Bing vs. The Other Guys: Who’s Got The Cheapest Tickets?

In the spirit of “Beach Week” (not to be confused with “Shark Week”, that other perennial, considerably ballyhooed 7-day national holiday), I decided to conduct a pretty unscientific study: How does Bing’s new search engine hold up?

Let’s say I wanted to head to Curacao in late January for the duration of my birthday to scuba away those final remnants of my ’20’s. By beginning off at Bing I clicked on “Travel” on the left-hand column to bring me to their travel page. I decided to match them up against Kayak and SkyScanner, two of my standbys that appear to normally come up with the very best rates.

On the front page and in its numerous ads, Bing boasts about their “Know When To Obtain ™” technology, a colored arrow chart that purportedly predicts no matter whether rates are going going to drop (or rise) from what you are seeing at that moment. However for my search to Curacao, my outcome yielded a “No Value Predictor” result. Clicking on the “Learn Why” link, I discovered that this only applies to domestic U.S. flights. Why? No notion, but sort of a bummer.

And the benefits? Bing located a direct flight by way of American for $518, Kayak found the very same flight for the similar price, precisely as it predicted in the handy calendar that seems on the residence page ahead of you even search, displaying you current, low-cost tickets not too long ago bought for your cities (a feature Bing must absolutely attempt to copy).

And SkyScanner? Effectively, I have to say it wins for the most complicated benefits. It is prime outcome was a $732 ticket employing a combination of a 25-hour flight (with a layover) on Air Jamaica, then a 1-quit return flight through Surinam Airways and Caribbean Airlines. I guess the upshot right here is that you get to check Surinam Airways off your list of airlines taken.

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To see Bing’s price tag predictor in action I decided to test out a domestic flight to L.A. for that exact same week, ideal for my likelihood to pitch that Citizen Kane sequel I’ve been operating on with Shia LaBeouf as the star (“Citizen Kane two: Rosebud’s Revenge”).

Bing turned up a $259 flight via United, and, here’s the kicker: Bing offered up a huge, green arrow and said it is 85% sure that “Lowest fares are likely to rise or hold steady inside the next 7 days.” Nicely, that clears that up.

Each Kayak and CheapTickets came up with flights for the exact same price (o.k., Kayak identified an AirTran flight for a dollar less expensive). And just for kicks, a search through Virgin American resulted in a ticket for $324 (though they do promote wi-fi — good, but not worth $65).

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So the lesson here? Likely what each you and I have been suspecting for a although. Most of the big sites are basically looking the identical inventory of airlines that are constantly watching each and every others’ fares, resulting in costs that are pretty comparable across the board.

What about the add-ons? I can not say that Bing’s fare predictor is going to have me flocking to their internet site anytime soon, whereas I nevertheless really feel like I’m partial to Kayak’s calendar predictor (what superior way to waste time than to plug in fantasy flights and see what pops up with no ever getting to even click the search button?).

And as far as my birthday goes, I’m no closer to deciding what to do than when I started. But suggestions are welcome, as nicely as unsolicited invites. See you there?