Hipmunk is a cool startup, but if you want cheap airfares, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ is the best kept secret on the internet. Since itasoftware (now part of google), sells a flight search service, they don't advertise their search engine and purposefully keep it ugly.

ITA's site actually predates Hipmunk and the Google merger.

The reason ITA keeps it a secret is because ITA is a middleware company and not consumer facing. Bing, Hipmunk, Kayak, Orbitz, Hotwire, and many more are all customers of ITA[1] and it takes pains to not compete with its customers.

That's also why everyone was freaking out when Google offered to buy ITA. Google could have easily pulled the plug on all of those sites and taken over the industry. So Google had to commit to tons of concessions to ensure that wouldn't happen in order to get approval for the merger. Basically, Google has agreed to ongoing audits by the Justice Department for years after the merger. [2]

[1] http://www.itasoftware.com/about/customers.html

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/technology/09google.html

For a long time matrix.itasoftware.com was password protected but bugmenot/bugmenot worked. I am not sure when they made the search service non-password protected. I imagine if it gets popular, it will go back to being password protected, as it is rude to compete with your own customers.

The older version of matrix - currently available at http://matrix1.itasoftware.com - had a not-so-inviting page asking you for a login if you had one, but never required it. There's a "Log in as a guest" link that gets you to the same page you'd have as if you had registered as a typical user.

The new version, http://matrix.itasoftware.com/, has no such login requirement.

They aren't competing with their customers - you cannot book a flight on the site. You have to take the booking information ITA provides and call the airline yourself.

ITA are actually the technology behind Orbitz, Kayak, and various airlines' own search technology. IIRC one of the few (and proud) Lisp shops making money hand over fist.

That's a pretty slick interface actually. I like it even more than Hipmunk's.

I just wanted to say thanks for the tip.

They need to change their background, that scrolling effect really is not nice.

Ugh, it almost gave me a seizure.

It's always been like that, sadly.

Good stuff Hipmunk. Looking forward to when I can modify by fare class and further customization. I've used itasoftware.com almost since they started with a beta and I like the fact that I can do /f bc=w for example to price a specific fare class.

I don't understand Hipmunk. I see a simple user interface. But that user interface doesn't help me search anymore than any other site. I live in Sydney, and I use this api-mashup here destmapper.com. It opened my eyes!

How do you get invited to Foo Camp when you are just in high school?

I am awed.

That sites background is terrible on the eyes.