1st In Video - Music World, Inc.

Burst Media recently found that the more complex the travel product, the more likely it will be researched online, but booked offline.   Customers were much more likely to book airfare and car rentals than hotels and travel destinations.  The travel industry still makes booking vacation packages too complex for the consumer.  When a customer is booking a complex  vacation involving airfare, hotels, transfers and/or cruises, it makes sense to book through a Travel Agent to make sure everything connects properly.  Help from live customer service agents was a major incentive to travelers who booked offline.

Read More: Online Travelers Bargain-Hunt on the Web - eMarketer

Southwest Airlines and Northwest Airlines now both accept PayPal as a payment option on their websites.   Both airlines announced the acceptance of PayPal earlier this summer.  PayPal allows a safe and secure way for customers to pay either using a credit card or their bank account.  PayPal enables merchants to accept payments from customers who have a bank account, but not a credit card.

Read More:

• Southwest Airlines Takes Off With PayPal For Online Ticket Purchases
• Northwest Airlines Offers PayPal for NWA.com Ticket Purchases

American Airlines in partnership with Air Cell, announce today that they will start providing in-flight wifi service in the United States.  Air Cell uses cellular technology to provide the internet access.  Customers will be able to use their own wifi equipment (laptops, PDAs, etc with 802.11 a/b/g) to access the Internet.  Initial pricing has not been set, but they say it shouldn’t be much more that ground based wifi spots.  CNN estimated the fee to be $10 per flight.   CNN also reported that Southwest Airlines is working on a similar program to attract more business customers.

Read More:

•  American Airlines selects AirCell to Launch in-flight wi-fi service Over U.S.- AirCell.com Press Release
  
• AA prepares for on-board Internet - CNN.com

A February Hitwise study showed slightly more women than men visit travel websites and that the three biggest age groups that visit travel websites are 35-44 (23.6%), 55+ (22.56%), and (25-34) 25.35%.

 Read More: eMarketer: Online Travel and Demographics