Differences in Average Prices on the Internet : Evidence from the Online Market for Air Travel

Using daily ticket price quotes, this article examines whether there are systematic differences in the airfares obtained through different online travel Web sites. I find that after controlling for ticket availability and heterogeneities that affect ticket prices, there is little systematic difference in the average fares. The parity in average fares observed in 2002 data is in contrast to differences as large as 18% documented by Clemons et al. (2002), and stems in part from the fact that airlines directly compete for online travel dollars today, but did not in 1997