sorry for the off topic post - but since a few of us travel about some...
--bill
How do they quantify agony? Also it's not clear if the sort is
ascending or descending...
-Bill
William Herrin wrote:
sorry for the off topic post - but since a few of us travel about some...
http://www.hipmunk.com/
Cool link! I'm actually shopping for a flight tonight, this has already come in quite handy.
How do they quantify agony? Also it's not clear if the sort is
ascending or descending...
What is Agony, and why would I want to sort by it?
Agony is our way of sorting flights to take into account price, duration, and number of stops. There's more to a flight than its price, so we provide this sort to give you better all-around results.
Very cool indeed. I'd think that to some the travel time would be
weighed much more heavily than the price of the ticket. I hate to fly
for work (having been injured in a plane crash) and a bit nervous
anyway, but if I am flying for work then then a few hundred bucks is
trivial compared to what is riding on the deal. It might be neat of you
could adjust the weight of the components of "agony".
For kicks, I looked at the most agonizing trip options... I chose a trip
from San Diego to New York City... the worst were:
1) Tijuana to Mexico City, 16hr hour layover, then to Newark NJ and cost
over $1k.
2) Tijuana to Guadalajara for an 8hr layover, then to Atlanta for a
1.5hr layover to New York LGA.
Holy crappy flights Batman!
Made all the more agonizing when you arrive in NY and customs express
interest in your decission to stop over south of the border for a
couple of hours.
As others have said -- agony's a nice idea, but the real value gets
added when you can weight the elements according to your personal
preferences (and the site can then capture how people choose to weight
various inconveniences in order to (i) improve their own algorithms,
and (ii) sell on to other interested parties).
C
right and be able to crank the agony up based on a given airport (ATL... I am looking at you here)
Andrew
For kicks, I looked at the most agonizing trip options... I chose a trip
from San Diego to New York City... the worst were:1) Tijuana to Mexico City, 16hr hour layover, then to Newark NJ and cost
over $1k.2) Tijuana to Guadalajara for an 8hr layover, then to Atlanta for a
1.5hr layover to New York LGA.Made all the more agonizing when you arrive in NY and customs express
interest in your decission to stop over south of the border for a
couple of hours.
Except neither flight would involve customs in NY. In the first case,
you would clear customs in Newark. In the second, you would
clear customs in Atlanta.
As others have said -- agony's a nice idea, but the real value gets
added when you can weight the elements according to your personal
preferences (and the site can then capture how people choose to weight
various inconveniences in order to (i) improve their own algorithms,
and (ii) sell on to other interested parties).
I suspect it might not be that hard for them to add and would be
worthy of requesting as a feature.
Owen
I wonder if I could persuade it to take round trip agony into account.
For example on CO I can get from here to PEK easily, but on the way back
I would have to spend the night in Newark.
For kicks, I looked at the most agonizing trip options... I chose a trip
from San Diego to New York City... the worst were:1) Tijuana to Mexico City, 16hr hour layover, then to Newark NJ and cost
over $1k.2) Tijuana to Guadalajara for an 8hr layover, then to Atlanta for a
1.5hr layover to New York LGA.Made all the more agonizing when you arrive in NY and customs express
interest in your decission to stop over south of the border for a
couple of hours.As others have said -- agony's a nice idea, but the real value gets
added when you can weight the elements according to your personal
preferences (and the site can then capture how people choose to weight
various inconveniences in order to (i) improve their own algorithms,
and (ii) sell on to other interested parties).C
right and be able to crank the agony up based on a given airport (ATL... I am looking at you here)
Agony can frequently be made more specific. For example, one big problem in ATL at this time of year is thunderstorms, and these are likely to happen in the afternoon. (A late summer afternoon in North Georgia is almost certain to have some thunderstorms moving through.) So, a flight in August with a 10:00 AM change in ATL, I don't worry about. A flight with a 4:00 PM change, I assume I am likely to be late if not bumped to the next day.
There are many airports with similar time variability (LHR at 9:00 AM!), and all of this data is out there. It would be a powerful selling point if the agony index included such granularity.
Regards
Marshall
I once got booked Roanoke-Pittsburgh-Chicago-St Louis-Columbia MO. All layovers
*short* enough to induce "run through the airport" panic behavior (and stopping for
food was out of the question).
Oh, and I *hate* takeoffs and landings.
2) Tijuana to Guadalajara for an 8hr layover, then to Atlanta for a
1.5hr layover to New York LGA.I once got booked Roanoke-Pittsburgh-Chicago-St Louis-Columbia MO. All layovers
*short* enough to induce "run through the airport" panic behavior (and stopping for
food was out of the question).
A _really_ intelligent airline scheduling system would (IMHO) be able to offer you options like
"there is a direct flight Pittsburgh -> Kansas City, and from there it is a 2 hour drive to Columbia, so that will save you 5 hours travel time"
Regards
Marshall
My favorite is Detroit to Chicago, via ATL!
Yeah, would have been nice, except the policy says "travel at minimum
total cost". The paperwork involved for a rental car was even scarier than
a DCA takeoff/landing. 
You be cool for twenty hours
And I'll pay you twenty grand.
That song just pop into anyone else's head?