5 ms·

It's okay, but it's no Hipmunk.

by downey 14y ago

cynwoody 14y ago
Sort by agony, LOL! I like the time charts, too. Thanks. I didn't know about Hipmunk. I have been using mostly Kayak and, more recently, Google.
- _delirium 14y ago
  I like Hipmunk's interface better than Kayak's, but Kayak seems to have better data: there are sometimes good fares that appear in Kayak but not Hipmunk, while I haven't found the reverse to be true yet.
  - goldfish 14y ago
    We get our data from mostly the same sources, so this should almost never happen. (There are also lots of times we have better rates than Kayak, e.g. on Amtrak and Airbnb, which they don't have.) Next time you see this, could you email contact@hipmunk.com?
usaphp 14y ago
Actually it's much better than hipmunk. I used to be a fanatic user of hipmunk. But once I tried google flights i immediately was amazed by its speed, browsing different dates is super fast and easy.
- neilk 14y ago
  As with all things Google, it's an order of magnitude beyond what hipmunk does. If you keep the window open long enough you will actually see flights disappear if they fill up. I still think the hipmunk interface is more humane.
- acchow 14y ago
  Google Flights' instantaneous search allows you to freely explore the option space opening up new ways of travel planning. Free for spring break and don't know where to go? Set your travel dates and pan around the map looking for deals. Kayak doesn't even come close to this. At best, you can set the month of travel; useless for most busy people.
jff 14y ago
I tried using Hipmunk a few times, but the prices were always at least a hundred dollars more than if I had just gone to Orbitz.com and dealt with their crap interface--I've always found that Orbitz has prices at least as good as anywhere else, so I tend to judge against them. Google, on the other hand, gave me exactly what I needed at prices competitive to Orbitz. It was a bit disappointing that when I was done, I had to buy the tickets through the carrier's site, but it still found me a flight at a good time for a good price.
- photorized 14y ago
  Hipmunk seems to be marking things up. For the few flights that I tried recently, tickets were $30..90 more than from the airline's own website. Oh, and getting tired of Himpunk's promoted ads on the site that shall not be named.
trustfundbaby 14y ago
I love hipmunk but they are resting on their laurels a little too long if you ask me, you still can't edit an individual search tab (I asked and was told to fiddle with the url values to edit the search). And you still can't move tabs around, plus Google flight actually makes it look really slow. That being said, it is rare that I can find a better rate than what I see on Hipmunk, and their agony ui is still frickin' amazing.
frankdenbow 14y ago
Love that you put in date ranges in Hipmunk, since I am usually not sure which days have the best deals and am not strongly tied to returning/leaving on a certain day
- taigeair 14y ago
  How do you guys compare Hipmunk to Whichairline.com? I actually like the smaller startup's visualisations and results better than Hipmunk.
mwexler 14y ago
There's presenting the existing data well (Google) and there is adding value to existing to make it more useful (Hipmunk). I find that Google's innovation for almost every one of their products is in saying "we have oodles of data, how can we display it effectively"? They have done well at collecting and quickly accessing large amounts of data, linking loosely coupled sets, and in some cases, adding meaning (image searches understand the concept of "bright" or "dim", for example). But I rarely see them taking the data they have and merging it in a way to create new meaning or value. Hipmunk, beyond co-opting a gantt chart, did this with their "agony" score. Google not only didn't try here, they didn't try for local search either, and just acquired Zagat for their score (and brand name and loyal following, etc.). And many startups offer meaning above and beyond that combined in the data: through their experience, their ability to merge context from being subject matter experts, or just their flexibility to experiment without a spotlight on them. Google tends to stop short of any of these. So, yes, it's no Hipmunk: it's a typically well done Google product taking hairy data, merging it up, and displaying it well. Doing more than that, however, is left to the rest of the world. (Though, one wonders why ITA didn't do some of these things before when they first created this better way of looking at flights a few years ago...)
- alec 14y ago
  Both Hipmunk and Google Flight Search help you sort out bad flights in ways that other websites don't - Hipmunk calls this "agony". To see this in Google Flight Search, scroll down to the bottom of a results list, you'll see something like "123 longer or more expensive flights hidden. Show all." - these are the longer, no less expensive layovers that you probably don't care about.
  - mwexler 14y ago
    Longer or more expensive is simply filtering. Agony is creating a new metric. I see those as different. Now, if the metric is useless or synonymous with some of it's underlying drivers, then you are right, nothing there. I find the agony score to be more useful than any small combo of filters, but perhaps that's just me.
- 14y ago

It's okay, but it's no Hipmunk.

by downey 14y ago

It's okay, but it's no Hipmunk.

Sort by agony, LOL! I like the time charts, too. Thanks. I didn't know about Hipmunk. I have been using mostly Kayak and, more recently, Google.

_delirium 14y ago
I like Hipmunk's interface better than Kayak's, but Kayak seems to have better data: there are sometimes good fares that appear in Kayak but not Hipmunk, while I haven't found the reverse to be true yet.
- goldfish 14y ago
  We get our data from mostly the same sources, so this should almost never happen. (There are also lots of times we have better rates than Kayak, e.g. on Amtrak and Airbnb, which they don't have.) Next time you see this, could you email contact@hipmunk.com?

usaphp 14y ago

Actually it's much better than hipmunk. I used to be a fanatic user of hipmunk. But once I tried google flights i immediately was amazed by its speed, browsing different dates is super fast and easy.

neilk 14y ago
As with all things Google, it's an order of magnitude beyond what hipmunk does. If you keep the window open long enough you will actually see flights disappear if they fill up. I still think the hipmunk interface is more humane.
acchow 14y ago
Google Flights' instantaneous search allows you to freely explore the option space opening up new ways of travel planning. Free for spring break and don't know where to go? Set your travel dates and pan around the map looking for deals. Kayak doesn't even come close to this. At best, you can set the month of travel; useless for most busy people.

jff 14y ago

I tried using Hipmunk a few times, but the prices were always at least a hundred dollars more than if I had just gone to Orbitz.com and dealt with their crap interface--I've always found that Orbitz has prices at least as good as anywhere else, so I tend to judge against them. Google, on the other hand, gave me exactly what I needed at prices competitive to Orbitz. It was a bit disappointing that when I was done, I had to buy the tickets through the carrier's site, but it still found me a flight at a good time for a good price.

photorized 14y ago
Hipmunk seems to be marking things up. For the few flights that I tried recently, tickets were $30..90 more than from the airline's own website. Oh, and getting tired of Himpunk's promoted ads on the site that shall not be named.

trustfundbaby 14y ago

I love hipmunk but they are resting on their laurels a little too long if you ask me, you still can't edit an individual search tab (I asked and was told to fiddle with the url values to edit the search). And you still can't move tabs around, plus Google flight actually makes it look really slow. That being said, it is rare that I can find a better rate than what I see on Hipmunk, and their agony ui is still frickin' amazing.

frankdenbow 14y ago

Love that you put in date ranges in Hipmunk, since I am usually not sure which days have the best deals and am not strongly tied to returning/leaving on a certain day

taigeair 14y ago
How do you guys compare Hipmunk to Whichairline.com? I actually like the smaller startup's visualisations and results better than Hipmunk.

mwexler 14y ago

There's presenting the existing data well (Google) and there is adding value to existing to make it more useful (Hipmunk). I find that Google's innovation for almost every one of their products is in saying "we have oodles of data, how can we display it effectively"? They have done well at collecting and quickly accessing large amounts of data, linking loosely coupled sets, and in some cases, adding meaning (image searches understand the concept of "bright" or "dim", for example). But I rarely see them taking the data they have and merging it in a way to create new meaning or value. Hipmunk, beyond co-opting a gantt chart, did this with their "agony" score. Google not only didn't try here, they didn't try for local search either, and just acquired Zagat for their score (and brand name and loyal following, etc.). And many startups offer meaning above and beyond that combined in the data: through their experience, their ability to merge context from being subject matter experts, or just their flexibility to experiment without a spotlight on them. Google tends to stop short of any of these. So, yes, it's no Hipmunk: it's a typically well done Google product taking hairy data, merging it up, and displaying it well. Doing more than that, however, is left to the rest of the world. (Though, one wonders why ITA didn't do some of these things before when they first created this better way of looking at flights a few years ago...)

alec 14y ago
Both Hipmunk and Google Flight Search help you sort out bad flights in ways that other websites don't - Hipmunk calls this "agony". To see this in Google Flight Search, scroll down to the bottom of a results list, you'll see something like "123 longer or more expensive flights hidden. Show all." - these are the longer, no less expensive layovers that you probably don't care about.
- mwexler 14y ago
  Longer or more expensive is simply filtering. Agony is creating a new metric. I see those as different. Now, if the metric is useless or synonymous with some of it's underlying drivers, then you are right, nothing there. I find the agony score to be more useful than any small combo of filters, but perhaps that's just me.
14y ago