The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents • Hacker News Board

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#31

Post by MattRogish » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:28 AM UTC

laumac wrote: post #20

MattRogish wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feature request: be able to see the fare some days after it's "expired", or pay the same bounty and see the fare, too.

Thanks Matt, it's definitely something we're discussing at the moment. Fares can disappear at anytime though.

Absolutely, but it's cool to see how folks constructed it :)

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#32

Post by dmix » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:35 AM UTC

mayukh wrote: post #27

they use still use a similar principle in India for a lot of travel -- its called a travel agency. I suppose flightfox is just making it very clear who the best travel agents are. Gluck, I'll give this a shot during my next international travel.

It's not what their achieving that matters, its how...

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#33

Post by laumac » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:36 AM UTC

GodsMoon wrote: post #28

Can I pay a small fee and see all the results? I would even pay a monthly fee for that. I would be very interested in that.

You can create your own flight contest and note exactly which cities you want to visit and we'll find you the best/cheapest itinerary. We're discussing now about opening up the results of this RTW contest for a smaller fee, would anyone else be interested in that?

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#34

Post by caseyf » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:37 AM UTC

Is there going to be a way to create more flexible contests like this as a Flightfox user? Right now it looks like I can only do the same sorts of things that I can do on other travel sites (one way, round trip, multi city)

I'd love to be able to put in something like me -> (any of these 10 destinations) or me + friend who lives elsewhere + friend who lives elsewhere -> (any of these 10 destinations)

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#35

Post by zwass » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:40 AM UTC

Love the idea. You'd really have me if I could at least see something about the itinerary. Dates, cities, at least. Why do you have a "view details" link that does nothing? I doubt that gives away enough to render your service unnecessary.

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#36

Post by todsul » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:44 AM UTC

mayukh wrote: post #27

they use still use a similar principle in India for a lot of travel -- its called a travel agency. I suppose flightfox is just making it very clear who the best travel agents are. Gluck, I'll give this a shot during my next international travel.

Hi there, in one respect you're right; we absolutely value human-power in flight search, which is why we're crowdsourced. But compared to traditional agents, we're much more aligned to your interests. Our experts don't take commissions, so they only suggest flights on their merits. If someone posts a better/cheaper flight, they simply win.

Also, with crowdsourcing, you get access to expert skill and local knowledge all over the world. You're not limited to the skill and experience of one person. Frequent flyer programs are important in this respect because few agents have an in-depth knowledge of these programs. Airlines generally don't pay commissions on those flights, so it doesn't make sense for agents to become specialists in this area.

Our experts come from all walks: agents, travelers, frequent flyers, etc. So you get access to a wide array of experience.

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#37

Post by todsul » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:46 AM UTC

zwass wrote: post #35

Love the idea. You'd really have me if I could at least see something about the itinerary. Dates, cities, at least. Why do you have a "view details" link that does nothing? I doubt that gives away enough to render your service unnecessary.

Hi Zwass, working on it right now. Just trying to keep the server up. But we'll get to it as soon as we can. For most contests it's important that only the contest holder can see the details, because they're often quite personal. But in this case we'll post the itinerary because it's quite interesting to see how the winner managed to construct a 6-continent itinerary for $1730. Will post back soon.

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#38

Post by kapkapkap » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:50 AM UTC

laumac wrote: post #33

GodsMoon wrote: post #28

Can I pay a small fee and see all the results? I would even pay a monthly fee for that. I would be very interested in that.

You can create your own flight contest and note exactly which cities you want to visit and we'll find you the best/cheapest itinerary. We're discussing now about opening up the results of this RTW contest for a smaller fee, would anyone else be interested in that?

I think people most of us are curious to see the detailed results but I don't think more than a few people would be willing to shell out any $. Perhaps consider opening up the detailed results for this contest as a one-time-thing? I think that the interest+publicity you will receive (in addition to already being #1 on HN) would greatly out-weigh the few hundred bucks that you might get from a handful of people who'd seriously be willing to pay to see these results.

When a post is on top of HN, I don't think we're used to seeing the meat of the content stuck behind a quasi-paywall.

EDIT: It looks like you've posted the results publicly now, nice.

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#39

Post by anonymoushn » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:53 AM UTC

Is "View Details" supposed to redirect to the same page?

Re: The Cheapest Route to 6 Continents

#40

Post by todsul » Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 1:54 AM UTC

Here are the winning flight details:

This is a 6-Continent RTW itinerary for $1,730. We personally verified that it's a valid itinerary, and at the time of checking, all flights could be booked.

   JFK 18-Oct-2012 GEO 18-Oct-2012 Delta (New York, US to Georgetown, Guyana)
   GEO 25-Oct-2012 JFK 25-Oct-2012 Delta (Georgetown, Guyana to New York, US)
   JFK 14-Nov-2012 TXL 15-Nov-2012 Air Berlin (New York, US to Berlin, Germany)
   SXF 29-Jan-2013 AGA 29-Jan-2013 EasyJet (Berlin, Germany to Agadir, Morocco)
   AGA 05-Feb-2013 LGW 05-Feb-2013 EasyJet (Agadir, Morocco to London, UK)
   LTN 26-Feb-2013 SAW 26-Feb-2013 EasyJet (London, UK to Istanbul, Turkey)
   SAW 18-Mar-2013 IKA 19-Mar-2013 Pegasus (Istanbul, Turkey to Tehran, Iran)
   IKA 29-Mar-2013 KUL 30-Mar-2013 AirAsia (Tehran, Iran to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
   KUL 02-Apr-2013 PER 02-Apr-2013 AirAsia (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Perth, Australia - YAY!)
   PER 07-Apr-2013 KUL 07-Apr-2013 AirAsia (Perth, Australia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
   KUL 09-Apr-2013 BKK 09-Apr-2013 AirAsia (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Bangkok, Thailand)
   BKK 18-Apr-2013 KBP 18-Apr-2013 Aerosvit (Bangkok, Thailand to Kiev, Ukraine)
   KBP 18-Apr-2013 JFK 18-Apr-2013 Aerosvit (Kiev, Ukraine to New York, US)

Any questions, please ask.