Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 137 posts

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#121

Post by jjallen »

I'm trying to actually find a bookable first class flight that isn't twice as long or more than two stops. (Say ZRH->ATL). All of the flights I have tried mysteriously disappear when I go to United.

How many people have actually booked long haul flights that aren't absolutely terrible (stops/duration) for less than 100k? I am trying to find a single one that actually lets me book it for any date in September. If I have to spend hours manually searching because United makes these magically disappear there is 0 value in this search engine.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#122

Post by timqin »

arcticbull wrote: post #108
timqin wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. Can't get into our secret sauce on a public forum, but can say we are working on addressing those limitations

That's great to hear. Go get 'em :)

Thanks!

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#123

Post by timqin »

digitcatphd wrote: post #115

When I book on Amex Travel, they give me 25% of my points back, but I only use it for economy, is the primary value the bonus in excess of this? If so for business/premium or all flights?

So, if you're only booking economy flights, there could be a cash where the 25% points back makes. But we boil it down, Amex offers 1 cent per point and with the 25% back, you get 1.25 cents per point.

1.25 cents per point is decent for economy, but you can often find economy flights for 1.5 cents per point when you transfer to an airline partner (sometimes even higher).

The real delta in value comes from business or first class redemptions where sometimes you can realize 5-8 cents per point for business and 12-20 cents for first class.

From a pure numbers approach, you're usually losing out when redeem points on the credit card travel portals. BUT you get to save time by booking any cash fare availability.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#126

Post by timqin »

lokar wrote: post #94

You seem to show Amex MR -> AA as an option, which I think is wrong

mmhmm. That shouldn't happen. Could you let me know where you are seeing this? Because I just did a quick search and didn't see that transfer option in the flight details.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#128

Post by digging »

shiroiushi wrote: post #99
digging wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a counterpoint. The root comment says "this harms others for personal gain," and your rebuttal is "but I gain something". Just to be clear, playing these ridiculous point games isn't something I'm going to come at you over. It's probably not even the most unethical thing you do, intentionally or otherwise, and I won't pretend I'm living a blameless lifestyle either. And with that out of the way, yes the en…

>And with that out of the way, yes the entire points system is a huge fucking scam and a leech on our economy. The more you "beat the system" and profit off points, the more you care about rewards programs existing at all. I disagree. Yes, I see how they're really a scam, but I think the scam isn't quite what you think it is: the companies offering points are hoping that you won't use them . Of course, they know that…

I think we're in agreement about what the rewards system is. I'm just saying that the side effect of getting points-users really invested in using points is a second layer of the scam. Obviously it is good for the credit card issuers if most users don't use their points, that's free money for them.

> So anything that helps consumers make the most of these points, I think, should help reduce these companies' profits.

I mean, no - the answer isn't "try to bleed them dry by exploiting points," any more than "launch barrels of water into space" is the answer to sea level rise. Use your points while you have them, but the correct solution for societal good is to ban the whole system.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#129

Post by shiroiushi »

digging wrote: post #128
shiroiushi wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And with that out of the way, yes the entire points system is a huge fucking scam and a leech on our economy. The more you "beat the system" and profit off points, the more you care about rewards programs existing at all. I disagree. Yes, I see how they're really a scam, but I think the scam isn't quite what you think it is: the companies offering points are hoping that you won't use them . Of course, they know that…

I think we're in agreement about what the rewards system is. I'm just saying that the side effect of getting points-users really invested in using points is a second layer of the scam. Obviously it is good for the credit card issuers if most users don't use their points, that's free money for them. > So anything that helps consumers make the most of these points, I think, should help reduce these companies' profits.…

I think banning the whole system isn't going to do anything but improve profits for them (maybe; they're doing the points systems because they think it'll convince customers to use them instead of a competitor). I think if you really want to fix the problem, you need more regulation so that prices are kept low. So, for instance, for credit card points, you need regulation forcing the CC companies to lower the fees they charge to merchants, like they do in Europe.

Re: Launch HN: Roame (YC S23) – Flight search engine for your credit card points

#130

Post by digitcatphd »

timqin wrote: post #123
digitcatphd wrote: post #115

When I book on Amex Travel, they give me 25% of my points back, but I only use it for economy, is the primary value the bonus in excess of this? If so for business/premium or all flights?

So, if you're only booking economy flights, there could be a cash where the 25% points back makes. But we boil it down, Amex offers 1 cent per point and with the 25% back, you get 1.25 cents per point. 1.25 cents per point is decent for economy, but you can often find economy flights for 1.5 cents per point when you transfer to an airline partner (sometimes even higher). The real delta in value comes from business or…

Cool. Had no idea about this.
Post reply on HN