Travelocity to waive flight-booking fees

Travelocity.com is expected to announce Tuesday that it will eliminate its booking fees on airline tickets sold through May 31, matching a move last week by competitor Expedia.com.

Travelocity.com is expected to announce Tuesday that it will eliminate its booking fees on airline tickets sold through May 31, matching a move last week by competitor Expedia.com.

The online travel vendors face intense competition from Web sites that search for airline prices and refer shoppers directly to airline sites, which typically don’t charge booking fees.

Travelocity also is expected to launch a long-term price guarantee of sorts on vacation packages, promising to refund a price difference, from $10 to $500, if a different Travelocity customer buys the same package for a cheaper price at a later date. The “PriceGuardian” program is similar to an offering competitor Orbitz.com makes on airline tickets called “Price Assurance.”

Expedia Inc.; Travelocity, which is a unit of Sabre Holdings Corp., and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. typically charge $6.99 to $11.99 to book an airline ticket. The fees are usually folded in with government taxes and fees.

Those companies also generate revenue off hotel bookings, car rentals, travel insurance and advertising on the Web sites.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...