Salon Wanderlust | Road Warrior: I booked it online

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T A B L E_T A L K
A Wanderlust reader needs advice on an upcoming trip to Argentina. Don't cry for him, post your advice in Table Talk

R E C E N T L Y
America, grow up!
By David Downie
The French and Italians decry the Clinton brouhaha
(01/29/98)
Passages
By Ralph McCarthy
Four views of the expat's life in Japan
(01/28/98)
Paradise found
By Tracy Johnston
An unspoiled oasis in the Egyptian desert
(01/27/98)
Neglected Classics
By Pete Hamill
Erico Verissimo's extraordinary "Mexico" deserves to be republished
(01/26/98)
Mondo Weirdo
By Tim Wall
Bad trip: The pilots locked themselves out of the cockpit!
(01/23/98)

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Your virtual travel agency

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Browse the
Road warrior archives

Road Warrior+|+P A G E+2+O F +2

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HAVING ACCESS TO ALL YOUR OPTIONS
CAN ALSO LEAD TO MAJOR SAVINGS
"You have better information," says Lois Shore, vice president of marketing at the Internet Travel Network ( which provides the reservations system for Salon Wanderlust Marketplace). "I have been a very frequent business traveler for about the last 15 years, and I never had a travel agent say to me, 'If you leave an hour earlier, or if you leave an hour later and come home at 8 o'clock instead of 7 o'clock, your ticket will be $500 less.' I had no idea there was prime-time flying until I started booking online, and it became so clear to me."
(Of course, some travel agents will do the extra work required to find this information and will pass it on to their customers. But again, it's a question of control: Do you want to rely on a travel agent who may or may not research these options, or do you want to do the research yourself?)
Travel Weekly reported in December that employees of Texas Instruments saved an average of 15 percent on their travel expenditures after switching to online booking through a corporate booking program offered through ITN.
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LOWER FARES ARE EASIER TO FIND
One of the biggest misconceptions about online travel is that the prices listed on the Web are lower than those provided by travel agents. In fact, all travel agents -- digital and human -- use the same databases. What's different is that with online agents, lower fares can be automatically brought to your attention, because their computers scour the CRS lists for the lowest fares possible and then present their findings in easy-to-access fare-mail or fare-ticker form.
These formats vary from site to site, but there are two basic methods of conveying low-fare information: e-mail or on the Web site itself. All major online agencies provide a low-fare area on their site, where you can scan for the lowest fares to your destination of choice. Through Expedia, ITN and Travelocity, you can sign up for fare-mail, with similar listings, to be sent to you daily or weekly. ITN provides Netscape users with a Java ticker that continues to list low prices onto a pop-up window even after you leave the site. All these tools are useful for comparative shopping.
In addition, Web sites occasionally offer special promotions that actually do offer lower prices than anything your local travel agent can provide. For example, I fly to Seattle frequently on Alaska Airlines. Alaska's site lists weekly Web specials. You are restricted to certain times and departure/arrival points, but if you check back often, you can score a round-trip ticket for up to half the price you'd pay regularly. Such deals are offered only online -- sometimes by the airlines themselves on their individual sites, and sometimes by a service site in partnership with an airline.
In fact, encouraged by growing online sales and the simplicity of paperless ticketing, airlines are increasingly offering a variety of Web-only specials for customers of Internet agencies.
"[ITN] did a promotion where if you booked an American Airlines ticket, you got a virtual certificate for a second ticket at 50 percent off," says Shore. "It was an industry first because there was no paper involved: Use this name and use this number, access this special site and you actually do your redemption online."
Travelocity ran a similar promotion last November with TWA. Purchasers of an e-ticket received $75 off toward a ticket to anywhere in the U.S., San Juan or Toronto.
In the case of such Web specials, it is possible to get a lower price than you could at a traditional agency. On the other hand, traditional ticketing outlets offer their own special deals, such as newspaper coupons, storefront specials and courier flights.
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ONLINE SITES ARE FEE FREE
Travel agents, squeezed by cuts in airline commissions, are increasingly charging customers for transactions. According to a report in the Jan. 11 San Francisco Examiner travel section, such fees are running between $10 and $40. So far, online sites aren't following suit.
Online sites do have another problem to contend with, however. Every time a user looks up a fare online, the CRS makes note of it. If too many "looks" occur without a decent ratio of purchases taking place, CRSs start charging per look. Because many visitors to online travel sites browse for fun and don't buy, these charges can end up costing agencies big money.
"There's a CRS fee associated with every look that a consumer does, and that fee varies according to the deal the site has cut with its particular CRS. But that's something the sites have to be aware of," says Vanderbilt. "They have to make sure they don't get too many false [hits] in order to stay in the good graces of the airlines."
Despite this, Vanderbilt says, it's unlikely online agencies will pass on these costs to their users. "I think it's going to be tough. The first site that does it is going to be taking a big leap of faith that others will follow. But I think that -- particularly because the Internet is a place where comparison shopping is so easy, and it's a place where people are looking for good deals -- those fees might be a very significant disadvantage to any site that would take the plunge."
The other logical action for online agents is to restrict user browsing. For example, after spending 15 or so minutes clicking around Travelocity's booking area, I was booted off, although that's rare, according to Dawn Caesar, public relations manager for Travelocity.
"Travelocity allows members to browse without restriction. If there is a special promotion or fare available that pushes traffic levels to an extremely high level, Travelocity does limit access to Travelocity members," says Caesar.
Expedia will warn users who spend too much time shopping without buying, but the user has to look more than 200 times in a day to elicit such a response.
Access to ITN and Preview Travel is unlimited. "We believe that online shopping should allow shoppers to search for as many flights as they like. We think it would be a mistake to kick people off," says Preview's Pernick.
If online sites do eventually decide to restrict user browsing, comparative shoppers simply should have a good idea of what they're looking for before logging on. It still beats a $40 service charge.
SALON | Jan. 30, 1998
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MONDAY: Once you decide to go online for your travel plans, things get more complicated. Mainly, which site do you choose? Learn about the top four travel sites, how they differ and which site is best for you.


- - - - - - - - - - T A B L E_T A L K A Wanderlust reader needs advice on an upcoming trip to Argentina. Don't cry for him, post your advice in Table Talk R E C E N T L Y America, grow up! By David Downie The French and Italians decry the Clinton brouhaha (01/29/98) Passages By Ralph McCarthy Four views of the expat's life in Japan (01/28/98) Paradise found By Tracy Johnston An unspoiled oasis in the Egyptian desert (01/27/98) Neglected Classics By Pete Hamill Erico Verissimo's extraordinary "Mexico" deserves to be republished (01/26/98) Mondo Weirdo By Tim Wall Bad trip: The pilots locked themselves out of the cockpit! (01/23/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Your virtual travel agency - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Road warrior archives		Road Warrior+\|+P A G E+2+O F +2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - HAVING ACCESS TO ALL YOUR OPTIONS CAN ALSO LEAD TO MAJOR SAVINGS "You have better information," says Lois Shore, vice president of marketing at the Internet Travel Network ( which provides the reservations system for Salon Wanderlust Marketplace). "I have been a very frequent business traveler for about the last 15 years, and I never had a travel agent say to me, 'If you leave an hour earlier, or if you leave an hour later and come home at 8 o'clock instead of 7 o'clock, your ticket will be $500 less.' I had no idea there was prime-time flying until I started booking online, and it became so clear to me." (Of course, some travel agents will do the extra work required to find this information and will pass it on to their customers. But again, it's a question of control: Do you want to rely on a travel agent who may or may not research these options, or do you want to do the research yourself?) Travel Weekly reported in December that employees of Texas Instruments saved an average of 15 percent on their travel expenditures after switching to online booking through a corporate booking program offered through ITN. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LOWER FARES ARE EASIER TO FIND One of the biggest misconceptions about online travel is that the prices listed on the Web are lower than those provided by travel agents. In fact, all travel agents -- digital and human -- use the same databases. What's different is that with online agents, lower fares can be automatically brought to your attention, because their computers scour the CRS lists for the lowest fares possible and then present their findings in easy-to-access fare-mail or fare-ticker form. These formats vary from site to site, but there are two basic methods of conveying low-fare information: e-mail or on the Web site itself. All major online agencies provide a low-fare area on their site, where you can scan for the lowest fares to your destination of choice. Through Expedia, ITN and Travelocity, you can sign up for fare-mail, with similar listings, to be sent to you daily or weekly. ITN provides Netscape users with a Java ticker that continues to list low prices onto a pop-up window even after you leave the site. All these tools are useful for comparative shopping. In addition, Web sites occasionally offer special promotions that actually do offer lower prices than anything your local travel agent can provide. For example, I fly to Seattle frequently on Alaska Airlines. Alaska's site lists weekly Web specials. You are restricted to certain times and departure/arrival points, but if you check back often, you can score a round-trip ticket for up to half the price you'd pay regularly. Such deals are offered only online -- sometimes by the airlines themselves on their individual sites, and sometimes by a service site in partnership with an airline. In fact, encouraged by growing online sales and the simplicity of paperless ticketing, airlines are increasingly offering a variety of Web-only specials for customers of Internet agencies. "[ITN] did a promotion where if you booked an American Airlines ticket, you got a virtual certificate for a second ticket at 50 percent off," says Shore. "It was an industry first because there was no paper involved: Use this name and use this number, access this special site and you actually do your redemption online." Travelocity ran a similar promotion last November with TWA. Purchasers of an e-ticket received $75 off toward a ticket to anywhere in the U.S., San Juan or Toronto. In the case of such Web specials, it is possible to get a lower price than you could at a traditional agency. On the other hand, traditional ticketing outlets offer their own special deals, such as newspaper coupons, storefront specials and courier flights. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ONLINE SITES ARE FEE FREE Travel agents, squeezed by cuts in airline commissions, are increasingly charging customers for transactions. According to a report in the Jan. 11 San Francisco Examiner travel section, such fees are running between $10 and $40. So far, online sites aren't following suit. Online sites do have another problem to contend with, however. Every time a user looks up a fare online, the CRS makes note of it. If too many "looks" occur without a decent ratio of purchases taking place, CRSs start charging per look. Because many visitors to online travel sites browse for fun and don't buy, these charges can end up costing agencies big money. "There's a CRS fee associated with every look that a consumer does, and that fee varies according to the deal the site has cut with its particular CRS. But that's something the sites have to be aware of," says Vanderbilt. "They have to make sure they don't get too many false [hits] in order to stay in the good graces of the airlines." Despite this, Vanderbilt says, it's unlikely online agencies will pass on these costs to their users. "I think it's going to be tough. The first site that does it is going to be taking a big leap of faith that others will follow. But I think that -- particularly because the Internet is a place where comparison shopping is so easy, and it's a place where people are looking for good deals -- those fees might be a very significant disadvantage to any site that would take the plunge." The other logical action for online agents is to restrict user browsing. For example, after spending 15 or so minutes clicking around Travelocity's booking area, I was booted off, although that's rare, according to Dawn Caesar, public relations manager for Travelocity. "Travelocity allows members to browse without restriction. If there is a special promotion or fare available that pushes traffic levels to an extremely high level, Travelocity does limit access to Travelocity members," says Caesar. Expedia will warn users who spend too much time shopping without buying, but the user has to look more than 200 times in a day to elicit such a response. Access to ITN and Preview Travel is unlimited. "We believe that online shopping should allow shoppers to search for as many flights as they like. We think it would be a mistake to kick people off," says Preview's Pernick. If online sites do eventually decide to restrict user browsing, comparative shoppers simply should have a good idea of what they're looking for before logging on. It still beats a $40 service charge. SALON \| Jan. 30, 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MONDAY: Once you decide to go online for your travel plans, things get more complicated. Mainly, which site do you choose? Learn about the top four travel sites, how they differ and which site is best for you.