
ceejayoz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No (which is very much preferable, IMO); they link you directly into the airline's purchase flow. The search results include a lot of folks who do, like Expedia, if you want the third party experience. It's not much fun when things go wrong.

They actually do on some airlines. For instance, check out the first booking option here: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/booking?tfs=CBwQAhpHag...

That looks like it'll still result in a direct Spirit booking, though.

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#29

Post by SamBam »

kotaKat wrote: post #15
ceejayoz wrote: post #3

> Quickly and dynamically add markups to fares when creating a link and easily charge your customers. What's the customer benefit to using a random site to book tickets they could already book on something like Google Flights without a markup? Who handles support for rebookings, cancelations, etc.? It's bad enough having to go through an OTA with airlines/hotels when there's a problem; they tell you to call Expedia.

Travel agencies and the like would be using it. It's a lot better and cheaper than trying to get access to a GDS (which can be expensive, negotiating with a host agency, etc). I wanted to poke around at it myself but it seems like I'd need a $99/mo package package to use it? (I legitimately actually want pseudo-GDS access for my personal cohort so we can coordinate flights and conventions together as the logistics le…

But it seems like the customer is still the one searching for the flights, so then what's the point of using a travel agent's website? Just for the pleasure of spending an extra 5% in fees to the agent?

Re: Show HN: Duffel (YC S18) – A faster way to sell flights

#30

Post by nickparker »

crenwick wrote: post #5

YC: let’s finance companies to solve climate change Also YC: let’s make tools to encourage more flight travel

Almost nobody in tech is interested in the degrowth solution to climate change, we’re all in on increased affluence with tech mitigations for the environmental harms.

Somebody’s gotta book all the electric / / synfuel powered flights ;)

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