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

Get away with Google Flights

googleblog.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 153 posts

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#121

Post by [deleted] »

nadams wrote: post #62
dheera wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to Namecheap; they sell stuff but are not annoying about it. Google Domains also looks promising but I'm waiting for them to not be in beta lest they decide to scrap the product. Google would win me over if they offered free SSL certificates. In fact I think they should go ahead and disrupt the SSL industry by doing that too. Nobody should have to pay for a silly cryptographic signature. That would disrupt…

> ...free SSL certificates. In fact I think they should go ahead and disrupt the SSL industry StartSSL already offers free SSL certificates - and they haven't disrupted the industry. Even if Google started offering free SSL certificates - it's only a band-aid to the problem not a solution.

[deleted]

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#122

Post by wbeckler »

yekim wrote: post #98
Bedon292 wrote: post #6

Not sure why they are just posting this now, it has existed for quite a while. It also has hotel searching. Not all companies have prices displayed on the site, but it links directly to the companies rather than paying additional fees through a third party.

I wasn't even aware of Google Flights until I saw the article posted on HN. Go figure... For some of us, the constant deluge of info, along with work and family life, makes it tough to stay on top of all the latest developments. Glad this service was "re-announced".

There's lots of travel sites popping up all the time, including accommodations sites. That's why I built http://AllTheRooms.com, which aggregates all the different accommodations sites and deals sites, like Expedia, Groupon, Hotwire, and Airbnb

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#123

Post by wbeckler »

Bedon292 wrote: post #6

Not sure why they are just posting this now, it has existed for quite a while. It also has hotel searching. Not all companies have prices displayed on the site, but it links directly to the companies rather than paying additional fees through a third party.

Their hotels searching is still pretty rough. It's not very googly, in that it's mostly pay to play. You have to look hard to find nonpaid content. It also leaves out all the lower cost options like Airbnb. I built http://AllTheRooms.com to aggregate everything, including sites that don't pay, because Google wasn't really doing its job in the accommodations space.

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#124

Post by scintill76 »

Open-ended destination is great, but I've sometimes wished for open-ended source. My usecase is something like a casual multi-stop trip, where you have an eventual destination in mind, but would like to save money, or see where else you can go along the way for a similar amount of money.

I've worked around it by manually checking nearby routes, or getting a feel for options with open-ended reverse flights and then searching the reverse again.

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#125

Post by Avitas »

joelbrewer01 wrote: post #58

I've used Google Flights before, but I almost always end up flying Southwest, which doesn't disclose their prices to aggregators. Does anyone know if Google has tried to strike a deal with them? If anyone could, I imagine it would be Google.

I suppose someone could get bold and attempt to do some scraping. Of course, my money would be on SouthWest stopping this behavior as a violation of their terms of service.

Here is their terms of service:

https://www.southwest.com/html/about-southwest/terms-and-con...

They explicitly take ownership of the content, mention that the information is only for non-commercial use, exclude use of the information on their site for commercial use and additionally use for any other purpose. In case their message is not clear, they go even further and list a variety of prohibited activities.

The language of their Terms & Conditions is rather broad. It looks like virtually any activity on their website as a violation. Perhaps that is now the norm.

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#127

Post by mh- »

wbeckler wrote: post #122
yekim wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't even aware of Google Flights until I saw the article posted on HN. Go figure... For some of us, the constant deluge of info, along with work and family life, makes it tough to stay on top of all the latest developments. Glad this service was "re-announced".

There's lots of travel sites popping up all the time, including accommodations sites. That's why I built http://AllTheRooms.com , which aggregates all the different accommodations sites and deals sites, like Expedia, Groupon, Hotwire, and Airbnb

decent site.

I'd update your copyright footer, if only because at a glance it makes me wonder if it's unmaintained.

I've been wanting a more powerful hotel search site for many years, but I think most of the features I'd care to see are limited by the messy data available about the properties (amenities, etc.) and the margins just aren't there to support an aggregator curating their own data. Maybe not even for a reseller like Hotels.com.

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#128

Post by abawany »

otar wrote: post #95

I think SkyPicker is worth mentioning here: https://skypicker.com If you are flexible where you want to go, when, how much you can stay, etc... then you get really good suggestions.

Minor: got a certificate error when I clicked on this url. However that disappeared when I manually typed in www.skypicker.com in the browser. Most likely cause it seems is because their site certificate is *.skypicker.com

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#129

Post by SilasX »

radiorental wrote: post #88
NotHuckabee wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably pre-tax/fees, while Google's result includes extra charges.

nope, that's all in. And, you don't generally see 33% taxes on top of a ticket.

For international flights? Taxes should definitely be most of the price or close to it.

Here's a ticket breakdown I got a few years ago for Austin to Budapest (British Airways found through Vayama):

1 Adult(s) $ 457.00

Taxes and Fees $ 769.33

Trip Insurance $ 67.45

Total $ 1,293.78 (USD)

Re: Get away with Google Flights

#130

Post by ThatAdamGuy »

solve wrote: post #31

"cheaper isn’t always better" BS. Non-business flights are the most price-sensitive type of product there could possibly be. Near 100% of people only apply a few very basic filters, e.g. no 12-hour layovers, doesn't depart at 5am, and then choose the cheapest. It's not some sophisticated "balance" that needs some advanced machine learning or personalization to accomplish. It's a few obvious filters that are the same…

Hey solve, I thought the exact same thing you did! But then -- as someone who recently joined the Google Flights team -- I helped lead some research that included this topic... and was honestly surprised to find that about 40% of the folks searching on Google Flights DON'T pick the cheapest flight.

Price, certainly, is still a huge factor in folks' decision, but convenience plays a very significant role. And, from anecdotal evidence (not part of the same research), brand loyalty is definitely a factor as well (a very price sensitive travel blogger I know still prefers to fly on American, for instance).

Post reply on HN