For the last three years, I've spent a frightening percentage of my waking hours staring at travel websites. As the travel consultant for Consumer Reports WebWatch, I've closely analyzed more than 200 sites and I've overseen extensive testing projects that encompassed searching for thousands and thousands of online rates. Now when I see the words, "Where would you like to go?" I'm sometimes tempted to respond: "Offline." But all those hours have paid off, because I've certainly learned a few things.
Whenever I'm at a party and I explain what I do, it's inevitable that someone will ask me, "So which is the best travel site for good deals?" Apologies to Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. And Hotwire and Priceline. And Kayak, Mobissimo and SideStep. And Opodo and Zuji. And all the rest. There's no one single source for the best travel bargains on the Web.
No one site provides all the exclusive deals, all the up-to-the-minute revisions, and all the travel supplier inventories (particularly if you're looking for low-fare airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue). So a little time spent surfing could pay off for any given itinerary on any given day. Here are some lessons I've learned along the way:
Searching and booking
• Always comparison shop. Enough said.
• WebWatch has uncovered a disturbing practice we've termed "fare-jumping," in which rates suddenly change (often by increasing) in real time during the booking process. WebWatch lobbied the major travel sites to at least notify consumers when this happens, and in most cases now you'll get an on-screen notification. Unfortunately, though, fare-jumping still happens. Don't assume that the rate you selected is the same rate you're charging to your credit card. Always double-check.
• Leading travel sites assault you with advertising banners, pop-ups and pop-unders. Some rate listings are bought and paid for by travel suppliers such as airlines, hotel chains or car rental firms. Never confuse a listing with an ad.
• Start your search on a major site such as Kayak, Mobissimo or SideStep, or a third-party site such as Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity. Next, check out the "branded" travel site of the airline, hotel or car rental firm you've selected (such as Delta.com, Hyatt.com, Avis.com, etc.). Travel suppliers — particularly airlines — often offer price guarantees and bonus mileage to attract consumers to their own sites. Increasingly, it's worth the extra step to check their sites for lower fares.
• A word of caution, however, about all this hopping from site to site: Each site's default function may not store the information you input as you shop, and the search engine may revert to incorrect dates or airports. Make sure to double check your itinerary before booking.
• Despite the danger of sticker shock, make sure you're clear about what the final cost charged to your credit card will be, including all applicable taxes, fees and surcharges levied by governmental authorities, airlines, airports or other official entities. In some cases, these add-on costs may not be clearly labeled.
• You may also be charged a booking fee on certain third-party travel sites, and the fees can vary. Make sure you've included that in your tally as well.
• Not all bookings are created equal. It's critical to understand the travel site's rebooking and cancellation policies. An important note: The travel site may have imposed additional restrictions in addition to any restrictions imposed by the airline, hotel or car rental company.
• You may be eligible for certain discounts, so search the travel site in advance to find out. You could be eligible if you're booking for seniors, children, students, government employees, military personnel or members of certain organizations such as the American Automobile Association (AAA) or the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
• Before you make the sale final, make sure you correctly input your travel information. Double-check the dates and times; the cities, airports or hotel locations; and the flight classes, room sizes or vehicle classes. You could be held responsible if you book a flight to CAI (Cairo) instead of CIA (Rome, Italy).
• Always use a charge card for online travel purchases. Charge cards generally provide the best consumer protection under the Fair Credit Billing Act.
Searching for airfares
• Some travel sites offer restrictions on travel dates and can't process flights departing within a few days of booking. Make sure the site can handle your itinerary.
• Try to be flexible, especially on long-haul or international routes. In many cases, you can find much lower fares if you change your travel dates by even one day. Often you'll find better bargains at nearby alternative airports (such as Oakland instead of SFO, Long Beach instead of LAX, Long Island/MacArthur instead of JFK, Stansted instead of Heathrow).
• If you're shopping for business-class or first-class seats, make sure the class of service you're booking is the class you requested. I've been offered economy or business when first class was requested. And sometimes the class of service wasn't clearly defined.
• If it's important to you, make sure your desired class of service is available for every leg of your journey. Often travel sites offer mixed itineraries, such as first class on the outbound and economy on the return, even you ask only for first class.
Searching for airfares overseas
• If your itinerary originates outside the USA, consider using a foreign travel site. But be aware that there may be point-of-origin ticketing restrictions in certain countries, and of course there are language and currency issues to consider.
• If you'd like to use a foreign site, but aren't sure which to try, consider a site based in the country where the flight originates. For example, use a British site for a London-Paris route or a German site for a Frankfurt-Madrid route. We found you've got twice the chance to find the lowest fares on sites based in the originating country.
• Be careful of faulty translations if you're booking a flight in a country where English is not the primary language. The "English version" may not provide all the necessary details. And some critical information — such as privacy policies or legal disclaimers — may not be offered in English.
• Currency conversions on some foreign sites can be tricky. Before you book, double-check your calculations with the current exchange rates to make sure you've found a better deal.
• Don't think that itineraries and rates are identical on sister sites. We found that travel brands in other countries offered completely different content. For example, the Expedia site in Germany and the Travelocity site in the U.K. did not provide the same flights or fares offered for identical itineraries by their American sister sites.
Searching for hotels
• It's particularly important to check with a "branded" site when searching for a rate on a hotel room. If you know the specific property you want, conduct an online search and find the branded site for that hotel; you'll find that the site may be maintained by the property itself or by a chain or parent company. And you may do even better by calling.
• Be very specific when inputting hotel names. In many cities, chains operate individual properties with very similar names, so you want to make sure you're booking the "Marriott Midtown" rather than "Marriott Downtown," or "Holiday Inn Airport" rather than "Holiday Inn Airport North." If necessary, use the street address or zip code to find the right property.
Searching for rental cars
• The car rental sector is particularly notorious for add-on charges, so it's important to calculate the bottom-line price of your rental. In some cases the total price can be twice the base rate.
• Some travel sites make it quite hard to view all the available rental companies, since they provide better placement for "partner" firms. Make sure you know all of your options by scrolling through the entire screen.
• Be careful about buying rental options, such as insurance products like collision damage waivers (CDW), before you fully understand what you are buying, whether or not you need it and how much it will cost.
Searching and bidding on opaque travel sites
• When using opaque travel sites such as Hotwire and Priceline, you need to realize that you won't know the name of the airline, hotel property or car rental firm until you have already purchased the product. Therefore, review the lists of their travel vendors or "partners." These lists should be inclusive for airlines and car rental companies, but they may just offer samplings of their hotel partners.
• If you're going to bid for a travel product, be sure to review the site's bidding and booking policies. Understand that non-retractable bidding means just that.
• Before bidding for a travel product on a site such as Priceline, find some benchmarks for the lowest fares and rates available through other channels. Check other "transparent" travel sites that offer brand names as well as prices. You also may want to call a toll-free reservations center or contact your travel agent or corporate travel manager.
• When placing bids, be careful not to bid too low or too high. A too-low bid can require many additional steps in the booking process. A too-high bid can mean paying too much. I've found favorable results by splitting the benchmark price in half and starting the bidding there.
• Usually you will not be eligible to earn loyalty program mileage or points if you book through an opaque site, so clarify this in advance.
One last piece of advice: When traveling, things can and will go wrong. So before you make a booking through a third-party travel site, check to see if the site offers a 24/7 help desk. It just may save your trip.
If you'd like to read Consumer Reports WebWatch's detailed reports on travel sites, and find out more about any of these issues, visit www.consumerwebwatch.org/travel.cfm.
Read previous columns
Bill McGee, a contributing editor to Consumer Reports and the former editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, is an FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher who worked in airline operations and management for several years. Tell him what you think of his latest column by sending him an e-mail at USATODAY.com at travel@usatoday.com. Include your name, hometown and daytime phone number, and he may use your feedback in a future column.
