RE: UKNM: why buying transatlantic online seems a waste of time..

[Paul ODonoghue]

IMHO - the main problem facing the travel market is that they all operate

their online services with the same technology that they use in the high st.

They still(and I would like to be corrected if I am wrong)have to go through

or interrogate one of the Global Distribution Systems to access fares etc.

As far as I can see the only benefit to booking a flight or holiday online

(from a consumer point of view) is the ability to do it on your backside at

work or at home and not have to walk to a high st outlet. I have tried in

the past to book flights online and have given up. A simple exercise is to

go to one of the main holiday sites and try book a "city break" to say

Barcelona on a given weekend, it takes time and can be very frustrating. It

is still easier to buy/book a flight/holiday over the phone or in a high

street shop. On a positive note, the online sites are great for destination

info, if the site provides it.


The best deals are still found on the high st, or by simply calling the call

centre numbers on the sites and letting one of their representatives look

for you.


Paul O'Donoghue

Communications Planning Manager - New Media

Citrus

020 7577 9352

http://www.citruspublishing.com



-----Original Message-----

From: Leslie Bunder [

Leslie [dot] Bunderentranet [dot] co [dot] uk (mailto:Leslie [dot] Bunderentranet [dot] co [dot] uk)

]

Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 2:47 PM

To:

uknmchinwag [dot] com

Subject: UKNM: why buying transatlantic online seems a waste of time..



Putting on my hat as a online consumer, I decided i wanted to book online

for a flight I will be taking to Toronto in November... and all i want is a

good deal which i thought you could get online...but despite all the hype of

online travel agents, it really seems impossible to find deals...


Having been to every single major site such as ebookers, travelselect,

travelstore, thomas cook, airline network... the price of my flight is the

same with all of them...


Pricing is one important element of booking online and it seems amazing that

all of these sites are charging exactly the same! - despite all of them

claiming to offer "great deals"....


I even tried using Kelkoo to see how good it's comparison service is for

flights but alas that was pretty poor as it was slow and just gave me one

page displaying travelselect... ('er I thought the whole point was to

compare prices, but comparing seems rather odd...)


Yes, it is good to book online and saves time on the phone to trailfinders

or another agent, but really...when you are actually trying to book

something online, deals can be hard to find...



Leslie


------------------------------------------------------------

Leslie Bunder, Content Partner Manager

Entranet

Email:

Leslie [dot] Bunderentranet [dot] co [dot] uk

Tel:	07799 710831

Web:    www.entranet.co.uk



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