• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 22, 2013

People booking airline travel via mobile skew younger and are more likely to buy one-way tickets, according to a new study from Priceline.

The company says mobile air bookers average 32 years of age, six years younger than their desktop counterparts. Almost half bought one-way tickets and, and paid less for tickets on average ($283) than desktop users ($315).

“Mobile-equipped consumers are what we call ‘untethered’ travelers,” said Priceline’s Brian Ek, in a statement. “They like to create their travel experiences on the fly, rather than stick to itineraries planned far in advance.”

Priceline said the findings were similar to prior studies the company has done on hotel reservations, where many mobile bookings are made the same day while people are on the road or just arriving in town. Likewise, mobile customers tend to purchase tickets closer to travel dates than desktop users.

Ek wouldn’t disclose what proportion of Priceline’s airline books overall are mobile. But during the company’s fourth-quarter conference call in February, CEO Jeffrey Boyd said Priceline was seeing “significant adoption” on most of the major mobile platforms including iOS and Android as well as through the mobile Web. He expects mobile to become an important direct business for Priceline.