I never meta travel search like this!

Shopping for travel is fundamentally different from, say, buying clothing. If you want an L.L. Bean cashmere sweater, you typically have to order by mail from an L.L. Bean catalog, visit an L.L. Bean store, or call L.L. Bean and make a purchase by phone. And generally, you'll pay the same amount (except, perhaps, for tax and shipping). But with travel, the same product - the specific United seat or Sheraton hotel room - can be bought from a dozen or more online retailers. And each of those stores could be offering a slightly different price.

As I mentioned the other day, no single travel website always has the best deals on airfare or hotels. While you're likely used to shopping around a bit, you're also probably loyal to a few favorite sites - places where you got a good deal once and expect to do so again. But if you always book your airfare on Travelocity, or your hotel with Expedia, you could be paying more than you need to for the same flight or the same room.

For those of you who think price is the most important consideration (i.e. those of you, ahem, without a Gulfstream at your disposal), a new breed of travel sites might be able to help. These websites aim at becoming the one and only place to start your trip planning. They are often referred to as "meta-search" sites, because they search other websites for deals.

The patriarch of the meta-search sites is SideStep, which I've used for several years as a valuable travel tool. Another, BookingBuddy (affiliated with SmarterLiving.com, a former employer of mine), allows you to choose which sites you want to search, so you can compare the results one at a time. A third site, worth watching out for in 2005, is called Kayak, led by former executives of the major online agencies and backed by an investment from AOL. And the latest of these meta-search sites, called Mobissimo, just launched officially this week.

I used Mobissimo to search for a flight in January between Chicago and Ft. Lauderdale. (Hey, why not dream a little? It'll be above freezing there.) The lowest price I found was for a seat on ATA, for a little less than $149. Instead of selling me the ticket directly, Mobissimo transferred me to ATA's website. Then, in what seems like a glitch in the system, it told me it couldn't find any availability at that price. (D'oh!) However, Mobissimo's search results also included ATA flights being sold by Travelocity, Amex, Cheap Tickets, and OneTravel. But rather than try a different provider, I went to ATA's website on my own, where I found the fare that Mobissimo couldn't.

Though Mobissimo didn't help me with my hypothetical Florida vacation, I think it could be useful to get a sense of what a particular trip might cost. But keep in mind that it doesn't work with every major provider or agency. So, for instance, if Orbitz has an exclusive deal with an airline, you won't find those fares on Mobissimo. And if you're looking for a flight on American, you'll have to book it through a third party like Travelocity or OneTravel. Plus, for hotels, Mobissimo's list of partners is woefully thin, excluding major chains like Hyatt, Marriott, and Starwood. But it's still worth keeping this site - and others like it - on your radar screen. If nothing else, it'll remind you that your "favorite" travel site doesn't always have the best deals.

Update:

JetBlue has "clarified" the Bloomberg report that quoted CEO David Neeleman saying the airline would be interested in purchasing ATA's gates at Chicago's Midway Airport. Apparently, JetBlue won't make an offer now, but "may be in Chicago someday." With an influx of EMBRAER 190 regional jets on the way beginning in 2005, my guess is that JetBlue will spend more of its energy next year expanding its service to mid-size cities. But don't rule out JetBlue one day battling American and United for market share at O'Hare, providing low-fare flights between Chicago and New York.