I heard about this release a couple weeks ago. At the time, I didn’t have any travel plans… so didn’t care. That all changed yesterday when I found out I needed to be in Atlanta for work in early November and need to find a flight.

Kayak.com had been my go-to resource and before that it was www.Travelocity.com. I think we might have a new winner, Google Flights.

Google Flights is an online flight booking service which facilitates the purchase of airline tickets through third party suppliers. As you know, I’m a big fan of everything Google, so I’m really hoping this thing succeeds. The problem is… there is nothing unique about it except the friendly Google Search interface and filtering tools. It’s all the same info/prices… just pulling data from other sites.

These days, everyone is looking for a deal. Groupon and Living Social are dominating by offering huge discounts… and consumers are buying millions of them, Read this Article. Groupon even introduced Groupon Getaways, which discounts trips to Resorts, B&B’s, and destination locations all over the US and Internationally. Great concept, but doesn’t help me get to Atlanta on the cheap.

To throw another wildcard into the mix, I’m thinking about heading to South Carolina for a couple days after Atlanta and before heading back to Maryland, which will require a flight from Atlanta to Savannah or Charleston. All these flight websites give me multi-destination options, so not awarding Google any points there.

Subconsciously, I’ve always thought Southwest.com was the cheapest option. I guess that is just a job-well-done by their Marketing Department. Give those people a raise. Finding flights on Southwest.com was a nightmare.

So, Hotel is booked. Flights are still up in the air. I hope Google Flights comes through as the clear winner, but right now, I’m not sure if that will be the case. To me, Kayak.com is still the most elaborate database of flights, options, and costs.

3 Questions:

1) Will I get a better deal if I wait until closer to the date to buy?

2) What sites do the frequent travelers use?

3) Do you know the super-cool story about how Richard Branson started Virgin Airlines? See Below.

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Read the Long Version by Entrepenuer Derek Sivers – http://sivers.org/book/RichardBranson

Here is the Short Version:Travelers (including Branson) were stranded trying to get to Puerto Rico after a cancelled flight. Branson made a few calls to charter companies and agreed to charter a plane to PR for $2k. Divided the price by the number of seats and wrote, “Virgin Airways, $39 single flight to Puerto Rico.” Walked around the terminal and soon filled every seat on the charter plane. Virgin Airlines was born.