E-Commerce News: Travel

AA.com Sucks the Fun Out of Trip-Planning
November 20, 2009

It's fitting that the last stop on my tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times was American Airlines. The site illustrates all of the problems that spurred this special look at travel sites in the first place. Travel sites have developed a reputation for being hard to navigate and poorly designed with cluttered user interfaces.

United Offers a Touch of Class
November 16, 2009

United Airlines was my Internet destination as I continued sampling travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. The first item to catch my eye was an unusual graphic -- neither a 1) plane 2) automobile 3) hotel nor 4) iconic celebrity hawker. Instead it was a stylized drawing of a woman's outstretched leg with a big bow on her ankle.

Southwest Doesn't Fool Around
November 06, 2009

This week, I headed southwest as I continued making the rounds of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. My first impression of Southwest Airlines' Web site was that its online presence faithfully reflected its corporate persona: It looked to be a roll-up-your sleeves, no nonsense outfit.

JetBlue: Light on Frills, Heavy on Friendly
October 30, 2009

My tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times has included stops at some of the aggregator sites, some discount companies and some alternative services. I'm now entering new territory with explorations of the Web sites of the operators themselves. First stop: JetBlue, a discount airline that has carefully cultivated a customer-friendly reputation.

Priceline Is Weak Sauce for Shatner's Hype
October 23, 2009

As I got ready to jump off at the next stop on my whirlwind tour of travel-planning Web sites, I found myself in the grip of something close to excitement. Trying out Priceline.com was going to be a new experience for me as well -- but it already felt familiar, thanks to my beloved William Shatner (hello, fellow Trekkies) and his branding of the site.

Hotwire Helps You Score a Cool Deal
October 16, 2009

Hotwire is a discount site that sells off unsold inventory by masking the identity of the hotel or rental car service or airline until the purchase is complete. I have to confess the concept never appealed to me that much -- it conjured up visions of middle-row airline seats and secluded hotels that could serve as sets for the movie "Psycho" -- and thus, I dismissed it. I was wrong.

Bookit.com Has Some Nifty Features Hiding Under the Clutter
October 09, 2009

Clutter, clutter, clutter -- will they never learn? Well into our survey of travel-planning Web sites, a common design theme continues to predominate: a crowded user interface that detracts from the supposed utilitarian purpose of the site. As I examined Bookit.com, though, a few features jumped out of the busy display, dispelling my initial less-than-dazzled impression.

Bing Travel Gets You Where You're Going, but No Peanuts
October 02, 2009

I remember when Kayak accused Bing of "borrowing" some of its design features last year. At the time, I wondered if indeed Kayak had a legitimate complaint -- the sites' designs are similar. However, after reviewing four separate travel-planning Web sites, I have concluded that Bing and Kayak could not have sprung from the same ideological source.

Kayak: A Boatload of Delicious Simplicity
September 25, 2009

Continuing the E-Commerce Times' exploration of travel-planning Web sites, I paddled over to Kayak this week, and after a few minutes of playing around with the site, I was inexplicably struck with the desire for ice cream. Specifically, Haagen Dazs' five simple ingredients ice cream.

Orbitz Has You Running in Circles
September 18, 2009

For this week's installment in the E-Commerce Times' series on travel-planning Web sites, I took a spin around Orbitz, completing my tour of the top three aggregators. The Orbitz site presented a simple two-column layout. Still, its design called to mind those "parked domain" Web sites that are used to seed ads or random content but have no real purpose.

Expedia Is Spare but Savvy
September 11, 2009

My first impression of Expedia -- a site that I used to frequent but haven't visited in at least a year -- is that its design is refreshingly straightforward: a three-column layout relatively uncluttered with self-promotion. Expedia's streamlined site does have its disadvantages, though. I don't see where to sign up for flight status alerts, for example.

Blinders May Help When You're Tooling Around Travelocity
September 04, 2009

Travel Web sites were among the first category of e-commerce ventures to actually make a buck a decade or so ago. It is astounding, therefore, that recent industry reports show a deep dissatisfaction among many users of these portals. In particular, Forrester Research recently reported on the failings of several of these sites, both in terms of tools and customer service.

Survival Tips for Passengers Stranded on the Tarmac
August 28, 2009

You're tired, hungry, have a cranky baby on your lap and all you want to do is get off the plane, but you can't because it's been on the tarmac for hours waiting to take off. While such delays are rare, they can be more common during the hot summer due to thunderstorms and, this year, because of fewer flights to get you to your destination if your flight is canceled.

Mobile Connectivity at 30,000 Feet: More Than Fun and Games
March 12, 2009

Mobile communications on an aircraft are more than air-to-ground interactions that take place in the cockpit. Today, passengers can use their mobile devices at cruising altitude in an aircraft to call, text and email colleagues, friends and family, just as if they were on the ground.

The Flying Penguin: Linux In-Flight Entertainment Systems
December 18, 2008

If you've used an in-flight entertainment system, known in the airline industry as an "IFE," to watch movies, listen to music, or order food lately, chances are it used Linux as an operating system. You might not know that Linux is the operating system behind what you see on your screen, but it probably is.

Transit CRM: Creative Ways to Get Citizens on Board
November 14, 2008

Saturday, Nov. 8, 6:15 p.m. I am meeting a friend at 7, and I'm later than I wanted to be getting to the Metro. Unfortunately, I'm a bit off my stride. I forgot to get dollar bills and now have to scrounge through my purse looking for enough loose change. It occurs to me how nice it would be if the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority took debit cards.