Although the move to meta-search is on the horizon, Cheapflights is still extolling the virtues of its price comparison model.
Travo recently spoke to global sales director Francesca Ecsery, who emphasised that the site - which was number one in its category over the turn-of-year period, according to Hitwise - takes its data from all sorts of advertisers, big and small, and has 130 in total. Its nearest competitor had just 23, she claimed.
A case in point:
Apparently the site recently featured an amazing deal on flights to Tel Aviv from "mom and pop" agency Moses Travel.
The deal proved so popular that Cheapflights had to call the agency to check it was happy with the number of incoming leads. And it was - it had filled its flights and planned to put on another.
Ecsery says the move by operators to reduce capacity has boosted demand for deals in the DIY market, adding that airlines' often complex pricing structures were also pushing consumers to shop around.
A couple more quotes on that subject that we didn't use in today's news story:
"The awareness among the consumer that they have to be careful with their money will not go away for a good five years."
...and...
"Price is still so important, and yet it has never been cheaper to fly than now. Sometimes people do not end up booking at the cheaper price but when it is advertised it's like moths to a light."
Lee Hayhurst
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