4 ms·

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised by all the uniform praise in the comments - NOT saying it's not a cool tool, it's definitely very impressive and the author's done a

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised by all the uniform praise in the comments - NOT saying it's not a cool tool, it's definitely very impressive and the author's done a nice job, but I could never really see myself using this. Mainly just because flights are super expensive, I can't see myself trusting a bot to make the best choice instead of spending 10 minutes of my own time to potentially save a lot of money. I guess it's a different world when you're a super frequent flier (or when your company is paying, of course). It reminds me of the Carvana ads that called out home delivery for cars. Like, it's definitely neat, and I'd love to skip scummy dealerships, but convenience is wayy down my list of priorities when I'm dropping that much money on something.

themagyar 2y ago
Worth noting: if you don't specify a time of day in your search, you will see the cheapest flight on that day. Bots can analyze several thousand flight options (which even the sim does) in a few seconds. So odds are it catches a deal someone might otherwise miss. Also, because BonBook searches direct w/ airlines, it sees inventory not shared with Google (and regularly has better fares).
- ipdashc 2y ago
  Interesting, the last one is pretty surprising. I kind of just assumed all airline booking systems (Expedia, Google Flights, Kayak, whatever) all used the same underlying service - maybe SABRE or something, but that's a total shot in the dark. Would love to hear what the difference is, assuming you're comfortable with sharing!
  - themagyar 2y ago
    Can share a bit of background: (TLDR; airlines want to keep more profit so are witholding some fares.) A system called GDS (Global Distribution System) was built in the 60s as a data transmission standard. Was used by airlines to publish fares (among other things). But it was complicated so aggregators (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport) were born to ingest all this published data and make it easily searchable. When travel went online in the late 90s, Online Travel Agents (OTAs) were using this data, and since then most new OTAs have too. (An example; Expedia's first patent minimized GDS searches per customer request, saving them $$). But, because OTAs take a cut and airline margins are thin, IATA (group of airlines) came up with a new system called NDS (New Distrubution Standard) in mid 2010s. Since its an XML standard that anyone can consume direct, airlines have been trying to push everyone onto NDC by simply not publishing certain tickets via GDS, requiring OTAs to book X% of tickets via NDC and even removing inventory entirely. Some examples: American trying to go full NDC recently but getting pushback and Turkish Airlines pulling out of Sabre.
    - ipdashc 2y ago
      Super cool stuff. Thanks for the info.
    - Y_Y 2y ago
      Is there a reasonable way for me to consume this data directly? I'd love to be able to pull a big pile of flight prices and mess around with the data, but I'd prefer not to pay big money or have to register as a travel agent or anything.
      - themagyar 2y ago
        Depends on the detail. There are a few simple ones (eg flightlab).
- dplgk 2y ago
  Why can't Google search direct with airlines?

themagyar 2y ago

Worth noting: if you don't specify a time of day in your search, you will see the cheapest flight on that day. Bots can analyze several thousand flight options (which even the sim does) in a few seconds. So odds are it catches a deal someone might otherwise miss. Also, because BonBook searches direct w/ airlines, it sees inventory not shared with Google (and regularly has better fares).

ipdashc 2y ago
Interesting, the last one is pretty surprising. I kind of just assumed all airline booking systems (Expedia, Google Flights, Kayak, whatever) all used the same underlying service - maybe SABRE or something, but that's a total shot in the dark. Would love to hear what the difference is, assuming you're comfortable with sharing!
- themagyar 2y ago
  Can share a bit of background: (TLDR; airlines want to keep more profit so are witholding some fares.) A system called GDS (Global Distribution System) was built in the 60s as a data transmission standard. Was used by airlines to publish fares (among other things). But it was complicated so aggregators (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport) were born to ingest all this published data and make it easily searchable. When travel went online in the late 90s, Online Travel Agents (OTAs) were using this data, and since then most new OTAs have too. (An example; Expedia's first patent minimized GDS searches per customer request, saving them $$). But, because OTAs take a cut and airline margins are thin, IATA (group of airlines) came up with a new system called NDS (New Distrubution Standard) in mid 2010s. Since its an XML standard that anyone can consume direct, airlines have been trying to push everyone onto NDC by simply not publishing certain tickets via GDS, requiring OTAs to book X% of tickets via NDC and even removing inventory entirely. Some examples: American trying to go full NDC recently but getting pushback and Turkish Airlines pulling out of Sabre.
  - ipdashc 2y ago
    Super cool stuff. Thanks for the info.
  - Y_Y 2y ago
    Is there a reasonable way for me to consume this data directly? I'd love to be able to pull a big pile of flight prices and mess around with the data, but I'd prefer not to pay big money or have to register as a travel agent or anything.
    - themagyar 2y ago
      Depends on the detail. There are a few simple ones (eg flightlab).
dplgk 2y ago
Why can't Google search direct with airlines?