the dohop blog

Dohop has launched a Japanese and a simplified Chinese versions of its award winning flight search engine - now available in 19 languages - an important step towards offering a truly global flight search engine.

Dohop is ideal for finding cheap flight connections that include low-cost airlines and helping travelers discover all the naturally existing connections available that sometimes are not published elsewhere, often resulting in significant savings.

Examples of some great savings found on www.dohop.com: (flights leaving June 5th, returning June 12th):

Guangzhou, China to Auckland, New Zealand:
Dohop price is 363 USD.
Cheapest competitor price is 175% more expensive, or 1000 USD

Chongqing, China to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
Dohop price is 1491 USD.
Cheapest competitor price is 29% more expensive, or 1921 USD

Osaka, Japan to Keflavik, Iceland:
Dohop price: 2038 USD,
Cheapest competitor price is 76% more expensive, or 3580 USD

Sapporo, Japan to Abu Dhabi, UAE:
Dohop price: 1980 USD,
Cheapest competitor price is 29% more expensive, or 2561 USD.

Icelandic government officials came under heavy criticism earlier this week in the local media for not using the Dohop.com Flight Planner to find a commercial flight to Bucharest, Romania, to attend Nato’s Summit Meeting of Heads of State and Government. Instead, two senior cabinet ministers chartered a private jet for themselves and their entourage claiming that no feasible commercial flight options were available between Reykjavik’s Keflavik International Airport and Bucharest in the required time frame.

Using Dohop.com, a local journalist turned up a number of route options for the government officials that would have saved taxpayers approximately $65,000. But all is good that ends well. Latest news is that the officials are en route back home and will make it in time for supper, saving the taxpayers an extra restaurant bill.

And the lesson learned?

The next time you’re planning to charter a private jet (which happens all the time, right?) check to see if Dohop can find you a flight. Dohop offers a connection search engine that calculates and discovers naturally existing connections between airlines, usually giving you more route options than anyone else. Dohop can piece together itineraries that enable travelers to take advantage of the cheap fares offered by low-cost airlines saving both time and money.

Money saving tips you may want to keep in mind when planning your next trip.

1. Book early.
2. Use low cost airlines when available.
3. Book direct on the airline website.
4. For connected flights, use low-cost airlines if possible.
5. Use a charter flight.
6. Check alternative travel dates.
7. Use dohop.com to cover items 2. - 5. in a couple of seconds.

Book Early. Low-cost airlines sell the cheapest seats first and increase the price as the plane gets fuller and as the departure date approaches. A low-cost airline will rather take off with empty seats than offer last-minute bargains. Legacy carriers may, on the other hand, sometimes sell excess capacity at the last minute. This can be worth checking if you are making last-minute plans and want to go somewhere cheaply.

Low Cost Airlines will usually be cheaper than legacy airlines and low-cost airlines can be a lot cheaper than legacy airlines if your trip does not include a weekend stay.

Book Direct at the Airline Website. Low cost airlines have always focused on selling direct on their own website. They will charge the traveler a fee for booking via phone so book on the website if you can. Legacy carriers offer their flights via travel agents but are increasingly offering the best price on their own website. Dohop.com includes links to more than 660 airlines so you can book directly with them.

For Connected Flights use low cost airlines. Two low cost flights will usually be cheaper than using two legacy flights but low cost airlines do not promote connected flights even if they exist. They leave it to travelers to discover existing low-cost connections.
Dohop.com is able to find connections with low-cost airlines. If a legacy flight is required, you may save by booking it directly at the airline website. Remember that when making your own connections it won’t be possible to check luggage through to final destination.

Use a Charter Flight. It’s worth checking if there exists a charter flight for your trip, they can sometimes be cheaper. You might be able to find a direct charter flight for a route that would otherwise require a connection with scheduled airlines. Dohop.com has recently begun showing charter flights in its flight search.

Check Alternate Travel Dates. Prices differ by travel dates and that can mean big savings for flexible travelers. Often, including a Saturday night in a trip will yield a lower price. On some routes cheap direct flights may exist for some weekdays but for other weekdays expensive connected flights may be required. The Dohop.com fare calendar gives an overview of prices and number of flights for different travel date.

Let Dohop.com do the Work. Dohop is designed to help you quickly find all existing flight options for your trip. It is up to you to book early but Dohop.com can help you find low-cost flights, find links to the airline website, discover natural low-cost connections and charter flights where available!

Some sites claim to be great at finding cheap flights for travelers so we did a comparison test with five of the best to see how dohop.com stacks up. In many cases Dohop found the same or very similar results as “other sites” but because Dohop also includes low-cost airlines and low-cost connections it would sometimes find much cheaper flights than the cheapest “other site”. Here are a few such results.

As found on Feb 21st, Return flights on March 3rd - 6th 2008

Just out and totally FREE! A really small flight search engine that’s easily fitted on any website.

The search form (see it here to the left) takes up just 150 pixels by 150 pixels but packs all the power of the award winning www.dohop.com flight planner.

To see how to implement it on your site click here.

The new Fare Calendar can be found at the bottom of flight search results. It shows best prices found by other users, based on different travel dates.

Clicking on any price will run a full dohop.com flight search using the related travel dates.

The Fare Calendar can also display the number of flights needed to complete the trip. To show flights check the box as shown below.

To try the Fare Calendar visit www.dohop.com, do a search and page to the bottom of the results to find the Fare Calendar.

Cheapest flights found by other users
If you’re flexible about your travel dates and destination this new feature can help you discover cheap getaways. On the Dohop front page you can now see a lists of destinations with dates and prices titled “Cheap flights to”. This list shows you the cheapest flights found by other Dohop users. You can see lists for different departure cities, by typing into the “From” field. To see more details about each item, just click on it.

Greatest value found
Also showing on the front page is the list titled “Great value flights from”. Instead of showing the cheapest flights, it shows the best value flights in terms of most miles for the money. This list is meant to help those people that want to get as far away as possible but don’t want to spend too much on it.

Travel guide pages now showing lists of cheapest flights
Similar tickers can also be found on our travel guide pages. If you are reading up on a specific city - say Athens - in our travel guides, you’ll see the cheapest flights to and from Athens, found by other Dohop users.

We’ve updated the company pages for Dohop to provide more and better information on the various products and services we offer.

Our signature product, the Dohop Flight Planner will still be on our front page, www.dohop.com. Dohop.com is a comprehensive flight search engine that finds cheap flights with 660 airlines, including over 100 low cost airlines, calculates the best connections, and delivers results in a blink of an eye.

Need to find out about what airlines fly where? The Dohop Travel Guides include comprehensive information on 218 countries, 3179 cities, and all the airports and airlines included in the flight search engine.

Dohop also provides products and services for airlines, airports, travel sites, and developers that are now better presented on our company pages.

Our solutions for airlines include the Dohop Connection Platform and Dohop Connection Search services that enable airlines to show and cross-promote connections with other airlines. We also provide interactive route maps and smart search forms that help airlines improve the effectiveness of their web pages as sales tools.

Dohop powers a number of private label flight search engines for airports and travel sites. Many of these are customer designed by Dohop, but a vanilla version of the search engine can be added to any web site for free. Our developer pages provide information for web developers who want to build their own flight search engine.

Two low cost carriers, JetBlue Airways and Aer Lingus, have announced a partnership that will enable their customers to book connected flights between Ireland and over 40 US destinations. This may be the first of many such partnerships set to transform the airline industry, and confirms our belief that instead of solely relying on GDS providers for flight connections, low cost airlines will seek new and innovative ways to offer connections. A Dohop white paper provides some insights on this new and alternative method for airlines to connect.

Dohop will be attending the EyeforTravel Distribution Technology 2008 Conference in London in January. Our CEO, Frosti Sigurjonsson, is one of the speakers at the event that will share insights on distribution technologies for the travel industry. In anticipation for the event, EyeforTravel interviewed Frosti for a podcast that they have now posted on their website.

The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting story today on advanced luggage shipping services, and how some travelers choose to utilize these services instead of checking their bags with airlines.

We believe there are three reasons you might want to use luggage shipping services instead of checking your bags: One: Convenience; Two: You will have more connection options, and will be able to take advantage of cheaper fares; and Three: the airline won’t misplace your bags.

It’s all about convenience…

Most frequent travelers will also tell you that they loath having to check luggage. It not only requires you to stand in line at the check-in counter instead of checking in online or at an airport kiosk, but then you have to wait at baggage claim instead of heading out to pick up your rental car or jump in a taxi. God forbid if you’re traveling with an international connection where you’re required to collect your bags, take them through customs, and then re-check them for your connection flight. It’s just an all around painful experience, even when your luggage isn’t lost.

The solution for many seasoned travelers has been carry-on only. But sometimes that is not an option, plus the carry-on limits are getting stricter all the time. So, an advanced luggage shipping service sounds like a good idea. In the past few years a number of companies have sprung up that offer to come pick up your bags and make sure they are waiting for you when you arrive at your final destination. Many of these companies are operating in the US domestic market only, but quite a few are offering international service as well.

You will have more connection options, and can fly low cost…

The Journal argues that “luggage services aren’t cheap, especially for passengers whose bags can go through the airline system free.” Not necessarily so. First of all, some airlines are beginning to charge a fee for each checked luggage item, not just the overweight bags. Secondly, if you don’t have a checked bag, you are able to take advantage of low cost airline connections and cheap offers that you otherwise might not have been able to exploit. Most low cost airlines do not have luggage transfer agreements with other airlines. If you don’t check a bag, it’s much easier to catch a connecting flight with some of these super cheap budget airlines.

And the airline won’t lose your bag…

Then there is the lost luggage. It can be pretty annoying to arrive at your holiday destination to find that your suitcases are en-route to Anchorage. The Air Travel Consumer Report produced by the US Department of Transportation provides consumers with information on the quality of service provided by airlines. Their September 2007 report provides information on mishandled luggage for July 2007. The 20 airlines mentioned in the report filed total of 466,250 lost baggage reports in the month of July 2007 alone, with 7.93 bags misplaced per 1,000 passengers. And that’s only data for US domestic flights for these 20 carriers. The numbers are going up. The Journal reports that there have been 3.5 million incidents of lost bags this year compared to 2.9 million in the same period last year.

Here is a list of a few luggage shipping service providers. If you know about others, let us know and we’ll add them to the list.

Baggage Quest
Luggage Concierge
Luggage Free
The Luggage Club
XS Baggage
Luggage Forward
Virtual Bellhop / Sport Express
U-Bag
Excess Baggage Company
First Luggage
Carry My Luggage
Luggage Advance
Baggage Express