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Where can I fly for how much?

kayak.com

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Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#41

Post by tomhoward »

bryanh wrote: post #2

Wow, talk about impressive. Just curious about the tech behind this. Do they just cache a bunch of average prices together between major airports and just set a max limit? Surely it can't do fully comprehensive search at the speed it runs at.

Their database only contains cached results from previous searches. Kayak doesn't store the entire population of flights themselves - they forward users' queries onto a 3rd party flight inventory provider (ITA Software), then cache the results to power services like these.

This means that results are likely to be current and complete on popular routes, but far less so on the long tail.

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#42

Post by hugh3 »

ig1 wrote: post #39
hugh3 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're travelling in a pair, and you're staying for a reasonable length of time (say, a week) then the hotel cost shouldn't dominate. 7 nights * $100 a night / 2 people is only $350 -- less than the airfare to most places. Besides, saving money on a hotel is mostly a matter of deciding how awful a place you're willing to put up with. You don't get that option with airfares.

Hmm maybe it's just a European thing, you can typically fly most places in Europe/North Africa for for a couple of hundred dollars. Getting to the US isn't much more. Hotels on the other hand tend to be more expensive + hotel tax can be pricey. And you do actually get the awful trade-off with planes in Europe as well, you get budget airlines like Ryan Air which many people don't travel on because they're so bad.

Ah yes, in the European context, where flights are cheaper and hotels more expensive (and extremely variable between richer and poorer parts of Europe), you could very well be right.

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#43

Post by noodle »

_pius wrote: post #40
noodle wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so, i built something almost exactly like this for myself to use, except it doesn't display itself on a google map. instead, it cross-references itself with a database of people. i use it when i'm hiring sports officials, to find the ones that would be the cheapest to fly in. never really considered how useful it would be for others. i feel dumb as hell, looking at this and seeing what i could've done :*-(

don't feel dumb, just put it up, add user accounts/Facebook, and make it a group travel planning tool. I could've used something like that while helping plan a bachelor's party.

i probably will, but it just kind of takes the wind out of the sails to know you're half copying something. that spark of "i'm doing something neat" isn't quite there.

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#45

Post by mtr »

Very cool, especially as I'm busy planning a trip (BCN-ROM-STR-BCN). There are ~4 possible airports for STR but most search engines don't let you choose them (aside from 'nearby' airports, which can be a bit moot with Europe's typically awesome rail infrastructure). And Kayak doesn't track many Low Cost Carriers. I normally a huge Kayak fan, but I've had to use www.skyscanner.net and www.wegolo.com a lot for this particular trip.

Finally it's a bit odd that there are "0" flights shown from BCN to Canada with zero filters. As a beta product it's still mega-cool. :)

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#46

Post by smaher »

martythemaniak wrote: post #4

OMG, I've been waiting for someone to build something like this forever. I've always hated the fact that all major travel sites work based on the assumption that you already know exactly when and where you're going, rather than at least giving you the option to explore your options.

Another good site that does something similar is skyscanner.com

For example, here are all of the flights from SFO: http://www.skyscanner.com/flights-from/sfo/cheapest-flights-...

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#47

Post by marquis »

i find skyscanner to be far superior. kayak's is a great overview but i didn't find it actually took me straight to when those cheap flights were - you still had to guess the cheap dates. when you know where you want to go and just want to find the cheapest time to fly: it shows you the flight costs over a month, and you don't have to hope that the fare is still available.

example of nyc to chicago over month of june: http://www.skyscanner.com/flights/nyca/chia/june-2010/june-2...

see smaher's comment for an even better idea!

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#49

Post by bbatsell »

borism wrote: post #32
martythemaniak wrote: post #4

OMG, I've been waiting for someone to build something like this forever. I've always hated the fact that all major travel sites work based on the assumption that you already know exactly when and where you're going, rather than at least giving you the option to explore your options.

my problem is, I know my travel dates (mid-August) and I know my budget, but still not sure where to go. Unfortunately Kayak searches (including this very cool hack) are useless at solving that. P.S. ITA Software Matrix is good at this if you have a list of places, but not for random destinations.

What am I missing, why is this useless? You can specify your budget as the max price, and the "Thinking about" to August 2010. Granted, you can't specify "mid-August", but within a single month, usually airfares only change based on the days of the week of both segments.

Re: Where can I fly for how much?

#50

Post by aaronblohowiak »

noodle wrote: post #43
_pius wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

don't feel dumb, just put it up, add user accounts/Facebook, and make it a group travel planning tool. I could've used something like that while helping plan a bachelor's party.

i probably will, but it just kind of takes the wind out of the sails to know you're half copying something. that spark of "i'm doing something neat" isn't quite there.

i dont know.. this is interesting for me, but it would be profoundly more useful with my (admittedly small) group of friends.
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