Case Study
Are Internet and Web Fares Really Cheaper?
Despite statements made by Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity about the money they claim to be able to save you, can they really do so? Before deciding, please consider the following:
Can any of these sites
- Really guarantee the lowest possible ticket prices (and prove it with an unbiased neutral 3rd party report)?
- Enforce your corporate travel policy?
- Provide depth and meaningful travel reporting to a company to help it to further lower future travel spend?
- Really meet your specific needs as a one-size-fits-all booking tool?
- Continue to service you without major problems while it relies on financially distressed airlines for backing?
- Guarantee they will not deluge your employees e-mail boxes and desktop computer screens with unsolicited marketing messages and pop-up ads even though it is one of the Internets biggest sources of these nuisances and employee productivity-killers?
- Really ultimately be more cost-effective in total than an agencys corporate travel solution once all costs are factored in?
We dont think so.
Following are the results of a recent in-house audit:
| To | From | Travel Dates |  |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Airline Websites | |
| SFO | LAX | 9/13- 9/15 |
$217 | B6 | $243 | AA | $245 | AA | $244 | VX | $172 | B6 |
| JFK | LAX | 9/20- 10/1 |
$284 | CO/F9 | $324 | AA | $324 | B6 | $325 | DL | $294 | F9 |
| BOS | LAX | 9/12- 9/15 |
$373 | US/FL | $450 | US | $379 | US | $452 | US | $435 | US |
| DFW | MCO | 9/24- 10/15 |
$232 | AA | $237 | AA | $237 | AA | $237 | AA | $232 | AA |
| ORD | IAD | 9/30- 10/2 |
$149 | UA | $184 | US | $184 | US | $184 | US | $152 | UA |
| LAX | ATL | 10/25- 10/27 |
$292 | F9 | $296 | F9 | $298 | F9 | $297 | F9 | $292 | F9 |
| JFK | HOU | 11/5- 11/12 |
$185 | AA | $195 | AA | $207 | AA | $254 | AA | $185 | AA |
| LAX | MIA | 12/10- 12/15 |
$209 | CO | $334 | AA | $336 | AA | $336 | AA | $213 | CO |
| ORD | TPA | 9/19- 10/26 |
$177 | FL/AA | $194 | TED (UA) |
$194 | TED (UA) |
$194 | UA | $160 | U5 |
| SAN | JFK | 9/18- 9/21 |
$295 | CO | $324 | AA | $325 | AA | $325 | AA | $295 | CO |
| TPT | SAN | 10/3- 10/6 |
$215 | CO/DL | $216 | CO | $216 | CO | $216 | CO | $215 | CO |
| ORD | JFK | 10/31- 11/3 |
$189 | US | $204 | B6 | $204 | AA | $204 | AA | $189 | AA |
| JFK | MIA | 11/11- 11/16 |
$207 | DL/CO | $294 | AA | $295 | AA | $294 | AA | $192 | NK |
| IAD | HOU | 12/6- 12/12 |
$177 | CO | $249 | UA | $265 | TS | $264 | TS | $210 | NW |
| LAX | DFW | 1/10- 1/12 |
$239 | AA | $244 | F9 | $245 | F9 | $245 | F9 | $231 | F9 |
| BOS | SFO | 10/4- 1/15 |
$281 | CO | $334 | AA | $231 | CO | $345 | AA | $303 | CO |
| Total: | $3,721 | $4,332 | $4,185 | $4,416 | $3,770 | |||||||
| WINNER! |
Airlines: AA= American Airlines, B6= JetBlue , CO= Continental Airlines, DL= Delta Airlines, F9= Frontier Airlines, FL= AirTran Airways, TED(UA)= United Airlines, TS= Air Transat, US= US Airways, VX= Virgin America
Montrose Travel Overview
Founded: 1956
Annual Revenues: $110+ Million
Employees: 150
Home Based Agents: 280+
Location: Montrose, CA
Preferred Supplier Partnerships: We have strong relationships with many of the leading Travel Suppliers
Affiliations: PATH, NACTA, OSSN, ARC, Ensemble, ARTA, IATA, ASTA and CLIA
