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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

#141

Post by listenallyall »

Say what you want about Google/Alphabet as a whole, but Google Flights is incredible. It's absolutely amazing how quickly and largely that Google crushed all its competitors in terms of usability. Kayak, Hipmunk, Orbitz, Skyscanner were all my go-to's at one point but G.Flights is far superior in so many ways. It actually remembers your airline preference between searches. You don't have to beg or change settings to see a few days before or after... every search has a date grid and long-term graph, both which respond almost immediately to additional changes to date ranges. Searching multiple airports or destinations is super easy. Plus the calendar view, with lowest price for every day -- sure other sites have it but only for unfiltered searches. Google's calendar view is updated with every filter change.

There was a time in the 90s when eAAsySabre was publicly available to anyone, and text based searches were simple and fast and so easy. But Google Flights is even better, IMO.

Pretty amazing that sites entirely dependent on travel search seem satisfied with 10-year old UI while Google showed how much better it could be.

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

#142

Post by qroshan »

Alex3917 wrote: post #16

If the airlines know that most of tickets for a flight have been sold via Google, then what's to stop the airlines from drastically dropping the price of the last ticket just to cost Google a ton of money? There's no way this could work if the airlines were in a legitimately adversarial relationship with Google.

1,000,000 tickets

$100 loss per ticket

Total loss for Google: $100,000,000 Google's cash balance is $120,000,000,000 Google's operating income in 2018: $30,000,000,000

Co-ordination and system changes required to pull this trickery for airlines probably: $100,000,000 (and not even sure if it's legal)

Can't believe how naive hacker news is when it comes to business and change-management and legal and pretty much everything else

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

#143

Post by londons_explore »

dewey wrote: post #125
londons_explore wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The airline industry quote market is very much not dead though.... Skyscanner, kayak, etc...

Do you know what they are using under the hood?

I think most of them either still use old versions of ITA software (it was sold like traditional software, not an ongoing license), or they're rolling their own.

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

#144

Post by londons_explore »

marcinzm wrote: post #137
scotradamus wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Tickets are generally non-transferable and cheap ones are non-refundable. So unless google can predict the name of the future buyer it’ll be out of luck.

I think they have deals with carriers to bulk buy tickets without giving a name. Carrier gets cash upfront (most are desperate for cash). Google gets to play marketmaker.

The airlines really are shooting themselves in the foot though... Google will end up with the biggest slice of the pie...

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

#145

Post by devIO »

listenallyall wrote: post #141

Say what you want about Google/Alphabet as a whole, but Google Flights is incredible. It's absolutely amazing how quickly and largely that Google crushed all its competitors in terms of usability. Kayak, Hipmunk, Orbitz, Skyscanner were all my go-to's at one point but G.Flights is far superior in so many ways. It actually remembers your airline preference between searches. You don't have to beg or change settings to…

I used to think it was great but it’s no different than an Expedia, which is what my wife uses.

Earlier this week Google had fewer flights than Expedia.

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

#146

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M »

koolba wrote: post #127
chiefalchemist wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the airlines could change their algorithm - randomly. If for no other reason than to muck with Google.

From their detail page: > How much money can I get back? Price guarantee pays you the difference between the flight price when you book and the lowest ticket price. To get money back, the price difference must be greater than $5. You can receive up to $500 back total for all of the flights you book with Google price guarantee. That’d be pretty hilarious for an airline to explicitly dick them over for $500 a pop.

Only problem is that it would also mean $500 less revenue for the airline.

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

#147

Post by acchow »

londons_explore wrote: post #143
dewey wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know what they are using under the hood?

I think most of them either still use old versions of ITA software (it was sold like traditional software, not an ongoing license), or they're rolling their own.

how do you know this?

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

#149

Post by evrydayhustling »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #130
primitivesuave wrote: post #6

Once their algorithm can predict prices to a certain level of accuracy, they can effectively offer investment hedging to the public for free, and use the publicity to drive commissions on referrals. Unlike other commodities whose value is subject to numerous economic forces, the pricing is set directly (by the airlines), and it is likely that simply by observing their pricing over time a sophisticated Google algorith…

> it is likely that simply by observing their pricing over time a sophisticated Google algorithm has "learned" the airline's less sophisticated ones Simple systems acting in concert are devilishly complex. (Former algorithmic trader.) Counterparties' systems fail. They misfire. They get confused by the weather and interns punching in parameters wrong. Internal dynamics, like someone stretching to hit a goal or gettin…

Does anyone know enough about airline pricing to deconstruct the risk here? Are providers like Google required to disclose the underlying airline price, so Google is absorbing your risk of regret on that? If not, and Google has discretion in what to quote, isn't this guarantee really just a promise not to offer you a better price later?

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

#150

Post by [deleted] »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #138
bob_theslob646 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am so lost as to what you are trying to say. What is your point? Google does have a tremendous advantage if it controls the _flow_( sending traffic/customers to airlines) versus the airline's having control of the book.

> What is your point? It's not a simple problem. It's unlikely Google has it remotely solved. > Google does have a tremendous advantage if it controls the _flow_( sending traffic/customers to airlines) versus the airline's having control of the book Google is one of many online travel agents for airlines. It doesn't control the flow. "Controlling the book" means airlines know who has booked how many tickets and at wh…

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