I work online, I buy products and services online – I even order my food shopping on Tesco and Asda online, so it would be obvious to most people that I would book my holiday online, considering all the time I spend online.

Ed - this is not a picture of me!

Well, normally, I book my flight and accommodation direct, but for a change, I thought I would give online travel agencies a try and see if I can could get a good late deal, for 7 nights in Kos, during October, and found myself frustrated and ranting at my monitor – here’s why.

Prices that don’t exist.

Surely there’s a law against this? Great deal I thought after reading about a £89 package holiday in Greece. I clicked on the link, and hey presto the holiday was actually four times more expensive than the advertisement on the homepage.

Hmmm have you guys heard of the Trade Description Act?

Slow websites

Unbelievably slow websites should not exist – especially for someone who is using a 8 Meg Broadband connection. I had a major problem with one travel website because of an JavaScript error – I choose Greece, but it decided it didn’t like Greece and kept refreshing the form. Grrr

Browser (un)friendly websites

Come on guys – you have tons of money to spend on marketing, I see your television advertisements, so you must have some cash to spend on a good web designer. There’s no excuse for you to have a website which is not usable or friendly in other browsers like FireFox.

I wonder how many travel companies have prepared their website for the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7.0 which is rumoured to be sent to through Microsoft updates on to our PC’s during December and January.

Available holidays only please

How annoying – you search on the website, you get results, you click on the link for more information, and get all excited at the thought of dipping in the swimming pool – you then click on the “continue” link to get an up-to-date price for your travelling party, only to be told that the holiday is unavailable. Hmm why didn’t they just not list the holiday package in the search results?

Can I book online or not?

Grr! I searched one travel website, choose a nice holiday package, clicked on ‘continue’ to see the cost of the holiday, only to be told to ring their 0845 number, and that I couldn’t book the holiday online - Annoying!

I could of named and shamed, and I know I’m too nice and I should be ruthless – but I did email each travel website and tell them about my experience, so if you got an email from this Travel Ranter, you know this blog entry is dedicated to you.

• Booking a Late Holiday Deal
• Ten things that annoy me about booking holidays online
• Flight search comparison reviews
• The future of holiday search for the 21st century consumer

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