Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 197 posts

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#51

Post by cortesoft »

stefano wrote: post #44
FeepingCreature wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a client hasn't learned by now, they're not gonna learn from this either. For niche apis Google has no trust left to burn, because all trust in its products is either already burnt or inflammable.

And yet, there are still a lot of companies using and relying on Google APIs and cloud services. I don't understand why there is still so much trust in them after they've shown multiple times they will terminate services with little warning. And no, I don't consider 1 year a long enough warning for something that has no clear drop-in substitute. If you're using a Google service, you must be prepared for when they'll…

Isn't that true of ANY company relying on some service from some other company? What makes you so sure that this alternative service is more likely to stay around than one of Googles?

The reason we think that Google EOLs so many more APIs than other companies is because Google itself is still around. Some other company's API wont be EOLd, instead they will just go out of business (or they will be bought by someone who will shut down the service).

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#52

Post by pishpash »

lotyrin wrote: post #38
npolet wrote: post #36

I was part of a team developing a travel product which needed huge amounts of data from flights to car rental... My god the travel industry is a mess in terms of accessible data. It was the biggest pain point. API's would randomly change structure, endpoints would stop working with unknown errors, data would be significantly different across companies for the same data etc... It was a shambles. Never again will I dev…

Reminds me of my time spent being a customer to a real estate MLS. When industries traditionally rented access to information asymmetry, even if those rents have since diminished, there's a lingering cultural momentum not to "show your hand" by playing nice with information (in addition to these not being organizations with the insight and incentives aligned to be attractive or conducive to IT competence).

Not coincidentally these are also industries with the most middlemen.

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#53

Post by pishpash »

4ad wrote: post #7

I think they want to shutdown the matrix[1]. They already discontinued the matrix smartphone app a year back. I will be truly lost (quite literally) once matrix is unavailable. I plan out very complex trips and only the matrix can do it. [1] https://matrix.itasoftware.com

Or it will be like Google Voice, on CPR for years, then resuscitated. You just never know.

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#54

Post by cperciva »

rb808 wrote: post #35
4ad wrote: post #7

I think they want to shutdown the matrix[1]. They already discontinued the matrix smartphone app a year back. I will be truly lost (quite literally) once matrix is unavailable. I plan out very complex trips and only the matrix can do it. [1] https://matrix.itasoftware.com

I've seen that before but didn't keep it - What's the difference between that and regular google flights?

Aside from what other people have mentioned: I use ITA because it lets me see the fare rules, which helps me anticipate potentially useful mutations to my ticketing. (For example: Knowing that a particular round trip to Paris allowed for a free stopover in London allowed me to attend a conference in the UK for a much lower cost than if I had booked a round trip ticket to the UK.)

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#55

Post by kbenson »

JoblessWonder wrote: post #5
timdorr wrote: post #3

"You don't need to take any action. However, if you are actively using this product you may want to find an alternate solution before April 10, 2018." So, you do need to take action? That's a pretty terrible set of FAQs. They should at least provide a list of alternatives.

I mean, you don't NEED to take any action... if you don't care that your data feed no longer exists.

Yes. I'm sure many, possibly even the majority, of clients subscribed to the API don't have it in active use. There's a bunch defunct side projects out there. This notice likely went out to every account with a subscription to this API.

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#56

Post by tehwebguy »

throwaway613834 wrote: post #34
Johnny555 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

7 > 5, so the 5 years are up.

They've been up for 2 years, so how is it " Now that five years are up, Google would want to deny competitors access to that data"? If that was their reasoning they would've done it 2 years ago. It's 2 years of extra advantage they didn't need to give their competitors, right?

Now that the five years are up and Google Flights just started facilitating actual airfare purchases (a recent development)

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#57

Post by throwaway613834 »

SiVal wrote: post #43
throwaway613834 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've been up for 2 years, so how is it " Now that five years are up, Google would want to deny competitors access to that data"? If that was their reasoning they would've done it 2 years ago. It's 2 years of extra advantage they didn't need to give their competitors, right?

If that was their reasoning, they could do it whenever they were ready and willing after five years. So this explains why they had to do it for five years and might explain why they won't be doing it much longer than that. It might also indicate that cutting off the API was intended but not urgent.

Why would it be so close to the anniversary though? It seems to suggest something else might be going on at the 7-year mark.

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#58

Post by kbenson »

saurik wrote: post #28
timdorr wrote: post #3

"You don't need to take any action. However, if you are actively using this product you may want to find an alternate solution before April 10, 2018." So, you do need to take action? That's a pretty terrible set of FAQs. They should at least provide a list of alternatives.

It is even better, as the question is "What steps should I take?", which is a very "just tell me what I need to do, step by step" way to ask this question, and yet the answer doesn't give you any concrete suggestions for what to do now other than "feel am impending sense of doom". (Though given that Google knows the only people who care are people they likely consider to be competitors--as the whole reason they bough…

This is one of those cases where "let the market sort it out" is likely the right answer. If someone has an alternative, you can bet they are going to capitalize on this, and Google telling you where to go may actually hurt more than help (who days their suggestion is best?), and if there isn't an alternative, there's not much to say.

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#59

Post by tyingq »

npolet wrote: post #36

I was part of a team developing a travel product which needed huge amounts of data from flights to car rental... My god the travel industry is a mess in terms of accessible data. It was the biggest pain point. API's would randomly change structure, endpoints would stop working with unknown errors, data would be significantly different across companies for the same data etc... It was a shambles. Never again will I dev…

Didn't like OTA[1], eh?

I don't know that other industries are much better though. Ask a healthcare IT person about HL7.

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenTravel_Alliance

Re: Google is shutting down the QPX Express API for airfare data

#60

Post by specialp »

tanilama wrote: post #48
helloguillecl wrote: post #16

Six months ago, I started developing a Flight Alerting service for QPX Express API. I was always skeptical as to how long would they keep this API running, since it was a byproduct of a previous acquisition. But I said to myself, wishfully thinking: Why would they shut down this and lose their clients trust in developing with their APIs? Sadly, I was again proven wrong.

If it is free, and no ads, it is probably not going to stick long

Correction: If it is not resulting in you transferring more data from yourself or others to Google to profit off of, it is not going to stick around long. Google doesn't seem interested in running paid businesses besides advertising no matter how much you are paying them.
Post reply on HN