Traveling online: traveling is going high-tech, but should you give your agent the boot? Maybe not yet

Black Enterprise, August, 1996 by John Cade

Travel is going high-tech, but should you give your agent the boot? Maybe not yet.

Personal computers and commercial communications service lines have connected with the travel industry and spawned access to a formerly closed genre--the computer reservations system (CRS). The aim: to give consumers travel information, allowing them to make reservations quickly and, in some cases, cheaply.

But do these systems really work? Must you be a computer wiz to use them? Most of all, will you really save time and/or money? If you're willing to put in the time to learn your way around these services, you can increase your transportation options, eliminate waiting time and maybe even save some money.

There are a variety of online travel services in the marketplace, from airline ticketing to hotel reservations. To gain access to them, the booking system you use will probably be determined by which commercial service you subscribe to.

If you're on America Online, for instance, it makes sense for you to test either of AOL's existing travel systems--American Express' ExpressNet and Easy Sabre. (Easy Sabre is also on Prodigy, Compu-Serve and Apple's eWorld.) CompuServe, on the other hand, offers the airline-affiliated United Connection as well as the Official Airline Guide's (OAG) Electronic Edition Travel Service, an online addition to the schedule book and disk version. You can also opt for an independent service, which provides a local access telephone number that you dial into, such as Travelogix, a direct-dial upstart.

DIGITAL DEPARTURES

To get started, you'll need to create a personal travel profile. Along with your name, address and credit card number, you'll note your seating preference, any dietary considerations and whether you prefer morning or afternoon flights. The information is stored and used whenever you book a flight. You'll have to make a new profile for each system that you use, but chances are, you'll stick with one system.

To look at airline schedules, type in where you want to go and when. The service automatically searches for the lowest fare. You can also limit the search to a particular airline or to the flights into a particular airport.

After you get a list of itineraries and fares, choose one and then authorize payment by credit card. You can get your ticket at the airline counter, through your own travel agent or via overnight delivery. Most CRSs also offer hotel and car rental bookings (OAG does not, but plans to by the end of '96).

WHAT PRICE CONVENIENCE?

ExpressNet is free, but you must be an American Express cardholder. United Connection and Easy Sabre are included in AOL's basic $9.95 per month service fee.

The OAG Electronic Edition is a premium service on CompuServe--on top of the basic rate, you're billed a flat fee of $28 an hour (8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday) and $10 an hour off-peak. OAG insists it's worth it because it's the source that provides the original information to every other system.

LOST IN CYBERSPACE: A WORD OF WARNING

If you're not an experienced computer user, some of the programs will send you into technohell. For instance, there's nothing easy about Easy Sabre. One of the first services around, it uses older technology. It shows text only, as opposed to graphic icons. Each selection is numbered. For airline fares, choose No. 1; for hotels, choose No. 2 and so forth. "It takes some time to figure it out the first time you use a CRS," says Randy Petersen, editor and publisher of InsideFlyer magazine. "Don't wait until you need a flight before logging on," he warns.

Non-techies might consider a company like Travelogix, which designed its interface with Joe "never-touched-a-computer" traveler in mind. It's as easy to use as any point-and-click Macintosh or Windows application.

Computers also don't ask you whether you're a AAA member or suggest coupons or promotional packages. Travel agents have access to unpublished special fares, such as blocks of consolidator seats that can be discounted up to 65%. Logging on to ExpressNet, for instance, is not the same thing as physically going to an American Express travel Office to discuss packages and discount options.

Another problem is that only systems don't handle flexibility well, and they can't tell you not to drink the water. "A simple Los Angeles-to-San Francisco round trip can be done online pretty easily," says David Buskirk, vice president of sales and marketing for Associated Travel, an agency with 144 locations in the western U.S. "But if you're flying to San Francisco, then on to Seattle and someone's going to pick you up, but you'll need a rental car later, then things get more difficult," he explains.

If there's a problem with your ticket, most of the online reservations systems have 24-hour 800 numbers to call for help. But any frustrated traveler can tell you it's not nearly as satisfying to wrangle with a disembodied voice as it is to go and thump on the travel agent's desk.

Maybe the most important consideration in deciding whether to book online or in person is security. It's a scary proposition to send your credit card number tumbling out into cyberspace--like leaving a wad of cash at the bus stop for safe keeping. All the online services swear their systems are secure. ExpressNet uses passwords. Easy Sabre has installed a "security wall" to keep proprietary information inside. But hackers like the infamous Kevin Mitnick, who was arrested for stealing credit card numbers online, prove that nothing is fail-safe.