The rail revolution is continuing its mainstream climb. Months after Orbitz for Business began allowing travelers to compare rail fares to the cost of flying, TripAdvisor is getting in the game.
TripAdvisor announced today that it is partnering with several European companies to allow travelers to compare train costs across continental Europe while planning trips.
"This is especially helpful when planning a trip through Europe, where there are more high-speed rail options now than ever before and hundreds of millions of travelers opt for train travel each year," Bryan Saltzburg, general manager of TripAdvisor Flights, said in a statement.
According to the company: "When travelers conduct a flight search on TripAdvisor, the site will now display rail itineraries alongside flight choices for routes where it's relevant and in some cases priced even cheaper than air travel, such as London to Paris, or Frankfurt to Brussels. Travelers will then be able to filter the search results according to their travel needs and conveniently click to complete the booking on the air or rail website of their choice."
As a test, I checked a Brussels to Berlin trip in late July on TripAdvisor, and found flying was $20 cheaper and six hours shorter. OK, maybe not the poster child of European train trips. Barcelona to Madrid was $250 cheaper by air and an hour shorter. London to Paris? About $20 cheaper through the skies and an hour shorter. But, hey, at least now you can more easily decide when airport security is worth the hassle and when it is not.
A TripAdvisor spokesman said the company has no imminent plans to expand the offerings to American travel, but added, "We're always investigating new partners globally who can help us further expand our rail offerings to new markets, including the United States."
jbnoel@tribune.com
Twitter @traveljosh
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