hipmunk, hold on to your 'nackers :)
Google Flight Search
181–190 of 288 posts
Re: Google Flight Search
#182Unless I'm missing something fairly obvious, they might have missed something pretty big - is there any way to book a one way flight?
Agreed -- couldn't find it in the first 30 seconds, which is sort of a red flag...
Re: Google Flight Search
#183I don't understand why anyone would use a federated flight search when looking for a domestic flight in the US. None of the major airlines come close to Southwest in terms of price or hassle free travel and none of the flight search engines include price information for Southwest.
Re: Google Flight Search
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is all I've wanted from a flight search product since forever. It will be awesome when it's more international!
http://kayak.com/buzz has had this forever.
True. The UI however is something else. Really gets out of the way and gives you what you are looking for. Feels effortless to use compared to the usual suspects in this domain, IMHO.
Re: Google Flight Search
#185Sorry, locations outside the U.S. are currently not supported :/
Re: Google Flight Search
#186Internally, 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…
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.
I am reminded time and time again how much "Don't be evil" mantra still holds for Google whenever other evil corporations do things like suing companies for looks of a product, primarily to hamper competition, and when they take cut out of sale made on their platform without adding any value whatsoever to the payment platform.
When was the last time Google abused its set of patents to screw competition? There are so many ways in which Google can be evil, but it consciously chooses not to be.
Edit: Grammar
Re: Google Flight Search
#187Wow ... but then I am not really sure it meets my needs. For one thing, it does not recognize may local airport and keeps wanting me to fly out of another airport a good 4 hour drive away! And while it is good at displaying cost differentials for different destinations it does not seem to do as well for the same destination at different times with different carriers. Still, it is interesting.
Re: Google Flight Search
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 sa…
I never said profit was their only motivation, but it is the reason they are a corporation, and not a charity. I refer you to the comment above by jey What Google "wants" as an entity is different from what the individual component humans want. Although Sergey is an obviously important influence at Google, he is not Google.
You said profit was the "first" motivation. You haven't even justified that. Saying that a corporation has to at least break even to avoid being a charity is a far cry from your previous grandstanding. Just because a corporation has to make money doesn't mean that money is the "first" motivation for every decision. It doesn't explain why Google (not Sergey, Google) pulled out of China.
Re: Google Flight Search
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
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'…
They are the same as in yes, it's the same idea - a gantt chart but Hipmunk's way better looking and more interactive.
When I say clone, I don't mean to imply they simply copied it with no originality - I'm just pointing out this fact to all the people who claim Hipmunk's advantage is their gantt view..which ITA already has a versin of and can be improved to match or be better than Hipmunk's.
Re: Google Flight Search
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
From what I understand fuel contract hedging is a pretty standard part of airline business. Obviously hedging has potential to go the other way but it's unlikely to erode profit unless competitors are able to significantly compete on price and steal customers...