Fare finding tool - which routes to monitor?

BOS and ORD

If JFK then EWR too as I prefer to choose NYC in general rather than one in particular

:O)

I always search for both NYC options so that would be my preference. EWR has the only daytime NYC-LHR flight which is a favourite of mine when I can't get a UC tix. Looking forward to using this : )

I don't think it's necessary to split out JFK/EWR -- the tool looks like it is going to be simply a first step in the booking process, and at this stage I suspect that for most people getting an indication of where the low prices are is going to be the priority.

Looks good BTW. Kind of wish VS had something like this themselves...

Really looking forward to this tool. I'm hunting for my next trip to MIA and would love to pull down the cheapest days to fly as I'm not fussy on dates.

Good work Pete sounds great.
Another vote for SFO and LAX from me.

No other destinations to add, but this sounds like a great tool. Thanks in advance Pete!

looking forward to the new development Pete. I totally agree with the routes others have suggested

[Pete]

So... we're into beta testing phase. The homepage of the site has all the best prices found across each of the routes, and there's a new toolbox item called Fare Watch which will allow you to poke around in the Virgin Atlantic inventory.

I welcome feedback and suggestions for improvements. I'm hitting the Virgin data feed rather hard for this, so hopefully it'll be useful enough (and used) so they don't pull the feed.

I'm just wondering Pete (not that I am Mr Scope Creep or anything) - how easy would it be to have a drop down box to select number of days until the return flight - could potentially make it a lot more flexible if that's not a major undertaking.

By the way, I am most definitely not an application developer by profession. I just manage a bunch of them, which is no bed of roses either let me tell you... but anyway, I do get the fact that things that look like easy add-ons to a user can make a programmer tear their hair out in frustration. So feel free to tell me to bog off...

Looks good but I'm finding it takes me to the 'flight itinerary' page rather than the fligts/fares matrix but I can get to that by hitting the back button (and then once again to change the return dates

I'm usinf firefox 9.0.1 if thats any help

way to go Pete.

[Neil]

Have to say it is a really excellent tool. Only just had a good play with it and Im v v impressed, thanks for making it available.

Really good tool, thanks for making it available!

[Pete]

Unfortunately not possible to add a return drop-down to the calendar matrix, for the simple reason being it grabs all the data overnight (it's effectively checking every fare on each route in every cabin - so not something it could re-build on the fly, if you'll pardon the pun). It's more of a starting tool so you can see where the cheap stuff is hiding, and use that as a point to plan your specific requirements.

Ok, I did wonder if you were caching data versus using some sort of API to pull real time info. Assumed the latter given what you were previously talking about the high load this puts on the service.

Look at me, I could almost pass for a geek. Whereas the reality is that I'm more of the pointy haired boss type... Who needs an iPad when you have an etch a sketch (etc etc...)

[Pete]

Oh it put's a hell of a load on the server, but only when overnight when it's pulling the queries.

Thanks Pete, an excellent tool and thanks for the time and energy (and) pulling all the right strings to get this up and running!

Really useful.

Jon

I vote for the MAN-MCO route as well

Its a great tool. Good job Pete, well done.

[honey lamb]

I vote for the MAN-MCO route as well

If you click on the Fare Watch link in The Toolbox tab on the menu bar you can see that MAN-MCO has now been included y)

Pete - VS's most popular destinations from a numbers perspective should be in your list. I see JFK, EWR, and say LAX are not.

[Scrooge]

For us US based people, how about throwing us a bone and including one route from a US airport ?

[Pete]

@slinky JFK & EWR included in the LON-NYC lookup

@scrooge Sadly I only get a UK feed, so even if I searched starting from a US airport, the pricing would be ex-UK (i.e., shite), so meaningless.

Looking at the poll results so far, I'll need to be adding HKG/SYD to the line up.

Looks good but I'm finding it takes me to the 'flight itinerary' page rather than the fligts/fares matrix but I can get to that by hitting the back button (and then once again to change the return dates

I'm usinf firefox 9.0.1 if thats any help

Have I missed something? Pete mentioned it being in beta, testing phase - does that mean a few of you are testing it out or is it available yet to test for more of us????

Have I missed something? Pete mentioned it being in beta, testing phase - does that mean a few of you are testing it out or is it available yet to test for more of us????

Cat - it is available to us all (I think). Go to the top of this page, hover over "Toolbox", a list should appear, there is a new tool called "Fare Watch" just under "Schedules". Click it and hey-presto you too can beta test.