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The Online Airfare Booking Experiment
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All Rights Reserved:No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informationalstorage or retrieval system without expressed written, dated and signed permissionfrom the author.Disclaimer and/or Legal NoticeThe information presented herein represents the views of the author as of the date of the publication. Because of the rate with which the condition changes the authorreserves the right to alter and update the information based on any new condition.This report is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept anyresponsibilities for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information. While everyattempt has been made to verify the information given here, the author cannotassume any responsibilities for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.
The Online Airfare Booking Experiment
©
William Manor -U.S. Passport Service Guide Page 3
Online Travel Is a Booming Business
Do you make purchases online? While a lot of folks who are reluctant to do so, thereare a growing number who are finding that the internet is a great way to buy whatthey want or need without leaving the comfort of their own homes. This is especiallytrue for travel services. Of all the products and services that consumers purchaseonline, travel is at the top. Just look at some of the figures.
YEAR BOOKING REVENUE % OF TOTAL U.S. TRAVEL REVENUE2003
$46 billion 20%
2004
$54 billion 23%
2005
$62 billion 26%
2006
$70 billion 28%
2007
$77 billion 30%
2008
$84 billion 31%
2009
$91 billion 33%
Source: JupiterResearch Internet Travel Model, 2004
Plunkett Researchrefers to online travel booking as “the most successful niche of all of the world’s e-commerce efforts.” Since online travel booking is such a big business, it isno wonder that more and more booking agents are appearing online. There areliterally dozens. So, when it comes time for you to book your airfare, which one shouldyou use? Is there any that you should avoid? Is there a booking service thatconsistently offers the lowest prices?
The Online Travel Booking Experiment
is an attempt to answer these questions. Wetested airfare prices on 14 different booking services. The goal was not to find thelowest possible fare for a particular route. That would have meant employing othertechniques such as choosing different departure dates, airports, lengths of stay, etc.The goal was merely to determine if any one online booking service consistentlypresented travelers with the lowest price on airfare compared to their competition.Why survey 14 services? Booking services use different computer reservation systemsor databases of available airfares. Computer reservation systems include Abacus,Amadeus, Galileo, SABRE and Worldspan. All these systems are represented by thebooking services that we surveyed.
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