The immutable cornerstone of retail sales is location location location. To be an effective channel, people have to know where the channel door is. The Internet provides an ever expanding millions of doors. Even the search results yield hundreds or thousands and soon million s of doors. And they are moving doors.
Sites come and go.
The change their location. Virtual is turning out to mean ethereal. While they may cater, to a limited degree, to their upper class and frequent flyers, they general treat us all like cattle in the rear of the plane and have shown no desire to do anything else except to portray otherwise in their ads. This is the child of regulation. The airlines where and are monopolies between any city pairs.