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Comment by rhygar | Hacker News Reader

It looks like it was built quickly.

Why is there a giant search bar at the top of the screen? I came here to look for flights, not to search the web.

Why is there a giant map at the top of the screen? I already know where I want to go. I don't need to look at a map to decide which destination I want. This part seems like more of a tech demo than anything.

The whole UI looks like it was designed by an engineer. For example when I want to book the flight, I get a tiny left/right arrow box-thing to increase the passenger count. Very poor choice of UI.

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> Why is there a giant search bar at the top of the screen?

This will be (if it isn't already) integrated with their search product. In other words, it'll be a part of search. You'll search for "flight from ny to sf" and that's what you'll see. Perfectly natural for them to have a consistent UI in their search product.

> Why is there a giant map at the top of the screen?

It's interactive. Try pulling the marker from one location to another. Very cool. I can also see the exact route that the flight will take. More intuitive.

I may have a general area of where I want to end up, but this lets you choose exactly where through a visual map. Again, very cool.

> I can also see the exact route that the flight will take.

That's not the exact route the flight will take; it's the quickest (great circle) route. Airliners fly along airways.

Let me paraphrase that.

I can also see the approximate route the flight will take, with layovers and other planned stops.

> Try pulling the marker from one location to another.

For me it just drags the map (Chrome 13.0.782.220 / OS X).

> I may have a general area of where I want to end up, but this lets you choose exactly where through a visual map. Again, very cool.

...is a map really helpful for this? How often do you want to go somewhere but not know the name? I'd rather they take all of that map space and use it for something else. I wouldn't mind something that says "hey, you could save $x on this flight if you went to $nearby_airport instead of the one you're on."

> I wouldn't mind something that says "hey, you could save $x on this flight if you went to $nearby_airport instead of the one you're on."

Definitely. They could also just overlay that on the map like they do the popular destinations.

> For me it just drags the map (Chrome 13.0.782.220 / OS X).

I'm on Chrome 15 (dev), which probably explains it.

> is a map really helpful for this?

I like maps. You never know what you'll notice on one.

There's a giant search bar because it's part of Google Search. Like Images, Shopping or any of the other verticals. It's likely under testing, but I would wager at some point soon it will show up automatically in the sidebar as an option when searching for flight related topics.

To see how the map is useful, put in an origin and then play with the price limit.

It's a cool in a geeky sense that destinations drop off the map when I click back and forth. How does this solve my problem as a customer though? I know I need to get from A to B. How does the map help me choose which flight from which carrier on what day?

It's helpful in places like San Francisco or New York, where you have options about which airport you can use.

For example, I looked at a ticket from SEA -> SFO. When I zoomed in on SFO, I can easily see how much it is to San Jose or Oakland as well.

It's also just fun to enter your departure airport and see "where can I fly and for how much?"

If you leave the destination open and limit by price, you can answer questions like "Where can I go for $500"?

This is all I've wanted from a flight search product since forever. It will be awesome when it's more international!

http://kayak.com/buzz has had this forever.

Try http://www.kayak.com/explore/ which gives the same max budget parameter but on a map from an origin city.

True. The UI however is something else. Really gets out of the way and gives you what you are looking for. Feels effortless to use compared to the usual suspects in this domain, IMHO.

The map is misleading when showing result for flights with stops. It should show/highlight intermediary cities in this case

Next to what other people have pointed out, you can also hide the map if you want to by clicking on the marker.

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