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Some things to watch out for before booking over the Internet

This article arrived by email and I thought it was worth posting as a warning

As travel websites proliferate on the Web, often promising lower airfares and special deals, more consumers are turning to the Internet to make their travel plans.

But many of these consumers, including college student Monet Solberg, don't wind up getting their dream vacations.

Solberg and her friends planned to spend their spring break in Cancun, Mexico. She made arrangements through eStudentTravel.com and paid for seven days in Cancun. But when she finally received her itinerary less than two days before her planned departure, she found that only three full days of the seven-day trip would actually be spent in Mexico. The rest would be spent sitting in various airports, with layovers of as long as 16 hours, with no hotel provided.

"This was supposed to be our break, our vacation, we were supposed to be lying on the beach, having fun, drinking, meeting new people," Solberg told "CyberCrime," "and [as it turned out] we were going to be sleeping on our suitcases in an airport for most of the time, flying red-eyes."

Does Solberg's experience mean travellers should avoid online travel agencies? No, it doesn't. But it does mean that it pays to be careful when making travel plans online. Here are some guidelines that may help you make it from your keyboard to paradise.

  • Do your homework. Always make sure to check and read all terms of use, privacy standards, user agreements, and payment policies on any travel website before making a purchase.

  • Get a phone number. Never book anything through a website unless you can locate a telephone number for that company. Emails are often deleted or lost without being read. It's always safer to speak with a real person. And make sure to write down the company's phone number and take it with you when you travel. You probably won't have Web access at an airport or hotel.

  • Pay by credit card. Paying by credit card gives travellers the opportunity to cancel or dispute charges. However, be wary of travel sites that require you to pay for a trip more than 60 days in advance. Most credit card companies will only allow you to dispute a charge within 60 days, and by agreeing to pay for something you won't get for more than two months, you are effectively waiving your right to dispute that charge later.

  • Read the fine print. You may be getting a cheap airfare but end up paying extremely high fees or service charges. Make sure the price you're quoted includes these hidden costs. Also, look for terms like "blackout dates" and "subject to availability." They often mean you won't be able to travel on the dates you want.

  • Print things out. Print out all cancellation and refund policies. Print out all itineraries and receipts. Print out the exact names of all hotels, airlines, airports, restaurants, and rental car agencies your travel package includes. Once the fare on a trip expires, the webpage that describes it usually does, too.

  • Always call to verify reservations. Due to the automation inherent in purchasing tickets online, an online travel agency may not call you if a transaction does not go through or if a flight is changed or cancelled. Having a confirmation number or an itinerary does not necessarily mean you have a seat or a room. Always call the airline or hotel to make sure.

  • Know the agency's cancellation policy. Not all online travel agencies guarantee compensation or travel alternatives if a flight is delayed or cancelled. Priceline.com customers learned that the hard way during last summer's United Airlines strike. Travellers who had booked their flights through United or off-line travel agencies were refunded or rebooked. Those who had booked through Priceline found themselves out of luck.

  • Be careful of charter flights. A lot of student travel companies offer trips on charter flights. But charter flights work under different rules than do traditional airlines. A charter company can legally cancel flights, change schedules, or delay flights for up to 48 hours with no compensation or alternative transportation arrangements. And charter flights do not have reciprocity agreements with other airlines.

  • Don't be rushed. Phrases like "last day to book" and "offer expires at midnight" are usually just high-pressure advertising tactics designed to get travellers to make rash decisions. Be wary of any deal that requires you to "act immediately."

  • Beware of scams. Emails promising cheap or even free trips, advertisements offering discount fares in exchange for listening to timeshare presentations, travel clubs that require join-up fees in exchange for special discounts, and companion deals that offer two tickets for the price of one are all common travel scams. Be careful, and check all such deals with a legitimate travel agent.

  • Finally, be sceptical. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and you usually do get what you pay for.

If Monet Solberg had followed some of these tips, she and her friends probably would have spent their spring break in Cancun.

Instead, eStudentTravel.com cancelled Solberg's trip after she made repeated complaints about her itinerary. But it took her nearly a year of writing letters and making phone calls before she got a refund. Her friends still have not received any money back.

But Florida deputy attorney general Marta Moakley is hoping to get more than 200 students like them refunds. She filed a civil lawsuit against eStudentTravel in the fall of 1999 for deceptive trade practices, alleging that the company failed to provide airline tickets and travel itineraries to customers, changed flight departure airports without providing adequate notice, and misrepresented the availability of seats on flights that were already overbooked. That lawsuit is still pending.

"We took them for their word, and I know a lot of kids do," Solberg said. "They figure, they're a company that specializes in spring break trips [...] why wouldn't they want us to have a good trip?"

Editor's Note: This article is based on original reporting by "CyberCrime" segment producer Jon Taylor.

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