I’m looking for a flight at the moment. I know the following:
- Where I’m going from (well I’d actually like to see results for all London airports listed in an order of my choosing)
- When I want to go (give or take a few days)
What I don’t want to specify:
- Destination – I want to scan the list of results and see what catches my eye
- Price – let me sort by price or set a ceiling though
If someone gave me to access to the underlying data I could figure this out in Excel or by writing a few lines of code but of course I have to access the data through various web interfaces. None of which give me the flexibility to search the way I want.
The main sticking point is destination. All the sites I try want this specified upfront. Am I the only person using the internet who knows they want a flight before they’ve picked a destination?
Hi Andy
There are 2 factors here:
1. If you don’t know where you’re going, then you’re not really looking for a flight, you’re looking for some inspiration and persuasion about where to go. This is the attitude of the flight booking sites – you’re looking in the “wrong” place. Fair enough, because a site that does inspiration really well may not convert customers – so is not a great commercial proposition. Plus all that inspirations takes *really* good & expensive content. Again the ROI’s not there (or so I’m told!).
2. Most people looking for flights want to know “how much” and “when can I go”. These questions can’t be answered without the user providing a range of airports to fly from & to. Partly I think this is why people get freaked out about going into travel agents. As an experience, it’s too “in your face”. However this is the way the travel industry works.
So taking those 2 factors into account, there is certainly an opportunity there. But why haven’t any of the major sites taken this one up?
Cheers
DJ
Check out skyscanner.net. Does exactly what you’re looking for.
They used to have a very visible query that showed the cheapest places you could fly away over a number of weekends. It’s still in there, somewhere.
I agree! As a user, that’s exactly what I want. Luckily, things are changing. Check out Teletext’s new site: http://www.teletextholidays.co.uk which does exactly that.
I confess I work for the company who redesigned the site, and we didn’t get everything perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction, with the user experience taking priority.
Thanks for the suggestions folks -I’ll check them out.
DJ – not sure if I agree with your diagnosis that ‘I’m not really looking for a flight’ – I am and I’m prepared to slam my cash on the table fairly immediately if I can compare the options I want. I’ll of course have a few other windows open to see a bit more about each destination before deciding but the site that lets me compare flights across destinations and dates will be the one I book with.
I don’t think that DJ understood that you were specifically talking about the “last minute cheap getaway” businesses out there, that cater to people interested in spontaneous, unplanned travel.
Also http://www.farecast.com has that feature.
I find http://www.kayak.com good for your request, it offers flights from your chosen airport to the top 25 destinations and they will also email you results weekly if you wish to keep track of the best time to buy that summer holiday flight for next year. I enjoy using the site due to its slick fast sorts, I presume its part ajax coded…?
I like using http://www.lowfares.com they are very fast and easy to use.