5 ms·

Hipmunk for iPhone

98 points by rufo 16y ago

panacea 16y ago
Really nice app. It's not immediately obvious to me what the agony ranking is for though, and there's no help menu? (Obviously it's ranking flights from least agony-inducing to most, but what's the metric?)
- unwind 16y ago
  This image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankyflier/4929727281/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankyflier/4929727281/ shows a tooltip that describes it as "A combination of price, duration, and number of stops" which sounds about right for a flight's agony-factor.
  - BCM43 16y ago
    I don't have an iphone, so forgive me, but how does a tooltip work on the iphone?
    - shimon 16y ago
      Tooltips are not typically seen in iPhone apps. The screenshot was from the hipmunk web application. Perhaps hipmunk assumes that anyone using their iPhone app is already familiar with the web app and shouldn't be treated as a novice user. Or perhaps they have so much confidence that their agony ranking is what you want that they don't feel compelled to explain it. ;)
- benologist 16y ago
  Agony is when you get stuck for 14 hours in a stopover on a journey with 4 legs instead of no or 1 stopover. I had 9 hours in Taipei once and couldn't leave the airport. So insanely boring.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
rradu 16y ago
I'm gonna get downvoted for this, but I really don't find Hipmunk any easier to use than the traditional flight booking service. In fact, quite the opposite--I find the splash of colors and symbols across my screen confusing. Attempting to match the rows and columns with each other just makes my head hurt. Compare the same search on Travelocity ( http://i.imgur.com/PlX0d.png http://i.imgur.com/PlX0d.png ) and Hipmunk ( http://i.imgur.com/1eh47.png http://i.imgur.com/1eh47.png ) It may be just me, but the Travelocity results are much clearer. I don't have to click on each flight to view basic details about it. Additionally, Hipmunk charges a higher fee for their bookings than bigger name travel sites.
- rufo 16y ago
  What details do you need that aren't there? I see airlines, stops, price, and time information. EDIT: Whoops, meant to hit cancel in the iOS app as I wanted to write a bit more but didn't have time… I'll leave the message as it stands.
  - rradu 16y ago
    The bars span the full width of my screen, which makes them hard to read. There's very little text, and I have to interact with each option to see details about a flight, which I find annoying if I just want to scroll through. Also, the screenshot I gave above is a pretty tame example. Compare it to another search where there are more airlines in similar price ranges - http://i.imgur.com/e7VJq.png http://i.imgur.com/e7VJq.png
    - rufo 16y ago
      Again, I'm not sure what details you're looking for; the stuff I care about (cost, departure and arrival time, rough length of flight, where it connects) is all right there. As someone who lives in a city that's always one connecting flight away, I can't tell you how many times I've almost booked a flight only to realize the one that's $5 more on the same airline connects in a city more on the way and with less layover time, and Hipmunk does a far better job of communicating that to me then a traditional list. That being said, I'm not using it exclusively yet (I usually check both Kayak and Hipmunk just to make sure I'm not missing something), but I really like that somebody is trying to do something different and (hopefully) enjoyable in flight search.
AngeloAnolin 16y ago
When will you also provide this on Android devices?
CoachRufus87 16y ago
I can't seem to find Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)
- danilocampos 16y ago
  Thank you. A fix is in the pipe. In the meantime, you can select that blank cell that turns up as the first result when you type "AUS". Dumb display logic decision on my part. Sorry.
pchristensen 16y ago
I downloaded this immediately, loved it, then remembered that they don't have Southwest results, so I sighed and realized that I would hardly ever use it. It looks great though!
johns 16y ago
I love Hipmunk except for that it only gives me limited options for purchasing at the end. I'm guessing this is to maximize their referral revenue, but I have status on an airline and only purchase from their site directly. If I purchase from another site I have less control over changes to my itinerary after purchase. That's my preferred airlines fault, but other sites like Bing Travel let me click through the results right to my airlines' web site.
ondrasej 16y ago
I'm glad to see Hipmunk have an app, this could make searching for flights even more fun. I was interested if they had any problems with selling tickets via an iPhone app using the browser for paymentsm not the in app purchase API. But obviously they did not, as the app was approved.
jasonjei 16y ago
I am all for services that help us find plane tickets in a lower price bucket, but how exactly is this different from ITA's new matrix interface and OnTheFly app? I guess understanding how you position yourself differently from ITA will help.

98 points by rufo 16y ago

Really nice app. It's not immediately obvious to me what the agony ranking is for though, and there's no help menu? (Obviously it's ranking flights from least agony-inducing to most, but what's the metric?)

unwind 16y ago
This image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankyflier/4929727281/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/crankyflier/4929727281/ shows a tooltip that describes it as "A combination of price, duration, and number of stops" which sounds about right for a flight's agony-factor.
- BCM43 16y ago
  I don't have an iphone, so forgive me, but how does a tooltip work on the iphone?
  - shimon 16y ago
    Tooltips are not typically seen in iPhone apps. The screenshot was from the hipmunk web application. Perhaps hipmunk assumes that anyone using their iPhone app is already familiar with the web app and shouldn't be treated as a novice user. Or perhaps they have so much confidence that their agony ranking is what you want that they don't feel compelled to explain it. ;)
benologist 16y ago
Agony is when you get stuck for 14 hours in a stopover on a journey with 4 legs instead of no or 1 stopover. I had 9 hours in Taipei once and couldn't leave the airport. So insanely boring.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

rradu 16y ago

I'm gonna get downvoted for this, but I really don't find Hipmunk any easier to use than the traditional flight booking service. In fact, quite the opposite--I find the splash of colors and symbols across my screen confusing. Attempting to match the rows and columns with each other just makes my head hurt. Compare the same search on Travelocity ( http://i.imgur.com/PlX0d.png http://i.imgur.com/PlX0d.png ) and Hipmunk ( http://i.imgur.com/1eh47.png http://i.imgur.com/1eh47.png ) It may be just me, but the Travelocity results are much clearer. I don't have to click on each flight to view basic details about it. Additionally, Hipmunk charges a higher fee for their bookings than bigger name travel sites.

rufo 16y ago
What details do you need that aren't there? I see airlines, stops, price, and time information. EDIT: Whoops, meant to hit cancel in the iOS app as I wanted to write a bit more but didn't have time… I'll leave the message as it stands.
- rradu 16y ago
  The bars span the full width of my screen, which makes them hard to read. There's very little text, and I have to interact with each option to see details about a flight, which I find annoying if I just want to scroll through. Also, the screenshot I gave above is a pretty tame example. Compare it to another search where there are more airlines in similar price ranges - http://i.imgur.com/e7VJq.png http://i.imgur.com/e7VJq.png
  - rufo 16y ago
    Again, I'm not sure what details you're looking for; the stuff I care about (cost, departure and arrival time, rough length of flight, where it connects) is all right there. As someone who lives in a city that's always one connecting flight away, I can't tell you how many times I've almost booked a flight only to realize the one that's $5 more on the same airline connects in a city more on the way and with less layover time, and Hipmunk does a far better job of communicating that to me then a traditional list. That being said, I'm not using it exclusively yet (I usually check both Kayak and Hipmunk just to make sure I'm not missing something), but I really like that somebody is trying to do something different and (hopefully) enjoyable in flight search.

AngeloAnolin 16y ago

When will you also provide this on Android devices?

CoachRufus87 16y ago

I can't seem to find Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)

danilocampos 16y ago
Thank you. A fix is in the pipe. In the meantime, you can select that blank cell that turns up as the first result when you type "AUS". Dumb display logic decision on my part. Sorry.

pchristensen 16y ago

I downloaded this immediately, loved it, then remembered that they don't have Southwest results, so I sighed and realized that I would hardly ever use it. It looks great though!

johns 16y ago

I love Hipmunk except for that it only gives me limited options for purchasing at the end. I'm guessing this is to maximize their referral revenue, but I have status on an airline and only purchase from their site directly. If I purchase from another site I have less control over changes to my itinerary after purchase. That's my preferred airlines fault, but other sites like Bing Travel let me click through the results right to my airlines' web site.

ondrasej 16y ago

I'm glad to see Hipmunk have an app, this could make searching for flights even more fun. I was interested if they had any problems with selling tickets via an iPhone app using the browser for paymentsm not the in app purchase API. But obviously they did not, as the app was approved.

jasonjei 16y ago

I am all for services that help us find plane tickets in a lower price bucket, but how exactly is this different from ITA's new matrix interface and OnTheFly app? I guess understanding how you position yourself differently from ITA will help.