Expedia

Expedia Inc. is hiding pricing information for American Airlines flights on its websites in a display of solidarity with Orbitz Worldwide Inc., the Chicago company that is enmeshed in a contract dispute with the nation's third-largest carrier. The online travel giants are warring with American over the airline's attempts to take greater control of the way it sells tickets and other services. The Texas airline is seeking new contract terms that would drive down its cost of doing business with online agencies such as Orbitz and Expedia and the global clearinghouses that provide the ticket data they peddle over the Internet, analysts said.

FORT WORTH — With pointy red gnome hats, a cruise giveaway and plenty of balloons, Travelocity turned sweet 16 last month. But it hasn't been all cupcakes and champagne for the travel website. Once considered a trailblazer, Travelocity has struggled for the last few years to keep up with competitors such as Expedia and Priceline. "We weren't moving as fast as we needed to," Chief Executive Carl Sparks said about newer, nimbler competitors. "We're 16 and so sometimes we think of ourselves as one of the elderly companies in the space because we were around since its inception.… Yet 16 is quite young for a multibillion-dollar company.

High gas prices are starting to slide , but that doesn't mean I would turn down a gas card that comes with my room. Many hotels have made such offers this summer, and now the Expedia travel website has jumped in with gas cards up to $50 for  purchases made with MasterCards. The deal: The Gas Money Bonus rewards those who complete their Expedia travel purchase for selected hotels and packages by using MasterCard. You get a $25 gas card for a two-night hotel stay or air-hotel package and a $50 gas card for three or more nights.

Gas prices may be rising, but that hasn't dampened Americans' dreams to hit the open road. About 25% of men and 33% of women say they have not driven across the country but "always wanted to," according to a survey released last week by the travel website Expedia. And 41% of Americans and nearly half of men who were surveyed said they've already driven cross-country at least once in their lives. The survey of 2,262 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia went beyond Americans' automotive bucket lists.

Expedia has joined with the National Park Foundation on a new website to help travelers plan trips to national parks. The site, at www.expedia .com/nationalparks, includes park maps and other content from the National Park Foundation as well as information about lodging outside the parks. It also includes suggestions for long-weekend itineraries and a series of stories called "Can't-Miss National Parks." Although the Expedia site can be used to identify and book accommodations near the parks, it cannot be used to reserve campsites or book stays inside the parks.

Question: My wife's family lives in Poland. In February, we learned that her father had cancer, so she wanted to visit him. On Feb. 17, I bought a ticket through Expedia for a Feb. 25 Lufthansa flight. On Feb. 21, her family called to say he was deteriorating rapidly. In a panic, I called Lufthansa to try to change the ticket. Lufthansa said I should contact Expedia, but the Expedia agent told me it would be $1,200 more (including a $250 rebooking fee) for a ticket that originally cost me $816.

Gas prices may be rising, but that hasn't dampened Americans' dreams to hit the open road. About 25% of men and 33% of women say they have not driven across the country but "always wanted to," according to a survey released last week by the travel website Expedia. And 41% of Americans and nearly half of men who were surveyed said they've already driven cross-country at least once in their lives. The survey of 2,262 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia went beyond Americans' automotive bucket lists.

Gas prices may be rising, but that hasn't dampened Americans' dreams to hit the open road. About 25% of men and 33% of women say they have not driven across the country but “always wanted to,” according to a survey released last week by the travel website Expedia.com. And 41% of Americans and nearly half of men who were surveyed said they've already driven cross country at least once in their lives. The survey of 2,262 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia went beyond Americans' automotive bucket lists.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. and Travelocity.com, a unit of Sabre Holdings Corp., stopped charging a fee to book airline tickets at their websites. The online travel sites are following the lead of Expedia Inc., which lifted its fee for online plane tickets last week.

USA Interactive, the Internet commerce company run by Barry Diller, restructured management ranks into three core categories and said the head of its electronic retailer, HSN, is leaving. The company -- home to travel firms Expedia Inc. and Hotels.com, Ticketmaster and dating service Match.com -- said it would reorganize operations into three groups: information and services, electronic retailing and travel services. Shares of New York-based USA fell 35 cents to $24.34 on Nasdaq.

Gas prices may be rising, but that hasn't dampened Americans' dreams to hit the open road. About 25% of men and 33% of women say they have not driven across the country but “always wanted to,” according to a survey released last week by the travel website Expedia.com. And 41% of Americans and nearly half of men who were surveyed said they've already driven cross country at least once in their lives. The survey of 2,262 adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia went beyond Americans' automotive bucket lists.

Those who hesitated might have lost out on bargain New Year's Eve hotel rooms in New York City and San Francisco, but how much you pay also might depend on where you want to stay. NewYorkHotels.org reports prices in Big Apple hotels are way up for Dec. 31 compared with regular rates. The survey shows rooms at Hotel 91 on the Lower East Side jump from $125 to $933, and the Cosmopolitan in the Wall Street area increases from $129 to $549. Even the midtown Holiday Inn NYC's rates jump from $179 to $649.

Ready to sign up for another discount travel website? Groupon Getaways With Expedia launched Tuesday with discounts on hotels, airfare and other travel. The website looks a lot like members-only travel sites such as Voyage Prive and SniqueAway but operates on the Groupon model: Buy a voucher within a limited time to use for future travel. Expedia and Groupon said in an earlier news release that they hope to leverage more than 50 million combined members with the new service.

High gas prices are starting to slide , but that doesn't mean I would turn down a gas card that comes with my room. Many hotels have made such offers this summer, and now the Expedia travel website has jumped in with gas cards up to $50 for  purchases made with MasterCards. The deal: The Gas Money Bonus rewards those who complete their Expedia travel purchase for selected hotels and packages by using MasterCard. You get a $25 gas card for a two-night hotel stay or air-hotel package and a $50 gas card for three or more nights.

Question: My wife's family lives in Poland. In February, we learned that her father had cancer, so she wanted to visit him. On Feb. 17, I bought a ticket through Expedia for a Feb. 25 Lufthansa flight. On Feb. 21, her family called to say he was deteriorating rapidly. In a panic, I called Lufthansa to try to change the ticket. Lufthansa said I should contact Expedia, but the Expedia agent told me it would be $1,200 more (including a $250 rebooking fee) for a ticket that originally cost me $816.

Imagine four taps on an app, and you have a room for the night.  That’s what Expedia promises with its new iPhone/iPod Touch hotel booking app.  Expedia plans to add the free Expedia Hotels app to the iTunes App store by mid-April and an Android version to the Android Market by the end of April.  An iPad version is expected to be released later  in the year. Expedia Hotels works with your phone’s GPS to locate nearby hotels   Key features include: -- An interactive map view that shows hotels in the area, with green pins marking those recommended by TripAdvisor, a user-reviewer website owned by Expedia.

I have been a travel agent for more than 40 years, and the last eight have been the roughest. It is encouraging to read articles like "In the Era of the Web Search, Whither the Travel Agency?" (Travel Insider, May 11) and learn that there are travelers out there who view us as professionals. With the birth of Travelocity, Expedia and the like, many are convinced that anyone can be a travel consultant. But from being in the trenches for four decades, I can tell you there is more to the job than booking $120 tickets.

FORT WORTH — With pointy red gnome hats, a cruise giveaway and plenty of balloons, Travelocity turned sweet 16 last month. But it hasn't been all cupcakes and champagne for the travel website. Once considered a trailblazer, Travelocity has struggled for the last few years to keep up with competitors such as Expedia and Priceline. "We weren't moving as fast as we needed to," Chief Executive Carl Sparks said about newer, nimbler competitors. "We're 16 and so sometimes we think of ourselves as one of the elderly companies in the space because we were around since its inception.… Yet 16 is quite young for a multibillion-dollar company.

The recently sparked feud between American Airlines and the travel websites Orbitz and Expedia has business travel managers worried that the dispute may end up making plane tickets cost more money. It all started last year when American Airlines yanked its ticket sales from Orbitz to save on the commissions and fees it pays to sell tickets through travel websites. Expedia jumped into the fray by withholding American Airlines ticket information from its site. At the heart of the quarrel is a complicated revenue-sharing arrangement between the airline, the travel website and the global distribution systems that dole out ticket information.

Expedia Inc. is hiding pricing information for American Airlines flights on its websites in a display of solidarity with Orbitz Worldwide Inc., the Chicago company that is enmeshed in a contract dispute with the nation's third-largest carrier. The online travel giants are warring with American over the airline's attempts to take greater control of the way it sells tickets and other services. The Texas airline is seeking new contract terms that would drive down its cost of doing business with online agencies such as Orbitz and Expedia and the global clearinghouses that provide the ticket data they peddle over the Internet, analysts said.