Marking World Tourism Day 2018: CheapOair Highlights American Travel Trends

Leading online travel agency highlights statistics on how digital innovations have changed U.S. tourism

In honor of World Tourism Day, we celebrate the different ways digital innovation has transformed the way we discover, book, and travel to destinations around the world. The tourism sector is constantly changing and in preparation for looking to the future of tourism, CheapOair.com is analyzing the past. More specifically, the leading online travel agency recently released some interesting highlights about the way Americans have traveled over the last four years.

Most Popular Travel Day of The Year for Americans

According to CheapOair, the busiest day to travel in the U.S. last year was on December 22nd[1]. This is consistent with CheapOair’s annual data which shows the busiest time of year to travel is during the December holidays. December 21st, 22nd, and 23rd are consistently the three most popular days to travel year after year[2]. If you’re planning a trip over the holidays this year, be sure to book well in advance. It might also be worth considering traveling on alternate dates.

Hotline Bling: Americans’ Preferred Method of Booking

In the past year, most CheapOair customers completed their bookings on the desktop site, but the company is seeing rapid growth in the use of mobile devices. In the past three years, mobile bookings have tripled and now account for close to 50% of total bookings[3]. CheapOair also offers 24/7 access to live travel agents via telephone or live chat. Some Americans still value the ability to talk to a human, with approximately 15% of bookings made with the assistance of an agent in 2017[4].

Most Booked Domestic Routes in the U.S.

In the U.S., each coast thinks they are the best coast.  Based on our data, popular American routes run more north-south than east-west. This year the most booked domestic routes were Las Vegas to Los Angeles, Newark to Fort Lauderdale, and Dallas to Los Angeles.

Around the World and Back: Most Booked International Routes Out of the U.S.

Los Angeles to Guadalajara was the U.S.’s most booked international route on CheapOair.com. In close second was New York to Kingston, Jamaica, and Los Angeles to Mexico City.

For more information, please visit www.cheapoair.com, plus follow our social media pages, www.facebook.com/cheapoair, www.twitter.com/cheapoair, and www.instagram.com/cheapoair.  Download the CheapOair app for iOS or Android for an on-the-go travel concierge experience.

CheapOair’s mission is to educate and aid consumers and travel professionals in both planning their travel accommodations and staying current on the most popular destinations. With a portfolio of products, including rate and schedule information from 450 global airlines, CheapOair is a great way to book the travel that’s right for you.

About CheapOair

CheapOair is a flight-focused hybrid travel agency that enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone (1-646-738-4820) or live chat. Part of Fareportal’s family of travel brands, CheapOair bridges the gap between an online travel agency and a traditional agency with certified travel agents available to help find deals and offers to destinations worldwide on over 450 airlines, a million hotels, and 100s of car rental companies. Follow CheapOair on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram , and Pinterest to learn how to travel the world for less.

 

[1] Based on passengers booked for travel from 1/1/2017 – 12/31/2017.

[2] Based on passengers booked for travel 1/1//2014 – 12/31/2017.

[3] Based on number of bookings made on mobile devices 1/1/2014 – 12/31/2017.

[4] Based on number of bookings made with an agent 1/1/2017 – 12/31/2017.

 

 

CheapOair’s “Super Flex Deals” Save Customers Time and Money by Finding the Cheapest Dates to Travel

CheapOair.com, a leading flight-focused hybrid travel agency, has announced the release of its Super Flex Deals, a low-fare calendar and bar chart showing alternate airfares for two months surrounding the selected travel date. The new feature gives customers valuable insight into when fares will be at their lowest and has the potential to offer significant savings to customers with flexibility.

The intelligent page only displays if a cheaper fare is available within the 60-day window specific to the customer’s origin, destination, and desired trip length. The page is fully interactive where customers can click on the calendar or fare trend bar to see a lower-priced option. Super Flex Deals are an extremely beneficial decision-making tool for price-conscious consumers who haven’t chosen their travel dates. Customers will see the potential savings instantly rather than having to spend hours performing many searches to find the best price.

“Our data indicates that many of our customers are undecided on their destination or their departure date when they first visit our site,” said Sam S. Jain, Founder and CEO at Fareportal. “By analyzing search data over a long period of time, we saw that customers were performing many searches to find the best price. Our technology team developed the Super Flex Deals algorithm using cutting-edge methods to maximize the savings our customers can get when they book through CheapOair.”

 

“We are a data-driven product team that is constantly looking for ways to improve our customer experience,” said Marcel Jones, CheapOair Product Owner. “Based on how customers were interacting with our site, we determined the need for an intelligent algorithm that could provide a 60-day view of when prices are cheapest.”

 For more information, please visit www.CheapOair.com, www.cheapoair.com/mobile, or our social media pages, www.Facebook.com/CheapOair and www.twitter.com/cheapoair.

 

About CheapOair

CheapOair is a flight-focused, hybrid travel agency that enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone or live chat. CheapOair (https://www.cheapoair.com, 1-646-738-4820) bridges the gap between an online and traditional travel agency with certified travel agents available to help find deals and offers to destinations worldwide on over 450 airlines, 1 million hotels, and 100s of car rental companies. Partner airlines benefit from access to CheapOair’s broad customer base that books high yield international travel and add-on ancillaries at above the industry average. Follow CheapOair on Facebook and Twitter to learn how to travel the world for less.

 

 

 

 

 

Fareportal’s CheapOair.com Wins Silver Magellan Award from Travel Weekly

CheapOair Mobile Web Honored at Prestigious Travel Industry Awards

Fareportal, the travel technology company powering CheapOair and OneTravel, and the winner of 19 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards over the past seven years, today announced they have earned yet another – a Silver Magellan Award for CheapOair’s mobile web product.

CheapOair’s mobile web application has seen significant developments over the past year giving customers more flexibility in how they search for, and book travel on-the-go. Some of the features highlighted in the award entry included the integration of Apple Pay, the use of AI and machine learning to make the mWeb experience more personalized, and the adoption of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for a more mobile-friendly experience.

“Our technology and product teams deserve every bit of this recognition as they have worked incredibly hard over the past year to improve our mobile products,” said Sam S. Jain, Founder and CEO of Fareportal. “As we see more and more customers visiting our site from their mobile devices, it has become increasingly important for us to focus on enhancing the mobile customer experience.”

The Magellan Awards were launched in 2008 by Travel Weekly to acknowledge the “best in travel” each year. They honor outstanding design, marketing and services in a broad range of industry segments including Hospitality, Travel Destinations, Cruise Lines, Online Travel Services, Airlines and Airports, Travel Agents and Agencies, Tour Operators and Ground Transportation.

“Magellan winners are those in the industry who communicate travel’s promise, through words, images and design, in ways that ring true and stand out,” said Arnie Weissmann, editor-in-chief of Travel Weekly. “They create the environments and craft the messages that spark travelers’ imaginations.”

About Fareportal

Fareportal is a travel technology company powering a next generation travel concierge service. Utilizing its innovative technology and company owned and operated global contact centers, Fareportal has built strong industry partnerships providing customers access to over 450 airlines, 1 million hotels, and hundreds of car rental companies around the globe. With a portfolio of consumer travel brands including CheapOair and OneTravel, Fareportal enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone, or live chat. Fareportal provides its airline partners with access to a broad customer base that books high-yielding international travel and add-on ancillaries.