After a shaky start, portals realise the friendly approach and fast processing win customer loyalty

Mary Beiermann's introduction to the world of online booking was not smooth. Ms Beiermann, an executive with a leading Scandinavian telecommunications company and a television and Internet shopping addict, dislikes being put on hold by a travel agent.

She likes even less the trip to her travel agent's office in Orchard Road in sweltering Singapore. She decided then to book her next round-trip flight to Manila entirely online.

'It wasn't as simple as I thought. I have browsed Travelocity and Expedia.com before and I thought the booking sites here would be similar,' said Ms Beiermann. She opted for Kenair.com

.sg and Chanbrothers.com.sg - the online versions of two of Singapore's biggest travel agencies.

'I thought the wise thing to do would be to go with the big names,' she said.

There were no fare search engines on either site that could churn her request and give a price for the round-trip fare to Manila in real time. Her request had to be typed on to an online enquiry form and an agent would contact her by e-mail or phone.

'That was not what I expected and wanted. I want to be able to search and compare fares and then I can make my decision, book on the site and receive confirmation without having to talk to anyone,' she said.