7 ms·

Hi rj, Here are the details for the economy itinerary, which was $1730 for 6 Continents. We're working with the expert of the business class itinerary to see w

by todsul 14y ago

Hi rj, Here are the details for the economy itinerary, which was $1730 for 6 Continents. We're working with the expert of the business class itinerary to see what details he's happy for us to post. 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)

corin_ 14y ago
Would it not make sense to enable public viewing for it on the site - at least in instances like above where you are happy to let people know? I feel the rough cost should be promoted up front, I remember the last time you did one of these promo contests (or at least the last time one was on HN) I found it interesting, then was put off by the fact that you didn't allow viewing of the winning itinerary, and the fact that information on the service didn't seem to be as accessible as it could have been... I then completely forgot about you. This time I clicked around, entered some information and saw the prices - and signed up to pay for a search. If the results are good, or even suggest promise for the future, I'll be sure to remember you. But I'm not sure I would have done any of this if a.) I wasn't sat here watching a football (soccer) match that's boring the hell out of me and b.) Next week I need to go on a trip to two cities in hopefully a single day, i.e. good timing Edit: More feedback, would be nice to have more flexibility in requesting flight details. For example my trip next week, I don't care what day it's on (any of Mon-Fri would be fine), but I don't want to put +/- 3 days because I don't want one flight Monday and the next on Friday. Additionally I want to go to two cities, I don't care in which order. Maybe you could take a look at my notes on http://flightfox.com/contest/23238 http://flightfox.com/contest/23238 and tell me a.) If it's OK that I specified them there and b.) If it might be possible to be able to specify them somewhere more efficient rather than just writing prose
- rjsamson 14y ago
  I agree - if you could put this on the site, at least for your FlightFox sponsored contests, I think that would be pretty powerful marketing material.
- todsul 14y ago
  Hi corin_5, coincidentally we're working on improved date flexibility right now. You'll be able to specify before/after and many more day period options. We're doing the same for passenger type. Not just adults, but students, infants, etc. We can't enable public viewing because the experts don't want to divulge their most prized tips and tricks to the wider public. This is their livelihood, and we are mostly holding these contests to test their skills and proving something more interesting that the typical simple return trips. Glad you're giving us a go. Please let us know if you have any issues or questions.
  - corin_ 14y ago
    Another piece of flexibility feedback - wildcard destinations, for finding a decent priced holiday (obviously with some guidance on rough location). I guess this is possible from the competition you just ran, but I must have missed the option. As to the reasons for not enabling public viewing... as you've publicly shared here on HN, could you not at least share that much on the site? Alternatively could you not offer an option for people to "buy it now", to use an ebay phrase? Or would the necessary price tag be too high for most people to be interested? p.s. The 5 was attached to the number of minutes, not my name! ;D
    - todsul 14y ago
      Great point re destinations. You can actually do wildcard destinations right now, but it's just not obvious. We have an autocomplete function on the airport box, but you can enter anything you want. As you'll see on the RTW contests, we just entered "Round the World" for 'from' city and "6 Continents" for the 'to' city. That said, we need to make this more obvious and probably tease out more adventurous use of this feature. Thanks for the feedback.
  - 14y ago
rjsamson 14y ago
Thanks! In my personal opinion I think that seeing that actual itinerary really boosts the 'WOW' factor.
brk 14y ago
So, this requires essentially being gone for 4 continuous months in order to get these prices? I'm not sure how amazing that is really. That's also 4 months of living on the road, hotels, meals, etc. If you wanted to visit all 6 continents, it seems like you could do it for a cheaper overall rate by just book 6 individual flights over time taking advantage of various promotions.
- todsul 14y ago
  4 months traveling the world, having to eat "meals"... sounds terrible! :)
  - brk 14y ago
    Well, it is for almost anyone with a halfway decent/steady job. What I'm saying is that it's kind of impractical for a lot people. I would expect a "contest" like this to have a winning result that was a little more practical from a total travel time perspective, or at the very least have 2 winning options, one for "Total trip time of 2 weeks or less" (granted this might have to be 3 or even 4 weeks if you're going to be spending at least 12 days away anyway) and one for "Lowest cost overall regardless of duration".
    - qq66 14y ago
      The contest had a specific set of rules and a 4-month itinerary was permissible within these rules. The point wasn't to create an itinerary that would be advisable for a particular individual, it was to demonstrate that FlightFox is a good tool for finding rock bottom prices, so any set of fair rules would work. If you were actually making an itinerary for someone, you'd probably have even more pressing questions than trip duration, such as "Where would you like to go?" Do you even want to go 6 continents? :)
    - jlarocco 14y ago
      Yeah, I was interested until I found that part. I think for most people, if they could afford 4 months off work then they wouldn't be too concerned about finding the cheapest possible flights. It's still interesting in a theoretical way, but far less useful than the headline makes it sound.
rm999 14y ago
Very cool, but I'm not clear who your site targets. That price is amazing but the itinerary involves a lot of flying around on terrible airlines. I usually have a lot of restrictions: I want to fly on these dates, with the fewest travel hours possible, on good, dependable airlines. How much leeway is in there to save money?
- todsul 14y ago
  Less leeway, but flightfox is about saving you time and money. Even if you build a 6-continent itinerary with a lot of restrictions, it will take many hours. The tips and tricks the experts provide, even for getting on better airlines or other perks, really comes in handy. There are of course sometimes we just can't help. That's normally with simple itineraries and inflexible flyers.
paulgb 14y ago
I was curious to see how the prices broke down and made a spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArqFVqywuf39dEZMX0ttdEpTNUpiWmlEcDlTQU91QVE&output=html https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArqFVqywuf39dEZ... My total was $2617. I know flight prices change over time, but I'm guessing that whoever found this took advantage of some promotions or booking methods other than buying directly from the airline?
- robryan 14y ago
  The rules for economy were that to be freely bookable online. The contest was a while ago now though so the same deals they took advantage of probably ended.

by todsul 14y ago

corin_ 14y ago

Would it not make sense to enable public viewing for it on the site - at least in instances like above where you are happy to let people know? I feel the rough cost should be promoted up front, I remember the last time you did one of these promo contests (or at least the last time one was on HN) I found it interesting, then was put off by the fact that you didn't allow viewing of the winning itinerary, and the fact that information on the service didn't seem to be as accessible as it could have been... I then completely forgot about you. This time I clicked around, entered some information and saw the prices - and signed up to pay for a search. If the results are good, or even suggest promise for the future, I'll be sure to remember you. But I'm not sure I would have done any of this if a.) I wasn't sat here watching a football (soccer) match that's boring the hell out of me and b.) Next week I need to go on a trip to two cities in hopefully a single day, i.e. good timing Edit: More feedback, would be nice to have more flexibility in requesting flight details. For example my trip next week, I don't care what day it's on (any of Mon-Fri would be fine), but I don't want to put +/- 3 days because I don't want one flight Monday and the next on Friday. Additionally I want to go to two cities, I don't care in which order. Maybe you could take a look at my notes on http://flightfox.com/contest/23238 http://flightfox.com/contest/23238 and tell me a.) If it's OK that I specified them there and b.) If it might be possible to be able to specify them somewhere more efficient rather than just writing prose

rjsamson 14y ago
I agree - if you could put this on the site, at least for your FlightFox sponsored contests, I think that would be pretty powerful marketing material.
todsul 14y ago
Hi corin_5, coincidentally we're working on improved date flexibility right now. You'll be able to specify before/after and many more day period options. We're doing the same for passenger type. Not just adults, but students, infants, etc. We can't enable public viewing because the experts don't want to divulge their most prized tips and tricks to the wider public. This is their livelihood, and we are mostly holding these contests to test their skills and proving something more interesting that the typical simple return trips. Glad you're giving us a go. Please let us know if you have any issues or questions.
- corin_ 14y ago
  Another piece of flexibility feedback - wildcard destinations, for finding a decent priced holiday (obviously with some guidance on rough location). I guess this is possible from the competition you just ran, but I must have missed the option. As to the reasons for not enabling public viewing... as you've publicly shared here on HN, could you not at least share that much on the site? Alternatively could you not offer an option for people to "buy it now", to use an ebay phrase? Or would the necessary price tag be too high for most people to be interested? p.s. The 5 was attached to the number of minutes, not my name! ;D
  - todsul 14y ago
    Great point re destinations. You can actually do wildcard destinations right now, but it's just not obvious. We have an autocomplete function on the airport box, but you can enter anything you want. As you'll see on the RTW contests, we just entered "Round the World" for 'from' city and "6 Continents" for the 'to' city. That said, we need to make this more obvious and probably tease out more adventurous use of this feature. Thanks for the feedback.
- 14y ago

rjsamson 14y ago

Thanks! In my personal opinion I think that seeing that actual itinerary really boosts the 'WOW' factor.

brk 14y ago

So, this requires essentially being gone for 4 continuous months in order to get these prices? I'm not sure how amazing that is really. That's also 4 months of living on the road, hotels, meals, etc. If you wanted to visit all 6 continents, it seems like you could do it for a cheaper overall rate by just book 6 individual flights over time taking advantage of various promotions.

todsul 14y ago
4 months traveling the world, having to eat "meals"... sounds terrible! :)
- brk 14y ago
  Well, it is for almost anyone with a halfway decent/steady job. What I'm saying is that it's kind of impractical for a lot people. I would expect a "contest" like this to have a winning result that was a little more practical from a total travel time perspective, or at the very least have 2 winning options, one for "Total trip time of 2 weeks or less" (granted this might have to be 3 or even 4 weeks if you're going to be spending at least 12 days away anyway) and one for "Lowest cost overall regardless of duration".
  - qq66 14y ago
    The contest had a specific set of rules and a 4-month itinerary was permissible within these rules. The point wasn't to create an itinerary that would be advisable for a particular individual, it was to demonstrate that FlightFox is a good tool for finding rock bottom prices, so any set of fair rules would work. If you were actually making an itinerary for someone, you'd probably have even more pressing questions than trip duration, such as "Where would you like to go?" Do you even want to go 6 continents? :)
  - jlarocco 14y ago
    Yeah, I was interested until I found that part. I think for most people, if they could afford 4 months off work then they wouldn't be too concerned about finding the cheapest possible flights. It's still interesting in a theoretical way, but far less useful than the headline makes it sound.

rm999 14y ago

Very cool, but I'm not clear who your site targets. That price is amazing but the itinerary involves a lot of flying around on terrible airlines. I usually have a lot of restrictions: I want to fly on these dates, with the fewest travel hours possible, on good, dependable airlines. How much leeway is in there to save money?

todsul 14y ago
Less leeway, but flightfox is about saving you time and money. Even if you build a 6-continent itinerary with a lot of restrictions, it will take many hours. The tips and tricks the experts provide, even for getting on better airlines or other perks, really comes in handy. There are of course sometimes we just can't help. That's normally with simple itineraries and inflexible flyers.

paulgb 14y ago

I was curious to see how the prices broke down and made a spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArqFVqywuf39dEZMX0ttdEpTNUpiWmlEcDlTQU91QVE&output=html https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArqFVqywuf39dEZ... My total was $2617. I know flight prices change over time, but I'm guessing that whoever found this took advantage of some promotions or booking methods other than buying directly from the airline?

robryan 14y ago
The rules for economy were that to be freely bookable online. The contest was a while ago now though so the same deals they took advantage of probably ended.