Offbeat travel site Adioso roles out version three

Adioso, home of the open ended travel search, has just rolled out version three of its quirky travel site.  The third version of the site that began in 2008, unveils new ways to search and a few new money saving options.

The site is well known for its open ended search queries like:

• Sydney to Overseas
• London to Berlin late October
• Chicago to Anywhere
• Auckland to International under $500
• Phoenix to Atlanta 18 October

You can search for flights using the usual criteria of city to city on an actual date but that is just so Expedia.com.  It’s much more fun to leave things open by simply choosing a direction and a season.  For people who have open ended schedules and nontraditional jobs this type of service is wonderful. 

Now the service has broadened its search options to include destinations that are simply to continents or regions like:

• Atlanta to Australia
• San Francisco to Eastern Europe
• China to South America

Adioso considers its biggest change to be the addition of a “multi-airline route generator, that allows you to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on cross-country or transcontinental trips by joining together flights from different low-cost airlines.”  The site referenced such airlines as AirAsia, Jetstar, Virgin Blue and easyJet.  By stringing together a series of flights with smaller carriers, travelers can save tons of money. 

• Perth to Phuket offers a route consisting of two AirAsia flights for just AUD$180 one-way, $200 less than the cheapest direct flight on another airline.
• Ho Chi Minh City to Copenhagen will link flights from Jetstar, AirAsia and easyJet for USD$672 round trip, little over half the best fare from a traditional carrier.
• Edinburgh to Prague will get you there via Stanstead on easyJet for £42 – less than half what you’d pay a traditional airline.

The prices you’ll find on this site are amazing.  I didn’t know that there were still places you could fly for $59, but apparently there are.  You won’t get booked onto Delta or American Airlines but you will save money.  Your ability to be flexible is the most important factor.

As with all sites there are occasional glitches.  When I entered the search query, “Atlanta to anywhere roundtrip”,  I received a “Search Fail!” message that went on to say. “Struggled to complete search: Couldn’t find a place called "anywhere roundtrip”.  HMMM.

Using Adioso does have its limitations.  As I found out when I entered the above search:

What you need to know about Adioso

• Coverage is currently limited to about 4 months on most routes. This is because we’ve chosen to optimise for near-term, spontaneous travel.
• Being quite new, its coverage is limited to a small number of airlines in USA, Asia, Europe and Australia, but we’re working as fast we we can to cover the world.
• If you’re after a more traditional flight search service with better coverage and longer range, Hipmunk could be your friend.

Ah well, nothings perfect.

• 

• American Airlines tests mobile boarding passes
• FAA computer glitch causes air travel chaos
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• Google enters the airline travel business
• Travel firm accuses Bing of stealing its style