Online shopping is becoming more and more prevalent in today's society. Practically anything can now be bought with nothing more than a click of a mouse button. Online shops sell anything and everything from shoes to second hand goods on Ebay. One market area that is becoming big business online is the travel market; however, with purchasing flights and holidays online precautions should be taken, as there is often a larger amount of money involved.
The most basic precaution is to make sure that the website is legitimate. The most common error (although this is by no means a large scale problem) is for people to visit bogus sites, enter their card details and then have funds fraudulently taken from their accounts.
One way of avoiding this is to visit a travel comparison site such as Dealchecker.co.uk where you can be assured that the travel companies listed are legitimate companies. Meanwhile, if you're specifically searching for cheap flights, then Cheap Flights.co.uk is a good site for price comparison between a variety of providers.
Furthermore, it's worth having a look at holidays provided by Travelzoo - this website compiles all of the best bargains on the internet in one place, so you don't need to trawl the web and spend hours searching for a bargain.
When dealing with online comparison sites remember that they make their money from the travel companies they display only once a ticket is purchased. Fraudulent companies are very unlikely to want to pay a price comparison site to display their non-existent 'offers'. Also the best travel price comparison sites have spent a lot of time building up their reputation, to become a market leader - one slip up could serious damage this.
Once a cheap flight has been found you will be redirected to another website. For example if you were looking for a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe you could be redirected to Flymonarch.co.uk, for example, an airline company specialising in European air travel, where you will then book and pay for your ticket. As an extra security check, it's worth exploring the site you are redirected to find details on who runs the company or to call their customer service number for further reassurance.
The most common thing for people to worry about is the use of the credit or debit card. However, in recent years, online credit card use has actually become quite safe. As long as the website has been checked out then there really shouldn't be any problems. Most banks now offer insurance in the unfortunate event of credit or debit card fraud so if something should go wrong then the customer's bank should be contacted immediately.
Banks now spend a lot more on improving their security - for example, it is common for the number on the signature slip on the back of the card to be entered along with other details. This makes it even more difficult to fraudsters. Some banks, such as Natwest, even require further verification after card details have been entered. Commonly this is one of the standard tests that banks use to confirm your identity; a mother's maiden name or the customer's date of birth.
The final thing that could be an issue is that the majority of companies now email tickets to their customers. The customer will need to make sure that the usual email precautions are adhered to - namely that no one else is given access to their inbox, and being extra vigilant on 'public' computers such as those in the work place.
Travelzoo provides a popular list of cheap flights, holidays, cruise and hotel deals every week. It's free to join and currently has over 12 million subscribers. |
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