Describe the process of using the Web to plan air travel

Identify a large city you would like to visit and assume you would like to leave around noon on a specific date 3 weeks in the future and would like to return 8 days later in the evening. Identify your criteria for selecting among alternative flights. Typical criteria include price, timing, whether or not connections are involved, and preference for a particular airline. Look at three travel related web sites that might be able to sell you the ticket. Major Web portals such as yahoo.com, aol.com, and excite.com have links to travel sites. You might also try travel sites such as travelocity.com, expedia.com, or biztravel.com, or priceline.com, which specializes in last minute bargains.

1. For each of the three sites, go through the process of identifying exactly which flight you want based on whatever criteria you selected. As you go through this process, take notes on how many screens you have to go through, how complicated the process seems, and any other factors that seem relevant. Briefly compare the selection process at the three sites. Compare the end result, namely, the flight you selected and the price.

2. Do the same things as in question #2, but add one more wrinkle. Instead of staying in just one city, you want to stay five days in the city you selected, want to leave in the late afternoon to go to another city for three days, and then want to return to the starting point in the evening of the eighth day. Briefly compare the selection process at the three sites and explain whether the additional stop made the process significantly more complicated. Compare the end result, namely, the flights you selected and the price.

3. Having observed the way you used the three travel Web sites, identify the steps within a typical process of selecting flights. Different people will define the steps differently, but be sure your process has at least three steps. The purpose here is not to identify the details of using one particular Web site, but rather, to be able to describe the process in general terms that might apply for most travel Web sites.

4. Produce a data flow diagram identifying the steps in question #3 and the information these steps produce or use.

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