Yes, we know — Another travel site promising to take the pain out of finding flights. There’s been… oh, about 50 sites claiming the same thing in the last few years. But Hipmunk.com might finally be the revolution in travel sites we’ve been waiting for. It’s simple, usable, and most important of all, it’s fast!

Just launched this week, Hipmunk.com re-visualizes what flight searches look like. Just enter the basic info — Arrival and departure city, departure date, and (optionally) return date. Hipmunk searches travel sites for the best deals and returns them in a format that’s probably best seen rather than described:



Once you get your bearings with this layout, the ease-of-use becomes rather clear. The horizontal bars represent the duration of the flight (with times given in both the arrival and departure’s time zones), and any layovers in the trip (as well as their duration) are indicated by the tan bands in the middle of the flight.

The fun comes in when you decide to change your sorting options, given in the blue bar across the top. Sort the list by shortest flight, arrival time, price, and what the site calls “agony”, a general measure of the undesirability of the flight.

My favorite feature here is how the site automatically hides “worse” options for the same or similar flight — The same flight offered at a higher price, the same flight but a longer duration, etc. I hate trying to mentally weed these options out at other travel sites, and this really helps you cut through the clutter and find the best deals for the least amount of hassle.

The best part is that Hipmunk is promising even more features rolling out soon. My only wish is that they not detract from the beautiful simplicity and ease-of-use the site delivers.

While you’re at it, take a look at our tips on how to save time while traveling and avoid airport hassle after you’ve actually bought your tickets. Bon voyage!

Hipmunk.com – Better Flight Search

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