4 ms·

Hipmunk is a cool startup, but if you want cheap airfares, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ is the best kept secret on the internet

Hipmunk is a cool startup, but if you want cheap airfares, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ is the best kept secret on the internet. Since itasoftware (now part of google), sells a flight search service, they don't advertise their search engine and purposefully keep it ugly.

gms 15y ago
ITA could have been so much more had they gone directly to the consumer.
PetrolMan 15y ago
That's a pretty slick interface actually. I like it even more than Hipmunk's. I just wanted to say thanks for the tip.
mshron 15y ago
ITA are actually the technology behind Orbitz, Kayak, and various airlines' own search technology. IIRC one of the few (and proud) Lisp shops making money hand over fist.
ansy 15y ago
ITA's site actually predates Hipmunk and the Google merger. The reason ITA keeps it a secret is because ITA is a middleware company and not consumer facing. Bing, Hipmunk, Kayak, Orbitz, Hotwire, and many more are all customers of ITA[1] and it takes pains to not compete with its customers. That's also why everyone was freaking out when Google offered to buy ITA. Google could have easily pulled the plug on all of those sites and taken over the industry. So Google had to commit to tons of concessions to ensure that wouldn't happen in order to get approval for the merger. Basically, Google has agreed to ongoing audits by the Justice Department for years after the merger. [2] [1] http://www.itasoftware.com/about/customers.html http://www.itasoftware.com/about/customers.html [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/technology/09google.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/technology/09google.html
- jcampbell1 15y ago
  For a long time matrix.itasoftware.com was password protected but bugmenot/bugmenot worked. I am not sure when they made the search service non-password protected. I imagine if it gets popular, it will go back to being password protected, as it is rude to compete with your own customers.
  - nicw 15y ago
    They aren't competing with their customers - you cannot book a flight on the site. You have to take the booking information ITA provides and call the airline yourself.
  - alec 15y ago
    The older version of matrix - currently available at http://matrix1.itasoftware.com http://matrix1.itasoftware.com - had a not-so-inviting page asking you for a login if you had one, but never required it. There's a "Log in as a guest" link that gets you to the same page you'd have as if you had registered as a typical user. The new version, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/, has no such login requirement.

gms 15y ago

ITA could have been so much more had they gone directly to the consumer.

PetrolMan 15y ago

That's a pretty slick interface actually. I like it even more than Hipmunk's. I just wanted to say thanks for the tip.

mshron 15y ago

ITA are actually the technology behind Orbitz, Kayak, and various airlines' own search technology. IIRC one of the few (and proud) Lisp shops making money hand over fist.

ansy 15y ago

ITA's site actually predates Hipmunk and the Google merger. The reason ITA keeps it a secret is because ITA is a middleware company and not consumer facing. Bing, Hipmunk, Kayak, Orbitz, Hotwire, and many more are all customers of ITA[1] and it takes pains to not compete with its customers. That's also why everyone was freaking out when Google offered to buy ITA. Google could have easily pulled the plug on all of those sites and taken over the industry. So Google had to commit to tons of concessions to ensure that wouldn't happen in order to get approval for the merger. Basically, Google has agreed to ongoing audits by the Justice Department for years after the merger. [2] [1] http://www.itasoftware.com/about/customers.html http://www.itasoftware.com/about/customers.html [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/technology/09google.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/technology/09google.html

jcampbell1 15y ago
For a long time matrix.itasoftware.com was password protected but bugmenot/bugmenot worked. I am not sure when they made the search service non-password protected. I imagine if it gets popular, it will go back to being password protected, as it is rude to compete with your own customers.
- nicw 15y ago
  They aren't competing with their customers - you cannot book a flight on the site. You have to take the booking information ITA provides and call the airline yourself.
- alec 15y ago
  The older version of matrix - currently available at http://matrix1.itasoftware.com http://matrix1.itasoftware.com - had a not-so-inviting page asking you for a login if you had one, but never required it. There's a "Log in as a guest" link that gets you to the same page you'd have as if you had registered as a typical user. The new version, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ http://matrix.itasoftware.com/, has no such login requirement.