TravelGenius

Expedia vs Orbitz vs CheapTickets.com

In the previous online agent test Expedia vs Travelocity we saw Expedia come out on top. Let's continue the head to head by pitting Expedia against Orbitz and CheapTickets.com.

US/North American Domestic - once again flight prices were exactly the same on all agents.

International flights:

Washington - Paris
Expedia $563, Orbitz $567, CheapTickets $567, All Lufthansa / United.

San Francisco - Tokyo
Expedia $870, Orbitz $874, CheapTickets $874, All Asiana

Atlanta - Buenos Aires
Expedia $689, Orbitz $693, CheapTickets $693, All United

Toronto - Johannesburg
Expedia $1,105, Orbitz $1,109, CheapTickets $1,109, All Northwest/KLM

Boston - Mexico City
Expedia $457, Orbitz $457, CheapTickets $457, All American

New York - Hong Kong
Expedia $773, Orbitz $777, CheapTickets $777, All United

London - Sydney
Expedia $901 Etihad, Orbitz $1,150, CheapTickets $1,150 Virgin

Los Angeles - Auckland
Expedia $973 Air NZ, Orbitz $1,037 Qantas, CheapTickets $887, Air NZ/United

Some conclusions:
Orbitz and CheapTickets.com have almost identical web interfaces, having the same owner. They came back with identical results except for the LAX-AKL flight where CheapTickets found an Air NZ / United Airlines flight via Sydney for $150 less than Orbitz's Qantas flight.

(Now once again we are purely comparing price, whether you would want to fly via Sydney, or use United's relatively inferior long-haul economy product is another matter...)

Expedia quoted Etihad's competitive London - Sydney fare, $249 cheaper than Orbitz/CheapTickets Virgin fare.

On many of the fares Expedia comes out $4 cheaper - this looks like Expedia is charging less fees than its competitors.

So the winner in this short test is Expedia.

posted by Travel @ 11:08 am 0 comments

Expedia vs Travelocity - Lowest Airfare

Let's again test out the online travel agents in a head-to-head challenge to see who has the cheapest economy airfares. We have selected some routes and travel dates at random and have checked prices at Expedia and Travelocity. We will not worry about non-stop flights, just the lowest ticket price.

Flight Test - US Domestic

New York - Los Angeles
Both Expedia and Travelocity returned the same results, a fare of $266 available on American, United, Virgin America, Delta and Northwest.

Dallas Fort Worth - Anchorage
Both $596 with Northwest.

Chicago - Orlando
Again both $190, with United.

So on these domestic flights both agents are returning exactly the same fares. Let's widen the net to international flights worldwide:

Washington - Paris
Expedia $563, Travelocity $567, Lufthansa flight operated by United.

San Francisco - Tokyo
Expedia $870, Travelocity $881, Asiana

Atlanta - Buenos Aires
Expedia $689, Travelocity $693, United

Toronto - Johannesburg
Expedia $1,105, Travelocity $1,109, Northwest/KLM

Boston - Mexico City
Expedia $457 American, Travelocity $513 Continental

Miami - Vancouver
Expedia $387, Travelocity $387, American

New York - Hong Kong
Expedia $773, Travelocity $801, United

London - Sydney
Expedia $901, Travelocity $904, Etihad

Los Angeles - Auckland
Expedia $973, Travelocity $977, Air New Zealand

So the winner here is...EXPEDIA which was lower on all international fares we tested and equal on all North American fares. While this is only a small test (ideally we would need to consistently test thousands of airfares) it does give a rough idea at airfare pricing.

Next time we will pit the winner up against agents Orbitz and Cheaptickets under the same test conditions...

posted by Travel @ 10:04 pm 0 comments