Comments on: Thoughts on flight comparison and how useful for consumers

By: Gary Phillips

Gary Phillips — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:15:58 +0000

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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By: Dwayne

Dwayne — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:45:58 +0000

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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By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:40:39 +0000

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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By: Martino

Martino — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:26:17 +0000

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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By: Anil

Anil — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:47:20 +0000

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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