How to get side-by-side comparisons of in-flight features before you buy

Routehappy has taken flight metasearch beyond airfares and schedules, and now is enabling side-by-side comparisons of flights and their features, including seat size, in-flight entertainment, power outlets, Wi-Fi, bag fees, and traveler ratings.

The New York startup, which launched in 2012, has offered its “happiness” rankings for months, displaying an individual flight’s amenities, but now Routehappy offers side-by-side comparisons of up to four flights at a time.

You can see, from this Routehappy screenshot (below), that comparisons can go beyond the aircraft type, airfares and overall Routehappy rankings, and you can also see that the JetBlue flight has the most legroom, the Virgin America and Delta flights have plugs, USB connectors and Wi-Fi, and that United displays its movies overhead rather than on setbacks.

Routehappy’s new comparison tool delves into each flight’s aircraft quality, seat type and size, seat layout, entertainment, in-seat power, Wi-Fi, flyer ratings, and whether there is a bag fee.

Other sites don’t take the comparisons to this level. Kayak, for example, enables users to “pin” flights, which saves them so you can compare fares, schedules, stops, and Wi-Fi availability. But, even these limited amenity comparisons for Wi-Fi aren’t side by side; you have to mouse over a button to view Wi-Fi or red eye information about individual flights.

In other developments, Routehappy introduced a somewhat Hipmunk-like “happy and cheap” filter for flight-search results, although it doesn’t have Hipmunk’s graphical appeal.

“An algorithm determines the happiest and cheapest options in any result set and displays a short, curated list of options representing the best value on any given route,” Routehappy says.