The Internet gives vacationers great flexibility by allowing you to research and make your travel plans quickly on your own, from booking tickets to making hotel reservations to renting a car. You can easily locate and compare the best rates in the market and the best quality of service. Search for all the interesting spots in a destination and you are ready to go and enjoy your days as a world traveler.
Fare aggregators, such as Kayak.com, have become particularly helpful in searching multiple travel sites for lowest fares for comparison. These aggregators are called metasearch engines and search through multiple independent airline and travel planning sites, using a technique called screen scraping to crawl through those websites and extract data. Aggregators generate revenue through advertising and applying charges to online travel agencies.
Online travel planning sites, however, are as prone to security attacks as other online services. Airlines recently reported more than a billion dollars in online fraud loss. According to a poll of airline fraud investigators, every airline reported some measure of fraud within their card-not-present channels, with nearly one-quarter experiencing elevated percentages.
The booking of accommodations is a common point of attack for scammers. In the summer of 2009, the website Morairaway.com collected roughly 1 million British pounds in reservations from vacationers seeking Spanish villas before getting caught. Over the Internet, the scammers informed the customers that their credit card facility had been broken and they would have to reserve a villa by wire transfer. Many victims did not realize the fraud until they arrived in Spain to stay at villas that did not exist. Unfortunately, there are numerous cases of similar scams involving vacation rentals. Travel insurance does not help in this type of situation, but credit card companies generally do have policies that protect you from fraud. PayPal provides protection for 45 days after payment. When making a booking online, find it online through a mapping service to confirm its existence, and never use a wire transfer to make your reservation.
Be sure that you are accessing a trusted site while providing your personal information and credit card details. Please refer to information about Phishing to save yourself from spoof sites and similar scams.
After understanding the safety and security aspects of online travel planning, you can enjoy your trip knowing that you have planned responsibly. For some more help, here are a few other travel tips to consider:
Consider buying travel insurance. When going to international locations, travel insurance is recommended for its protection against unforeseen events, such as accidents, theft, and a lost passport. Some credit card companies, like American Express and Visa, provide this insurance by default to their customers who purchase plane tickets with their credit cards. There are also other dedicated travel insurers, such as Travel Guard.
Be prepared at the airport. Travelers are required to carry an e-ticket for travel. With paper tickets gone, travelers have to be aware of the necessary information needed to board the plane, which includes a reservation number or credit card number at the check-in and photo identification (e.g. a driver's license for domestic or passport for international travel). You can check the status of your reservation before hand on the flight's website by using the confirmation code on your e-ticket and, to save yourself some time, you can check in online 24 hours before the departure.
Address baggage damage or loss immediately. If the airline loses or damages your baggage, then you should go immediately to the airline's office, usually near the claims area, and explain what happened. It is always best to deal with it right at the airport. Have your luggage claim receipt ready.
Handle money carefully. Find a secure way to carry your travel documents and passport and keep them separate from your money. Credit cards are considered a safe method of payment for travelers, who carry minimal cash to avoid loss or theft. Although travelers' checkers were once a popular and secure method of payment, they are no longer accepted widely around the world. When traveling, consider distributing your purchases across two or three credit cards and do not carry all of the cards at the same time, in case your belongings are lost or stolen.
References
- Before you leave: money belts and security gear
(TravelFish.org) - Bogus websites are conning hundreds out of their holidays (Times Online)
- Online booking fraud results in losses of over a billion dollars for airlines (Ecommerce Journal)
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