Booking made easy (expedia.co.uk)

Member Name: frangliz

Product:	expedia.co.uk
Date:	13/06/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's all so straightforward

Disadvantages: Too much emphasis on Easyjet

The last time I travelled by air was in the year 2000, when people generally went to a travel agent's, waited ages until a member of staff was free, and then ages more to get information and have journeys and hotels booked for them. I had no idea just how easy things had become online using sites such as Expedia.

I wanted to make a short trip to Europe towards the end of August - just a short one, not having the heart to put my cat in a cattery, and also not having limitless funds. After deliberating over Paris or Brussels by Eurostar, I eventually decided that I would to go and join my son in his partner in Zurich (at their suggestion). They would be staying for three nights, I would join them on the third day, and we would fly back together the following evening.

I mentioned the idea to a colleague who had recently been to Switzerland. She enthused over Zurich and recommended flying on British Airways from Heathrow, as the majority of Easyjet flights leave from Luton and I live south of London. She assured me that British Airways would not be expensive.

It seemed logical to me to visit the British Airways website. I asked for a flight plus hotel quote for the dates in question and was given nine different hotel options with very varying prices. I printed these off and showed them to my son. He had booked a trip to Munich with Expedia a few months previously and suggested trying Expedia again. Twenty-nine-year-old children don't listen to their parents any more...

Later that day my son rang me, having had a look on Expedia. He suggested two hotels, with a preference for one that was in the town centre and included breakfast in the price. That particular one had not featured in the list from British Airways. I duly visited Expedia and chose to enter the U.K. site. Once there, it was easy to select the option of booking a hotel with a flight. I then entered London as the place of departure and Zurich as the destination, followed by my dates of travel. Within less than a minute I was shown a list of hotels with prices that included a return flight plus taxes. Once I had found the hotel that my son suggested, I was able to click on a link to see more details. It definitely seemed a good choice.

Returning to the list of options, I noticed that all the flights I had been offered were by Easyjet leaving from Luton, but there was a link to click in order to choose a different flight. Having clicked through, I was shown several different airlines with starting prices as well as details of which were direct flights and which were not. I chose British Airways, who offer about four direct flights a day in each direction. The next screen showed me the various combinations of outward bound and inward bound flights, and I scrolled down until I found a flight leaving Heathrow early afternoon and one returning from Zurich the following evening. Having picked this one, I was given a revised price for the chosen hotel and flights, which was a little higher than the original quote.

At this point I would have been ready to book my trip, but I had to wait for my son to confirm his plans with me. I found that Expedia would allow me to save the itinerary I had chosen so that I would not have to start from scratch later on. When I asked to do this, I first had to create an account as I had not used the site before. Doing so was as easy as falling off the proverbial log. All that is required is to choose your title, fill in your full name, decide on a username and password, enter your email address, and look through the terms and conditions. You can choose whether or not to receive travel deals and special offers via email. After creating my account I saved my itinerary and then logged out. Almost immediately I received an email welcoming me to Expedia, stating my username, and providing links to various areas of the website.

Early that evening my son phoned me again to say that he and his partner had decided to fly out on a Monday and return the following Thursday evening, instead of their original plan of out on Tuesday and back on Friday. That meant I would be flying out on Wednesday instead of Thursday. It didn't matter to me, but I couldn't used the itinerary that I had carefully saved on Expedia. When I logged in again, however, I found it very easy to repeat the process I had originally gone through to find our chosen hotel and pick British Airways flights leaving Heathrow on Wednesday afternoon, returning from Zurich on Thursday evening.

I was then definitely ready to book my trip. I noticed that the price quoted included optional travel insurance for around £13. Although I knew I could find it for a lower price at the Post Office for example, that would mean spending time queueing and filling in a form. It hardly seemed worth it, so I decided to stick with Expedia's insurance. There was also the possibility of opting for car rental in Zurich, but since I don't drive I certainly had no need of this. I did have to give a few more personal details such as my home telephone number and my passport type and number. My home address was only asked for at the point where I was giving my credit card details. Before finalising my booking, I was offered a long list of vouchers for visits to attractions in Zurich at various prices, but I didn't accept any of these. The one thing that did interest me was carbon offsetting for a mere £1.31, so I added this to my booking. I then confirmed my payment. Once that had been accepted, I was shown the details of my itinerary with its number, a British Airways confirmation code, and an insurance policy ID. Details of the flights and the hotel room were also included, but there was a note telling me to check back in twenty-four hours for the airline ticket number. Paper tickets are not issued, so it is essential to have this number.

Having logged out of Expedia I checked my email inbox and found that the itinerary had already been emailed to me in confirmation of my booking. I printed this off. After about a quarter of an hour came another email giving me the airline reference, so I had no need to check back for this the following day. This message also gave details of how you can print off a receipt from Expedia's website if you need one. I didn't have to do this, but it sounded very straightforward. My son rang me again to see how I was getting on, and he seemed surprised when I told him I'd completed my booking. He hadn't been able to remember his password from the previous occasion and was waiting for it to be emailed to him. That didn't take long, however, and he soon forwarded his itinerary to me as he doesn't have a printer. I couldn't believe how quick and easy the whole process had been.

The following day I received an email thanking me for paying for carbon offsetting, as well as another one from Expedia suggesting car rental, which I ignored.

I'm honestly left wondering how any high street travel agents are still in business, but I suppose they do offer some very cheap package holidays. I can't imagine myself booking a holiday any other way than online after my experience with Expedia. Perhaps some people are wary of making payments on the Internet, but so far I haven't had any problems of that kind. I'm more than content to sit at home on the sofa with my laptop and plan my travels as it suits me. Now I'm looking forward to being able to check in on British Airways website before I leave home. I just hope that will be as straightforward as booking with Expedia.

Also to be published on Ciao UK under my username denella.

Summary: Booking a trip online