[brk]

OK, I don't get it (granted I didn't spend a ton of time reading through all the details).

What I was hoping for is some way I could book the "winning" itinerary through some means. I was ready to buy 2 of the business-class trips instantly, but it seems this is more of a "bragging" site (in a good way), showing how cheaply you've managed to book a given itinerary?

[todsul]

Hi brk, This was an in-house contest to test the skills of our experts. You can absolutely put up a similar contest to receive similar results. Love the idea about being able to book other flyers' itineraries. We're in a heavy product dev phase, so I'll share it with the team. Yes, in one sense we are bragging what real travel experts can do. The premise of Flightfox is, especially for high-value trips, you should leverage the skills and local knowledge of experts. Best.

[brk]

OK, thanks for the explanation.

So, how exactly would I use the site for my benefit (honest question from someone who books about 50-70K flight miles per year)?

[todsul]

If you visit the homepage, there's a "Get Started" button. The next page is a form asking for your trip details. Once you complete the form and pay the finder's fee, experts start competing to build you the best itinerary. You can communicate with the experts during the process to specify preferences. Clearly it works best with higher-value itineraries.

A more high level explanation is that Flightfox is a marketplace for freelance travel agents (and flight experts). We're bringing human travel experts online with a new crowdsourced model. Because customers pay a fixed fee upfront, we hope to remove the dependence on commissions. With diminishing commissions on flights, it's difficult to find agents who'll take the time to find you the best flights. That's what we're aiming to fix.

For frequent flyers like yourself, we're currently building out features to also earn/spend miles. I'm not sure if you do mileage runs or book award flights, but this is where we could become much more interesting for you.

[_casperc]

So does the travel agent book the flight for you when you award him the finder's fee?

I mean I know it says in your FAQ: "Our experts provide detailed booking instructions for you to buy those flights."

But I am just not totally clear on how this works and how the prices listed are provided. Could you elaborate? Also, is there potential for price differences when an agent finds prices for someone in another country?

[brk]

Thanks for the explanation, I understand the logistics of it now.