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How is it that we were able to land a man on the moon over 45 years ago and we still can't just type in a search engine and get the cheapest flights from point

How is it that we were able to land a man on the moon over 45 years ago and we still can't just type in a search engine and get the cheapest flights from point A to point B on certain dates? I find this really baffling. It is a service all customers want yet even the great Google can't seem to provide this. Meanwhile Google puts out so many "experimental products" that they later dispose. There is talk of Google getting into cell-phone service and the are already getting into Google fiber. I wish Google would use its pricing power and buy entire flights between major cities domestic and international (eg, NYC to Chicago, LA, SF, Miami, Atlanta, and London). Moreover, an airline can really make its profits on airline fuel speculation since this is the most volatile component of airline costs.

danellis 12y ago
> we still can't just type in a search engine and get the cheapest flights from point A to point B on certain dates? What makes you say we can't? Isn't that exactly what this is?
jordigh 12y ago
> How is it that we were able to land a man on the moon over 45 years ago and we still can't just type in a search engine and get the cheapest flights from point A to point B on certain dates? Because the airlines have their own army of geniuses working very hard to make sure that this is difficult to do: http://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/air-fares-101-why-do-fares-change-all-the-time/ http://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/air-fares-101-why-d... Who are you? How much money do you have? How badly do you want these tickets? How often are you checking the price, what else have you bought? How are your buying habits compared to everyone else's? These are the questions the airlines are trying to answer in order to maximise how much money they can get off each individual.
- MichaelGG 12y ago
  Wow. So as a United "elite" member, just doing searches on their app or site but with my account, is gonna cost me? Because I've never seen this happen. I seem to get the lowest fare they have. I've not done serious tests, just seen when other people look up my flights, on say, Kayak, they get the same prices.
  - jordigh 12y ago
    Try browsing for tickets with and without private browsing enabled, and from different geographic IP addresses, from different computers, and different websites (cheapair, Expedia, Orbitz...). You should definitely see a fluctuation in prices, for the same seats. I always do. It may well be that elite members get lower prices, as this may be the way for the airline to maximise their profit off you. Their algorithms are quite inscrutable, intentionally so.
jfoster 12y ago
Landing a man on the moon was not an adversarial problem, whereas flight bookings are. If flight bookings were like you want them to be, airlines might find themselves asking how we were able to land a man on the moon over 45 years ago, but can't create a booking system that makes it sufficiently difficult for consumers to find our cheapest flights? Unsurprisingly, we're somewhere between the two. Most determined people can find flights that are at least close to being the cheapest.

danellis 12y ago

> we still can't just type in a search engine and get the cheapest flights from point A to point B on certain dates? What makes you say we can't? Isn't that exactly what this is?

jordigh 12y ago

> How is it that we were able to land a man on the moon over 45 years ago and we still can't just type in a search engine and get the cheapest flights from point A to point B on certain dates? Because the airlines have their own army of geniuses working very hard to make sure that this is difficult to do: http://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/air-fares-101-why-do-fares-change-all-the-time/ http://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/air-fares-101-why-d... Who are you? How much money do you have? How badly do you want these tickets? How often are you checking the price, what else have you bought? How are your buying habits compared to everyone else's? These are the questions the airlines are trying to answer in order to maximise how much money they can get off each individual.

MichaelGG 12y ago
Wow. So as a United "elite" member, just doing searches on their app or site but with my account, is gonna cost me? Because I've never seen this happen. I seem to get the lowest fare they have. I've not done serious tests, just seen when other people look up my flights, on say, Kayak, they get the same prices.
- jordigh 12y ago
  Try browsing for tickets with and without private browsing enabled, and from different geographic IP addresses, from different computers, and different websites (cheapair, Expedia, Orbitz...). You should definitely see a fluctuation in prices, for the same seats. I always do. It may well be that elite members get lower prices, as this may be the way for the airline to maximise their profit off you. Their algorithms are quite inscrutable, intentionally so.

jfoster 12y ago

Landing a man on the moon was not an adversarial problem, whereas flight bookings are. If flight bookings were like you want them to be, airlines might find themselves asking how we were able to land a man on the moon over 45 years ago, but can't create a booking system that makes it sufficiently difficult for consumers to find our cheapest flights? Unsurprisingly, we're somewhere between the two. Most determined people can find flights that are at least close to being the cheapest.