Study: agents websites better than airlines
26.03.08
Travel agents have scored better than airlines in a website usability study by Webcredible. Airline websites scored an average of 48% for usability compared with 55% for agents.
Opodo was rated the most usable online travel website scoring 67%, while BA led the way for airlines achieving 65%. Ryanair (40%) and Monarch (38%) came bottom of the report because of the poor transparency of pricing.
Webcredible examined the websites of 20 of the UK’s online travel agents and airline carriers. It found that only 3 websites - those of Opodo, British Airways, and Travelbag (62%) - scored over 60% when measured against a set of specific criteria, with many of the top internet brands scored only around 50%.
A spokesman for Webcredible said: ‘Users need to have clear and accurate pricing displayed through-out a site. It’s not acceptable to add ‘hidden’ charges at the very end of a transaction process – this is something which a number of airline carriers are guilty of.'
‘Many of the sites also suffered with inaccessible user information. For example, with the growing number of airlines flying to new and mysterious-sounding airports many of the sites are not being up front about where they are based and how users will get there. 15 out of 20 travel sites scored 0 out of 5 on this.’
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