| Of all the purchases which can be made online, cheap | | | | travel services they are not familiar with. |
| international airline tickets are the one purchase | | | | However, things are changing fast. The latest air |
| people are most reluctant to look for and buy. | | | | ticket services online actually give you the best of |
| Why should this be? In other areas, people are | | | | both worlds. First, you can phone or visit a travel |
| convinced that shopping online on the Internet gives | | | | agent with your travel plans, and see what deal they |
| the best choice and the best chance of a bargain. | | | | can come up with for you. Having done that |
| But when it comes to buying airline tickets, especially | | | | research, you can then turn to the Internet to see if |
| international airline tickets, people have been shown | | | | you can buy your tickets more cheaply, or go with a |
| to be reluctant shoppers. Most of the activity on | | | | better airline. |
| travel sites consists of browsing for information and | | | | The main benefit of the latest online air travel |
| looking for a general an idea of what a ticket to the | | | | services is that they allow you to give a range of |
| particular destination might cost. | | | | departure dates, then let you browse a list of fares |
| Then people pick up the phone or visit their travel | | | | and other details of flights which exactly match your |
| agent to get contact with a human being and to buy | | | | requirements. Travel agents tend to focus on one or |
| their ticket. | | | | two options, while any good online air travel system |
| For some reason, travelers have come to believe | | | | will give you many, many more flights and fares to |
| that the chances of buying a ticket at a lower price | | | | choose between, particularly if you are booking well |
| online than from a traditional travel agent is just a | | | | ahead of your departure date. |
| myth, or that having the reassurance of a real | | | | In addition, telephone support is now available at the |
| person to talk to about their travel plans makes | | | | top online air travel services, so if you have a special |
| paying a higher ticket price worth it. | | | | question you can talk to a representative anyway. If |
| Since an international air ticket, wherever in the world | | | | you have not used an online travel service recently, |
| you are traveling to, is not a trivial expense, people | | | | you will find them much improved and much easier to |
| may be more cautious than normal in using online | | | | use than before. |