Compare Flight Prices

[Kenn]

Hi All,

Just wanted to announce that we (Painai.com, sponsor of this forum, see banner at the top of this page) have improved our flight searh engine.

You can search for flights across more websites and prices will be displayed in THB now as opposed to USD (please note the offering website might still give you a different currency).

Also, we have Air Asia included on several routes! (Phuket for example)

We are still working with the developer of the search to also get Nok Air included and to make the overall search even more relevant to Asia.

Enjoy and please let me know what you think.

[THAIPHUKET]

This perfect timing. I have been looking this very moment for price comparing sites, trivago, et altera.

It would be most interesting to understand how these search engines work.

1, where does venere, hsr, etc get the prices from? Not every hotel can have a contract with all the internet sites. What obligation has the seller, be it airline , car rental or hotel to accept the voucher of any internet service ? What are the pit falls? Sorry never heard of Painai.com before.

Looking at trivago, not only the prices differ substantially from eg venere, hotel.com ect but also what you get , eg.with w/o breakfast , superior room. Some are clear about additional cost, taxes etc others not before you actually book.

Tell us in what respect painai.com is better, except that it quotes THB from the start. Which in turn opens the question what margin is taken for fx transactions, is there anyway of verifying ??

[THAIPHUKET]

One suggestion=

in your flight searches include the option to chose between economy and business class.

Plus one more question = where do the reviews come from? From other websites, and if so which one does Painai.com prefer ?

[Kenn]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies.

Internet sites (such as Venere or Hotels.com) do not have a contract with every hotel that's correct. They might have direct contracts with some hotels while they buy other hotels through local operators. As there are multiple of these in every single market and all supplying different rates depending on relationships, turnover etc, there are also many different rates to be found online. So no matter if they have a direct contract they can always buy it through other operators at prices stated in contracts.

Reviews come directly from our supplier who gathers them, I don't think they come from other websites such as Hotels.com.

Thanks for the suggestion on business class, I will pass this on.

[Bel Mondo]

Great search engine!!!!

I agree with the other poster -- should have a Business Class option............

[sbk]

In your hotel search make Bangkok one of the default choices without having to type it in.

Also, you might want to consider making a broader selection of Bangkok areas to search in. ie Pratunam, Sukhumvit, Silom etc.

In the flight search, it would be good to have the same currency button as in the hotel section.

And, while I realize you are getting your results from the other sites, it would be good to have the taxes added in to the price of the tickets in the final result.

[allcladrad]

Just did a comparison between your site and Mox Travel, your best listing, BKK to PAR round trip economy was 27k on Aeroflot don't know if price includes taxes, if you didn't want Aeroflot next up was 36k.

Mox Travel 26k includes all taxes, Etihad Airways.

[Kenn]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

@sbk: On the homepage we have added links directly to the most popular destinations in Thailand. These will take you directly to their respective page.

Agree with your currency button for the flights and taxes should be included (which is the aim and should actually work for most sites)

@allcladrad: I can't claim for 100% it will always find the best price, there might always be some touroperators, smaller travel agents or touroperators who have specials we don't pick up. However I do think that in most cases you can and will find the cheapest option in our search.

Thanks again for your feedback, we try to make the site into a one stop shop by bringing together all the best travel programs. Hopefully we are a service to Thaivisa members and we can continue to support the forum.

[allcladrad]

Kenn,

I just picked Paris at random, I wish you luck and will add your site to the other two I use when wanting to fly.

[philipp]

I think this is great for hotels. Hotels you can buy from any provider around the world.

However, for the flights you should try to integrate some local vendors like Thai Fly or Mox Travel since only local vendors have access to all the fares ex Thailand. So local providers tend to be cheaper than the ones you currently integrate with.

Good luck guys!!!

[THAIPHUKET]

it is wonderful to see that others too are testing.

But it would be of great interest to many to understand the basics.

I repeat my earlier question=

what is the obligation of a hotel/ airline to accept a voucher, is there a clearing point?

We read often enough that reservations are not honored, i.e. there is no legal obligation to accept a voucher, correct?

Do different services like venere or hotel.com subtract different fees? I.e. could a hotel prefer one operator over another?

I also assume it has a lot do with how quickly the hotel gets its money.

I understand that you act as an info filter, but the better the consumer understands what his potential benefits/ risks are the more he will use your service

[Kenn]

Thanks for all your feedback guys, much appreciated.

@Thaiphuket

As far as I'm aware there is no legal obligation to accept a voucher for a hotel (either way enforcement would be rather difficult to say the least), it's merely a ticket for the hotel guarenteeing payment from the operator that made the booking on the customers behalf and thus accepting the customer.

In my experience reservations not honoured mostly stem from overbookings with the hotel simply not having rooms available. In this case it's either the hotel or the operator who will find an alternative, assistance provided obviously differs from hotel to hotel and operator to operator (as in every business). I guess theoretically a hotel could prefer one operator over the other as contract rates could be different and 2 different vouchers for the same room could mean different revenue. Unlikely though as 2 customers will hardly ever arrive at exactly the same time.

[THAIPHUKET]

@KENN

Thanks, I guessed as much.

Plus there is the unknown factor of payment moral of individual web sites, which will influence an operator's willingness to accept a given voucher.

Given the amount of internet fraud it is amazing that this voucher business from thousands of issuers seems largely to be working on trust.

I realize that painai.com as an intermediary and info filter is not concerned with these issues.

[Enjibenji]

should have an option to make flights flexible in the search. At least -1/+1 day, normal seems to be 3 but would be good to see up to 5.

[harleyclarkey]

Hi All,

Just wanted to announce that we (Painai.com, sponsor of this forum, see banner at the top of this page) have improved our flight searh engine.

You can search for flights across more websites and prices will be displayed in THB now as opposed to USD (please note the offering website might still give you a different currency).

Also, we have Air Asia included on several routes! (Phuket for example)

We are still working with the developer of the search to also get Nok Air included and to make the overall search even more relevant to Asia.

Enjoy and please let me know what you think.

Hi Kenn....I do not seem to be able to choose the ticket type. Economy/Premium/Business on your search engine.

Update...I see from other posts that you are looking at ticket options! Good job!

Edited June 3, 2009 by harleyclarkey

[THAIPHUKET]

the business class option is really helpful.

The flexible dates would be also good.

Plus airlines have different prices for different days during the week,

if you could perhaps filter out the best price within the week, month ? you have an absolute search winner.

I assume that a large number of retirees are coming and going who can be very flexible in their scheduling.

[toptuan]

I found all the searches for flights going west from Bangkok (to North America) were twice the price of other carriers not searched automatically by your search engine.

I wish your searches would include the best-priced carriers flying west, namely: Eva, Asiana, and China Airlines.

Edited June 5, 2009 by toptuan

[THAIPHUKET]

1. search for individual hotel does not work.

2. when the time has come you may want to spread the news about painai.com more.

I had written to the International Harald Tribune a year ago noting that in their intern. travel section they mention often that the best travel deals can be found OUT OF Bangkok but they never give specific search sites for, eg. out of Bkk flights.

[Kenn]

Cheers guys, thanks for all the suggestions.

Will pass them all on and see if we can get them implemented.

[THAIPHUKET]

DISAPPOINTED=

hotel search still doesn t work, Safari browser shows no Thai city and no space for specific hotel !!

Even direct search under Chiang Mai no result.

I reported this in May!

On flights= still no class selection option.

Question= is it worth to give it one more try in , say 4 weeks ??

Otherwise Painai.com can be taken off my book mark list

[Jimjim]

For some hotel booking sites, they actually work out a deal with hotels to buy an allotment of rooms for the year, sometimes even specific rooms to be used only by customers of that hotel booking site, so a room should always be guaranteed. This is not the case always, but that's one way it works. That way they can also charge whatever they please, which is one reason you often see discrepancies between different sites and the hotel itself.

[Jimjim]

DISAPPOINTED=

hotel search still doesn t work, Safari browser shows no Thai city and no space for specific hotel !!

Even direct search under Chiang Mai no result.

I reported this in May!

On flights= still no class selection option.

Question= is it worth to give it one more try in , say 4 weeks ??

Otherwise Painai.com can be taken off my book mark list

Sorry mate, but is the internet a new tool for you? Hotel search works fine. I really think you need to change your gripe to "hotel searcher" doesn't work (meaning the person making the search, which would be you, ha ha). I'm in Safari and I did find a place where you can put in the name of a specific hotel. Click "search by hotel name" and then enter the hotel name and click "search." Too difficult? You really are missing something, sorry, mate. I did a direct search under Chiang Mai found plenty of hotels. Once you go to a city page there is also a place on the left sidebar where you can search for a hotel by name. I tried it. It worked. You are probably just not using it correctly, it's pretty simple. Works fine. I checked as it seemed odd it wouldn't work.

As for the flight search they may not be able to change it depending on the way they have things set up. Even some of the big world flight sites on the internet don't have the option of different classes.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Jimjim

[THAIPHUKET]

JIMJIM, I like when someone successfully makes me laughing, in this case about myself.

Must have been blindfolded by whatever.

Thanks

[teddy_bare]

How come Cathay Pacific and Eva charge 27,000 baht for an infant and others just 3500 baht for similar flight schedules?