Great minds think alike I just did my own test and the results are very varied

I suspect there will be something of a Darwinian culling of the comparison sites eventually. The weakest will fall off the radar somewhat. But I think we’ll see more competition before we see less.

As for your comparison site of comparison sites, I think http://www.cheapflightsfinder.com has beaten you to it. But it’s by no means perfect – it doesn’t cover everyone.

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It’s like you read my mind. I have yet to figure out how to use comparison sites and get a good price on airfare. Hotels, sure. But airfare still eludes me. I’m looking forward to reading from commentors what/how they book their airfares.

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@darren – hey, just a short note of clarification. Ryanair and EasyJet are actually doing the opposite to what you suggest.

They have gone from NOT wanting their fares on price comparison/metasearch sites to now actively encouraging it.

Ryanair has deals with Kayak, TravelSupermarket and Fly.com and will be on Zugu. EasyJet has opened its API (connection protocol) to other sites.

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I start with two comparison sites: Kayak & Momondo. Kayak for anything touching the U.S. and Momondo for everything else.

Also check some of the direct suppliers, such as easyJet, Ryanair (sigh…), Wizz Air…

From the better rates, I then also double-check the airlines’ sites, as sometimes they come up with better rates again with more options. And, occasionally, the comparison sites have better deals than buying direct!

Farecast (now part of Bing travel search) is also really useful as is Kayak’s comparison tools.

Yeah, finding good fares is a nightmare.

Momondo started doing rail fares as well in Europe, which makes that site even more appealing.

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@darren – not a recent thing as such.

Metas have been screenscraping both airlines websites on and off for years.

But easyjet “officially” started working with people through direct connections about 18mths-2 years ago.

Ryanair has allowed Skyscanner to take a feed for almost two years and the other leading sites and have had access for around 6 months.

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V interesting to read what you say. If consumers think there is a need for a comparison site to compare comparison sites, then there is room for improvement and something for us to aspire to/ improve on/ toil away at It is a confusing landscape for consumers, no wonder there is little trust. Simplicity, transparency and breath of comparison are the things we are working on to win this trust.

You are right that many comparison sites are rather baffling. V hard to make complex searches simple and remove all the clutter. Less can be more.

I don’t think the solution is for consumers to go directly to airline websites though. Prices vary by provider and suppliers by route change; surely an overview is helpful? Our view is that meta-search has been growing in popularity enormously due to consumer demand from a particular demographic segment, hence part of our logic to adding this to the Cheapflights stable. I should also point out that over time we will be including more airlines directly, so consumers (if they want to book there) will have the best of both worlds.

Agree with Kevin’s point about LCC’s and want to add to it a wee bit. Low cost carriers seem to like being included in meta-search. However, they appear to get grumpy if their tickets are sold without a visit to their website. They are reliant on the cross-sell & ancillary revenue that their website experience offers.

Your point about additional costs is well made. It is incredibly confusing the range of fees that different airlines charge: bags, checking-in fees (!), loos (:P) and varying credit card fees. There is no standard and it creates a lot of murkyness for the unwitting consumer. This nut is not elegantly cracked (IMHO) but something to work on. Unfortunately it inevitably makes searching more complex, even if done well as there are more variables to take into account . Something to work on.

Thanks for including Zugu in your analysis. Love any site specific feedback, you or other users have. It is in beta (3 days in) and a work in progress. Pleased with initial features but more (some quite obvious ones) to come.

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Hi Darren – I agree with your sentiment about needing a site to compare the comparison sites. The current problem is that no single site has perfected a flawless aggregating method to find the absolutely cheapest deal on every single occasion/ route.

This is partly due to the fact that different comparison sites have partnered with different OTA’s, LCC’s and airlines which inevitably give varying results plus the fact that the flight comparison methods employed are not always accurate due to the utilisation of unstable API’s, flawed screenscraping methods and outdated product feeds. Indeed it is not uncommon for a comparison site to claim that it has searched a particular OTA only for it to completely miss the deal on offer if one was to go to that OTA directly.

To corroborate this fact Which? Holiday recently produced a report comparing a number of comparison sites on two distinct flight routes and concluded the study by recommending consumers to compare multiple comparison sites and other flight providers DIRECTLY in order to to find the best deal online.

This is a tedious but necessary task if one wishes to find the best deals online. Cheap flights finder was established as a quick way to compare up to 16 flight comparison sites and dozens of OTA’s directly in order to find the cheapest available flights online. We will be working on mashing this array of sites up to show results from all sources in one seemless display but the fear is results may inevitably suffer from those afflicting the current comparison sites today. It seems for the time being it is best to query each site in an unbiased, independent and direct way.

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I tend to check who flies a route and then go to their websites for the prices. I tend to be flying most often in Europe & so my first stops are Ryanair, Easyjet and the other low cost carriers. I also take into consideration who flies from my local airport in Bristol.

I think I’d use the comparison flights more if I was price checking long haul flights.

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Morning.

We have tried to change the way a user searches for flight information, by not forcing them down a route that they don’t want to go.

For example, based your opening paragraph, you say that you want to fly to New York in June. On Skyscanner, that’s all you have to type in to start your research.

This link shows you the options you have from the UK to New York in June. We don’t force you to chose your departure airport, or date in June before you get any relevant results back.

Then as you focus your research down, you will get closer to a route/date pairing to match your requirements.

Basically, you can enter as much or as little information in our search box as you like.

This UK to Anywhere search below, is the extreme to which this can go, for those who are truly flexible and just want to “get away”.

I hope this helps with your trip planning to New York.

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These search engine sites drive me crazy! The prices they claim are never correct, so the comparisons are always completely wrong! One airline company might offer 15 dollar flights, but add hundreds of dollars for extra fees, while another company might seem more expensive at first sight, but don’t add as many extra fees and in the end turn out to be cheaper.

I still haven’t found a good site that takes this in consideration, so I go straight to the airline companies instead. It’s a lot easier.

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One of the key differences between Europe and North America in doing one of these searches is that in North America you often — maybe usually even — don’t even have a collection of budget carriers that you have to do individual flight comparisons against with the bigger carriers. Personally I start with Sidestep, which does a multiple comparison check itself on the fares offered thru Travelocity, Expedia, etc. and then I’ll check the cheapest outcome from that against the winning airine’s own site. Why? Because the trend has been to keep the cheapest fares on their own site rather than distribute them as available to Travelocity, etc. Then I’ll compare the outcome of all that against what a budget carrier on the same route might provide. But I can see why the whole method has to be different on an inter-European or Europe-Mideast/Africa flight. What’s wrong with trying Opodo for flights from and within Europe, by the way? Not one of the best for its quotes anymore?

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I admit I use them, but often out of laziness. No matter what they turn up though, I check the the best result against the airline site for specials and to compare rates.

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Hi Darren – I think you’ve “hit the nail on the head” with the following: “are consumers just best to go to the airline that they know flies from their preferred airport” and “these sites aren’t really comparing the exact price of a flight”.

On the one hand, often the best price is the one you find on the airline’s own website (not always, as some OTAs and consolidators have special deals). This is especially true with budget airlines. Generally, only 1-or-2 airlines fly on a particular route, so it’s easy to check the exact price on their own website. We adhere to that policy on WhichBudget and link you directly to the relevant airline’s website.

On the other hand, “price comparison” is impossible, since before you can compare like-for-like, you need to know how many bags I’m carrying, how heavy are the bags, how am I paying, can I print my boarding pass, etc. I’d even say price comparison engines are missleading in that respect, as you may go for a “low” price just to pay more than an alternative flight which has all options included.

Another issue is that price comparison websites only compare prices from airlines which give them their prices. If there is a problem with the screen scraping or API integration, these airlines are ignored. I did a test: I searched for a flight from Stansted (STN) to Mallorca (PMI) on 9-16 June. WhichBudget found 6 airlines, including charters like Thomas Cook and Thomson. Kayak ignored charters.

Hat off to Travelsupermarket who had them all (they even duplicate First Choice and Thomson, who are now one-and-the-same airline). Zugu ignored Germanwings (possibly because Germanwings flights are not direct), but no excuse for ignoring charters. Cheapflightfinder sends you to easyJet or Ryanair via Bravofly (= extra 21 eur booking fee on top of your flight ticket) or to an unknown (!!) airline via Airflights. Skyscanner only searched easyJet and Ryanair.

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Here in the US, it seems to be standard practice for users to look around on metasearch sites like Kayak, identify the airlines with the lowest fares, and then go to those carriers websites to see if they can do better. The budget airlines here have similarly been resistant to inclusion in the metasearch sites; specifically Southwest, which is the leading budget carrier in the US and which doesn’t have fares posted in Kayak or other comparison sites.

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Darren,

Thanks for sharing, I would agree. I used to check with Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, and Priceline. So when these comparative travel sites came out, I was jazzed, but I have found them all to be the same. And with competition growing, the prices line up on every website. Seen one, seen them all.

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I think your comments are fair and valid. Comparison sites are somewhat one-dimensional and fail to tick the boxes in many ways. Reputation, service, and convenience are just some considerations which travellers would always have so they should never go on price alone, especially since that airline might also go bust while they’re away.

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