We endure long lines, subject ourselves to full body scans, and sometimes we deal with flight delays and cancelations. Wouldn't it be nice to have a pleasant flight once we board the plane? We asked flyers what was most important to them when booking a flight.
"Definitely the price," said Grace Devera of San Jose.
"Price is the main thing," said Will Brookes of London.
"Usually price," said Brady DeLeon of San Francisco.
Websites likes Kayak, Travelocity, and Orbitz all allow you to compare prices. Now, a new travel site allows you to compare prices and much more.
"Route Happy is a brand new website that helps flyers find comfier seats, nicer planes and all the bells and whistles," said Bob Albert, the Founder and CEO of Route Happy.
Route Happy assigns each flight a happiness score based on amenities it thinks are important to flyers. And what are those amenities? We went to the travelers to find out.
"One thing... I like to have good Internet service," said Harry Raialton of Las Vegas.
"Legroom," said Kimberly Carter of Atlanta.
"The availability of different channels on the TV," said Grace Devera of San Jose.
Route Happy rates each flight according to all the extras. The closer to a perfect 10, the happier the flyer.
"And there are hidden gems. So you can find more legroom for exactly the lowest price. You don't actually have to pay more in all cases," said Albert.
To help you find those gems, Route Happy has filters to narrow the amenity down to those you want. You can click the "happy and cheap" filter to get the lowest prices. If you're looking for Wi-Fi and plugs you can filter to find those flights. Same with legroom or any other attribute you might like. So is this something travelers would want?
"Yeah, if you were comparing price versus quality, then that would be a good idea," said Brookes.
"I'd go directly to the airline website," said Raialton.
"I think it's also important to have a third-party perspective as opposed to having the airline themselves tell you how they rated or how they rate themselves for the service they provide," said Barrett Carter of Atlanta.
Most people we talked to said they would use a website like Route Happy. But there's one amenity that travelers told us they overwhelmingly want, that Route Happy doesn't currently rate.
"The friendliness of the staff on the flight," said Carter.
"The staff friendliness," said Devera.
"As long as someone's around and is friendly and courteous towards me, that's the most important thing really," said Brookes.
Using the website is free. There are no memberships or fees to use Route Happy.
