I purchased my first airline ticket, a round trip ticket to Seattle to attend college, and used my return flight for the holidays. I remember going to a travel agency where an actual agent used her database to search for the best deals she could find across various airlines. It was a big hassle—because I had to physically go to the travel agent, and repeat my trip if deals or desired fares were unavailable.
You can say goodbye to the days of relying on travel agents. In recent days, the power of searching and purchasing a plane ticket has been turned to consumers. The travel industry has taken popularity online, through OTAs (aka Online Travel Agencies) where consumers can search and coordinate their own flights and vacation packages. Kayak.com and Expedia.com are both popular OTAs in the Internet world. While Expedia has been around longer, Kayak.com is a new face that is making ground and paving a new path. The matrix at the bottom shows the pros and cons of the two websites.
