MilesBuzz! - ORBITZ to soon debut - but will miles be awrded for all fares?

"Orbitz is the only travel planning tool that simultaneously searches 100 percent of flights and fares available."
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000805.html

Yes, yet in view of what's happening now with Worldperks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif, will the usual miles be awarded for all available fares?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/003500.html

I, surely would hope so but....

Any insight/thoughts?

It wouldn't surprise me to see the airlines say that many of these fares won't earn miles.

This a service primarily designed to find the lowest fares. Despite what they say, airlines have repeatedly demonstrated they don't care about low revenue passengers (and in the case of DL, at least, many top-tier pax, too). Witness the Worldperks debacle right now. Orbitz pax are not going to pay the bills, and thus be rewarded for their loyalty. I'm sure it'll be used by the business traveller who wants Orbitz' immense routing strategies, etc, but this is designed to save pax money, the antithesis of what airlines want, obviously.

Eventually, and regrettably, this is going to get so out of hand that only miles are going to awarded to the top-priced tickets. At least as long as we're in a long boom economy and traffic continues to rise at or above predicted rates, and they can get whatever they want for tickets.

Those who want miles are going to end up paying so much for the "privledge" of having them that most of us could just save money by paying for what would have been award travel, club access, etc.

And with all the new sources of miles in the form of online retailers, hotel double- and triple-dipping, credit cards, etc, they're going to need to further reduce who's eligible for award travel (in addition to raising the bar to actually redeem awards).

I sure hope I'm wrong, and we'll have to wait to see just how many conditions they slap on these tickets, but it certainly seems like this is where it's going.

Elektrik

[This message has been edited by elektrik (edited 10-13-2000).]

Note that Orbitz' deployment has been postponed until at least June 2001....
this is noted in the following thread... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000805.html

Eric

No miles on Hotwire! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Interesting thoughts on this issue...

I am sure that Orbitz will further cut into the inventory of Priceline.com. In fact, I am sure that Orbitz will really hurt Priceline in the long run. If Orbitz is reasonably competitive with Priceline and they offer miles to the travelers, that would really hurt Priceline.

Definitely something to think about. Personally, I do not use Priceline.com. If I have the time to book my travel in advance, I wait until WN launches a fare sale and the majors match the prices. That occurs at least five to six times a year...Then I book directly on my airline's web site to maximize the miles potential. This strategy has certainly worked for me the past several years and has saved my company thousands and thousands of dollars.

If Orbitz can save us money on short-notice fares and feed us our miles, it would certainly be worth a hard look.

Now Orbitz, says it's considering an alliance with Priceline.
http://travel.wsj.com/n/SB972677588683335170-main.html

And some overseas competition is on the move too:

Online Travel Portal Limited, the online travel agency planned by nine European airlines, will become operational next year and will be based in London, German Lufthansa AG (LHAG.DE) said.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001102/wr/europe_airlines_dc_2.html

"I think people know online travel is the most successful part of the Internet," said an Orbitz spokeswoman. "People are more amenable to using it; they're used to making plane reservations on the phone. It's much more familiar for consumers to make that leap from the phone to the Internet."
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/975267964.html

I think the airlines' first motivation with Orbitz is to try to prod more people into online booking so that they can reduce distribution costs and travel agent commissions and eventually pocket all the savings.

They're definitely NOT going to make it easier for business travelers to fly much cheaper if they can help it. That'll still be subject to advance purchase and Saturday night stay restrictions unless competition forces the airline to treat the route differently. Maybe airlines want to funnel everyone through Orbitz to e-ticket everyone and pay no commissions, but they don't want it to topple the fare structure.

As for the flights like Cybersavers that don't earn mileage credit, it would serve 'em right if Southwest used that opening to take away even more market share. Strip away the perks and they let the discount guys back into the game, IMO.

Originally posted by doc:
"I think people know online travel is the most successful part of the Internet," said an Orbitz spokeswoman.

Actually, I believe the online porn http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif industry is the most successful part of the Internet.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif

Our company looked at it, but too cumbersome.

What, the online porn industry? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

No miles? NO THANKS!

------------------
Time..... is on my side.

Orbitz is moving ahead! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Orbitz (www.orbitz.com) today announced the appointment of seasoned branding expert and new economy executive Roland Jacobs as Chief Marketing Officer. The arrival of Jacobs, who has nearly 20 years of marketing, business development and customer relationship management experience, completes Orbitz' senior marketing team.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010116/il_orbitz.html


Orbitz (www.orbitz.com) today announced the appointment of veteran customer service executive David Kielkucki as Vice President of Customer Service and Call Center Operations. Kielkucki will be responsible for building a ``Best of Class'' customer service organization, leading the design of innovative customer service plans, and managing day-to-day operational activities to help achieve the overall service objectives of the company.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010116/il_orbitz_2.html


Scheduled to be launched in June 2001, Orbitz ( www.orbitz.com (http://www.orbitz.com) ) will be a full-service travel website offering consumers the widest selection of low fares in an easy-to-use format. Orbitz will become the first website to offer travelers a comprehensive, unbiased view of fares, schedules and rates for destinations around the world.

On Orbitz, consumers will be able to purchase from hundreds of airlines, thousands of hotel properties, dozens of rental car companies as well as from cruise lines, vacation packagers and other travel suppliers worldwide. Orbitz will be the first website to offer a selection of low-priced, Internet-only fares from more than 30 U.S. and international carriers, in addition to the full spectrum of published fares. The company was founded by American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United Airlines. The website is now headquartered in Chicago.

Rarely has a new Web site gained as much attention as Orbitz, the travel site that made headlines nearly a year before its debut Monday.

Like many travel-related sites, Orbitz promises the lowest air fares, hotel rates and car-rental rates -- not an original concept. But much of the buzz around the site centered on its founders: the nation's five biggest airlines, American, United, Delta, Northwest and Continental.

Consumer advocates, travel agencies and other travel sites, such as Travelocity and Expedia, cried foul, saying the airlines will give their best fares to Orbitz. Orbitz executives say the site will be unbiased. Still, the departments of Justice and Transportation are reviewing the site.

While Orbitz may be another tool for the cost-conscious vacationer, it may be a tougher sell to business travelers. Their choices are driven by the ability to nab automatic upgrades, by booking directly with the airline, or choosing an airline or hotel that has negotiated rates with their companies, said Marianne McInerney, head of the National Business Travel Association. "Orbitz isn't going to be a stand-alone opportunity for all travelers. Business travelers especially have various restrictions they have to adhere to," she said.

Business Class decided to see whether Orbitz does in fact always offer the cheapest flight. On Monday we looked at walk-up fares on a few popular business routes out of the Washington area. Here's what we found:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26644-2001Jun5.html