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Google Flight Search

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Re: Google Flight Search

#91

Post by goldfish »

toot wrote: post #44

It's quite scary that a company like Google can come along and shit in a startup's cereal practically overnight. I know we were all rooting for The 'Munk, but it seems that Google's use of Price x Duration matrix effectively steals the thunder from Hipmunk's agony filter. I mean, it's not as if Google needs the affiliate revenue, and I bet the Hipmunk guys would have preferred it had Google decided to "organise the w…

No tears over here! We've known this was coming for almost a year—Google announced their ITA acquisition before we even launched. We've also been preparing some sweet responses :)

Re: Google Flight Search

#92

Post by objclxt »

gyardley wrote: post #69
stingraycharles wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. That makes me wonder: would that really be the optimal approach? Google is able to return search results for previously unsearched queries nearly instantaneously too, so I'm wondering whether it's really a cache that's serving those queries. Would some sort of graph-based index be possible in this situation?

Here's the classic presentation people usually refer to when talking about flight pricing complexity. http://www.demarcken.org/carl/papers/ITA-software-travel-com... I'd love to know how Google's doing it - it's a really hard problem.

What's interesting is that you linked to an ITA Software presentation, and Google own ITA Software. So it's almost certain that some of the people who put that document together worked on this pre-computed solution.

Re: Google Flight Search

#93

Post by JoshTriplett »

Not bad, but hipmunk's visualization seems far far better than Google's tables. The graphical representation of the flight path seems nice, as does the highlighting of cities involved, but that doesn't actually give me information I need to make a decision; Hipmunk's time-oriented chart of departures, arrivals, and layovers tells me exactly what I need to know to book a flight.

Re: Google Flight Search

#94

Post by grayrest »

kiwidrew wrote: post #46

It’s rather powerful: as long as the origin airport is one of those shown on the map, and the destination airport is reachable via a domestic flight on one of the major airlines (AA, AS, B6, CO, DL, F9, UA, US), the search results come back instantaneously. Multiple origins and destinations (up to five of each) are supported as well: http://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=LAX,SFO,SEA,LAS,DEN;... And the results stil…

Here's one that didn't work for a trip I'll be making later this month:

http://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=LGA;t=MYR;d=2011-09-...

No flights. However:

http://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=LGA;t=ATL;d=2011-09-... http://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=ATL;t=MYR;d=2011-09-...

Re: Google Flight Search

#96

Post by maratd »

rhygar wrote: post #55
cletus wrote: post #20

Internally, this has been around for a little while (disclaimer: I work for Google but not on anything related to this). What continues to impress me about Google is: 1. Just how quickly this was built (really, it was quick); and 2. Google wants you to use our services because they're compelling not because we don't give you any other choice (ie "Don't be evil"). Sure there are limits to what it currently does but I…

It looks like it was built quickly. Why is there a giant search bar at the top of the screen? I came here to look for flights, not to search the web. Why is there a giant map at the top of the screen? I already know where I want to go. I don't need to look at a map to decide which destination I want. This part seems like more of a tech demo than anything. The whole UI looks like it was designed by an engineer. For ex…

> Why is there a giant search bar at the top of the screen?

This will be (if it isn't already) integrated with their search product. In other words, it'll be a part of search. You'll search for "flight from ny to sf" and that's what you'll see. Perfectly natural for them to have a consistent UI in their search product.

> Why is there a giant map at the top of the screen?

It's interactive. Try pulling the marker from one location to another. Very cool. I can also see the exact route that the flight will take. More intuitive.

I may have a general area of where I want to end up, but this lets you choose exactly where through a visual map. Again, very cool.

Re: Google Flight Search

#97

Post by lars »

gyardley wrote: post #69
stingraycharles wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. That makes me wonder: would that really be the optimal approach? Google is able to return search results for previously unsearched queries nearly instantaneously too, so I'm wondering whether it's really a cache that's serving those queries. Would some sort of graph-based index be possible in this situation?

Here's the classic presentation people usually refer to when talking about flight pricing complexity. http://www.demarcken.org/carl/papers/ITA-software-travel-com... I'd love to know how Google's doing it - it's a really hard problem.

If I remember correctly, it's mentioned in Artificial Intelligence, A Modern Approach that this problem is not only hard but in fact formally undecidable in the general case.

Re: Google Flight Search

#98

Post by Pewpewarrows »

raldi wrote: post #61
Pewpewarrows wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Release early. Release often. Minimum viable product. Any of these ring a bell?

Come on, that would be like releasing an MP3 player in 2001 that had no wireless and less space than a Nomad.

Bad memories are now flooding through my head of silly complaints to various products over the years (a few of which I'm quite guilty of making).

Re: Google Flight Search

#99

Post by IanDrake »

wavephorm wrote: post #52
andrewtbham wrote: post #2

Bad news for hipmunk? Especially since google acquired ITA.

The bad news for hipmunk is it wasn't that much of an improvement over actual travel sites. I never had that much trouble using Expedia and I already know how to purchase my ticket right on the site. So there wasn't much reason to use Hipmunk in the first place. This Google search interface is pretty nice, and makes a lot more sense than Hipmunk did.

Really? Google gives you a sort-able grid which doesn't seem that helpful to me.

Hipmunk gives me a "heat map" style presentation which I can understand multiple factors at once without scanning text:

Color = carrier / layovers

Line length = total travel duration

Timeline position = flight start/end time

Ordered by Agony (or whatever)

I can take one quick look and grasp all the flights without a second thought. In my opinion, Hipmunk's UI is genius where Google's looks like a school project.

Re: Google Flight Search

#100

Post by drags »

lee337 wrote: post #85
noduerme wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol. If I were Google, I'd probably have bought all the tickets in advance ;) Thing that gets me is, do they really send their employees SFO to LA on United?! Southwest's like a third the price... And why isn't SW listed, anyway? Did Herb take issue with something here?

This information is a decade old, but my wife told me that Southwest were the only American airline to make a profit. That could have something to do with it... EDIT: This recent news article states "Of the five biggest U.S. airline companies, analysts expected only Southwest to report a first-quarter profit": http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/04/Southwest-m...

Some of Southwest's profit comes from fuel price speculation, which could backfire on them much more quickly and easily than their core business:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines#Risk_managem...

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