Expedia.com is a comprehensive travel planning site. Last weekend, I set about the task of making flight reservations for the December Holidays. Not only are we traveling during a popular time; we are traveling to Florida home of many grandparents and Mickey Mouse. I thought planning in August, I was doing well but was surprised to find most of the reasonable fares already booked. As I said in my review of Travelocity, I spent the afternoon between online travel sites, airline sites and the phone. I ended up booking a flight with Delta through Expedia at a fare less than that at other sites including Delta’s and Delta’s phone reservation #.
I would use Expedia for further searches even if they hadn’t had the best fare. Here’s why.---

The site is very well organized. The opening page is very clear with options for all the typical reservations-flights, hotels, cars etc. The search function works well. If you don’t provide enough information, the page reloads with a red indicator right next to the information you need to add and specific instructions. Once you have a list of possibilities, you choose from these to get further information about one choice. (eg flight times, airplane type etc.) There are several choices in a column on the left side of each page. Questions, Traveler’s Tools, and the ’’Wizard’’. The wizard is specific to the search you are doing. In the flight search, it will display your current information and you can then change parameters to change your search.(time, day, number of stops etc.). This was unique in the travel sites I searched. In most, you have to return to the original search to change something. Once you have found a flight, the site will tell you if it can be saved for a period of time before booking. This is a good idea if you are comparing flights. I had at least two fares become booked during my searches. Flights are booked ticketless. (a bit scary for those of us used to that ticket in our hands) But, there are well done descriptions of ticketless ticketing and you are sent detailed emails with all the information needed. The site also suggests you bring the email to the airport. This info is also saved as an itinerary on the site.

In addition to doing the basics well, Expedia has some great features to explore. The Traveler’s Tools contain maps, directions, currency converters and more. There is a whole area marked ’’Guides’’. This provides guides to major destination cities, tour and tickets for attractions and travel guides (family, golf, adventure etc.). There are also airport guides for those ’’stuck’’ during layovers that include onsite information as well as immediate area information. I checked out Boston because I am very familiar with it and found a very accurate representation of airport services and restaurants and even a caution about current airport and road construction.
If you sign on the site you can also set up a fare tracker to alert you by email for the best fares to a particular destination and the site will track frequent flyer miles for you.

I am currently searching auto rentals and there are many options ofr weekly or daily rates and all the standard choices for vehicle size and type and additions from child safety seats to bike racks.

There is a ’’Priceline’’ type function called Fare Matcher for those comfortable using it. (You set your price and flight info and if they can match it they automatically book it.)

The one thing I have found Expedia doesn’t do well is to locate hotels in small towns. I did a search for the area around my son’s college and only found one choice.

I would recommend Expedia for travel planning for all.