SEATCHING AND BOOKING TICKETS FOR TRANSPORT

Naturally, no tourism is conceivable without movement between points of interest, provided by various modes of transport.

At the same time, transportation costs often make up a significant part of the total travel budget.

In order not to get into unpleasant situations, and to know in advance how to get to the place for a small fee, you can solve all transport problems by finding the right transport and buying tickets remotely via the Internet. Nowadays, tickets are available online for almost any type of transport and destination.

There are quite a lot of such websites, services and platforms, and they compete with each other for a visitor, so they try to make the best offers and are constantly working to improve the convenience of their services.

We will consider only some of them and give brief characteristics and instructions on how to use them.

Don’t let the relatively large amount of information on this page scare you. In fact, it is enough to learn how to navigate the general structure of one platform, and then you can easily use any of them.

Information disclosure. We are affiliated partners of several systems for searching and buying tickets. This means that if after visiting their page you buy or book something, we will receive a small reward. This reward does not increase the final price and you do not have to pay anything more than what is indicated on the site!

The recommendation applicable to any online purchases – check several sources, do not be lazy to look for the most suitable and profitable options. What’s more, finding the best transportation can be fun and exciting, often with tangible financial benefits for tourists.

Important. It should be remembered that different platforms may have contracts with different service providers and under different conditions, while with some they may not have any relationship at all. This means that the same transportation service can be found on different platforms at different prices, and on some it will not be available at all. That is why it is so important to research different platforms before traveling, compare prices and look for the most suitable transport services.

Jetradar

This is a metasearch platform for searching and booking airline tickets, also known under the Aviasales brand. 

The system collects a lot of information not only from airlines, but also from various OTAs, online cash desks, ticket aggregators, and travel companies, giving out the most advantageous offers, and allows tourists to select the most profitable and convenient flight options.

When you click on the link , it opens a standard search form, quite similar to hotel or other ticket forms.

In the form, it is enough to fill in the fields from – to – depart – return – number of passengers, and click the Search flights button

After some time, the platform will display a list of tickets available for a given date:

Under the list of prices there is a blue inscription Show calendar, after clicking on it you will see the price calendar, where the departure dates are displayed vertically, and the return dates horizontally:

By changing the dates, you can find cheaper tickets and track the price dynamics depending on the date of departure or return. To close the window, click Close in the lower right corner.

In addition to the calendar, there are other ways to select tickets. On the left side there is a SORT button, thanks to which you can sort tickets not only by Price, but also by Travel time, Early flight, and Late flight.

Below the Sort button on the left,  you can see the so-called filters. Filters in search and booking systems allow you to display only those flights that satisfy you by some parameter, for example, by the number of stops and by permission to carry baggage:

Under the filters, there are sliders that can be moved to display flights by other parameters, such as trip duration, budget, and more.

Lower there are additional filters that allow you to select flights by connecting airports, airlines, airports of departure and return, and by online travel agencies that sell these tickets.

After a thorough analysis of the selected air tickets, if everything suits you, just click the Book button – and you will be redirected directly to the website of the air ticket seller, where you can make a reservation or buy a ticket.

From the point of view of smart tourism development, it is also important that the platform supports 60 languages and almost all currencies, which makes it convenient and applicable anywhere in the world by any person. The language selection button is located in the upper right corner of the page:

We have considered one metasearch engine so thoroughly as an example. Other systems work in approximately the same way and have very similar functionality. Having mastered one of some search engines, you can easily understand any.

Below there are various examples of websites and platforms for finding different types of transport, among them there are highly specialized ones for finding only train tickets and universal ones that allow you to book various types of transport.

Omio

A universal platform that allows you to find not only air tickets, but also train, bus and ferry tickets.

To search, it is enough to enter “from – to – and the dates”, and after pressing the Search button, a window with the results will open:

As you can see, the system provides transportation options with prices. There are also sorting and other filters.

Note. In order to develop responsible and sustainable tourism, in cases where travel time is not critical, land transport should be preferred to air transport, because the carbon footprint, all other things being equal, is higher for air transport!

The platform works in 21 languages. The language selection button is located in the right corner of the page:

Trip.com

A universal platform for searching not only air tickets, but also railways, as well as car rentals and transfers.

To search for a specific type of transport, select the appropriate tab above the search form:

CheapOair

A platform for searching not only air tickets, but also car rentals, and various activities.

The platform is configured to search for tickets at the lowest price.

To start the search, you need to select the desired tab and enter as usual “from – to – dates – and the number of passengers”.

After pressing the Search button, you will see a list sorted by price.

As well as in other systems, you can work with various filters and sorting parameters.

Raileurope

Platform for searching and booking train and bus tickets mainly for Europe.

A bit unusual search box requires filling in “from – to – dates of travel – and number of passengers”. In addition, you can search not only for tickets, but also for Rail passes. You can choose the type of document at the top of the search window.

The platform displays the results where you can choose the most appropriate option:

After choosing a ticket, the system will help you arrange a trip through the cart, as in a regular online store.

Another innovation on this platform is that when exploring a destination, you can find out the value of the carbon footprint and compare it across different types of transport. This is called a carbon calculator. To see the values, you need to click the Carbon Calculator button in the lower right corner:

This is very important as it allows tourists who want to travel in a more responsible and sustainable way to make their choice and contribute to reducing their carbon footprint. In the example above, you can see that the same trip by plane results in 67.07 kg of CO2 emissions, while the carbon footprint of a train is only 2.53 kg. Enough said…

The emergence of such calculators and content should be recognized as positive for the development of sustainable smart tourism around the world.

Busbud

A platform for searching bus tickets that partners with 3,900+ bus companies connecting 21,000+ cities in 80+ countries with 2,300,000+ bus routes. It is considered one of the largest bus transportation aggregators in the world.

When you click on the link, you will see a standard search window, which differs little from other search engines:

12GO

A universal platform for searching and comparing different types of transport.

After entering the data in the search form, you will see the results, but there is one interesting feature – a separate table with different types of transport, indicating the price and duration of the trip:

Gettransfer

Transfers around the world. The service solves the problems often faced especially by novice travelers trying to get from an airport to a hotel: tariffs are often unknown, taxi drivers may come across scammers, etc. In addition, each country may have its own procedures for providing taxi services – only through the application or only through the dispatcher, or something else. Also, many airports around the world have kilometer-long queues at parking lots and taxi boarding points during the arrival of flights.

The search form is not difficult, you need to select a transfer, or a taxi, or an hourly trip.

Then type in the addresses for “from” and “to”, and press the GET OFFERS button

The system will display the results with different options for class of service and mode of transport:

After choosing the appropriate option, the system will guide you to further selection and, if everything suits you, to the booking process.

intui.travel

Platform for searching and booking transfers around the world. When you open the website, you will see a standard search box.

Fill in the airport of arrival, the hotel of destination, the date and time, and the number of passengers, and after pressing the Search button you get the result:

The system also has filters by service classes, and the option to order additional services and requirements.

Conclusion

We briefly got acquainted with the various systems for searching and booking tickets for transport. And despite the fact that the transport is very different from each other, the booking systems are very similar from the user’s point of view. Moreover, all platforms strive to make users feel comfortable and convenient, therefore, driven by competition they improve their websites, add languages, and increase the number of partners that offer various transport services.

In any case, as long as you have not pressed the Book or Buy button, you do not pay anything to anyone, so you can train in searching for transport for your trip as much as you want. The more you master your searching skills, the more accurately, easier, faster and cheaper you will be able to move during your travels.