I doubt this information comes as any surprise to anyone who pays attention to website usability and/or airfare prices… I’ve shopped for air this way ever since the online agencies started tacking “booking fees” on to air purchases.

The Online agencies have the best tools for finding the best air rates (especially Orbitz), but after you find those rates, it’s often times a few bucks cheaper to book with the airline direct.

The advantage here is clearly to the airlines. If they developed some better airfare search tools and maybe even came up with a competitive fare comparison tool , such as Progressive has done in the auto insurance industry, they may keep users from being tempted by the online agencies in the first place.

The online agencies, on the other hand, aren’t making much money on air tickets sold outside of a package. Coming up with some better value-adds might help - like an in-house points/rewards program…

Here’s the article from HotelMarketing:
Online travelers shop at Expedia & Co. but purchase direct


Tagged as: Travel Marketing, Online Marketing