Wish I'd known about this change a few weeks ago - would have tried the new format - wife just booked a flight. I used flightfox once before, and while the idea was novel, the execution was... a bit weird.
Something that wasn't addressed in this article write up was how customers felt. I felt bad for having 4 or 5 people doing work on my behalf, giving them feedback ("change these days, find it cheaper", etc) then only 'awarding' one of them. I did not enjoy that experience - it made me feel like I was abusing their time.
Additionally, I never quite got the price my FF person found me - perhaps I waited too long, or something else happened. I think he'd sent me a screenshot showing that he was being shown that price as available, but when I went to the airline (delta, iirc) I wasn't getting that price. I was still getting a better price than I'd been aware of before, but not quite as good as what the guide claimed to have found.
Again, the contest format was not just bad for the reasons listed - users (well, at least this one) felt uncomfortable using it.
Something that wasn't addressed in this article write up was how customers felt. I felt bad for having 4 or 5 people doing work on my behalf, giving them feedback ("change these days, find it cheaper", etc) then only 'awarding' one of them. I did not enjoy that experience - it made me feel like I was abusing their time.
Additionally, I never quite got the price my FF person found me - perhaps I waited too long, or something else happened. I think he'd sent me a screenshot showing that he was being shown that price as available, but when I went to the airline (delta, iirc) I wasn't getting that price. I was still getting a better price than I'd been aware of before, but not quite as good as what the guide claimed to have found.
Again, the contest format was not just bad for the reasons listed - users (well, at least this one) felt uncomfortable using it.
Good luck with the new format!