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Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

bonbook.co

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Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#61

Post by themagyar »

theqwxas wrote: post #49

I am not sure about the US market, but Skyscanner [1] works great in Europe, I wonder how this is different. Besides from being structured as an email, it offers quite similar functionality of finding optimal flights (in some sense of optimal). It may just be me, but I am definitely misunderstanding the inbox metaphor. Why is it an inbox? Why is there emphasis on _one email_? I don't book flights through email -- I g…

The beta is email-based booking, changes and more. The demo simulates the search experience via email.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#62

Post by themagyar »

lastofthemojito wrote: post #47

Seems like a neat idea but I just tried 4 times and got the same response every time: > Hi there, I couldn't find any flights for your request. Please try again. > -BonBook I was trying input like "Find me a flight from BWI to PWM December 27 to January 1".

We had a bug with one of our external provides earier this morning, but its now resolved.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#63

Post by themagyar »

ragazzina wrote: post #43
themagyar wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The email sim doesn't allow booking but should still work to demo functionality. And it's not geo-limited. What are you seeing?

I personally see "Hi there, it looks like the internet dropped the ball somewhere. Please try your request again.".

Yes, the internet did in fact drop the ball. Fix is live.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#64

Post by Y_Y »

themagyar wrote: post #39
ipdashc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, the last one is pretty surprising. I kind of just assumed all airline booking systems (Expedia, Google Flights, Kayak, whatever) all used the same underlying service - maybe SABRE or something, but that's a total shot in the dark. Would love to hear what the difference is, assuming you're comfortable with sharing!

Can share a bit of background: (TLDR; airlines want to keep more profit so are witholding some fares.) A system called GDS (Global Distribution System) was built in the 60s as a data transmission standard. Was used by airlines to publish fares (among other things). But it was complicated so aggregators (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport) were born to ingest all this published data and make it easily searchable. When travel…

Is there a reasonable way for me to consume this data directly? I'd love to be able to pull a big pile of flight prices and mess around with the data, but I'd prefer not to pay big money or have to register as a travel agent or anything.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#65

Post by themagyar »

prmoustache wrote: post #52

Hi there, I couldn't find any flights for your request. Please try again. Cross checking with skyscanner there are indeed no flight in the morning I asked, but there are in the afternoon, maybe propose alternatives with nearby airports and/or timeslots when there are no flight meeting requirements?

Yes, this is a bit more complicated but on the roadmap. Great suggestion.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#66

Post by themagyar »

Y_Y wrote: post #64
themagyar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can share a bit of background: (TLDR; airlines want to keep more profit so are witholding some fares.) A system called GDS (Global Distribution System) was built in the 60s as a data transmission standard. Was used by airlines to publish fares (among other things). But it was complicated so aggregators (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport) were born to ingest all this published data and make it easily searchable. When travel…

Is there a reasonable way for me to consume this data directly? I'd love to be able to pull a big pile of flight prices and mess around with the data, but I'd prefer not to pay big money or have to register as a travel agent or anything.

Depends on the detail. There are a few simple ones (eg flightlab).

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#67

Post by rdl »

danpalmer wrote: post #23
rdl wrote: post #6

Wow.I book a lot of flights, often waste a huge amount of time find the best flight, and would use this for a lot of the easier bookings. I was amazed at how well it works (in the simulator). Google Flights is really the last Google product I routinely use -- happy to have an alternative!

> often waste a huge amount of time find the best flight Would you trust that this would book you the "best" flight? Every user has a different definition of "best" – cheapest, shortest, fewest stopovers, shortest stopovers, airline preference, lounge preference, seat preference, time of day preference... Personally I find Google Flights gives me the right amount of detail and I book flights I'm happy with.

I would use it for flights where the best flight is pretty obvious, or in cases where satisficing is fine. I'd tbh mostly use it when OTHER PEOPLE ask me to find a flight for them.

I'd also use it to quickly book flights on my preferred airlines because I have free changes/cancellations on those, so the value of getting something booked immediate and then refined later (and possibly rebook) is fine.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#68

Post by evan_ »

drewrbaker wrote: post #32

Would love to be able to have this buy my the flight at an optimal purchase time. Like I say “LAX to JFK for Jan 10th to Jan 15th, between $400 and $600” and it will wait until that is seen and then buy for me. That would be a real new feature.

why would you ever set a minimum price? If you're looking for a certain service level just have it look for that. Otherwise I'd be worried you'd miss out on a flight that fits all your criteria but costs $385 or something

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#69

Post by freeone3000 »

I told it to give me a direct flight and all of its flights have an Atlanta layover. It also ignored my seat pitch request, my checked bags request, and gave me only WestJet flights when Air Canada flights are cheaper.

Is this a frontend to google flights? Sabre integration might get you the info you need to do these queries.

Re: Show HN: Book and change flights with one email

#70

Post by pomian »

theqwxas wrote: post #49

I am not sure about the US market, but Skyscanner [1] works great in Europe, I wonder how this is different. Besides from being structured as an email, it offers quite similar functionality of finding optimal flights (in some sense of optimal). It may just be me, but I am definitely misunderstanding the inbox metaphor. Why is it an inbox? Why is there emphasis on _one email_? I don't book flights through email -- I g…

I get results everytime. Maybe not the cheapest. But it's something, and it's fast... Very fast. (Compared to going to a website.) With a very simple sentence full of acronyms that we all use buy now, it is a fun experimental tool. (Then clicking through the Google link, you can actually continue and book.) But, I agree, Skyscanner is awesome.
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