Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley
\nAugust 2007 Issue
\nJuly 12, 2007<\/p>\n
Virtually Stranded: Booking Trips Online Not Perfect<\/strong><\/p>\n Half of all long-distance trips and vacations in the United States are planned online, according to Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt. I\u2019m among the Americans who has booked flights, reserved hotel rooms, and arranged car rental online. I\u2019ve even made dinner reservations online.<\/p>\n Harteveldt recently told the New York Times<\/em> that 77 million Americans taking trips in 2007 will buy their airline tickets and book hotel rooms online this year, up from 62.4 million in 2005. By 2009, online travel spending in the U.S. alone is projected to reach $110.5 billion \u2014 making it the leading form of e-commerce. Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz, and HotWire dominate the online business.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve used Priceline and HotWire, but I have found that booking directly with airlines was often cheaper. In the last few years, I have flown with American, Frontier, Alaska\/Horizon, and Northwest. Frontier was much cheaper via their company Web site than though an online broker. Northwest Airlines, however, was slightly cheaper through HotWire for some reason.<\/p>\n The real challenge online was discovering which airlines flew non-stop or limited-stop routes from Fresno-Yosemite International to my destinations. One of the airline Web sites required that I recall Fresno\u2019s designation is still FAT; thankfully, most Web sites let you select airports by city name. I spent more than an hour online dealing with a trip from Fresno to Minneapolis-St. Paul. When I finally booked the flight, it was more an act of surrender than the result of finding the best price.<\/p>\n I actually gave up on the airline\u2019s site and went to HotWire. I\u2019m glad I did, since it turned out to be cheaper. But I went to HotWire and Priceline because I was frustrated, not because I thought of them first. The online brokers are lucky the airlines can\u2019t seem to locate good Web designers. Airline Web sites are examples of the worst designs possible.<\/p>\n There are too many fields for input and some force you to use pop-up calendars when I find it faster to type a date. Good Web sites allow you to tab through data fields, never forcing you to fight the interface. There are more than a dozen data fields on some airline Web sites. One site I\u2019ve checked has nearly two dozen fields on the main search page.<\/p>\n By comparison, HotWire displays only four fields, including the ability to type dates. I love the design, which follows the Google concept of simplest is often best. Priceline is okay, but they do force you to select dates from six separate lists. I\u2019d rather fight a pop-up calendar than try to select day, month, and year using my laptop\u2019s trackpad. I\u2019m that dying breed who finds typing faster than clicking. The simplicity of the broker sites is one reason I don\u2019t plan to price shop on the airline sites anymore, even if I save a few dollars.<\/p>\n One reason airline sites are a better buy, at least in theory, is that you are guaranteed a level of customer service. Basically, I think this is a ploy to keep you from using the brokers for every flight.<\/p>\n Last year I was honored to represent Fresno State at a convention in Lubbock, Texas. After booking a flight through a broker I was asked if I wanted to buy something called \u201ccancellation and connection insurance.\u201d This was offered because I had to switch carriers during a connection in Dallas. I had always assumed that if I missed a flight through an act of nature or the airline that I was protected. It turns out that\u2019s not always the case. I read the contract several times before deciding the few dollars was worth the cost. I wasn\u2019t going to navigate the airline Web page to save less than twenty dollars.<\/p>\n Before airlines were deregulated, there was a federal requirement known as \u201cRule 240\u201d that protected passengers from cancellations and missed connections. Apparently this rule is now \u201cvoluntary\u201d (you can guess what that means); most airlines post their Rule 240 (or \u201cSchedule Irregularity\u201d) policy online. Read this policy! Some airlines treat you differently if you buy the ticket from a broker instead of through the airline\u2019s Web site.<\/p>\n As a result of such policies, the online broker Travelocity is offering more customer support specialists to resolve travel problems. You can call their phone number and a human will help you deal with the airline, hotel, or car rental agency. Priceline and HotWire have also announced expanded support services and guarantees without an extra charge.<\/p>\n Of course, these companies are now doing what travel agents once did. When I wanted the lowest fare from Visalia to Denver years ago, an agent compared prices and handled all the confusing connections choices. Starting in the mid-1990s, airlines cut the commissions agents received. Agents today focus on tours, groups, and the booming cruise industry. I\u2019ve been told by two travel agents that it\u2019s easier to tell potential clients to use the Internet for one-time business trips.<\/p>\n The irony is that the online brokers do receive commissions, but they are very small payments as a percentage of ticket prices. Like Amazon selling books at a discount, the travel brokers depend on volume. Also, the brokers hope you book everything through them, not just your flight.<\/p>\n Like so many industries affected by the Internet, travel agencies have been forced to evolve or close. Personally, I feel stranded by most travel Web sites. Maybe other people know airport designations, memorize their frequent flier accounts, and enjoy reading pages of flight options.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure if things are better without an agent\u2019s help. I appreciated not having to spend an hour online to take care of a trip. The thrill of finding a low airfare might be like locating a collectible on eBay for some people, but I\u2019m not a compulsive \u201chunter\u201d on the Internet. The Web is supposed to make my life easier, not force me to become a de facto travel agent.<\/p>\n My feeling is that if airlines want me to deal with their horrendous Web pages, they should serve me a full meal and not charge me for the movie headphones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley August 2007 Issue July 12, 2007 Virtually Stranded: Booking Trips Online Not Perfect Half of all long-distance trips and vacations in…<\/p>\n