Orbitz -- The Airlines Work Together and You SAVE...Or Do You?
Written: Jun 08 '01
The Bottom Line
Orbitz is the latest entrant into the online travel biz...give it a shot!
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If you've been under a rather large rock for the last few months, you may have missed the launch of Orbitz. Orbitz is a site co-owned by all the major airlines (American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United) that was formed to canvass all the information available on the web and in the GDS (the airline's reservation systems) and put it all in one place for the online consumer. If you think that this sounds great for you -- you're right. Consumers have real benefits if this site is executed correctly. Don't feel too bad for the airlines, though... by driving customers to the web and away from travel agents or 1-800 reservation lines, the airlines are saving money, too. It's one of those win-win situations marketing folks talk about till someone asks them to stop.
As of this writing (four days after it's launch), Orbitz is selling about 10,000 tickets per DAY. This is the fastest ramp in web history, as it took priceline a few months to get to that level. All has not been rosy, though -- the site almost never launched, as travel agents banded together to fight it, and it was sued by Southwest Airlines because it didn't list Southwest's inventory and pricing.
The site has also suffered some scalability problems, which is understandable at these levels and the customer service representatives need to be doubled in the next two weeks. It will be an interesting road for this site, for sure.
So what, exactly, is this Orbitz?
According to the site, Orbitz has the most available fares from over 450 airlines
It can scan more than two billion possibilities in seconds with the advanced search engine (we'll talk about this later).
And Orbitz has the most airline Web-only fares in the business.
Let's put the site through it's paces to see if it works.
The first thing you notice about the site is the interface. The folks from Orbitz are mostly consultants from BCG, so you can tell these guys really went to school on what users were looking for in a website. You'll be able to see the whole screen on any monitor bigger than 16', which is just about everyone & use of background colors vs. the relative lack of images makes the page a quick download. It probably looks great in all the browsers, but I didn't look in Netscape yet.
The tabs-based navigation makes it easy to understand where you can do and what to use the site for. Orbitz also makes two very plain to the user -- it has superior search technology and it's owned by the airlines. They don't want you to forget that!
They call their search box "The Orbot", and it's the first thing that you see when you log in. The FROM and TO boxes contain added "Where To?" and "Where From?" text prompts provide a nice additional touch for a new user. There are also some nice features that you can choose to use, including success stories of new Orbitz users and a real time flight finder, so you can track the plane you're interested in.
But the real key to Orbitz is the search technology. When you click in the From or To boxes, you can type in either a city or an airport code. Then, when you hit search, Orbitz works its magic. The screen goes blue. It reads, "Orbitz is searching all airline and more than 2 billion fares to get you the best prices!" Talk about playing up their technology!
When the search comes back, you're presented with a table and a list of fares. Pay close attention to the top of your screen, as this is where the interface really comes into play.
You can click on the icon for each airline, if you'd like to see what each individual airline has in it's system.
You can click on the stops icons to see the cheapest trips arranged by stopovers.
You can click on the price hotlinks to see all trips at that level of price and higher.
Web-only fares (the secret benefit of Orbitz), are marked with a red icon.
Does Orbitz work? Do you really get cheaper fares? According to a study commissioned by them, Arthur Andersen reps trolled the top 100 origin and destination cities and found that 80% of the time Orbitz had lower or equal fares than Travelocity and Expedia...no mention on how many times they tied, though.
My best bet? Try Orbitz. Find out how much the airlines are selling seats for. Then go to Hotwire and priceline to see if you can beat them. You're the consumer and on the web, you've got the power!
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Brian H
Location: Northeast
Reviews written: 297
Trusted by: 108 members
About Me: I'm an Internet GEEK.
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