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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

#81

Post by themagyar »

danpalmer wrote: post #77
themagyar wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair, beta isn't for everyone. It's geared towards frequent fliers and people who want to save time. But lets break down the points: -> cheapest?? Frequent fliers are primarily concerned with time efficiency. -> shortest/fewest-stopovers/shortest-stops?? These are all synonyms for efficiency. -> airline preference?? Beta curates based on airline loyalty. -> lounge preference?? Not handled when booking flights.. -> se…

My partner books a lot of travel for people who travel a lot, and while some of this is broadly true, I think the devil is in the details. They get a lot of preferences from people who arguably should only care about their time, but in reality also have comfort preferences. When you say that shortest/fewest stopovers/shortest stops are all synonyms for efficiency, this is true, but also misses human factors. Some peo…

Appreciate the context. That's the plan, cheers.

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

#82

Post by themagyar »

lxgr wrote: post #73
r0fl wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can set up alerts using Google flights that will email you when prices change I save thousands using this feature each year

I like that feature! But now I’m wondering if Google is selling that data back to airlines.

Maybe; BonBook never will.

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

#83

Post by dplgk »

themagyar wrote: post #31
ipdashc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised by all the uniform praise in the comments - NOT saying it's not a cool tool, it's definitely very impressive and the author's done a nice job, but I could never really see myself using this. Mainly just because flights are super expensive, I can't see myself trusting a bot to make the best choice instead of spending 10 minutes of my own time to potentially save a lot of money. I guess it's…

Worth noting: if you don't specify a time of day in your search, you will see the cheapest flight on that day. Bots can analyze several thousand flight options (which even the sim does) in a few seconds. So odds are it catches a deal someone might otherwise miss. Also, because BonBook searches direct w/ airlines, it sees inventory not shared with Google (and regularly has better fares).

Why can't Google search direct with airlines?

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

#84

Post by akrymski »

I may be an outlier but I don't get it - I much prefer a visual interface of Google Flights that gives me all the options. I'd hate to have to explain to a real PA all my preferences for each and every journey (every flight has a very different set of trade-offs). It's like asking a realtor to show me the 3 houses she thinks would be best for me. Thank God for technology that allows us to see all the options.

The real value is in the actual booking aspect: fill in all the forms on the airline's website and checkout for me!

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

#85

Post by ragazzina »

themagyar wrote: post #80
ragazzina wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still getting the "dropped the ball" and I get every time more curious to try it.

Logs look clear.. what are you searching for?

It works now, it ust have been an issue with the connection. It works as in: I receive an output. But it doesn't find the correct flights. My prompt was "Find a flight from X to Y on the Z of February 2025, the goal is to maximize the time spent in any layover (if the layover starts before 11 am). I prefer flying Delta but this is not mandatory".

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

#86

Post by themagyar »

ragazzina wrote: post #85
themagyar wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Logs look clear.. what are you searching for?

It works now, it ust have been an issue with the connection. It works as in: I receive an output. But it doesn't find the correct flights. My prompt was "Find a flight from X to Y on the Z of February 2025, the goal is to maximize the time spent in any layover (if the layover starts before 11 am). I prefer flying Delta but this is not mandatory".

BonBook optimizes for efficiency. What's your use case?
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