There is a bit of a war going on between the various large online travel sites. They are battling each other to see who can provide the best service, with the lowest fees. Of course, this war really only has one winner – consumers.
This morning, Expedia announced the removal of all telephone booking fees for trips booked through their service. This may not sound like a very important change, but when you consider that the airlines charge as much as $25 per person, per telephone booking, you’ll quickly realize that being able to book that same ticket through Expedia without any fees could come in quite handy.
The company eliminated online air booking fees and change fees and cancel fees on all hotel and car rental reservations in May 2009. Cruise change and cancel fees were also eliminated in May 2009 and cruise booking fees were eliminated in October 2009.
It is an odd world when big travel firms like Expedia are able to provide a better service than the airlines themselves, but as I said – we consumers are the real winners here.
Being able to book a flight over the phone is perfect for people who hate making online reservations, or if you need an last minute flight reservation and don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding a computer with Internet access.