A comparison
The
sites:
Expedia
ITASoftware
Kayak
Orbitz SideStep
Southwest
Travelocity
The
challenge: Which web site should be
used to shop for airline tickets for travel within the US? Which
site quickly
and easily displays the best flight options and allows you to
easily determine
the trade-off between total time of travel and cost?
Recommendation:
Use ITASoftware or Kayak.
Whether you have
specific departure or arrival time constraints, want to explore
savings
by using alternate cities and flexible dates or are just looking
for the
lowest price, these sites are the easiest to use. If your
travel dates are very flexible, I recommend using
ITASoftware's
Month Long Search, it's a great way to view multiple date options
with one
inquiry. If your cities are served by Southwest, you must
check their
site. I recommend that you subscribe to Southwest's Click 'n
Save fares.
ITASoftware's input options are
flexible and logical and the filtering capabilities of Kayak
(slide-bars and check boxes) are excellent. With these
sites, you can
quickly see all of the trade-offs: total travel time vs. cost
(non-stop
vs. connecting), long or short connections. ITA allows you
to select
individual flights and has excellent warnings. Both sites
easily
accommodate alternate cities and dates for departure and
arrival. ITASoftware gives
you alternate departure and destination cities up to 300 miles
away while
Kayak searches a smaller area.
Don't confuse shopping with
buying. The
primary purpose of my tests is to determine the best shopping
site.
Once you've found the lowest price or most convenient flights, I
recommend
that you use the airline's web site to book your ticket. In
many
cases, Kayak
takes you directly to the airlines' web site so Kayak is very often
both a
shopping and a buying site. The reason to buy directly from
the
airline is that ticketing fees are avoided,
finger-pointing is elminated in case of a schedule change, an
aircraft or price change
or you miss your flight. There are only a few instances where
it is
advisable to buy a ticket for a web site other than the airline's.
Frequent flyer miles?
Is airline
loyalty worth paying more for or taking a less convenient
flight? Due to
the increasing difficulty in redeeming miles (without paying
double) and
that there are fewer first class seats available for upgrades, the
answer is a resounding "NO." I recommend that you
select your flights
based upon price, comfort, schedule and ticking flexibility.
Almost all flights are full and
with the exception
of a few airlines, coach seating is equally uncomfortable and
amenities
are almost nonexistent. A few airlines have generous seating
comfort
in coach, free in-flight entertainment and even offer snacks or
meals
without charge. Bottom line when it comes to airfare
shopping: how
to quickly resolve the trade-off of price versus total travel
time.
The results
Probability (%) of finding the
lowest or most reasonable fare at the following
web sites for travel within the US:
|
Trip type |
Expedia |
ITASoftware |
Kayak |
Orbitz |
SideStep |
Southwest |
Travelocity |
|
Business
(short notice) |
40 |
90 |
90 |
70 |
70 |
30 |
50 |
|
Leisure
(plan ahead) |
90 |
90 |
90 |
90 |
100 |
40 |
100 |
Average |
65% |
90% |
90% |
80% |
85% |
35% |
75% |
Expedia, ITASoftware, Orbitz and
Travelocity
do not have real-time pricing and inventory. These sites
re-fill their
inventory many times per day. When you attempt to purchase a
ticket on
them, you will occasionally find that the price is no longer
available.
How to use ITA & Kayak:
ITASoftware and Kayak offer very
powerful
filtering either before or after your initial inquiry. Both
sites allow
you to adjust departure times, select or de-select specific
alternate
airports, dates of travel, nonstop or multiple stop flights and
price limits.
When using ITASoftware, select the time of departure as "anytime"
and then narrow your window to refine the results.
The
output matrix shows the lowest fares for non-stops, one-stops,
etc. Select the
option called "Choose Flights" because it allows you to select your
flights
individually rather than the package of outbound and return
flight. Look at the
lowest fare and then sort the result column for "duration." See
how close to the lowest fare you can get to
the shortest travel time. The "airports" tab that is
very helpful because it shows near-by cities. ITASoftware is
used by other
airlines and web sites although none of them fully use all of ITA's
capabilities. Be very careful of "Multiple Carriers" flights
as they
may involve changing airlines in the middle of your trip. Some
airlines will not transfer baggage so call the airlines if there is
any
question about it. It's okay to take different airlines for
the
outbound and return portions of your trip but not within the same
segment
unless the airlines are 'code share' partners.
ITASoftware's optional settings are discussed
in their
"help" section. I suggest you read the "ITA Route Language"
section
as well.
Here you'll find very helpful options that are extremely useful if you
want to
quickly narrow your search. Both sites are excellent for making a
"Plan B" to take with
you. Configure each leg of your trip as a one-way trip and sort
the
results by time of departure.
Kayak has very handy slide bars
and check-boxes.
You should expand any of them that are not already fully open.
Use them
to filter or eliminate the flights that are: not at the right time,
to/from
inconvenient alternate airports, take too much time or cost too much
money.
Southwest has never been known to
have the lowest fares but they are often more
reasonable than those of the high-cost airlines. Southwest's
specialty
is on-time, high frequency and no dreaded Saturday night stay for
their best
prices. Southwest also does not charge a "change fee" to modify
your
ticket, however you can not stand-by for an earlier flight if you are
on a
discounted ticket unless you are willing to pay the fare
difference. If Southwest serves your area (or is
close) sign-up for their Click 'n Save e-mail
specials. They offer a sale 3 or 4 times per year. The
fare sales
are for
mid-week travel and do not include some fees and taxes. I
consider $300 to
$350
round trip to be an excellent price for a flight of one stop or
less. In some cases,
Southwest's prices were the lowest yet credit was awarded to other
sites as
well because some travelers prefer advanced seat assignments and will
pay more.
Business travelers (short notice,
non-Saturday night) can pay a
LOT more than leisure travelers. However, high-fare & short
notice prices are being reduced due to competition from
the low cost airlines that are now flying across the country
non-stop. If you care about the money you're paying, check
the low fare airlines' (AirTran, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit, etc.) web
sites directly. They may also have weekly e-mail specials to
which you should subscribe or get via
SmarterTravel's
consolidated newsletter.
Is a near-by city better for
your trip?
If you consider the total travel time, total cost, opportunity for
missed
connections and comfort, you should evaluate flying from or to a
near-by city rather
than your original departure and destination. As an example,
I've found that when
visiting relatives who live near Tucson, I prefer to fly to Phoenix
and then
drive to their home near Tucson (under two hours). This is
because there
are no non-stop flights between Detroit and Tucson. Making a
connecting
flight to Tucson adds the possibility of a missed connection as well
as a high
probability of flying in a regional jet (which I will not do for more
than 90
minutes) versus a non-stop, full size plane to Phoenix. Public
transportation may be available between the near-by city and your
actual
destination (or close to it). Using the Tucson example, The
Arizona
Shuttle has frequent van service between the Phoenix Airport and the
Tucson
community. There may be a practical near-by city for your
destination.
Some airlines (Southwest and AirTran) list their "alternate cities" on
their
web sites. The elements to consider are total time in transit,
total
cost, the risk of missed connections and the hassle & comfort
factors.
Editorial: Travel is the
largest selling product on the
Internet. People buy from a supplier because they trust
them. Only
after you feel that you've thoroughly researched your options do you
make a
buying decision. The purpose of this comparison is to see how
easily and
quickly you can reach that degree of confidence. I believe that
the
input options, searching ability and output display
& filtering flexibility of ITASoftware & Kayak provide the
highest
level of confidence in the shortest time.
Suggestions to the web
sites: Every site should allow you to
limit the search to a maximum total
travel time. Sites
should allow you to exclude: specific airlines, connecting cities,
overnight flights, connections on non-partner airlines,
using different airlines for each part of a trip but not within a leg,
to set
maximum and minimum connection times and to limit the dollar amount
you wish to spend. Most of these abilities are available at
ITASoftware
and
Kayak.
What can the sites do better?
SideStep
needs alternate
dates for departure & arrival. Kayak & SideStep should
allow you
to select individual flights. The problem with Expedia, Orbitz
and Travelocity is that if you
don't ask your question the right way, you will not find the best
answer.
Their air travel sites are very frustrating and waste a lot of your
time. The only
serious limitation of ITASoftware is that it does not see "web-only"
fares
(but ITA doesn't sell tickets anyway).
All sites should warn you if your travels will involve a flight
longer than
90 minutes in a typical regional jet.
Methodology
The primary criteria were whether
I would take
a specific flight and how difficult it is to find that flight on each
web
site. Credit was awarded for the lowest fare (or reasonably
close).
If multiple web sites provided the same or similar low fare (or
reasonable
alternative), credit was given. A 'reasonable alternative' is a
logical and short connection and/or a good price. No credit was
awarded
for switching among non-partner airlines within a leg of the
trip. No consideration was given toward
frequent flyer programs, hub city connections (Minneapolis in winter?),
seating
comfort (JetBlue, Midwest, United, etc.) or lack of seat assignments
(i.e.
Southwest), frequency of flights, etc. Southwest may not
serve the city but may be
close.
There is a link at the bottom of
this
page which shows the details & prices from each inquiry.
Note that this study looked only
at airfare prices. Some of the web
sites offer other useful travel tools: Orbitz Deal Detector, extra
frequent flyer
miles, package
deals, cars, hotels, cruises, etc.
Trip
types (2 types of airfare searches):
business = mid-week travel, less than 21 days notice, depart
weekday AM
return weekday PM, at least one night stay, no more than one stop and no
more
than a 2 hour connection.
leisure = Saturday to
Saturday, 21 days to three months in advance, depart and return any
time Saturday,
two stops max.
Cities:
Omaha, NE to Seattle, WA
Boston, MA area to Los Angeles, CA area
Oklahoma City, OK to Columbus, OH
Tucson, AZ to Detroit, MI
Indianapolis, IN to Dallas, TX area
Ft. Myers, FL to New York City, NY area
Phoenix, AZ to Orlando, FL
Chicago, IL area to Denver, CO
New Orleans, LA to Boise, ID
Pittsburgh, PA to Houston, TX
Specific
flight details and results are here.
