Expedia Partners With Air Asia

[dananderson]

Just saw this on Daily Finance. Expedia(EXPE) inks deal with Air Asia to begin exclusive partner booking Air Asia, gaining entry into fast growing Asian market. Read the story here. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/05/23/expedias-partnership-with-airasia-is-just-the-ticket-for-growth/

[WilliaminBKK]

NO thank you. Dealing with the Expedia call centre in India is a complete joke. Expedia is desperate for content and are probably thinking they can make money from service charges and selling hotels. If the price is same same on Air Asia direct will stick to them. If the price is lower based on customer service from Expedia I will still book with Air Asia.

[dananderson]

I wouldn't call the worlds largest online travel agency "desperate." This deal benefits both parties going forword. (Asia-Pacific partnered with Priceline for similar reasons for example.) It seems this is the direction the industry is headed. I have never used Expedia or it's subsidaries except for price comparison reasons. It does seem like a logical move for AA given their expansion plans into markets that Expedia has a strong customer base.

[craigt3365]

I prefer to book with the airline directly. Very rarely have I gotten better deals via sites like Expedia. The one time I did, I had major problems dealing with the company. It was a horrible experience and unless the difference is large, will not go down that route again.

I do find that sites like Expedia, Kayak, Dohop, etc, are great for finding low fares...just not great to deal with if problems arise...which they often do.

I think this is great news as you can now get results from Expedia that include a good low cost carrier.

[dananderson]

I agree Craig, this deal makes low cost flight searching that much easier for everyone. I prefer to deal directly with the airline as well but only if they match a discounters price. Easy to do in the states on domestic routes. International flights, not so much. Btw-Expedia makes it's money on hotel bookings and very little on flights.