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The Virtual Airline, Online information for the Aviation Industry.
Western Pacific Airlines, picture of a B-737 that has The Simpson's painted on the airplane.
Airline information on-line on the Internet FAQ
From: john@iecc.com (John R. Levine)
Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge MA
Newsgroups: rec.travel, rec.travel.air, alt.travel.uk.air, rec.answers, news.answers, alt.answers
Archive-name: travel/air/online-info
Last-modified: 1997/08/03
No changes from last week.
Please look through this entire FAQ, particularly the PLEASE NOTE at the end,
before e-mailing me a question or comment, since most of the questions I get
are already answered in the FAQ.
* Is this FAQ available on the WWW?
Yes, at http://iecc.com/airline/airinfo.html, and perhaps at mirror sites.
Anyone is welcome to mirror the HTML version of this FAQ but please let me
know by e-mail so I can tell you when there are updated
versions.
* Is there a way to get airline schedules on the Internet for free?
Yes, from several sources. Many of them will also let you book and buy
tickets.
* Is there a way to get airline schedules on the Internet if I pay for it?
Yes. Until mid-1996 the paid services were considerably better than the free
ones, but now I find that the free services are just as good.
* What's available for free?
There are now several Internet gateways to airline CRS (computer reservation
systems.)
Travelocity (http://www.travelocity.com) is the new Web interface to AMR's
Sabre system. It's still pretty buggy but shows promise. The underlying data
are the same as Easy Sabre and reservations made on one show up on the other.
You need to provide a credit card number to make reservations, but they won't
charge you until you tell them to. Tickets can be issued by mail or through
any Sabre travel agent. I find it considerably slower and less flexible than
the old line at a time Easy interface (below), but it's prettier. There is
also a great deal of travel destination information of variable usefulness.
Unlike other web-based systems, it lets you hold a reservation without buying
it. Also handles hotels and rental cars.
Easy Sabre (http://www.easysabre.com) is the oldest computer reservation
system available to the public. Run by American Airlines, lets you check fares
and schedules on all airlines with computerized reservations (all but the most
obscure), and make reservations for yourself and others. Tickets can be sent
by mail, or by any travel agent with a Sabre terminal. (Note: Sabre doesn't
check for the ticket by mail option whether there's actually time to get you
the tickets. I don't recommend it.) You can keep a lot of profile info on-line
such as frequent flyer numbers and meal and seat preferences which are
automatically inserted into reservations you make for yourself. Your ID can be
your AAdvantage frequent flyer number. Official Recreation Guide available at
extra cost. Line oriented command language, e.g. to ask for flights from
Boston to San Francisco on July 4 around noon:
/AIR,BOS,SFO,4JUL,1200
It will prompt you field by field if you don't know all the parameters.
Easy uses the same underlying system as Travelocity, above, but is much, much
faster. It's available via the new web site and also via on-line services
(below).
Prodigy Classic has its own screen-oriented interface to Easy which is alleged
to be easier to use but provides only a subset of the command line
functionality. The web site provides the command line version, with a one-line
form at the bottom of each page into which you can type the next command. I
give away a little program, available with the WWW version of this FAQ, that
runs under Unix and recreates the classic (but really fast) text-only Easy
using the Web server.
FLIFO (http://www.flifo.com) is a new system offering booking and ticketing. A
"fare buster" feature looks for cheaper flights close to the ones you asked
for, a nice touch. Charged to credit card, delivered by overnight UPS. They
have flight status for American, Continental, and Delta, and modest discounts
for Continental and TWA. Similar data to Travelocity (both based on Sabre),
less flashy, but less buggy, too. Often gives "too busy" response, claims
they're expanding capacity.
Microsoft Expedia (http://expedia.msn.com) is the flashy new entrant into the
web travel biz. The site is garish (like most new web sites), but it's
reasonably easy to negotiate and to find schedules and fares. Ticketing
on-line with credit card, they send you the tickets. Underlying info is
apparently from Worldspan. Unlike most other systems, you have to provide a
credit card number to make a reservation even if you don't want to buy
immediately. When I tried to reserve, it said it the credit card link was
down, no reservations possible, call a number in Florida if it's urgent. Yeah,
right. (At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1.) There's also lots of promos and
tie-ins, currently offering extra frequent flyer miles on American,
Continental, and Northwest for flights booked via Expedia. You can sign up for
weekly e-mail about best fares on routes you select.
Internet Travel Network (http://www.itn.net) is a WWW-based flight booking
system. You make reservations, using Apollo, which are then ticketed by any
one of a long list of participating travel agencies. Users pay nothing,
agencies pay $3/ticket. It often has trouble finding itineraries, for one I
tried it found two, while Easy found over a dozen, and it sometimes misses low
fares that the other systems find. They've been working to make it better, and
it's improved somewhat over the past year, so if the agency you use
participates, it's worth trying, and again it's hard to fault the price.
Several other sites on the net such as American Express have ``private label''
connections to ITN, but it's the same system, usually just with slightly
different screen backgrounds and titles.
United Connection is a new interface to United's Apollo system available via a
downloadable Windows 95 package, and also available on Compuserve. The Win95
package appears to be a reservation system, but since in about a dozen
attempts it never successfully completed a reservation, I can't say for sure.
Your ID is your mileage plus number, non-members can join on-line. Rental car
info now available. More reports from users are welcome. Same data as ITN or
reservations.com. Software download page
(http://www.ual.com/united_bin/infores_bin/connect.html) for the software,
about 8 megabytes.
Preview Travel (http://www.reservations.com) offers a large web site with
reservations and ticketing, with data from Apollo. Info is similar to ITN, but
they have a very nice "best fare" feature that looks for cheaper alternative
itineraries once you tell it where you want to go. Also a lot of info on low
fares, double frequent flyer miles and the like.
Trax Software (http://www.trax.com), a vendor of front-end software for CRSes
has a live demo page for Web package, which lets you check availability and
fares, using multiple CRS for data. Tickets are issued through a local agency
in Virginia and possibly other agencies in the future. It's not as glitzy as
Travelocity or ITN, but it seems to work pretty well and to be faster than
either.
System One (http://www.sys1.com/), which started a long time ago as Eastern
Airlines' reservation system, has now grown into an enormous international CRS
called Amadeus, with a bunch of attractive web pages. They offer extensive
schedule and price info. For bookings, you need to use one of the agent
systems that link to System One such as TripWeb and Travelweb, below. The
System One booking systems all link into the same site, so other than some of
the graphics, the function they provide is identical.
TripWeb (http://www.tripweb.com) is run by a Florida travel agency and offers
search and bookings through System One, with free ticket delivery. Features
and performance are comparable to ITH or Trax, except that it uses System One
for underlying data.
Travelweb (http://www.travelweb.com) has a lot of travel info, graphics that
look like they were drawn with a crayon (it's an aesthetic effect, I guess),
and airline reservations via System One.
TISS (http://www.tiss.com) is an online database in Germany with current
airfares provided by a group of consolidators. They offer departures from
Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg,
Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland, and plan to add other
countries soon. They claim the prices they offer are the best available.
Worldspan (http://www.worldspan.com) is another large international CRS owned
mostly by Delta, Northwest, TWA. They have an attractive web site with a
demonstration of their new Web availability and pricing system, but no
booking. (Booking available to Compuserve users via Travelshopper and
Northwest's system.) It's the system that underlies Microsoft Expedia
(described above).
Mellow Yellow (http://www.clubi.ie/yellow/bin/travel) lists discount air fares
from UK consolidators and bucket shops. (Most fares are for flights from the
U.K.) You select origin and destination, and they e-mail you a list of
applicable fares.
Destinations Unlimited (http://www.air-fare.com) tracks lowest fares among
major U.S. cities, with daily updates of significantly lower fares. Res and
ticketing also available.
American Weather Concepts offers the extremely cool Flyte Trax
(http://www.amerwxcncpt.com/flytrax.html) service which will give you a
real-time position map and ETA for most domestic flights.
* What reservation systems are available if you pay for them?
TRAVELSHOPPER: Run by Worldspan (formerly PARS), which is Delta, Northwest and
TWA, similar features to Easy. There are some features not available on Easy
such as open date tickets. Same ticketing options as Easy, but fewer agents
have Worldspan terminals. No travel club, less detailed profile. Currently
only available on Compuserve via CIM interface, but it's the same underlying
system as Microsoft Expedia (described above). Worldspan has a web site
(above) as well.
ON-LINE OFFICIAL AIRLINE GUIDE: Similar data and commands to the other ones.
It used to be better than the airline-operated systems, but now everyone's
updated in near real-time. Lots of other random stuff, e.g. frequent flyer
newsletter and flight departure and arrival info (they can show you the
contents of the flight info TV screens from some airports.) Airlines and a few
agencies can issue tickets.
NORTHWEST/KLM: They have a new reservation system available on Compuserve,
with data from Worldspan. User reports are mixed, some reporting that it
misses fares and connections that Sabre finds. It's slow, like Travelocity,
not fast like Easy. You get 500 or 1000 NW miles when you book a NW/KL ticket.
Delivery by FedEx overnight, no extra charge.
* Are these the same systems that travel agents use?
The underlying data are the same, but the interface is different. Some data
are visible to agents, but not to these systems. A good way to work is to make
the best reservation you can on-line, then call a travel agent, tell him what
you've reserved, and see if he can do better.
* How do I get access to them?
Easy is available via the web or via gateway systems. United and Travelshopper
are only available via gateway systems, OAG directly or via gateways.
Easy Sabre: GEnie, Compuserve, Delphi, Prodigy
Travelshopper: Compuserve, must use CIM
United: Compuserve, must use CIM
OAG: Direct subscription, Delphi, Compuserve, GEnie, Dow Jones News Retrieval,
AT&T InterSpan.
Delphi: Telnet to delphi.com, no surcharge.
OAG: Telnet to oag.com, no surcharge.
AOL: 2.0 version of their software speaks WinSock, available from their FTP
server at ftp.aol.com.
Compuserve: Telnet to compuserve.com, hostname CIS. Compuserve's front-end
program CIM runs under Windows and is required for Apollo Connection,
Travelshopper, and Northwest's system. The latest version of CIM works both
with traditional dial-in access and via WinSock. You can download it from
their Web page (http://www.compuserve.com).
For dial-in access, Delphi is on Sprintnet and Tymnet, no surcharge nights and
weekends. Compuserve has its own extensive network, or is available via
Sprintnet at a surcharge. OAG is on Sprintnet and Tymnet, no surcharge. AOL is
on Sprintnet and Tymnet, no surcharge.
* How much do they cost?
Easy, United, and Travelshopper are available at the base rate for all of the
on-line services that offer them except for Prodigy.
Delphi offers a five-hour free trial when you sign up; you can use Easy during
that time. AOL also usually offers a free trial period.
Gateway systems charge a substantial surcharge for the OAG, e.g. Delphi
charges 59 cents/min peak, 42 cents/min off-peak. A direct subscription to the
OAG is much cheaper, per-minute rates are lower than the surcharge. Call
800-323-4000, and ask for a 15 day free trial, $25 signup if you continue. If
you subscribe directly, the OAG waives session charges if you make or cancel a
reservation during the session. The OAG has no monthly minimum, which is good
for occasional users.
* Is there information directly from the airlines?
Many airlines are on the World Wide Web. For most of them you need a browser
that supports forms, such as Netscape, or Internet Explorer. Three good
directories of them are:
http://www.yahoo.com/Business/Corporations/Travel/Airlines
http://w3.one.net/~flypba/airlines/
http://www.itn.net/airlines
The airlines listed here all have schedule or booking information available;
see the pages mentioned above for lots of others of airline web pages with
other info.
In the discussions below, flight ops means flight operations, that is, delays,
gates, cancellations, and the like. Ticketless ticketing means that rather
than issuing a real ticket, the airline sends you a receipt with a ticket
number. You cite that number and show ID when you check in. They send the
receipt via e-mail, fax, or (if there's time) snail mail. You pay with a
credit card.
Air Canada (http://www.aircanada.ca:80/ac_world/schedule/) has schedule info
and weekly Websaver special fares. Aussi disponsible en francais
(http://www.aircanada.ca/french/ac_world/schedule). You can also download a
300K PC version of the entire schedule.
Alaska Airlines (http://www.alaska-air.com/) has a web site with flight info,
reservations, and ticketless ticketing. The reservation system only seems to
be up about half the time, new design is pretty but not as cute as the old
retro design.
America West (http://www.americawest.com) has schedule info, reservations, and
ticketless ticketing in a site that is quite attractive now that the images
hold still.
American Airlines (http://www.americanair.com/) has schedules, fares, and
flight ops. The fares are all quoted ``one way'' even though most of them
require that you buy round trip. (Legal, but really tacky.) Reservations and
ticketing available through AAccess, a cripple-ware version of Travelocity
(e.g., Travelocity lets you queue a reservation to your travel agent, this
system doesn't.)
American Trans Air (http://www.ata.com) has a web site with schedules, fares,
flight ops. Reservations provided through a system which appears to be a
private label version of Travelocity.
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