I Developed a Flight Comparison Site for All My Fellow OzBargainers and Want to Know Your Feedback about This Site

Update 25/10/19: Thanks everyone for the support and feedback, both positive and negative. I really appreciate your honest feedback about my site. I responded to pretty much every comments here. I tried to improve my site based on the suggestions here. I could not implement each and every suggestions due to my technical limitations. I am happy to inform you that I implemented business flight comparison on the home page. Please try it and give me your feedback. Also, I put a small video on the home page to explain how the site works. I also changed the sequence of tabs on result page so that all sites which open on new tab are on one side to improve user experience. I will also continue to work on the site based on ongoing feedback and suggestions.

Hello Dear OzBargainers!

I have spent last few months to create a flight comparison tool. I am using it for my own bookings since last few days and also showed to few friends and they really appreciated because they thought it can definitely help them to find cheap flights for their next travel plan.

https://yourflights.com.au

Below is the list of reasons I created Your Flights.

1.) Searching for cheap flights is easy however there are possibilities that you can miss out on a better deal which is available on one site but not on others.

2.) I was using one or two major meta flight search engines like Skyscanner and Iwantthatflights. They are great websites however, I noticed that they only show the offers available from their contracted suppliers. For example, Meta site A will only show results from their contracted suppliers like a1, a2, a3 etc.. Similarly, Meta site B will only show results from their contracted suppliers like b1, b2, b3 etc.. Both meta sites will also show results from their common suppliers like ab1, ab2, ab3 etc.. However, imagine there is a supplier c1 with a better deal but you won’t see them if you only search meta site A and B. I thought why should create something which can try and cover majority of meta engines and also individual suppliers who do not have any affiliation with meta engines so far.

3.) If you have time to put your itinerary details on 15 different sites individually (e.g. Departure date, departure airport, return date, return airport, number of passengers etc..), you can look of best deals. However if you are too busy, you will avoid visiting all different sites.

Keeping above issues in mind, I created this simple (I think!!) tool to put your itinerary details once and within few minutes and after doing few clicks, you can pretty much scan through majority of flight booking sites to get the best price for your booking. I do not have any intention of taking real flight bookings on my site so basically you will still be doing your actual booking on your preferred air ticket site.

I want to request fellow OzBargainers to review this site and provide me your valuable suggestions. I will really appreciate if you can please visit my site from desktop and mobile phone as it has some different functionalities. I am happy to be trolled if you do not like my site. However, I really want to know what are the reasons that you considered for either good or bad feedback.
I will welcome negative comments with more love than positive comments.

I also want to know if I have missed any major or commonly used site in the list. I will be adding two or three other sites in coming days. I have not put any effort in mapping sites for hotel and car booking yet however I will think about doing that in future. It all depends on the feedback that I receive from you guys. Thanks

Related Stores

yourflights.com.au
yourflights.com.au
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Comments

  • -6

    Before anything, I look at who you are. https://yourflights.com.au/contact-us/

    No information, no privacy agreement etc.

    • +9

      Thanks. Yes,I will update my contact details soon. I am waiting for the privacy agreement to be finalised by a solicitor friend so it should also go live in coming days.

    • +1

      What kinda info will you even be giving. Your flight details and IP address?

      • Thanks. Sorry but I could not understand. Do you mean the information I will be putting on contact us page. Or you mean the type of information you will be able to get once you search for a flight on my site? thanks

        • +1

          I was just responding to rompastompa who wanted a privacy agreement. I was saying that we don't really put in any personal info anyway

          • +2

            @Tech5: There are many things a website can track without your knowledge.

            So, this website could create a profile easily and sell this information. You've got your basic information, Google's GeoLocation, IP (so ISP, location), browser / hardware details (See: http://webkay.robinlinus.com/)

            164 cookies were used on https://yourflights.com.au/return/?marker=20002&origin_name=…

            There's plenty of information there to create a profile on you, without the added benefit of possible dates and destinations etc.

            ghodiyu asked for feedback..

            If you're going to have a trustworthy professional site, you need this information.

            Edit: A quick look shows that OP is using the affiliate program, travelpayouts.com which is Go Travel Un Limited - A Chinese company. They also have a subsidiary JetRadar - a Russian company. So, who knows where your profile is really being used ;)

            • +1

              @rompastompa: Thanks for the feedback. That is what I will be including in the privacy agreement that my solicitor friend is reviewing. Believe me or not, I have no intention to collect any information and i will try my best to make sure that no information is collected in the first place. Regarding Geolocation etc. I will explore options to stop tracking that too. Basically, only departure airport, return airport, dep date, return date and passenger numbers are needed to search and I am not planning to have anything else entered by visitor in the search form. Thanks

              • +3

                @yourflights: No problems. It appears others are not as concerned with security, so people like me might be in the minority ;) I would also recommend putting your ABN etc and a proper contact form to gain further trust.

                • +2

                  @rompastompa: Will be done for sure as soon as possible.

              • @yourflights: and despite your noble intention of not collecting any personal information whatsoever, somehow all those trackers got implemented on your website

  • +1

    Looks like a great site

    Two things i've noticed
    1. When you want to book a one way flight, there is a button that says "click here for discounted one way tickets". But you can also get the same result by clicking "return flight is not needed". The first button makes it sound like a dodgy website to me and it's not really needed
    2. Looks like you can only search economy tickets?

    • Thanks. Great feedback. You nailed to the two big issue that I am trying to improve.

      1.) Do you think it will look better if I remove Hotels from the home page search form and replace it with one way tab. So basically, two tabs on home page search form. One way and return.

      2.) Yes, I need lot of time to start mapping business and first class tickets. May be when I become rich enough to start flying those classes!!

      Thank you so much

      • Personally I would think so. The flights are way more important at this stage as there are not many websites that does what yours does.

        Hotels on the other hand, there are so many that do it well. Agoda etc.

      • +1

        Much appreciated.
        I'd agree that business flights might be more relevant than hotels in case you have to choose one or another. Even Google does very well searching for hotels using Expedia, Hotels, Agoda, Booking, etc. Moreover, the price difference in business flights is huge most of the time.

        • Thank you. I will definitely consider business flight comparison in near future. I agree that hotel comparison market is bit saturated as there are many. However, do you think it will be better if someone can compare expedia, agoda, booking and many more on one site? Or you recon there will be minumum benefit as most hotel meta sites have agreement with most hotels.. ?

          • +1

            @yourflights: For hotels, I usually check Google Travel. For example:
            https://bit.ly/2MkFVUo

            And then if you choose one:
            https://bit.ly/2VMdqSE

            I also double-check Agoda (usually 10% OFF using Mastercard) and other discounts on Expedia (Gold member, also had 12% OFF months ago) and Booking (Genius Level 2) direct on their website (logged-in to get better rates), always considering cashback as well.

            I might be wrong but I don't think your hotel search could add much to Google Travel or Trivago or Kayak. You could do a few tests and check the results but Google, for example, also checks the hotel website for the rates.

            • @this is us: Thanks. Yes, I am using ready made solution available on the net for hotel search. My main focus is on flight comparison at this time (that includes Google flights, Agoda, Expedia and many more). As I mentioned to another comments here, I need to decide if I should implement business class flight comparison first or hotel comparison. Based on the feedback I received here, I should include business flight comparison first as there is a market gap there. Hotel comparison may be next in the pipeline. Greatly appreciated your feedback.

      • Yes please fix business flight selection!

        • Sure. Thanks. That will be next project. Do you recommend I should implement on the same site or put it on a different domains with 'business flights' word in it. Thanks

          • +2

            @yourflights: I think an Economy / Business selection option or tick box on the current website would be the easiest.

  • Check your grammar.

    By comparing on our website, you have option to find best flight for your journey.

    By comparing on our website, you have the option to find the best flight for your journey.

    Sounds unprofessional.

    • +2

      Thank you boss. I just changed the wording little bit. Me and my grammar are just not going well together

      • +1

        Try chucking it through grammarly.

        • Yes, heard about grammarly but never used it. Will definitely explore it once I have draft prepared from professional writer. Thanks.

          • @yourflights: +1 for Grammarly (paid version). I use it for work reports and it was also great for university reports.

  • Nice idea, I will give it a try next time I'm planning a trip.

    A couple points that haven't been made yet:
    * It is not immediately obvious what your website does. I mean I should understand within 2 seconds what your website is and why it's different from those other websites. In my opinion this is very important to fix. I would avoid relying too much on the word 'compare' because that's what all the websites already say they do… I don't have a good answer for this sorry.
    * Most Australian states have 3 letter abbreviations: VIC, NSW, QLD, TAS. The 2 letter abbreviations you are using make me think it's confused with North America (there is a 'Sydney, NS, Cananda'!!).
    * Regarding the search boxes: on my screen the text fades away because the boxes are too small. Use two rows!
    * In general you need more polish in terms of appearance and text. Obviously this is a prototype, but at the moment there is a big "this is a scam website" neon sign.

    • Thank you.

      I will have to get professional writer to have some better wording on the site. Honestly speaking, I have not put lot of effort in presenting the site wording yet. I worked on the search engine most of the time but you are right, I should write better description to highlight the difference from others. Regarding 3 letter abbreviations, I wish I could do implement this change immediately. It is possible but will have to work bit hard. Thanks and I will work on that in coming weeks. I will try to expand the search box to full width to avoid the fading of text.

  • On search, at the courser entry, should clear out all the text, and when you type A, should list applicable destinations start with A. eg Agoda search
    Search result appear as popup is annoying
    Secret deal pricing not default to AUD

    • Thank you. I will definitely see what I can do to start suggesting destinations as soon as you start typing. Currently it is waiting for the second letter to be key in to start suggesting the destination. I can not put all sites in the search box as many sites do not allow themselves within other sites due to security risk. I understand that pop up are annoying on mobile site but can you please kindly check the site from desktop as it opens up the pop up but still remains underneath the main site so you know that it is popup. You can then decide to maximise the screen if you wish.

      • Ah, don't default to any searchable text. ie SYD to SG. Just a placeholder as example.

  • +1

    Would be very helpful with a multi-stop option.

    • It will indeed. I am sure I will not be able to do that myself due to my limited technical knowledge. May be in future if I work really really hard to increase my learning to ten times higher..

  • What is meaning of ghodiyu?

    • +4

      Good question. It is an indian meaning of 'baby hammock'. I think I am still baby in learning the web so I put myself in the baby hammock to keep growing out of it!!

  • +1

    Is there an example of this finding a deal better than google flights?

    • +3

      Sure. Just randomly searched SYD to SFO and it is showing $1090 from google flights on Hawaaian airline for departure 31st october and return on 30 november. It is showing $1048 on budget air, $1075 on webjet, $1020 on skyscanner, $1035 on wego etc.. This is just a random search that I just did..

      • +2

        Also, I am not trying to say one site is better than other. Intention is just to provide comparison from one search. Thanks

  • +1

    Great idea, I use skyscanner and momondo all the time and had no idea they just display results based on their commercial relationships. At the end of the day though, I'm generally looking for the cheapest fare.

    I did a search on a flight route I have just booked to the UK (not London), skyscanner cheapest result was $202 less than your cheapest result.

    Im using a laptop.
    One thing that was annoying is having to double scroll to view all the results, scroll down the page and scroll down the results box.
    Then when you view "more results', you have scroll up and down.

    Your calendar for date selection is a bit small but a better design than Skyscanner that requires you to scroll down the page far enough to see the popup calendar month in full, that drives me mad that scrolling.

    I didnt like the home page defaulting to a SYD to SIN search, dunno if thats the most popular search or something but Im familiar with a lot of airport codes and would rather type them in.

    I thought that table of all the travel site names makes the home page look cluttered and I dont really care about all that when Im looking for the cheapest flight.

    Id deffo use something like this but I reckon you have to have it at the very least matching the lowest price results of skyscanner to get people on your site otherwise theres no incentive.

    • Thanks. Can you explain me further. Did you find $202 less than cheapest result on my site. I do have skyscanner on the search result page. It is the third tab on the result page so I am pretty sure I have skyscanner in my result. Do you mean, skyscanner result on my page was expensive than skyscanner directly?

      Regarding other points, I will read them carefully soon and respond.

      • I put in a search SYD-EDI return 26/05/2020-26/06/2020, sort by price.
        Your site gives a QF flight on EK metal via DXB for $1468 as the cheapest.
        Skyscanner a QF/BA flight via SIN & LHR for $1266
        When I sort by duration, the same one stop QR flights, yours $1627, Skyscanner $1580

        • Thanks. I just searched the same journey on my site and it is showing me $1266 for QF/BA combination on Skyscanner (from my site) and $1492 as sponsored result on Emirates. I then opened the skyscanner directly on the browser and searched the same itinerary with same result. Can you please clarify if you care comparing skyscanner result from my site VS skyscanner directly and seeing different result? As I mentioned in other comment, my website just sending you to skyscanner and do not have any control to modify any result. I can create a video of what I am searching and send you by pm or share it here if you like. I will still take your feedback on board and check for few more random itineraries.

          Thanks

          • -1

            @yourflights: Oh, I didnt realise I had to select a tab from the top to go through every site. Thats rubbish.
            I just entered the flight dates and hit search and assumed the results I saw were everything.
            You need to make it like Skyscanner where a single search gives you the results from everywhere.

            • +2

              @Meho2026: Just because you couldn't figure out how to use what is a pretty simple website, doesn't mean it's rubbish.
              I think it's good for what it's purpose is: saving time by not having to put the same details into 15 different sites.
              Obviously if it could display it like Skyscanner, that would be a big bonus, but it's still useful in its platform now. Plus to display it like Skyscanner I imagine would be a LOT bigger project and design ($$$).
              Good work OP. I'll definitely be using this when I book flights to Europe soon.

            • @Meho2026: This is actually very valuable feedback, although it's phrased a bit harshly. Balanced a negative vote out.

  • Just searched Melbourne to Kamloops (skiing holiday) for next March and the cheapest price flying Air Canada was $1689 yet when I click on the IWTF tab and it does the same search the cheapest price is $1606.

    Your results also didn't display the flight with the shortest duration when compared to IWTF.

    • Thanks. This is something I need to imitate at my end. For IWTF, my search is pretty much redirecting you to IWTF site. In fact, all sites that I included are showing the results on their sites itself. I do not have any mechanism to change anything to any result. I will still look in to it and see if I can find the issue at my end.

  • Your website is just using everyone else's search portal… is that even legal?

    • +2

      Thank you. My site prepare the link and send traffic to their sites directly without utilising any of their resources. It is similar to sharing a link of a third party here. However, I will be putting a disclaimer on the site that if any site is not happy for me to send them traffic, they can send me an email and I will remove them asap. Also, I will be sending them a letter/email informing about this so they can always let me know if they are not happy. Thank you very much for your comments though.

      • +1

        The thing with some of those affiliate sites is that their prices actually change depending on the link you click.

        If you want to test this,

        search up any hotel and check their website.

        Clear cache (or use diff browser)
        google their availability and check the comparison table google provides.

        Clear cache (or diff browser)
        Check their pricing on Expedia alone.

        The price differences will depend on whether you were comparing hotels against other hotels (cheaper) or just searching for that specific hotel (more expensive)

  • Search isn't even showing for me.

  • +1

    So is this basically Skyscanner and Iwantthatflights combined>?

  • When I click the IWTF & Skyscanner & Agoda links it opens it in a new window instead of iframing it in. (I'm assuming you're using iframes).
    Browser: Opera
    OS: Windows 10

    • Similarly, on Android, clicking on Expedia automatically opens the Expedia app (as I have it installed)
      Browser: brave
      OS: Android 9 Pie

  • +4

    lmao there's nothing special about this

    you have just embedded their site search page into tabs in one page…

    • +1

      True - but this saves trying to remember all the websites & manually typing the search details into each one.
      I like it & it has potential.

    • Agree. As a User I have to click on all the tabs, and then some open pop up windows.
      On each of them I should then select things like one-stop only …..

      Nah, sorry, won't do. KAYAK is still my favourite.

  • I don't get it - it shows Melb to Perth as $500 per person (doesn't seem to be clear that it's the total cost including return). Same in Jetstar is 1,530 total for 3 people return. Even in your site, if I click on the link, it takes me to a site that is $1,560 total (still $30 more than Jetstar)

    https://yourflights.com.au/return/?marker=20002&origin_name=…

  • +3

    It would be better if you listed the top results from each vendor on 1 page. You just list each vendors results on different tabs.

    Some tabs open inside your HTML wrapper, some open in a new browser tab. Some ask for permission to open. You need to streamline so they all do the same thing.

    Fix your Tab headings to be align in the middle.

    On your homepage, the list of vendors is not aligned to the middle. It is more to the left of page.

    Rather have a checked box for one-way or return, rather than 2 separate pages.

    • +1

      Thank you for the great suggestions. I will look in to it and see which one are doable and withing my expertise. Thanks again

  • What about direct airlines? Some people do not like to book third parties.

    What i like about google flights is that you can select the actual flight path that you want and then see a comparison of pricing. Right now with your set up, you would have to find the flight path you want on each different site to actually get a comparitive price.

  • Are you in Australia or in Singapore where the server is?

  • Useful - but the popups for some sites, and others needing to be manually triggered is a bit annoying.

    • I changed the site little bit today so you do not have to manually trigger the tabs. Once you allow to load the first tab result, all other tabs are already loaded in the background. Please check the site again and confirm if its working better.

  • good sight

    but why when u search do u have to click the tabs one by one, why doesn't ur site search all of them and combine the results.

  • Interesting prelude.
    Who would have known?
    But yes of course….
    ……..only list those that pay you a commission and forget the rest.
    Good work!

    • Thanks. I want to provide all options to users rather than only showing sites who pay commission. If I do that, I will limit myself to only include 2-4 sites. Majority of sites that I have put on result page do not have any affiliate program at all e.g. google flights, adioso, skiplagged etc.

  • Hi Mate,

    Good on you for getting this project off the ground !! (build on it incrementally)

    Here is my feedback, take it with a barrel of salt and a jug of beer :)

    1. No POP-UP's
    2. Try to aggregate your results if possible (if not see point 4)
    3. Trigger the request in the background for the tabs.
      (I'm happy to click on the tabs but not happy to wait for the request to be triggered when i do)
    4. Try to display the information in a similar format
    5. Improve on the UI, cause user experience is key
    • Thanks. I have to use some pop up as not all sites like to be opened within another website. Therefore, I have no other option other than opening as pop up. I can change the whole model and make a site with aggregate results like skyscanner or IWTF. However, whole idea of me designing this site is to not limit myself to few suppliers. By doing the current model, I am trying to bring the power of all big meta sites in one platform rather than being a meta myself. I implemented the function to trigger the results of other tabs in background. Please check. It has reduced the speed of site little bit. Please provide your feedback. I will work on improving UI over the period of time. Thanks

  • I like the idea of yu=our site, would surely use it. One quick suggestion is to allow an option to close the tabs which are not useful as they are expensive, that will help me compare between my top 2/3/4 choices.

    • +1

      Thanks. I put lot of tabs at this time however will decide to remove some in future. Will also explore the option of putting a cross symbol next to each tab so you can close them manually from front end.

  • Having clicked on your site for the first time, it pre-populated departure and arrival destinations for a recent flight I searched on other websites. Are you pulling info from my google chrome that I used on other websites?

    • I responded to your similar comment below. Thanks

  • +1

    Good start.

    Forget the naysayers. Software is incremental, if you're not slightly ashamed of your first cut you probably didn't release it quickly enough.

    For the nerds here what did you use to build this with? Is it literally just a front end with a bunch of iframes pointing to other sites or is there more to it?

    • Looks like Wordpress (add /wp-admin at the end of the domain)

    • Not a nerd so can't give you full details, but here's what it runs:

      CMS
      WordPress
      Theme Bimber
      Plugins Premium Addons Pro, Elementor, Elementor Pro, Advanced Iframe, Whats Your Reaction, Media Ace, Autoptimize, Wordpress Popular Posts, Mashsharer, Iframe Popup, Ays Facebook Popup Likebox, Popup Anything On Click, Js_composer, G1 Socials
      Analytics
      Google Analytics UA
      Font Script
      Font Awesome
      Google Font API
      Javascript Graphics
      Twitter Emoji (Twemoji)
      Advertising
      Facebook Pixel
      Javascript Frameworks
      Backbone.js
      Modernizr
      React
      TweenMax
      jQuery 1.12.4
      Underscore JS
      Lazysizes JS
      GSAP
      embed JS
      ECT JS
      Sticky JS
      Sortable JS
      matchMedia
      Request
      Timeago
      Jquery Waypoints
      Swiper
      Widgets
      Facebook
      Video
      MediaElement.js
      Web Server
      LiteSpeed
      Programming Language
      PHP 7.2.23
      Affiliate Marketing
      Travelpayouts

  • Having clicked on your site for the first time, it pre-populated departure and arrival destinations for a recent flight I searched on other websites. Are you pulling info from my google chrome that I used on other websites?

    • Not really. From field is prepopulated with an airport which is nearest to user's location. Arrival airport is Singapore by default which you need to change as per your need. Thanks

  • Not working for me. 2hrs later, I'm still getting the "We are now comparing all airline" message. Looking for flights ex Mel to MRU

    • Can you please refresh the page. I just searched for MEL to MRU and I can see results on all tabs. Thanks

      • Cheers! Darn, a trip to paradise is expensive :(

  • I use Skyscanner because it allows me to search flights through a whole month, which means i can find the cheaper dates quickly. Most of the time I'm not dead set on leaving on a particular day. Why don't more sites allow this function??

    • Yes, true. Calendar function is good. Once you search on Skyscanner calendar and decide the date with cheapest price, can you come back to my site and put those dates and see if anyone else offering cheaper than the cheapest you found on Skyscanner? Thanks

    • True, i prefer to use google flights though because i find it has better prices. Just select the month you want to visit on the calendar and make sure you reset the dates to see the best deals.

      • I agree. Google flight is good. However, if you want to reconfirm if the google flight price you are seeing is the cheapest or not, please visit my site and quickly check it. If not, you can always go to google flight from 'More sites' tab of the result page of my website. Thanks

  • When I press back from a search result, is there any way for the fields to remember my entries? Its a common habit for me to press back and change some search fields.

    • Thanks. On the result page, there is 'edit search' button. Departure and arrival airports and dates are already prepopulated there based on your original search. Thanks

  • I always use Momondo which has several features I love and seems to show everything and even applies promo codes when it takes you to third party sites.

    What advantages does your site have over Momondo?

    • Thanks. Yes Momondo is great. That's why I included Momondo in my site under 'More Sites' tab. You may want to see if cheapest flight on Momondo is the cheapest or there is better available on Skyscanner, IWTF etc.. so once you narrow down the dates and price on Momondo, a quick search on my site will enable you to see if anything better available. Should take only 1 min max for you to do that. Also, you can always go to Momondo from my site directly from 'more Sites' tab.

  • Can you implement fuzzy search to find the cheapest return flights given a period of time? For example, I just want to get the cheapest one flying in November and returning in January for a trip between 35 to 40 days long. Find me the exact carrier, date, and time that meet the requirements. That is what has been missing from all the comparison sites.

    • Thanks. I am afraid that it will be bit difficult for me. You might want to explore nomad search for Kiwi. It is doing exactly the same what you are after.

  • If it is possible you might to do this like jetstar. They only show price for flights on a period of time, but they also show price for the next 7 days.

    • I will certainly try to implement that function.

  • I just tried mobile. I couldn’t enter kids as passengers and I could only select various search engines - there was no automatic comparison.

    • +1

      True. I decided to keep the search for adult passengers only. Once you narrow down your dates and price, you can go to the suppliers website and put your children details. Sorry but it was bit too much to map children and infants in search results. Thanks

  • add business class searching? :)

    • Will be done for sure. Thanks

  • This is awesome and will save me tonnes of time, cheers mate!

    • +1

      You made my day. Thanks

  • Thanks, this has really helped me today when I was searching for a tricky flight on short notice and most engines were returning bad results (or none at all). Some of the engines on your site did return empty frames though (the ones that open in new window, could not reproduce consistently though).

    One other comment: The blue changing text on the homepage is overdone - I would leave only the "Let's see who is offering best deal ? " one

    • Thank you. I will change the home page blue text as per your suggestion..

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