Expedia: Not What It Used To Be
Written: Dec 14 '02 (Updated Dec 14 '02)
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There are now so many ways to book a flight, who would have thought? Five years ago, the only way to book a flight was through a travel agent or phoning the airline direct. Now with Priceline.com, hotwire.com and all of the other direct airline web sites, there are a million and one ways to find a decent fare. Expedia is one, but there is a price to pay.
I used to call airlines directly to find low airfares, but that can be rather time consuming and not always profitable. Travel agents are useful, but having a fair knowledge of the travel industry, I find it more interesting to do the research myself.
How Expedia Works
A limited amount of information is necessary to create an account, even though just to browse through is not necessary. To book any reservation, you must create an account (no charge), and this will save all preferences for future reservations.
By entering the flight dates, Expedia will pull up a number of different flight options, including various schedules and prices. You have the option of choosing a specific airline, or letting Expedia find the lowest fare available. You can sort different flights available by the lowest price, shortest flight and departure/arrival times.
For all the traveling that I have done in the past few years, I usually compare prices that I find on USAirways.com to Expedia's, just to make sure that there isn't a better deal out there. Expedia usually comes close to the prices that I find elsewhere, but not all the time.
What It's Missing
An option that desperately needs to be added to the Expedia site is a "flexible" schedule option. Many other travel sites offer this, a lower price to a specified destination based on dates the airlines set as "off-peak" times. Yahoo travel offers this, so does USAirways. It's great if you don't know exactly when you want to travel, but can pick up and go if the price is right.
Expedia.com used to have a fare compare feature, to compare your prices to other fares around the same time as any chosen itinerary.
This was extremely useful in planning an upcoming vacation for less (especially if dates are flexible). Frequent flyer information is also taken into account and on some flights, a seating chart is available to choose specific seating.
What Expedia Does Offer
Hotel, car rental and other travel services are also available, which makes planning any business trip or vacation extremely simple and rewarding. I recently note: this epinion was originally posted back in early 00) planned a trip to France and found the lowest fares on Expedia. It took me five minutes to get all of my information loaded and confirmation of my plane tickets. They sent me hard copies of my tickets within 7 business days.
Because you're doing all the work, you can really play around with different dates and airlines to make sure that you are getting the best deal. Again, I must stress that you are doing all the work. In my experience, there are easier ways of going about finding the lowest fare on other sites.
It has some good features, however, such as destination information and nice package deals, if that's what you're going for.
Expedia.com also sends out frequent e-mail updates for special travel deals and packages, which makes for a great reminder that it's always a good time to plan a vacation.
E-Tickets vs. Paper
I suppose with all of the new security measures, an e-ticket isn't as convenient as it used to be. Still if you lose your paper ticket, you are somewhat, pardon my language, SOL. Expedia frequently issues paper tickets, which means you will have to make sure you book enough in advance to receive your tickets by mail.
Overall
I would somewhat recommend this sight to any travelers in need of more than just a cheap airfare, or to anyone who wishes to dream they were on a cruise far away from the office. It's a good way to check and see if that high fare you found to Cancun on Spring Break is really the best you can do.
This review was originally posted in January 00, I have updated it with recent opinions, based on much more frequent travel experience than when I previously entered this Epinion. I had originally given it 5 stars, which I now lower to 2 (actually a 2.5, if there is such a thing) - based on other options that are out there for on-line travel reservations.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Member: Echo
Reviews written: 373
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