My new travel agents...
Written: Feb 25 '03 (Updated Apr 27 '05)
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| Full Review |
Last month I had to take a somewhat unexpected business/medical trip to San Francisco CA. I was initially going to drive my car, however I ended up using a major airline. When I booked my airline tickets I used Expedia.com (the first time I have successfully ever used an online travel service). I have to admit, the massive amounts of advertisements on TV/ ads here at Epinions featuring Expedia did influence me quite a bit; even I'm not immune to advertising.
About the site:
Expedia.com is a web service primarily designed to help the consumer get a great deal on airline tickets, however the site features car rental, hotel reservations, along with great package deals. The site also features weather reports from major cities all around the world, currency converters, passport information, and just about anything you need to know when planing a vacation to an unknown destination. I find myself many times using this site just to find out what type of weather conditions places like Cairo Egypt are having; I'm a huge weather nerd.
The site offers a ton of subcategories that are very simple to navigate through, as is the entire site. One very thoughtful aspect that I was not expecting from Expedia.com is the use of no pop up ads whatsoever! Downloads from page to page are extremely fast, much faster than many other travel sites i.e. TravelNow.com/Priceline that usually take an infinite amount of time to find non-stop flight results in my area.
Becoming a member:
Becoming a member with Expedia.com is both fast and free, taking approx. 5 minutes to fill out your personal information form. You can also sign up for Expedia.com newsletters, and free tracking of low fares of your favorite routes. Booking a flight is a little more complicated, however it is still very easy. You simply enter in your destination(s), when you want to go, etc. etc. and a (usually huge) list of airlines and deals are offered to you, along with changeovers, etc. Expedia found over 10 flight results for the day I wanted to depart from Arcata. One should note that you must have a major credit card in order to book a flight with Expedia.com.
My Impressions/Experience:
When I first used Expedia.com I was amazed at how simple the site was to use. I had multiple price quotes within 3 minutes of using the site. After I had filled out all my info I successfully booked my round-trip flight from Arcata CA to San Francisco within less than 15 minutes, and I didn't even have to leave my house. If I knew booking flights were this easy online, I would have done it long ago.
Expedia also saved me quite a bit of money. My round-trip flight in Economy Class had a grand total cost (after the 5 dollar processing fee and taxes) of $560 with United Airlines. This was almost $300 less than I was expecting to pay with another airline prior to using this site. This low price excluded my stay at the hotel which I also booked with Expedia that ended up being less that 0.5 miles from my destination.
Prior to booking I was able to choose a window seat, along with a pure vegetarian meal ( even though it was only a 1 hour flight they still offered the option). The site also offered a great deal of helpful info, such as maps, etc. which I was able to print out for use once I got in the city.
Final Thoughts:
Expedia.com offered an excellent online experience. The site not only helped with booking a low fare flight, but was quick, and a cinch to use. The site also boasts many attributes that many other travel sites just don't offer i.e. fast downloads, weather conditions around the world, etc. My recommendation for Expedia goes out to anyone looking to buy flight tickets online. I will definitely consider Expedia.com the next time I need to book airline tickets.
Want more info? Visit Expedia.com's home page.
Did you enjoy reading this review? You might want to check out my review on TravelNow.com
Thanks for reading!
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Airline Tickets
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