Web Sightings: Hipmunk.com helps find your flight

Is there room for another search engine for flights? If Hipmunk.com can truly save us time, then absolutely.

Search results are displayed in a radically different format that uses charts and colors to draw users into considering their flight options. The filtering happens visually, rather than through the more time-consuming display of say, Kayak.com, which requires users to check or uncheck preferences on flight times and number of stops.

We particularly like Hipmunk's "Agony" sort feature, which takes into account the price, duration and number of stops. It's easy to see which flight would be the least stressful.

We tested Hipmunk for an October round-trip between Los Angeles and New York. It returned a great $279 fare on three airlines, matching results from another search site, Travelocity.com. (That fare may no longer be available.)

But keep this in mind, Long Island MacArthur Airport-bound fliers: Hipmunk uses only data from Orbitz.com, which means Southwest Airlines is missing from the search results.

DESCRIPTION A new search engine for fliers

TARGET AUDIENCE Time-crunched travelers

BOTTOM LINE Takes some of the agony out of flying