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Google Flight Search

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Re: Google Flight Search

#141

Post by felideon »

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…

"Just how quickly this was built (really, it was quick)"

Wouldn't this have to be thanks to their relatively recent ITA acquisition? Not too surprised since QPX runs a few popular websites such as Orbitz and Kayak.

(I'm not saying it's not a feat to do it in such little time as any project does take time, but I would like to see credit where due.)

Re: Google Flight Search

#143

Post by geuis »

geuis wrote: post #25

General question here. Almost all flight search sites default the search dates to about 3 weeks out. Now, I find this annoying but I'm wondering if its done because there is statistical evidence that most customers search in that range of time, or rather if it's just what someone thought would be a good idea by "following their intuition".

Well this is some interesting research. Out of my off-hand and roughly scientific research, my statement of "almost all" was quite off.

I found that all of the major carrier websites I could remember off the top of my head did not employ the date-ahead practice.

Delta - no US Airways - no Southwest - no Virgin America - no Continental - no

I followed that by a Google search for "flight search" and checked the sites that came up in roughly the 1st and 2nd pages. Where I put "yes" and the date range, this date range was pre-populated.

Based on Google for "flight search" Priceline - no Travelocity - no Kayak - yes 9/27/11-10/4/11 Expedia - no Cheapflights - no Flightsearch.com - yes 9/27/11-10/4/11 Tripadvisor - yes 9/27/11-10/4/11 Farebuzz.com - yes 9/27/11-10/4/11 http://www.skyscanner.com/ - yes 9/27/11-10/4/11

Finally, I checked YC's own Hipmunk, and they do not do it either.

Hipmunk - no

So my original statement was at least partly false. It doesn't seem like "almost all" after all. And the ones that I could find doing the date-ahead practice all had identical dates. I suspect all of them use the same backend search product.

I don't care enough at this point anymore to follow up on this anymore, so I'll leave it at that.

Re: Google Flight Search

#144

Post by masklinn »

imorsi214 wrote: post #105
hugh3 wrote: post #9

That really is good. Hipmunk is still better if you know what days you want to fly, but this is great if you haven't yet decided precisely when, or precisely where, you want to go. A pity it only works within the US so far, but I'm sure they'll add international destinations eventually. Also a shame that Southwest still won't cooperate with any of these guys. I guess it's a rational decision on their part: be cheapes…

except that Hipmunk's interface is a clean clone of ITA's matrix search's gantt view ( http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ ) - I'm sure it'll be a matter of time before that makes it into google's interface.

> except that Hipmunk's interface is a clean clone of ITA's matrix search's gantt view

Why clean clone? Gantt charts are (technically) 115 years old, and it's not like there are 5 billion ways to display a gantt chart, especially one with no paths. Other flight search startup have independently stumbled upon the idea of gantt charts for flight, why could that not be yet another independent reinvention?

> I'm sure it'll be a matter of time before that makes it into google's interface.

Or not, ITA does not seem to have met much success with their matrix so far.

Re: Google Flight Search

#145

Post by fleitz »

teej wrote: post #63
bradleyland wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's be honest. Google wants us to use their services because the better they understand us, the better they can advertise to us. That's the profit model at Google. I don't begrudge them for it either. You've got to turn a profit if you want to keep the lights on. I don't mean any offense, but the "Don't be evil" mantra is growing a bit tired. Evil is a strong word, and "not being evil" is a pretty low bar, IMO.

Or, you know, they could just be taking a cut for connecting users with flights better and faster than their competitors. But please, keep thinking that google is hoping to populate some evil database with precious, precious data to make their advertising 0.000001% better. There's no way they are considering the obvious and profitable notion of getting serious about travel search.

No probably not 0.000001% better, but if they make it 0.1% better that's $28 million per year. That 0.1% is probably doable optimizing ad placements after long haul flights.

Re: Google Flight Search

#146

Post by rebelnz »

faulkner wrote: post #138

Decent initial release, but I wish the search was more flexible. My common use case is "I will spend $X to go anywhere for under Y days any time in the future" and I haven't found a service that makes this easy. Kayak's "explore" page is the closest I've found, but they rarely have the cheapest flights listed and have no way to set duration. Has anyone found a better solution?

These guys almost fulfil that requirement - I use their service pretty regularly. http://adioso.com/

Re: Google Flight Search

#147

Post by abraham »

felideon wrote: post #142
abraham wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is well known for using Python.

I'm willing to bet this is using ITA's software, which is written entirely in Common Lisp. See my comment above.

I said nothing about this specific product. I was simply simply answering the parents question about the use of Python at Google.

Re: Google Flight Search

#148

Post by haberman »

throwaway32 wrote: post #114
breck wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagree. Google wants us to use its services because at its core is a bunch of engineers that simply want to make the world better.

the first motivation of any for profit corporation, especially one as large and successful as Google, is profit. That is their entire reason for existence, don't fool yourself into believing otherwise.

People like to say this, maybe believing it fulfills some deep-seated need for cynicism, or makes the speaker feel wise and worldly. But what is your actual argument in support of this? Just saying it does not make it true.

If profit is the only motivation for decisions at Google, why did it pull out of China? I'm sure you're cynical and wise about that too, but here's what I can tell you. I saw Sergey up on stage saying the same things he said in this interview (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/interview-sergey-br...) and he got fiery and emotional about it. This is a guy who grew up in the Soviet Union until he was 6 and for him it is a very personal and ideological issue.

This corporations-as-profit-seeking-automata meme is old and tired. At the end of the day it's people who make decisions, and just as in every aspect of life people can have complex motivations for the decisions that they make.

Re: Google Flight Search

#149

Post by angus77 »

We have detected that you are using an unsupported web browser. We support Firefox 3.5 or later, Chrome, Safari 4 or later, or Internet Explorer 8 or later.

?!? I'm using the Android browser!

Re: Google Flight Search

#150

Post by r00fus »

revorad wrote: post #22

In true Google style, they are focusing on speed, with a minimal UI.

Unexpected was the minimal data part... They have a short look-ahead and don't work with any international destinations.

The folks who are most interested in this app are the ones who are most likely interested in the above two points.

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