Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) company NetCallidus has ranked BA first in its airline league table.

The carrier's website is the 139th most-visited website in the UK and is most likely to attract passengers due to its use of indexed pages.

Mark Furber, managing director of NetCallidus explained: "In a nutshell, traffic from search engines comes down to how many pages you have indexed, and how many quality links are pointing at those pages.

The BA website has significantly more pages indexed in Google (147,000 in comparison to Virgin's 3,240), which means it has a much higher chance of being found for different search terms typed in."

Second place in the league table went to easyJet, with TUI coming in at third. Other airlines in the top ten included Jet2, Flybe, Virgin Atlantic and Monarch.

British Airlines was recognised last month in two other web surveys, coming second to easyJet as the website favoured by passengers for online bookings in a poll by consumer group Which? and scoring the highest usability rating in a report from Webcredible.

Online community Members Know will allow cardholders to exchange information about holiday destinations and discus travel-related topics. Customers will be able to get direct feedback through the community conversations with other users and expert advice will also be offered by the site editors.

The site will include information on the most popular hotels and restaurants around the world, searchable by type and location, based on other card users booking patterns.  It will also link to AmericanExpress.com/Travel where cardmembers will be able to browse and book the latest offers.

"Our Cardmembers are passionate about travel and they are drawn to new, unique and memorable travel experiences. Collectively, they have a great wealth of knowledge and a strong desire to connect and learn from other Cardmembers," said Bonnie Taffer, vice president of alliances and content at American Express. 

"Through Members Know, our Cardmembers can exchange valuable 'insider' information that will enable them to create fabulous travel experiences in the future."

Mobile.lufthansa.com now allows busy travellers to book flights, check in and even select their desired seats on an interactive seat map, while providing comprehensive departure times, baggage regulations and public transport information.

The service also allows multiple passengers to check in consecutively in one procedure, so long as their electronic tickets are all stored on one card.

Marianne Sammann, Lufthansa general manager for UK & Ireland said: "I am sure this new service will prove to be invaluable, particularly to business travellers.

Especially as, under the heading Information, users can not only find actual flight information but other relevant travel information such as public transport arrivals and departures, airport buses and rail connections, or book hotels via Lufthansa's partner, HRS."

Lufthansa's new facility comes as mobile travel services enter a phase of major growth, with air travel information provider FlightStats.com recently launching a new convenient information alert service for travellers suffering the discomfort of last minute plane cancellations.

Displaying available seats by class and cabin on planes at a nearby gate or soon to arrive, the simplest search option from FlightStats.com requires mobile entry of a departing airport, arrival airport and a date/time range only, while advanced options allow users to specify airline and fare class.

Pooling responses from purchasers of travel products over the past 18 months, the holiday magazine from independent consumer advisory group Which? found that one in five respondents (21 per cent) put easyJet top of their booking experiences.

Usability consultancy Webcredible recently offered a different view, measuring the sites of web-based travel firms and airline carriers themselves against ease of usage and price transparency criteria – and putting Opodo ahead of not only rival Online Travel Agents but also all airline booking sites.

British Airways posted the highest usability ratings of any airline on the Webcredible survey and also performed well in the Which? report, coming a close second to easyJet with 18 per cent of responses.

Lorna Cowan, editor, Which? Holiday, said: "With 80 per cent of our members using the internet to book or research their holiday, it's really important that businesses in the travel industry listen to what people want and get their websites right.

While value for money is clearly important, ease of use is even more important to people. A website that is easy to use and quick to use could well turn a browser into a buyer."

Looking to compete with the web's top airline booking websites, American carrier Northwest has revamped its site, integrating an extensive list of global lodging, rental car, trip amenity and activity options that are intended to benefit customers making flight bookings.

Predicting a 200-fold increase in web traffic by 2015 due to mobile use, cellphone manufacturer Nokia is deploying Teradata datawarehouse tools for analysing internet usage while travelling in a bid to match up its services with user demands.

Envisaging efficient mobile-delivered services to permanently connected users, Nokia chief information officer John Clarke told ComputerWeekly that GPS information on weather patterns could be processed into information such as related delays in taxi journeys to the airport. He told the site: "This represents a whole new way of thinking. It provides the concept of context, which will transform the nature of the internet."

Meanwhile, Michael Lacy, chief executive of travel industry mobile solutions firm Handy Group, told TravelMole that the 'Mashup' industry was showing boundless ambition for mobile services, claiming: "What is exciting is that mobile will likely spawn areas of business that don't even exist today."
 
Evidence of industry enthusiasm comes as FlightStats.com and Mobile.flightstats.com release a new mobile-targeted flight availability service, offering those suffering the inconvenience of cancellations with information on available seats for flights that are at a nearby gate or soon to arrive, all deliverable by SMS alert or email.

The Travelport Carbon Tracker programme uses a graphic interface to display up-to-date operational data and sophisticated emissions analysis for a proposed journey, processing the emissions per mile, number of air miles and other variables for airlines operating a specific route in order to yield comprehensive comparative carbon impact ratings.

Its CO2 analysis tools are also extended to rail and car travel, providing users with comparative itinerary options based on "unbiased carbon emission measurements" and allowing air travellers to weigh up the carbon impact of their flights and move toward the most environmentally-friendly options.

Jeff Clarke, chief executive of Travelport, said: "At the core of all 'carbon mindful' initiatives is the measurement of carbon emissions, yet carbon measurement itself is a relatively new and emerging science.

"Our aims in launching this tool are to give the industry access to the latest and most improved ways of measuring emissions for business intelligence; to encourage debate and collaboration in terms of emissions benchmarking; and to enable corporations to make informed decisions for sustainable travel as part of their overall travel policies."

The Travelport Carbon Tracker claims no links to specific "offsetting" programmes, instead offering measurements of carbon impact which companies or individual users can respond to as they wish.

While a new independent measurement tool will be welcomed by many in the industry, some airlines have taken a lead themselves on informing travellers of their environmental impact, including Flybe's introduction of 'eco-labelling' data for its flights.

Allowing people to delve into a location by selecting the type of trip they desire (romantic, family etc.) and offering up rich visual profiles of relevant activities in the location chosen, the tool puts travel ideas in the heads of holidaymakers and picked up the TravelCom accolade on the strength of booking rates ten times higher than non-ExperienceFinder Travelocity users.

Troy Whitsett, vice president of design and innovation at Travelocity, said: "ExperienceFinder is changing the way in which people dream, plan, shop and book their travel. We are thrilled to win this award, and look forward to continue getting the word out to more people about how this tool will open up their imaginations to entirely new travel wishes."

The tool builds on the appeal of the Pocket Guidebook, a pre-travel ideas product that combines the destination information resources of ProfessionalTravelGuide.com with the data integration know-how of SharedBook, collating relevant holiday information into a dynamic online or offline booklet format.

Moving from functional reactive holiday bookings options toward a proactive imaginative approach is now a trend encompassing increasing numbers of agents, with travel tech blogger Alex Bainbridge citing multiple rival programmes to the visually impressive ExperienceFinder.

Among those profiled on his tourcms.com blog was Opodo's dynamic EscapeMap AJAX mashup, combining the agent's special offers with Google Maps and offering proactive options by requiring only a departure city and destination continent in order to display potential trip options and prices on the map.

Mr Bainbridge wrote: "These tools are more interesting (to me) than plain old "flat text" destination guides. However…these are much more complex than flat text and require a greater understanding of the consumer than just publishing text."

Travel planning resource ProfessionalTravelGuide.com has teamed up with data integration specialist SharedBook to provide users with the Pocket Guidebook, a product that can be produced in online or offline form for both single destination or multiple location trips.

Using the destination and travel information resources of ProfessionalTravelGuide.com and the hi-tech book production know-how of SharedBook, participating travellers can gather flight reservation numbers and local contacts, as well as general destination information, before collating it into a dynamic booklet format.

Peter Nicas, ProfessionalTravelGuide.com's chief executive and editor-in-chief, said: "The Pocket Guidebook is a first-of-its-kind offering for travellers who wish to create their own unique travel books. With the Pocket Guidebook, the traveller decides the type and amount of information to include, as well as which personal notes, recommendations from family and friends, and photographs to add to the book."

Caroline Vanderlip, chief executive of SharedBook, added that the Pocket Guidebook product would provide a highly personalised extension of the services of "the internet's most content-rich travel database".

Teaming up with digital marketing agency Splendid, the low cost airline will look to split its web booking options in order to cater to the needs of both flyers sure of where and when they want to fly, and browsers looking for ideas.

Moving toward a proactive approach, the major change will be an option for customers with a time and budget framework to be offered a map image identifying the potential locations they can travel to, along with the real-time display of multiple fares.

A recent study from usability consultancy Webcredible found that online travel agents such as Opodo were trumping airline websites on usability, with customers warming to sites with higher perceived transparency on tax-inclusive pricing from the start of the booking process.

Seeking to offer customers a transparent and tailored flight search solution, Paul Curtis, head of application architecture at easyJet, said: "Only 40 per cent of our customers know precisely when and where they want to go when they visit our site. That leaves as many as 60 per cent of customers looking for inspiration and ideas, and who would consider varying dates and offers."

"Customers often have a set budget in mind, but are open to new destinations. Most travel portals don't support these people, and customers spend a lot of time searching around for the best deals."

The carrier's new site will allow customers to check whether their flights are delayed, pick their seats and even decide which meals they would like beforehand.

In a joint venture with Mobile Travel Technologies, Silverjet says that the new website will be hugely advantageous to passengers who want easy access to information about flights.

"The whole proposition is about introducing convenience back into long-haul travel and this is the same," said SilverJet IT director George Henderson. "It's a growing channel and we want to be at the forefront. When the time comes and consumer confidence grows and they do want to book flights over mobile we will be there tried and tested."

Although other airlines offer similar services online, it is believed that this new system is the first available solely on mobiles and other handheld devices in the UK.

Last year, the carrier revealed plans to become the first UK airline to introduce wireless technology to speed up check-in by allowing passengers to enter their passport details in the lounge area or a chauffeur driven car provided by the firm. This means that unlike customers with other airlines which have online check in, those flying with Silverjet need not queue to have their passports scanned or identify themselves.

The firm has this week unveiled the new OneSearch technology, which will see customers initiate a search simply by speaking into their mobile phone.

Believed to be the first voice-activated search product for mobiles, it will allow passengers looking for flights online to access all the information they need simply by talking.

As well as flight listings, the technology also lets users search for locations, website names, restaurants and news.

Speaking about OneSearch, Yahoo! mobile chief Marco Boerries said: "This is in reality a sea change. This is not just about simple web links any more."

He added: "With Yahoo! OneSearch 2.0, we are fundamentally changing the way consumers use the internet on their mobile phones."

According to the firm, it takes one to two seconds for the technology to recognise the search and another three to translate it into a relevant result on the handset.

Northwest Airlines has provided air travel enthusiasts with a new digital version of its WorldTraveler in-flight magazine, offering customers targeted information, destination news and links to booking flights with the airline.

Tammy Lee, vice president of corporate communications for the carrier, said: "The new digital format gives us the ability to customise offers and target them to the individual reader, depending on where the customer is originating from and travelling to. From the advertiser's perspective, it is great for targeted marketing. From the customer's perspective, they can view the content they want from the convenience of their own computer."

Northwest is not alone in presenting US holidaymakers with incentives for travel and greater facility for booking it: online travel agent (OTA) Expedia is targeting a newly identified holiday market – the 130 million US citizens expecting an income tax rebate in May – with a campaign to make them spend their fiscal boon on a holiday.

Launching its Vacations Designed with Rebates in Mind drive, the OTA is tailoring coupons and trip offers to the financial limits of the rebate, assembling flight and accommodation packages to domestic destinations such as San Francisco for sums within the limits of the expected rebate.

Paul Brown, president of Expedia North America, said: "Adding our exclusive trip offers and instant coupon multiplies the possibilities Americans have for a tax rebate getaway this spring."

Offering direct flight and hotel bookings, the new product provides a green rating alongside the accommodation it takes bookings for, compiling a rating on the basis of water recycling policy, energy efficiency drives and a host of other 'green' criteria.

Acknowledging that flights themselves entail a heavy carbon footprint, the site avoids green rating the carriers it takes bookings for, but does guarantee eco-users peace of mind by promising to donate part of the booking fee to a green organisation.

In a move that echoes a new direction being taken in the air travel industry, RezHub's new product also allows users to click through for carbon offsetting options, providing a further means of justifying a carbon-heavy flight.

Spanish airline Clickair recently took a lead in offsetting by joining up to the United Nations' Plant the Planet programme, which will allow passengers to offset their air miles by donating money toward the planting of a new forest near its Barcelona headquarters.

RezHub's Green Travel Hub offers users both Clickair-style reactive offsetting and the choice a proactive strategy, involving donations toward investment in renewable energies.

An alternative strategy has been pioneered by UK low cost airline Flybe, which recently introduced eco-labelling for its aircraft, displaying a full range of environmental indicators during the ticketing process.