A Game of Clones

In which we give the competition and travel journalists a piece of our mind.

I’ll start this by stating the obvious: Of course we have been worried about Google’s long-suspected move into the flight finding business. They have server power we dream of, warehouses of cash to throw at any problem, and the ability to insert themselves into any search made using the word flights (which we find questionable, by internet-ethic standards).

Our feelings so far, though, are relief and surprise. Overall Google’s flight search looks pretty. But we are relieved to see that they are only doing domestic return US flights, and only for the larger cities. And this is also the cause of our surprise; why roll out a product that is so clearly not ready and really only useful to a handful of people?

Here is an informative analysis of the Google Flights launch, via Tnooz.

And then there is this: We know they are using ITA’s technology, and this relieves us greatly.

Why? Because our technology is simply superior.

Kayak (read ITA, their software supplier) just released something they “cleverly” call Hacker Fares. This means that they now present user with the possibility of buying return tickets in two bookings. We have had this option for, oh, about six years.

And what’s more, we do this for each flight leg as well… so we “hack” every single leg of your flight for the best price.

Every. Single. Leg.

Every. Single. Time.

We ran a quick-and-dirty comparison, domestic US and international.

1. LAX to SEA return, Oct 20 -Oct 25.

Their price: Kayak:$239 Hipmunk:$279 Google: $279

Dohop price? $215

2. Santa Barbara to Denver return, Nov 16 to Nov 21

Their price: Kayak: $234 Hipmunk: $237 Google: “Your search – Santa Barbara to Denver – did not match any results.”

Dohop Price? $235 (Kayak wins the round by $1, it happens)

But let’s try some international flights.

3. Albany NY to Manchester, England, Nov 16 to Nov 23

Their Price: Kayak: $744 and Hipmunk: $723 with “Mystery” airline.

Dohop price: $713 with US Airways.

4. Oslo to Edinburgh, 20 Oct to 25 Oct

Their price: Kayak $309 and Hipmunk $329. Google doesn’t do international flights yet.

Dohop price? $110 in four bookings

This isn’t “Hacker Fares” or any such nonsense. It is just our flight search. The best one out there.

Note also that prices may differ as we choose vendors based on the user’s residency, so as not to present a Spanish Dohop user with a Danish booking site, for instance.

What bothers us and we feel it is time to discuss, is that so many travel and tech journalist insist on comparing Kayak, Hipmunk and now Google when writing stories on “How to find cheap flights“, or reviewing Google’s soft launch probably not knowing that they are all just different UIs on ITA’s software, or not caring and will therefore almost always have prices that are very close (as in the examples above).

We recently read somewhere that the US tech and travel journalists had a very “inward” mindset, thus the constant comparison between Hipmunk and Kayak (and now Google). Frommer’s is one of those rare exceptions, and regularly feature Dohop or Momondo alongside Kayak or Hipmunk.

Competition we respect: Skyscanner for their technology, Momondo for the look-and-feel and we must admit that Hipmunk‘s UI is clever, though you will rarely find the cheapest prices there. Google, not so much.