KAYAK

Summary

As an avid traveler, I am always searching the web for the best deals out there on flights. Like for many people out there, Kayak.com has become a very important tool for me to compare the prices of different airlines. It’s a very useful site that searches through airline websites and online travel agencies to find the best price there is. Now you can use this service from the comfort of your smartphone with the Kayak Flight and Hotel Search mobile app!

The Kayak Flight and Hotel Search app is basically a compact version of the online service that includes all of the features available on the website. Not only is it great for finding super flight deals, but the app can also be used for all your travel planning needs. Having a Kayak account is a plus because it gives you the option of selecting a default departure airport and conducting a flexible search for flights.

The Kayak app is divided into the following sections:

• Flights: Search for round-trip, one-way or multi-city flights anywhere in the world.
• Hotels: Search for affordable hotels in any city.
• Car Rentals: Search for deals on car rentals with any of the major car renting companies.
• Trips: Here you can synchronize your phone’s calendar with your trips. To do so email your bookings receipts to trips@kayak.com and they’ll automatically show up in this section.
• Buzz: Shows you the best deals for a specific month. You can see graph showing you all of the price fluctuations with the absolute and best price averages. This is very useful for those of you that are flexible and planning your vacation around the best deals.
• Status: Track the status of your flight, gate and baggage claim. Just enter in the airline, flight number and departure date to add your flight to tracking. I can’t praise this feature enough and it’s guaranteed to keep you informed before you even get to the airport.
• Airlines: Lists all the airlines in the world including their phone numbers and a link to their websites.
• Airports: Shows all major US airports. Unfortunately, it doesn’t display other airports. Press Current Location to find the nearest airport.
• Fees: With airlines starting to charge fees for just about anything (Ryanair may be charging for using their restrooms soon!), this feature lets you know in advance how much each airline charges for baggage, meals and other extras. Only 27 airlines included so far.
• Settings: Here you can adjust the server location, select your currency and sign in to your Kayak account.
• Widget: Add a Kayak widget to your account that can show either fare or flight alerts. This way you can keep track of your flight status by just taking a look at the desktop.
• Twitter: Read through Kayak’s twitter feed.
• Feedback: Leave a comment and rating for the app.
• About

Bottom Line:

This app is extremely useful for travelers looking to find a good deal. It’s great to be able to search through the Kayak database directly from your Android device. The best part is that Kayak is just a search engine and not a travel agent, so you won’t get charged any of those pesky additional fees. The prices that are listed in the search results include taxes and surcharges. One of the app’s most useful features is the flight status tracking, which keeps you informed about any possible changes or delays to your flight. I also really loved the way Kayak presents you with a detailed chart of projected flight prices for the coming months. It’s awesome to see an app that packs so many features into one.

All your features are located in one clear list when you open the map. Everything can be accessed via the touchscreen and you’ll only need to press the menu
button to exit out of the app. Very efficient!

The design and layout is similar to the website and has a nice minimalist feel to it.

In a nutshell, Kayak Flight and Hotel Search is extremely easy to use and nice to look at!

This section really kills the overall rating for this app. During my test, the app kept on force closing every time I tried searching for flights. I don’t know if this is just something related to my HTC Hero, but it’s a huge problem! Although all of the other features worked smoothly, the fact that I couldn’t search for flights without the app crashing is just a huge embarrassment. If they can get that bug fixed, Kayak Flight and Hotel Search would be amazing.

Kayak Flight and Hotel Search can be downloaded for free from the Android Market. An ad banner is displayed at the bottom of your search results. Take advantage of the app’s flight tracking feature because most other Android flight tracking apps are pretty expensive.