The distribution problem has been solved for many years - travel agents were disrupted in the first wave of the web.
Hipmunk tried to create a friendlier UX than what Kayak, Expedia, et. al were trying to provide, but it wasn't a step change.
I think RouteHappy was the last travel startup that caught my attention. In fact, I was thinking of doing the same thing, but they beat me to it :) They brought visibility to data about the flights such as seat width, pitch, inflight entertainment/connectivity, inflight power, etc. that had been hiding in other places (SeatGuru, various travel review and business travel interest sites such as TPG).
But, they were acquired, which meant that they were more a feature than an independent distribution channel.
I'd love to see what this person is doing but as a viable business, based on current travel-agency-commission business models, I can't imagine anything that couldn't be copied by the big travel companies in an instant.
We need new business models here, or at least a strong incentive to go back to fee-for-service travel agents...
I think RouteHappy was the last travel startup that caught my attention. In fact, I was thinking of doing the same thing, but they beat me to it :) They brought visibility to data about the flights such as seat width, pitch, inflight entertainment/connectivity, inflight power, etc. that had been hiding in other places (SeatGuru, various travel review and business travel interest sites such as TPG).
But, they were acquired, which meant that they were more a feature than an independent distribution channel.
I'd love to see what this person is doing but as a viable business, based on current travel-agency-commission business models, I can't imagine anything that couldn't be copied by the big travel companies in an instant.
We need new business models here, or at least a strong incentive to go back to fee-for-service travel agents...