Since the introduction of the first online booking agencies in the late 1990s do-it-yourself flight arrangements have become so popular that today online travel bookings represent a full third of worldwide travel business.

And indeed the big names such as Expedia Travelocity and Orbitz are billion-dollar business. Expedia inc. sites have over 54 million visits a month and quarterly revenue of $1 billion. Orbitz hosts 1.5 million flight searches and a million hotel searches a day. One of the most compelling features of online booking is the control the customer assumes he has as well as the convenience.

“We’ve spun around the screen so you’re the one sitting in front of it. You’re the one in control” says Jill Lloyd senior PR manager for Expedia.

If you’re even just a little computer proficient you can find a flight that suits you book it on the spot choose your seat order special meals and print out your own e-ticket all in the comfort of your own home. For many hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers the online booking process is smooth and simple.

But for many others it’s not as easy as pushing a few buttons. Not everyone is so computer savvy — and even those who are have to deal with the fact that neither computers nor the people who use them are infallible.

“Do you know how many people who book over the Internet book themselves on the wrong date?” asks Esther Salomon senior travel consultant at Zion Tours Israel’s largest American-owned travel agency. “People make lots of mistakes in booking — dates connections etc. — because they’re not so familiar with the technicalities. And it winds up costing them a lot.”

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