The travel industry just got more interesting. Mobissimo.com is the first relatively complete meta-search for online travel.

Mobissimo's new, yet-to-be-released, but available and functional airfare search service might save you a good amount of time and money the next time you attempt to book a flight online.

The company claims they can help you find the lowest fare, searching all suppliers, saving you a bundle on your next trip.

Mobissimo is unique in that it searches 62 domestic and international airfare sites to find the best deals. It also works on any web browser.

The following online travel agencies, online consolidators, major airlines, and low-cost carriers affiliated with Mobissimo's sophisticated search engine include:

ANA
ATA
Aer Arann
Air Arabia
Air Asia
Air France USA
Air New Zealand USA
Airfare
Airtran
Alaska
Alitalia USA
Aloha
American
Amex
Anyway
Bahamasair
Basiq
British Airways
CanJet
Cathay USA
Cheaptickets
Continental
Delta
Destina
EBookers
EasyJet
Expedia.fr
First Choice
Frontier
Germanwings
GoVoyage
Hellas Jet
Iberia USA
Independence Air
JetBlue
Jetsgo
Jetstar
Korean
Midwest
Monarch
MyTravelLite
Northwest
Opodo
Orbitz
RyanAir
Singapore Airlines
Song
Sterling
Thai
Thomsonfly
Travelocity
Varig USA
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Blue
Virgin Express
Volare
Vueling
WestJet
Wizz Air
Zuji

Based on 10+ years of experience in data mining, information extraction, integration and search at Stanford and the University of Chicago, Mobissimo searches dozens of these travel suppliers simultaneously so that users can research options quickly and conveniently. The company’s meta-search technology searches the Web sites that travelers would normally check by hand, plus many more they might not think of (in the United States and around the world).

Mobissimo’s aim is to return the most comprehensive travel search results in less than a minute -- free-of-charge.

In three clicks, you can search, discover and book a flight based on price and/or convenience.

I did a search for travel in February from Stockholm to San Francisco. Mobissimo brought back a terrific sets of results. The least expensive was $526.20 on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines through Zuji.com. When I selected this provider, the result was even better: $374.00. I'll take it!!

A previous search provided just the opposite effect which, of course, was disappointing. I'm glad I tried again.

Sites searched outside the U.S. are converted from foreign currencies into U.S. dollars for comparison purposes.

One savvy traveler writes: "Watch out for the fares converted into US dollars from other currencies. A phenomenal bargain fare of $704 turned out to be GBP 532 -- which, if I had booked to my credit card, would have been about $975."

In the future, not only does Mobissimo expect to offer the best location-to-location search results, if you're interested in traveling from San Francisco to "Skiing" Mobissimo plans to be able to tell you whether it is cheaper to go to Tahoe, Aspen or Calgary.

Or, if you can't decide whether to go to the mountains or the beach, in the future, you will be able to type in your place of departure and then "climate."

Regardless, once you make your choice, you are connected directly to the supplier of your choice.

Mobissimo delivers real-time itinerary information from multiple web-based travel suppliers that are independent of location or system architecture.

Discount airlines, like our new favorite, JetBlue, does not show up on the big travel sites.

Other discount carriers like Spirit Airlines sometimes offer promotional fares only via their own sites.

Something Mobissimo does not offer at this time: Customizable packaging deals.

If you're looking to buy a package flight-and-lodging deal don't remove Orbitz or Expedia from your Bookmarks, yet. Package deals allow hotel owners, for example, to move expiring rooms at shockingly low rates and then hide their desperation by pairing the travel with the lodging.

Hitwise Australia claims that 11.36 per cent of online travel users are now over 55 years of age. And the over 55s are almost 30 per cent more likely to buy travel online compared to any other category.

Credit Suisse First Boston forecasts online travel spending by 2006 to grow to $71 billion. With others reporting U.S. online travel expected to grow to $110B by 2009, Mobissimo expects to cash-in by offering sponsorships, contextual advertising, affiliate relationships and premium subscription services.

Perhaps a "Google" of travel in-the-making? We'll see.

In the meantime, if you're exploring travel meta-sites, in addition to Mobissimo, add to your list: Qixo (charges a $20 booking fee), FareChase (created by Yahoo! searches 150 travel sites), ITA Software, SideStep (only runs on Windows using Internet Explorer), and Kayak, a new online travel resource created by the founders of Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity.

Kayak could be a serious contender. Members of their team include:

- Steve Hafner, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, who was Executive Vice President of Consumer Travel at Orbitz, which he helped found.

- Paul English, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer, previously Vice President of Technology at Intuit.

- Terry Jones, Chairman of the Board, who was President and Chief Executive Officer of Travelocity.com which he helped found in 1996.

- Greg Slyngstad, Director, and previously Senior Vice President of Destinations and Lodging at Expedia.com, which he helped found while at Microsoft.

- Joel Cutler, Director, and also Managing Director at General Catalyst Partners, a leading venture capital firm with extensive software and travel investments.

- Keith Melnick, Vice President Business Development, who was a Manager at the Boston Consulting Group, where he served on the launch team of Orbitz.

These gentlemen believe they have the industry knowledge, technology and financing to become a force in the ‘meta search’ arena, which they view as the next stage in online travel.

For those looking for visual simplicity comparable to Google's: Mobissimo wins.

Mobissimo is based in San Mateo, California. Bernard Dallé of Index Ventures is one of their lead investors along with Cambrian Ventures and Eric Benhamou. Mobissimo's founder, Beatrice Tarka - who is also the company's CEO - was inspired to create a better mousetrap, after traveling between France and California every month.

Her vision? To create "The Ultimate Travel Search Engine."

The proposition:

1 - Mobissimo is Fast
2 - Mobissimo is Comprehensive: global, anywhere, anytime
3 - Mobissimo is Valuable: finds the best deals
4 - Mobissimo is Ubiquitous: the service works from any device, any platform
5 - Mobissimo is Easy to use: simpler user interface

Time Magazine selected Mobissimo.com has one of their "50 Coolest Websites" of the year.

And ComputerWorld recently reported that "Autonomous agents could one day play a key role in everything from setting market prices to creating more resilient networks." They said, "The effort is part of a technology initiative that researchers say will reshape IT over the course of many years. Autonomous agents have the potential to become an extraordinarily powerful technology, with the capacity to learn, experiment and act independent of human control. Agents could ultimately improve productivity, increase software reliability and change the operation of markets, particularly supply chains."

To give Mobissimo a try, go to: Mobissimo.com

Thank you Mike Ebstyne and Pamela Ebstyne King for this great find.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful and "mo"bissimo living!

~ Jennifer King