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Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

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Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#91

Post by ehsankia »

londons_explore wrote: post #80
ehsankia wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using Google flights and trips features for years and never had the Trips app. I am using it right now, for my current trip. The data propagates through assistant and maps and so on. I got an automatic notification about my flight delay and I can see my hotel reservation right on maps. The Trips app may have been nice for having it all in one place, but it definitely wasn't a necessary part of the experienc…

I like it as a user, but I really think it's Google applying a "data monopoly" to my life. The fact I use Gmail allows them to make Google maps and Google assistant better products than say bing maps and Cortana, because bing maps and Cortana could never get access to those reservation emails which make the whole thing work. Such monopolies should be illegal - everything should be sharable via an API. Sadly those see…

Could a Gmail add-on not do something similar? Of course you'd need to give it access to your emails. You could also use outlook, which I'm sure does similar things, maybe not as well though.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#92

Post by londons_explore »

matwood wrote: post #66
robert_foss wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like that is a recipe for getting price gouged. Or do you search for trips with 3rd party tools and then book it directly?

Most airlines show the same price on their site that I find on the aggregators. The exception is multi-itinerary tickets that can save money, but are risky since you are booking separate, multiple tickets.

Look around more.

Many aggregators offer big discounts for minor things like logging in or signing up for a newsletter.

$400 off for logging in - sure!

I think they have contracts in place about pricing for non-logged in users (ie. Neither of us will undercut the other). But when you're a customer, they suddenly offer much better deals. Yes I will take the 'loyalty bonus' of free extra 5 days stay for booking a weekend - thanks!

Some of the aggregators are so desperate to get customers that they will give you something for $0. I rented a car for a week for $0 through easyrentcars because I signed up through a refer link for example.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#93

Post by everdev »

hirundo wrote: post #63

That's ridiculous, if they had an AI that could accurately predict prices, they would quickly become one of the largest, most powerful corporations in the world. Uh, wait ...

The profit from accurately predicting future prices would dwarf advertising / computing revenue. The problem with any prediction is as soon as it's acted on or made public it starts to affect the system requiring an updated prediction. If enough people buy into the prediction it's a self fulfilling prophecy. So much of pricing is influenced by human nature though. Good luck predicting that consistently over time.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#94

Post by lbotos »

ww520 wrote: post #51

I would never book flight or hotel through 3rd party portal unless there's a substantial discount. Booking direct work better 90% of the time.

google for flights sends me to the direct airline 99% of the time (and they give you a choice to use a portal). It's less of a portal, and more of an aggregator that funnels you... like a search engine.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#95

Post by _pghu »

traek wrote: post #28
embwbam wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's currently possible to book flights to Google Flights itself. Doesn't it always redirect you to another site to book? You would have to contact that site for help in this siutation.

You’re wrong, it’s possible. [0] [0] https://support.google.com/travel/answer/7515668?hl=en

Google still isn't the seller of record, though.

> Note: All bookings are made with the relevant airline or online travel agency.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#96

Post by jeromegv »

matwood wrote: post #68
eunoia wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Super anecdotal obviously, but very very difficult. Bought some flights on Scandinavian Air through Google Flights that included multiple checked bags for my wife and I about a year ago. Upon arrival at the airport in Gothenburg, they were very insistent we hadn't paid for bags and had to pay the exorbitant fees for checking bags on the spot. We essentially could not figure out how to contact anyone at Google Flights…

That's also partly on the airline. I recently had a similar experience with a ticket booked through I think Expedia. Bags on the return flight were supposed to be included. When we checked in, the machine wanted to charge for bags. We showed the agent the booking email, she made a quick call, and waived the bag fee. It was odd to me from the start that bags were included only on the return flight, but I attributed it…

The issue isn't about who's fault it is. The issue is that you can call Expedia when things go wrong but there's nobody at Google you can call.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#97

Post by londons_explore »

ehsankia wrote: post #91
londons_explore wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it as a user, but I really think it's Google applying a "data monopoly" to my life. The fact I use Gmail allows them to make Google maps and Google assistant better products than say bing maps and Cortana, because bing maps and Cortana could never get access to those reservation emails which make the whole thing work. Such monopolies should be illegal - everything should be sharable via an API. Sadly those see…

Could a Gmail add-on not do something similar? Of course you'd need to give it access to your emails. You could also use outlook, which I'm sure does similar things, maybe not as well though.

Gmail add-ons pretty much don't exist anymore. The Gmail API has been locked down to people able to pay for a ~$100k security audit. The Facebook API is rather crippled too. API's used to let you share all your data, and act on your behalf, but now typically they do Auth and access already-public data.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#98

Post by londons_explore »

scotradamus wrote: post #86
londons_explore wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not quite what this is. The 'best price guarantee' guarantees the customer will receive the lowest price for their ticket. Google will refund them if anyone gets a lower price. The airline can release, for 30 seconds only, a much lower price. Then Google has to refund all their customers, and the airline might only sell a handful of tickets at the lower price. Remember airline tickets aren't fungible. They hav…

Then google would buy all those tickets at the reduced value and resell them at the normal price.

Except it might be 30 seconds before the plane departs...

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#99

Post by goostavos »

pixelHD wrote: post #15

I use hopper [0] for something similar. But considering google's scale and resources, google might give me more accurate predictions. [0]: https://www.hopper.com/

I'd be hesitant on that one, or any prediction software, without the backing of the price guarantee like Google has. Otherwise you're really just gambling.

I used to use whatever flight prediction software Bing bought out when I traveled for work. It was pretty accurate most of the time, and I got used to trusting it, but I definitely got burned really badly a few times by continuing to wait as the price sky rocketed under the algorithms assurance that it would drop again before I needed to pull the trigger.

Re: Google to Offer a Best Price Guarantee on Certain Flights

#100

Post by laurex »

daddypro wrote: post #10
aaronarduino wrote: post #5

> To see your trips and travel research, turn on these settings: Private results, Web & app activity This is the main reason why I will never be able to use www.google.com/travel. I used to use the Trips app with no search history, but Google is shutting down Trips in favor of forcing people to loosen privacy settings. It is very disappointing because Trips worked very well.

I use TripIt ever since Trips was shutdown. While it doesn't do everything, it does quite a lot (have all reservations etc in one place).

Based on this recommendation, I signed up, but gracious, the UI is bad.
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