Moosetick - 9:42 pm on Jan 4, 2010 (gmt 0)

I wonder if anyone knows if there is a technical reason for sites like expedia, travelocity, etc to use a transition page when requesting quotes on flights?

I figure the answer is either that they are so overwhelmed with queries that the database is always playing catchup, or they are purposely doing this to make it more difficult for 3rd parties to mine data from their sites.

I found a site that says there were about 50k flights/day in 2000. Multiply that by 5 and you still only have 250,000 flights per day. That isn't much to look up and even with connections it shouldn't be an inordinate amount of lookups.

I was looking to travel this summer and trips were pricey where I wanted to go. I tried looking at nearby cities or alternative dates and it seemed to take forever.

Anyway, does anyone know why travel sites make you wait for a result?