Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#31

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 12:52 PM UTC

cool-RR wrote: post #29

You've just helped me simplify the itinerary for my upcoming vacation in December! Thanks!

oooh, um... that data is probably out of date. Apologies.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#32

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 12:54 PM UTC

dorn wrote: post #27

It determined that I was in Ireland, presented a list of irish airports and will only let me choose them as source and destination. What if i want to fly to or from another country, which in such a small country is far more likely?

As a lot of people have rightly pointed out, the UI sucks.

Basically, click the "going to" tab, and search for any village, town, city or country in the world and it will show you airports for that location.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#33

Post by cool-RR » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 12:55 PM UTC

tomelders wrote: post #31

cool-RR wrote: post #29

You've just helped me simplify the itinerary for my upcoming vacation in December! Thanks!

oooh, um... that data is probably out of date. Apologies.

That particular one happens to be up to date. I checked on the airline's website.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#34

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:09 PM UTC

jonpaul wrote: post #30

I really love the idea. But it couldn't find any routes between OMA and CUN. Is this for direct flights only?

yup, but the data is from 2009. This is just a prototype really.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#35

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:10 PM UTC

cool-RR wrote: post #33

tomelders wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oooh, um... that data is probably out of date. Apologies.

That particular one happens to be up to date. I checked on the airline's website.

easy win. I'll take it.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#36

Post by bambax » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:12 PM UTC

Interesting; it did show me some airports and airlines I had never heard of, and I might check them out! You definitely should pick it up again!

---

For some reason "Airlinair" which is a French regional airline, redirects to "Airkenya" which is apparently the national airline of Kenya.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#37

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:16 PM UTC

fbnt wrote: post #23

Nice tool, good design, UX could be improved, but I like the idea. There's not a flight search engine that I know of that would group those airports together. Not really, I always use the map feature on SkyScanner, you can see and choose a nearby airport, and you can also check if a direct flight is available. If there's one thing where your tool is different, is that you can type the name of a random place, but I fi…

I actually am landing in Villa Franca on friday, but I'll be making a bee line straight for Bassano.

As for your points, you're right. I'm out of date. To be honest, I've not checked the competition out thoroughly for a couple of years.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#38

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:17 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #36

Interesting; it did show me some airports and airlines I had never heard of, and I might check them out! You definitely should pick it up again! --- For some reason "Airlinair" which is a French regional airline, redirects to "Airkenya" which is apparently the national airline of Kenya.

Bug noted and entered into my state of the art bug tracking system.... a text file on my desktop.

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#39

Post by pmjordan » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:30 PM UTC

tomelders wrote: post #38

bambax wrote: post #36

Interesting; it did show me some airports and airlines I had never heard of, and I might check them out! You definitely should pick it up again! --- For some reason "Airlinair" which is a French regional airline, redirects to "Airkenya" which is apparently the national airline of Kenya.

Bug noted and entered into my state of the art bug tracking system.... a text file on my desktop.

Another possible bug: when entering a location, I only seem to be shown nearby airports within the same country. For locations near borders (or in small countries) it's easy to forget the nearest airport might be in the next country. Specific examples:

* Vienna, Austria: Bratislava airport in Slovakia is closer than Linz or Graz

* Figueres, Spain: Perpignan airport in France is closer than Barcelona's).

But yeah, very useful idea (and one I suggested to Hipmunk back when they launched but I guess they're already busy enough).

Re: Ask HN: My side project. Is it useful?

#40

Post by tomelders » Wed, Sep 14, 2011, 1:40 PM UTC

pmjordan wrote: post #39

tomelders wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bug noted and entered into my state of the art bug tracking system.... a text file on my desktop.

Another possible bug: when entering a location, I only seem to be shown nearby airports within the same country. For locations near borders (or in small countries) it's easy to forget the nearest airport might be in the next country. Specific examples: * Vienna, Austria: Bratislava airport in Slovakia is closer than Linz or Graz * Figueres, Spain: Perpignan airport in France is closer than Barcelona's). But yeah, ver…

yup, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I'll have to change the display from "airports in that country" to "airports within x miles", possible with a slider to adjust the radius.