6 ms·

Kayak is great (was?) but Hipmunk is more than up to the task of filling the void if Priceline ruin Kayak. Congrats to the Kayak folks I guess, when they got i

by antoko 14y ago

Kayak is great (was?) but Hipmunk is more than up to the task of filling the void if Priceline ruin Kayak. Congrats to the Kayak folks I guess, when they got into the industry they really raised the bar. Before Kayak I remember having to use Expedia and Orbitz and just having to accept their crappy UI because there simply were no alternatives.

jobu 14y ago
Hopefully Priceline will learn some improvements from Kayak and not try to force changes the other direction. Kayak has a great UI overall, but the explore interface is pure awesome: http://www.kayak.com/explore/ http://www.kayak.com/explore/
- photorized 14y ago
  Visually that kind of interface is very appealing, but fares may be misleading... once you start the booking process, you will end up with completely different numbers. Typically, a featured "as low as $" air fare is a red eye, 8 hour connection time etc. I was going to output specials myself too, but then commented them out - as they hardly ever apply. That being said, Kayak does have a great UI, and their iOS apps are eye candy.
bduerst 14y ago
Hipmunk has a much better interface, and considering it's also an aggregator, much better at helping me quickly find flights or hotels.
- philfreo 14y ago
  disagree. kayak provides filters in exactly the way that makes sense to me. i've tried hipmunk and google and always come back to kayak.
  - mertd 14y ago
    I find hipmunk better for optimizing schedule, kayak for optimizing price.
bmelton 14y ago
I was getting ready to say almost the exact same thing -- thank heavens that Hipmunk came when it did, or that acquisition (if soured) would have left a very large hole in my travel-making tools. I don't particularly like Kayak, but as a matter of effectiveness, there's no doubt that it was pretty much king of the hill for a good long while. Since Hipmunk's inception though, it has definitely been the 'go-to' place for travel-planning, and beats the nearest competition (that I've used) by a mile. I would also venture to say that this was perhaps a timely exit for Kayak, as the more and more traction Hipmunk sees, the less off the Kayak founders would have been for an exit.
thezilch 14y ago
http://www.google.com/flights/?hl=en&gl=us#search;f=LAX;t=SFO;d=2012-11-22;r=2012-11-28;q=lax+to+sfo http://www.google.com/flights/?hl=en&gl=us#search;f=LAX;... versus http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/LAX-to-SFO#!dates=Nov09,Nov16;kind=flight&locations=LAX,SFO&dates=Nov22,Nov28~tab=1 http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/LAX-to-SFO#!dates=Nov09,Nov16... I respect what Hipmunk is trying to do, but I really doubt they are filling voids outside of "this" community. I find it much harder to scan, slower to load, and having lower quality tools for finding alternate (or cheaper) fares.
- TillE 14y ago
  I tried the Google tool... "Sorry, flights from Germany are not currently supported." "Sorry, flights from Italy are not currently supported." "Sorry, flights from United Kingdom are not currently supported." Wonderful. I can find flights from New York to London, but not vice versa.
  - thezilch 14y ago
    It's interesting, considering they will provide round-trip flights and list the London to NY flight(s) as a separate item, which would make me think the data is there.
- kylec 14y ago
  There's also: http://www.tripadvisor.com/CheapFlights?geo=1&travelers=1&cos=0&nonstop=no&airport0=LAX&nearby0=no&airport1=SFO&nearby1=no&date0=20121122&time0=anytime&date1=20121128&time1=anytime&cr=0 http://www.tripadvisor.com/CheapFlights?geo=1&travelers=... More Kayak-like in terms of the results list. Cheapest rates match Hipmunk, though curiously for different flights.
TillE 14y ago
I see Hipmunk still doesn't track budget airlines in Europe (eg, EasyJet). Which makes it fairly useless to me, and absolutely not a replacement for Kayak.
- brianbreslin 14y ago
  Do any flight search tools track budget airlines?
  - wakeless 14y ago
    Adioso was adding a lot of budget airlines up until recently. It's worth checking out.
    - eddmc 14y ago
      Another site for budget airlines is travelfusion.com They also have an API
  - tommyd 14y ago
    skyscanner.net does (or has done in the past anyway!)
    - saintamh 14y ago
      Still does. They've got almost every European budget airline, actually. And I hear they have pretty good coverage of the Asian market, too.
- spez 14y ago
  Hipmunk does have EasyJet, in fact. For example: http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/BCN-to-CDG#!dates=Dec31 http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/BCN-to-CDG#!dates=Dec31

by antoko 14y ago

jobu 14y ago

Hopefully Priceline will learn some improvements from Kayak and not try to force changes the other direction. Kayak has a great UI overall, but the explore interface is pure awesome: http://www.kayak.com/explore/ http://www.kayak.com/explore/

photorized 14y ago
Visually that kind of interface is very appealing, but fares may be misleading... once you start the booking process, you will end up with completely different numbers. Typically, a featured "as low as $" air fare is a red eye, 8 hour connection time etc. I was going to output specials myself too, but then commented them out - as they hardly ever apply. That being said, Kayak does have a great UI, and their iOS apps are eye candy.

bduerst 14y ago

Hipmunk has a much better interface, and considering it's also an aggregator, much better at helping me quickly find flights or hotels.

philfreo 14y ago
disagree. kayak provides filters in exactly the way that makes sense to me. i've tried hipmunk and google and always come back to kayak.
- mertd 14y ago
  I find hipmunk better for optimizing schedule, kayak for optimizing price.

bmelton 14y ago

I was getting ready to say almost the exact same thing -- thank heavens that Hipmunk came when it did, or that acquisition (if soured) would have left a very large hole in my travel-making tools. I don't particularly like Kayak, but as a matter of effectiveness, there's no doubt that it was pretty much king of the hill for a good long while. Since Hipmunk's inception though, it has definitely been the 'go-to' place for travel-planning, and beats the nearest competition (that I've used) by a mile. I would also venture to say that this was perhaps a timely exit for Kayak, as the more and more traction Hipmunk sees, the less off the Kayak founders would have been for an exit.

thezilch 14y ago

http://www.google.com/flights/?hl=en&gl=us#search;f=LAX;t=SFO;d=2012-11-22;r=2012-11-28;q=lax+to+sfo http://www.google.com/flights/?hl=en&gl=us#search;f=LAX;... versus http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/LAX-to-SFO#!dates=Nov09,Nov16;kind=flight&locations=LAX,SFO&dates=Nov22,Nov28~tab=1 http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/LAX-to-SFO#!dates=Nov09,Nov16... I respect what Hipmunk is trying to do, but I really doubt they are filling voids outside of "this" community. I find it much harder to scan, slower to load, and having lower quality tools for finding alternate (or cheaper) fares.

TillE 14y ago
I tried the Google tool... "Sorry, flights from Germany are not currently supported." "Sorry, flights from Italy are not currently supported." "Sorry, flights from United Kingdom are not currently supported." Wonderful. I can find flights from New York to London, but not vice versa.
- thezilch 14y ago
  It's interesting, considering they will provide round-trip flights and list the London to NY flight(s) as a separate item, which would make me think the data is there.
kylec 14y ago
There's also: http://www.tripadvisor.com/CheapFlights?geo=1&travelers=1&cos=0&nonstop=no&airport0=LAX&nearby0=no&airport1=SFO&nearby1=no&date0=20121122&time0=anytime&date1=20121128&time1=anytime&cr=0 http://www.tripadvisor.com/CheapFlights?geo=1&travelers=... More Kayak-like in terms of the results list. Cheapest rates match Hipmunk, though curiously for different flights.

TillE 14y ago

I see Hipmunk still doesn't track budget airlines in Europe (eg, EasyJet). Which makes it fairly useless to me, and absolutely not a replacement for Kayak.

brianbreslin 14y ago
Do any flight search tools track budget airlines?
- wakeless 14y ago
  Adioso was adding a lot of budget airlines up until recently. It's worth checking out.
  - eddmc 14y ago
    Another site for budget airlines is travelfusion.com They also have an API
- tommyd 14y ago
  skyscanner.net does (or has done in the past anyway!)
  - saintamh 14y ago
    Still does. They've got almost every European budget airline, actually. And I hear they have pretty good coverage of the Asian market, too.
spez 14y ago
Hipmunk does have EasyJet, in fact. For example: http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/BCN-to-CDG#!dates=Dec31 http://www.hipmunk.com/flights/BCN-to-CDG#!dates=Dec31