Orbitz.com: A few clicks, and away you go!
Written: May 18 '02 (Updated May 16 '05)
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If you use the internet to lookup information on travel, then there’s a good chance that you have used Orbitz.com, a full- service travel web site. This service was established by people from American, Delta, Continental, United, and Northwest Airlines. Employees of these five airlines joined forces to create Orbitz.com, with a special emphasis on finding airfare.
How Does This Service Work?
From the home page, Orbitz.com is ready to launch you into the flight search function. You just enter your airport code or city name for departure and arrival, along with the dates and the number of travelers. Or, you can select the full search option. Full search allows you to enter a few more pieces of criteria, to narrow your search down a little. You can choose the approximate time of day that you wish to fly, the cabin preference (first class, coach, etc.), and the number of stops that you prefer. You can also have Orbitz.com search for flights from other airports, within a specified distance (25, 50, or 100 miles) of your chosen airport.
The flight results display in groups of 20, in order of price with the least expensive flight listed first. If you want, you can change the sorting to list the flights by either departure times or by shortest flights. One thing that’s unique about Orbitz.com is that it allows you to view all of the possible matches. This could easily number 100 or more possible flight options. With other travel services, you are allowed to see only the best 10 matches or the best 20 matches. These other services require that you change one or more of your criteria, like the time of day that you prefer to fly, in order to see more options. But Orbitz.com lets you view all of the possible flights that fit the dates you specified.
Making a Purchase:
If you decide to you want to make a purchase, you must setup an account with Orbitz.com first. Membership is free, and all you need to do is enter your e-mail address (which becomes your Orbitz.com user id), name, password, zip code, and preferred airport. Once you have the id established, you can then proceed with your purchase.
There is a limit of 4 airline tickets per transaction. Orbitz.com will add a service charge of $5.00 for your first ticket, or $10 total if you purchase 2, 3, or 4 tickets. In addition, if your flight is on an airline that does not pay Orbitz.com a commission, then you can expect to pay another $10 charge per ticket. These Orbitz.com charter associates (airlines that do pay the Orbitz.com commission) include about 40 airlines, with most of the major airlines like American, United, USAirways, Delta. In most all cases, you won’t have to pay the extra $10 fee.
Other Services:
Flights are the main reason that I use Orbitz.com, but the site does offer other services. It’s a full service site, and it also allows you to search for hotels, rental cars, cruises, and complete vacation packages.
With lodging searches, you can specify more than just the dates of arrival and the number of nights. You can also specify the minimum required amenities that you prefer, along with the minimum “luxury” rating, as designated by the number of stars that each hotel receives (1 being lowest, up to 5 which is the highest). When you get your results list, you can then sort your results by star rating, name, or distance from the airport.
Each hotel shows you the price per day, and the estimated total charge based on the number of nights that you intend to stay. If you want to find out more, you can click on a link that will show you the amenities, a map of the location, and possibly some photos.
Cruise searches and car rentals work in a similar way. The car rental search is pretty basic, since there isn’t much elaboration needed when you purchase a car rental. The cruise searches are more involved. They show a total price per person, port of departure, number of nights, etc. If you want to see more, you just click the link and you will see a trip itinerary, map of the cruise route, etc. The price that is quoted does not include airfare or taxes.
Final Thoughts:
Orbitz.com is a handy, full- service travel web site. It has the usual things you expect to find in a travel web site, plus a few extras.
Some of the search features in Orbitz.com offer more than you would find in other travel sites. The flight search function, for example, has additional features to help you find a flight. I don’t know of any other flight search function that allows multiple airports to be searched all at once. You specify an airport, and then you indicate whether or not you would like to search other airports within 25, 50, or 100 miles. Then, you can sort by price to see the best deals. This is helpful, but you need to watch your screen results closely. Some of the results will show one departure city, and then arrive back at a different city. For example, if I select the Dayton airport as my main departure, and then request other airports within 100 miles, I will also get results for Cincinnati and Columbus. Mixed into the results are flights that depart Cincinnati or Columbus, but then return back to Dayton. I can’t find any way, in the search criteria, to eliminate this from happening. That’s why you have to watch closely, to make sure that you don’t accidentally select a flight that leaves from one airport, then returns back to a completely different airport.
The hotel searches are also good, and I like the way that you can change the sorting of the results to make it easier to find the hotel of choice. I think the information provided is good, too, and so is the number of hotel selections. The only negative I can find here is the lack of pictures. Some hotels show interior pictures of the rooms, but others show only an outside view of the building. And other search results show no photos at all. A few more pictures would make this a little better.
Cruises and car rental searches are ok, but nothing special. If you’re serious about taking a cruise, I would probably check other sites first that specialize in cruise vacations since those web sites are usually much more detailed. Then, you can come back to Orbitz.com to see if the same cruise is offered at a lower cost.
Page loads are a little slower than with other sites, but you need to keep in mind that the results are much more extensive. Unlike other sites that show only 10 or 20 flight options, this one shows one- hundred or more, and that’s one reason why it takes longer to load.
Overall, I think this is a very good full- service web site. It may not have all the vacation tips, glossary, and other miscellaneous features that you find in some other travel services, but it does offer lots of flights and hotels at a low price. It’s a good site to help you with your travel needs.
Be Sure to Click the Links Below to Read More Reviews of Other Popular Travel Web Sites:
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Travelnow.com
Cheaptravel.com
Hotel Discount.com
Bestfares.com
Hotwire.com
America’s Vacation Center
Expedia.com Flights
Expedia.com Hotels
Expedia.com Cruises
Travelocity.com Flights
Travelocity.com Hotels
Priceline.com Flights
Priceline.com Hotels
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Flycheap.com
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LowestFare.com
Mytravelco.com
Placestostay.com
Cheaptickets.com
Recommended:
Yes
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