Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tiny suggestion: I was looking at flights and it was not immediately clear to me that Santa Cruz referred to Bolivia and not California. It almost made me disregard it and not click. May want to put the country name on the homepage as well.
Santa Cruz, Bolivia (pop. 1,640,615) is much larger than Santa Cruz, CA (pop. 64,465).
Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
221–230 of 244 posts
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Add-on fees have gotten out of control, both in the hotel and airline space. There is a race to the bottom for having the lowest price to show on booking sites. This is a form of SEO for airlines and hotels. I am not familiar with any airlines that charge for carry-ons, but for example I know that many hotels in downtown Las Vegas have mandatory "resort fees" that on many nights actually exceed the nightly rate shown…
Spirit airlines. Also many airlines are rolling out "basic economy fares" that don't include food/drink/carry-on and compete with low-cost carriers, but run on normal flights. What used to be "normal economy" now requires an "upgrade" or "add-on" - ugh.
Though you can usually bring your own snack and drink, no? A few cans from duty-free, for example?
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Add-on fees have gotten out of control, both in the hotel and airline space. There is a race to the bottom for having the lowest price to show on booking sites. This is a form of SEO for airlines and hotels. I am not familiar with any airlines that charge for carry-ons, but for example I know that many hotels in downtown Las Vegas have mandatory "resort fees" that on many nights actually exceed the nightly rate shown…
Spirit airlines. Also many airlines are rolling out "basic economy fares" that don't include food/drink/carry-on and compete with low-cost carriers, but run on normal flights. What used to be "normal economy" now requires an "upgrade" or "add-on" - ugh.
Though you can usually bring your own snack and drink, no? A few cans from duty-free, for example?
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#224Something I've noticed that's lacking from most aggregators like Kayak and SkyScanner (my current fave), is the ability to increase the price of the ultra-budget carriers by adding their carry-on baggage fees and whatnot. I don't care about checked bag fees, but some of the carry-on fees are ridiculous ($60 per overhead item?). These budget carriers are cheating the system by looking like the cheapest option, when in…
I 100% percent agree with you. But on a practical note, some advice for those traveling on these budget airlines: if you pack your carry-on in a backpack rather than a suitcase, every budget airline in Europe and the US that I have flown on will not give you a hard time about it. I personally use a very large backpack that holds at least as much as a carry-on suitcase, yet the fact that it is in backpack form means t…
[deleted]
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because Vegas is for suckers, and they know this. The entire purpose of Vegas is to separate tourists from their money.
Vegas is only fun when you have money to blow. My trip in Vegas all I thought was, why the fuck is this so expensive? Not my idea of a vacation
Vegas is renown as a low cost travel destination, $5 prime rib, cheap liquor, cheap hotels, but you need to avoid the strip. There is a big immigrant population and there is no shortage of awesome cheap food minutes away.
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#226What fascinates me with this story is how low tech everything was. A simple landing page, email list/newsletter, and "value" in the form of travel deals. Anyone can do it, and the barrier of entry is minimal.
Tech provides leverage horizontally, not vertically. As programmers, we often fool ourselves into believing the opposite.
what do you mean i don't understand the horizontal / vertial
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#227Hidden fees and baggage charges are the worst. Airlines need to be more up front with their charges.
This is a cool business model though.
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if you've looked at what gets sent out, but the e-mails sent for the Giveaways are extremely spammy. I get that you probably added it somewhere in the giveaway text, but from a post somewhere, it was indicated the giveaways were more to garner attention, not as a profit-making venture. It turned me off completely when I started getting those. It gave me a negative impression on both Scott's Cheap Flights…
Yeah I hear you. I really appreciate the feedback as well. We only try to partner with high quality companies. For example this Tokyo one were running right now is with journy, ProductHunt, theSkimm, The Wirecutter, and Conde Nast Traveler. All legitimate companies. It's unfortunate that their emails are seen as spam because that's not good for anyone. We'll keep this in mind moving forward. Thank you again :-)
I bit on that one. The Skimm email was so useless I was offended. It hurt my view of Scott's cheap flights.
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
I 100% percent agree with you. But on a practical note, some advice for those traveling on these budget airlines: if you pack your carry-on in a backpack rather than a suitcase, every budget airline in Europe and the US that I have flown on will not give you a hard time about it. I personally use a very large backpack that holds at least as much as a carry-on suitcase, yet the fact that it is in backpack form means t…
> I personally use a very large backpack that holds at least as much as a carry-on suitcase, yet the fact that it is in backpack form means they count it as my personal item and don't give me a hard time. Interesting; they always officially state that the “personal item” must fit under the seat in front of you, which clearly a large backpack won't. No airline's ever enforced it that I've noticed, but then I've never…
My backpack has no problem fitting under the seat.
Re: Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
#230I just listened to the podcast for Scott's Cheap Flights. Fantastic job Courtland. Your podcast is one of my favorites in this space.
Can you recommend other similar podcasts?
Here's a good list: https://www.indiehackers.com/forum/post/-KneXD3g4ILXwNJdJ9nh